Worshiping a Triune God
We recently observed Trinity Sunday on May 30. In planning the music portions of this service, I thought of Marva J. Dawn’s meaningful comments in her brief and practical book, How Shall We Worship? The first question Dr. Dawn deals with in the book is, “What is worship?” She answers this question by stating, “Let’s begin by realizing that worship is our glad response to the immense grace of a Triune God” (How Shall We Worship?, Introduction, xi).
Dr. Dawn’s definition of worship reminds us that our worship, our response to God, is directed toward a Triune God. For me, this is a reminder that worship is best when it includes a variety of God’s many characteristics – if not during each service, then during the church worship year.
If you think about churches you have known or attended, each tends to concentrate their usual worship style on only one of the expressions of the Triune: God the Father worship – tends to emphasize God’s holiness, loftiness, power and might; God the Son worship – tends to emphasize God as our friend, savior and redeemer; and finally, God the Holy Spirit worship – tends to emphasize God’s filing power, the spiritual gifts, and God’s contemporary, with us now, nature.
Of course, these are over-simplifications, but it’s typically true that the worship style of an individual church tends to default to one aspect of the Trinity. What Marva J. Dawn is reminding us is that our worship should include all the aspects of the Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.