A Wesleyan Theology Of Worship

Wesleyan liturgical theology is deeply concerned to define worship as more than public acts. Worship has to do with all of life, with relationships, and with vocations. In deed and thought believers continually act out their relationship to Christ. Christianity, as John Wesley describes it, is the method of worshiping God which has been revealed to us by Jesus Christ. Christ makes known the profusion of God's love for us, and faith ("the eyes of the newborn soul") apprehends this love. Faith involves us in a life of worship as we are drawn to adore and to imitate the God who has loved us. Thus "worship," in the Wesleyan tradition, encompasses not only public rituals and private devotions, but the Christian life in all its fullness. Worship is much more than the simple awareness of God. In its most general sense, worship is adoration, the loving contemplation of God's holiness. Worship, says Wesley, brings us into the presence of God. Through it we "find such a near approach [to God…