Thursday, May 15, 2014

Paul's Guidelines for Worship

I want to experiment with the form a worship described in Eugene Peterson's paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 14: 26-40.  The first expectation that everyone will come to worship prepared to serve is very appealing.  I also appreciate the fact that Paul gives church members options; they can sing, teach, pray, tell a story, share an insight (limited to two or three speakers).  There's so many options here that it makes me think that the list is not exhaustive.  I also note that Paul had to give the Corinthians rules for courteous behavior, and that his etiquette (at least the way that Peterson has paraphrased it) seems fair: Speak from your heart, Don't criticize a prayer offered in an unfamiliar language, Be considerate.


Who's with me?  Ready to scrap the model of worship you've been following for years and instead experiment with Paul's guidelines?  And if you know of anyone who has already implemented this Pauline framework, I would appreciate it if you would let me know.

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