Worship and the Conversion of Creation

Creation is mute. We give it a voice. Creation expresses not only how wise God is, but how highly He values us. It is a lavish love gift. And we, who are made in His image, are uniquely qualified to articulate those things. For we are the central intersection of the visible and invisible worlds, the place where the biological and the angelic meet. We are also designed to perceive and respond to both worlds. And ultimately, in a form higher than the limitations of instinct, genetics, and the appetites, our spirits are designed to perceive and respond to His Spirit.

Creation is also convertible. It is under our lordship, and we may tame, improve, and expand it as we will. Likewise, if we remain enslaved to the Fall of our First Parents who were commissioned with this calling, we may kill, plunder, destroy, and reduce it. The gift is ours and the choice is ours. But when we tap into the higher purpose of our lordship over creation–that we are stewards of God’s development thereof–then all things good become possible. We realize that the Garden of Eden is the homestead from which a global garden city will grow, a community where God dwells with us as Friend and King. Art, architecture, and infrastructure  are, in their highest form, a platform of creation converted into a form that facilitates community with one another and communion with God.

How does this relate to worship? Through us creation is given a voice and rendered articulate in praise to God. The wood of a tree descended from the first of its kind is formed into the body of a violin. Ebony, rosewood, or boxwood–trees that converted soil, sun, and rain unto unique grains–becomes the pegs tuning the strings. And the strings, be they from the bowels of the sheep or from the bowels of the earth (nylon from crude oil, the residue of a past age; or coiled metal from a mine where the ore had slept for millennia) become subject to the wood. And the hair of a horse, hair from one who enjoyed dew drenched grass, becomes the bow that rests on them. And the musician, whose morning orange juice was the fruit of a Florida grove that, along with his breakfast of ham and eggs, convert to strength for his skillful hands, takes up the violin as its gracious steward. And together musician and instrument work with the air as it meets the wood, bow and strings and responds in waves, giving the mute air a voice.

The violinist converts creation into praise, and this in turn resonates with the worshipper as she too gives the creation of her self a voice that sings not merely sounds, but words that respond back to the original Word, the Word Made Flesh. And in spirit she is bonded with Him, and He with her, and God dwells with her. She becomes a beautiful home in the garden city.

 

 

 

Tagged as: , , , ,

Leave a Comment


Click the button to subscribe to the Pick Up the Trail newsletter and explore the works I write. If you find these explorations simple and beautiful, then I have accomplished my desire.

Sign Up