Worship is a state of heart – a holiday art project 
Whenever I go away on holiday it always seems to kick off creative thoughts. This is probably because all the creative energy needed for the general busyness of life isn’t being used and therefore the creative part of my brain kicks into gear.
This holiday was no different.
Making a statement
I was inspired by a conversation I had with one of our music team about worship, and how easily it becomes religious. Not religious in a good sense, but in the sense of a ritual or procedure that becomes void of God’s presence. It also became clear that the danger with religion is that it hides itself within the merits of righteousness, covering its idolatry by painfully blinding self righteousness. As I thought about it more and more it became pretty obvious that, as Christians, every one of us believes we are free from this religion. We all believe we are living in a real, living, breathing relationship with God through relevant and godly practices. This is perhaps no more believed than by us, charismatic, evangelical Christians. We are absolutely convinced that our practices and rituals are filled with His presence and reality.
I began to think about how we can look down on overtly ‘religious’ practices and objects, such as statues, buildings or paintings and forget to check our own hearts for where our rituals and practices have become void of God’s actual living presence. After all, worship is a state of heart.
Using an app
I had recently downloaded ‘Rhonna’, a photo editing app designed to add 
creative captions to photos. This got me thinking. I decided to work on a number of photos (kindly donated by some of our creative people) that depicted overtly religious symbols and added the phrase ‘Worship is a state of heart’. This would connect with most of us as a challenge on the religious nature of the photo. I then used some contemporary ‘worship’ photos taken in our services and added the same statement, worship is a state of heart. The aim is to remind us all that worship isn’t really about buildings, statues, paintings and objects, but it’s also not really about microphones, arm raising, guitars or singing. Worship truly is a state of heart.
Over-used and misunderstood
John 4 is one of the most overused passages of scripture in relation to worship. But so often it is placed within the constraints of what we know or accept as worship, and this creates a misunderstanding. If we view worship as kneeling in pews or a rock concert, or singing or paintings or any particular thing we make the same mistake the woman in this passage makes.
“Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you [the Jews] say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” John 4 v 20
She wants to know where is the place that true worship happens. Her Fathers worshipped on this mountain, showing her connection to her heritage or culture. But she has also heard the Jews say the true place of worship is Jerusalem. So where is the true place of worship?
Jesus’ response? Neither.
“a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.” John 4 v 21
It’s not about this mountain, or that mountain, it’s not even about Jerusalem! He goes on to say the famous words; “the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth,”. It’s not about places, objects, things, ceremonies or practices. It’s about Spirit and it’s about Truth.
A reminder
May we remind ourselves and each other on a daily basis that Worship is a state of heart. And only as we turn our hearts towards our saviour and Lord Jesus in Spirit and Truth may we truly worship our Father in heaven. And may we check our hearts regularly for where self righteousness covers up our religiousness so we too can worship in Spirit and in Truth.
Creative night
I’ll be sharing more about this project and some other Creative projects at our next Creative Night on Monday 30th September, at 8pm at ACC. Entry is free and there will be loads of other creative pieces including music, poetry, paintings, photography and more
Tim Barton