Our Philosophy of Worship
“Worship is the submission of all our nature to God, it is the quickening of the conscience by His holiness; the nourishment of the mind with His truth; the purifying of imagination by his beauty; the opening of the heart to His love; the surrender of will to His purpose-----and all of this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable.” William Temple (Readings in St. John’s Gospel)
Summary of our Worship Style: Our worship is distinctively Reformed keeping the Word and Sacrament as the centerpiece of our worship and celebration each Sunday morning. We have “inhabited” the Reformed tradition of worship but acknowledge the valuable contributions of other worship traditions always striving for renewal and reform in our own.
“We want to show options within wholeness or better yet to create wholeness out of options; even better than that, to long for a new synthesis of the things that are separated and to pray for a cadre of artistic and ecclesiastical leaders who will bring us into startlingly brilliant territory:…” - Harold Best
Principles guiding the form and function of our worship includes the following:
a. Historic and Traditional: Worship that is historic recognizes the “history of the Holy Spirit” as it has given light and truth to past generations of faithful Christians. Worship that is traditional draws, and benefits from the accumulated wisdom, lore, and values of past generations.
b. Reformed and Relevant: TCGV has “inhabited” the Reformed tradition (Word and Sacraments) though we borrow freely from the strengths of other church movements and traditions. To be relevant is to be “contemporary” against the backdrop of history, effectively bridge the ancient and eternal truths of our faith into the modern contemporary world. Our musical expression incorporates different types of instrumentation appropriate to the theme.
c. Liturgical and Dialogical: Liturgy forms belonging to community with ritual, and establishes a thoughtful, theologically, substantive context for the worshipping community. Liturgy keeps worshippers engaged (“leitourgia”—Gk. Lit “ergon” work, and “laos” the people, “the work of the people”). Dialogical worship is an active, lively, engaging conversation between God and the worshipper, transforming worshippers from spectator to participant.
TCGV Philosophy of Worship.pdf