47:1, ‘sing for joy’ Psalm 95:1 ‘leap
for joy’ Luke 6:23 accompanying our
worship. These expressions though
many and varied are also meant to
visibly communicate allegiance to our
creator and are a necessary part of our
witness as believers to all creation of
what God means to us.
The word ‘worship’
appears about 108 times
in the entire bible.
Having defined ‘worship’ let’s attempt
to understand the difference between
the ‘art’ of worship and the ‘act’ of
worship.
As earlier mentioned, the “art” of
a thing usually refers to “the skill of
doing a thing through practice”. The
art of worship (proskoneo) therefore
begins with the skill of developing a
true love relationship with the Lord
and going on to express it outwardly
through singing, lifting up of hands,
bowing etc all in an attitude of
reverence. This ‘art’ though important
for every believer, comes into greater
focus in the lives of musicians and
worship leaders (minstrels) because
of their lead role in worship as well as
their role in the production of worship
resources (audiovisual material etc)
which they make available to the
body of believers for their edification.
Minstrels are in a position to make
major impact in the lives of other
believers and are therefore expected
to 1) have a deeper than average
understanding of worship, 2) have
a deeper knowledge of its dynamics
and 3) be able to handle these skills
for both personal and congregational
advantage. An instrumentalist who
understands the art of worship will
use the instrument to full effect in
worship compared to a player who is
only skilled at his instrument but has no
clue of what it means to relate to God.
At best the latter will only be able to
act out the motions of worship instead
of truly worshiping. For the minstrel,
the ‘art’ of worship also includes the
skill of achieving an atmosphere of