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The 3 Ingredients of Meaningful Worship
Brennan Manning speaks out profoundly—no wonder Evangelicals listen so attentively to this Catholic?

Last week I had the distinct honor to be invited to a small gathering of worship leaders from around the country. Each of us had racked up considerable accomplishments, even though some of our little cluster were in their mid-20s. It was hard not to be impressed, but our special mentor and presenter, Brennan Manning, managed to humble us all—thank you very much—with his wisdom and deep understanding of God's love. It was, in fact, a so-called "Ah Ha, Love Fest" moment!

Over the years, I have seen Mr. Manning many times at all of the usual places doing his usual thing—the places were, of course, generally large conferences where his content is invariably received with enthusiastic applause and volume sales of his books. There is no question that Mr. Manning always gets rapt attention when talking about his life and learning. For Evangelicals, he has become somewhat of a "mystic on the mountain," dispensing an unusual brand of conventional theology wrapped in the lexicon of a reflective monk.

Here are just three of the things we learned...

3 Things about worship from Brennan Manning...

1. If you want to benefit from  [worship], I suggest that you allow yourself to be loved...as you are, and not as you should be. Christianity does not exist in what we do for God, but what God does for us. It always starts with what God does for us. All He asks is that you be astonished at the fact that He bothered at all.

2. [Worship is] primarily listening. Like the Psalm says, "Be still and know that I am God." "And Know," is the experience. Do you allow a minimum of 12 minutes to reflect on the content of the sermon just given? We ignore silence and solitude, getting so caught up in the ministry, that the wild passionate love affair with Jesus, that is so life-giving, is conspicuously absent.

3. [Again,] self-hatred is the biggest obstacle [to worship] that I've run into in all of my years of ministry and that comes from a caricature, a distorted image of God. When was the last time you let yourself be loved for who you are, and not for who you should be?

Brennan's word to worship leaders... Surround yourself with really honest people who are not afraid to tell you when you're taking yourself too seriously.  These are true friends. Troubadours have always been more influential than theologians and bishops (from Ragamuffin Gospel) in the church. The greatest idol I find [in leaders] is ambition—the game of "one-ups-man-ship," where somehow I feel entitled to be constantly close to Jesus because of the power of my ministry is stronger than yours—forgetting that everything else is a gift.


Note: This gathering took place at Ocean Grove, New Jersey. Ocean Grove was founded in 1869 as an outgrowth of the camp meeting movement in the United States, when a group of Methodist clergymen, led by William B. Osborn and Ellwood H. Stokes, formed the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association to develop and operate a summer camp meeting site on the New Jersey shore. By the early 20th century, the popular Christian meeting ground became known as the "Queen of Religious Resorts." It's also where Fanny Crosby wrote many of her famous hymns. Another great hymn of the church emerged out of this rarified atmosphere—Great is Thy Faithfulness. God has, in fact, been very faithful at Ocean Grove!

For more quotes from Brennan Manning go to http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/27405.Brennan_Manning
For a listing of Mr. Manning's books as posted at Amazon.com, go to Brennan Manning.

Blessings,
Doug

—Doug Lawrence, internationally recognized speaker, author, and advisor, helps churches assess and improve their skillfulness in creating engaging worship experiences by utilizing his more than 35 years of "deep trench" worship leadership in prominent mainline churches. You may reach him at dlawrenceconsult@mac.com. Or, if you wish, call 1-650-207-8240 for assessment information and scheduling.


Doug now teams with the slingshotgroup.net to place 
extraordinary worship leaders in extraordinary churches.

For more on this, read Doug's article at Creator Magazine!