Worship - One, Two, Three

I've been reading this book called "Rhythms of Grace" by Mike Cosper. It's excellent. It was suggested to me by a Pastor in our area. He said that after the Worship Director at his church read it, it changed his whole mindset on worship. Rather than changing my mind on worship, Im finding myself agreeing a lot with what Cosper has written.

One concept that Cosper talks about in the book he calls Worship One, Two, Three. Instead of assuming that you'll pick up the book and read it yourself I want to share this concept with you here. Now, to be clear, I didn't come up with this. Im just summarizing a concept that I read in his book (I just want to give credit where credit is due).

Worship One, Two, Three is a way of summarizing some basic theology of worship. There is One object and author, Two contexts, and Three audiences. This helps us to remember first that worship is about God and by God's grace. Second, we worship as a scattered body in all of life as well as a gathered body on Sunday. Lastly, the three audiences of worship are God, the body of Christ, and the World.

One.
It is vital that we remember that worship starts and ends with God. It is by His grace that we are able to be in relationship with Him. It is by His grace that we are able to hear from Him and respond. Worship is also about God. During worship we retell His Story of redemption through out the ages. We hear His Word, and we are participating in giving Him glory. God wrote the story, and it's all about Him and His Glory, and in worship we get to participate in that.

Two.
Worship occurs in two contexts. First it occurs as the Gathered Body of Christ. This is when we meet together, usually on Sundays. We participate together in retelling the story of redemption and we hear from God, respond, and then are sent out. Which then leads to the second context, worship as the Scattered Body of Christ. This is each individual Christian worshipping God through daily life, offering his body as a living sacrifice. This worship occurs when Christians do everything in life as unto God, seeking to give Him glory through all they do, and working to tell The Story to anyone who will listen.
These contexts feed into each other. The worship of the Gathered Body spurs on individuals and encourages them in their worship as the Scattered Body. The worship of the Scattered Body proclaims Christ's sovereignty to all nations, which then increases the worship of the Gathered Body (at least it should).

Three.
Three 'audiences' (I dont like the word audience, but it's the word Cosper uses, and Im not sure what other word to use) participate in and observe Worship. The first and most important audience is obviously God. God participates in worship by giving us His Word, offering us forgiveness, and telling us how to live (among other things). The second audience is the Body of Christ. To be clear, the Body of Christ does not come to observe the service and be entertained. The Body of Christ becomes an audience when they participate with one another in proclaiming the Gospel. We hear our brothers and sisters proclaim The Story and also proclaim it back to them. The last audience is the World who observes from the darkness. They see the Body Gathered and Scattered, and hopefully hear the Gospel. The world observes worship by being in relationships with the Scattered Body. They also observe worship by actually attending a service with the Gathered Body. In both cases Christians need to be aware of the World and intentional in the work of proclaiming The Story clearly.

In sum: worship is about God and by God, it occurs when Christians gather together and when they are scattered into the world, lastly there are three audiences who participate in and observe worship: God, Christians, and the world. Im thankful for Mike Cosper's work in the renewal of worship in the Church and I think his Worship One, Two, Three concept is great. I hope you do too.