"Worship is your spirit responding to God’s revelation in Christ," this is is the definition of worship by Professor Wu Weiwen from the Divinity School of Chung Chi College (DSCCC). "Etiquette starts from calling and sustains with blessing. We tell of the redemptive work of Christ, not to express our personal emotions."
Pastor Wu, as the Assistant Professor of etiquette, was invited by the China Christian Council in Nanjing to hold a series of lectures on the Introduction to Worship at Mochou Lu Church recently. All of the volunteers of the church attended the training.
Pastor Wu pointed out that etiquette and procedure were part of worship, including hymn singing, preaching, and praying. We served God and God served us in the worship. So, it was important to learn to wait for God’s services during hymn singing and praying.
Etiquette outsideworship plays an important role in cultivating our spirit inside. Pastor Wu took hymn singing as an example to illustrate that our spirit was like a piano out of tune and that worship refreshes our weary heart and tunes our spirit. Etiquette provides us with guidance and helps us to seek for inherent pursuits. If we did not start from the outside, let alone insist from the inside.
Besides hymn singing, prayers in the worship are also helpful. Good prayers resonate with believers and this attracts followers to pray together. Pastor Wu shared several excellent prayers: General Mac Arthur’s prayers, Christmas prayers, and grant serenity prayers. He advised believers to appreciate and learn from those good prayers to express their inner movings in words.
