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Worshipping the Spirit

Worshipping the Spirit

By tim
11 Jun 2008

We've recently returned from a Worship Central Retreat where we embarked on a lively discussion. Can we sing songs of worship directed to the Holy Spirit?

Our worship needs to be Spirit led. In fact we cannot worship without the Holy Spirit. It is God’s Spirit alone that brings revelation to which we whole-heartedly respond. As Phil 3:3 says, ‘we who worship by the Spirit of God.’

Ultimately Holy Spirit-led worship will lead us to the place where we exalt Christ and the Father. It will enable us to cry out ‘Jesus is Lord’ (1 Corinthians 12:3) and will lead us to enjoy intimacy with the Father allowing us to call out ‘Abba Father’ (Galatians 4:6).

There is a clear need in our songs of worship to explore and respond to God the Trinity. No one questions songs addressed to the Father, or songs to Christ the Son, but can we sing 'Holy Spirit, glorify Your name?' It's a question theologians have chewed over for centuries. Feeling out of my depth on this I asked our resident theologian Graham Tomlin to shed some light. Here are his thoughts.

"I know it is something of a vexed issue as to whether we should sing or pray to the Holy Spirit or worship the Spirit directly. Because of the theology you find in John’s gospel where the Spirit points to Jesus, some would argue that it is inappropriate to worship the Spirit or sing to the Spirit or pray to him. However this was a point that was intensely debated in the early church, and the early Fathers, especially Gregory of Nyssa, Gregory of Nazianzus and (especially) Basil the Great argued that it was perfectly proper to pray to and to worship the Holy Spirit, simply because he is divine! If we do not worship him, then it implies that he is less than divine. Their argument was to show that the HS was divine, because he does what God does (bring the creation to completion, transform, renew and bring life). Because these are divine actions and these are attributed to the Spirit in Scripture, therefore the Spirit is divine. And if the Spirit is divine, then he should be worshipped along with the Father and the Son."

I thought it would be interesting to kick start a bit of an online discussion. Let me know what you think. It would be great to hear if any one has some good quotes, thoughts, even song ideas expressing some of these themes.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Tim


Gravatar for Al Gordon Al Gordon From HTB
#1
1 July 2008 - 9:54pm
great post mate
Gravatar for Seymour (not verified) From unknown
#2
11 June 2008 - 7:26am
Hmm, never thought about this before, but due I'm sure in part to general Christian upbringing it doesn't feel natural to praise the holy spirit - but what feels natural the first time you try it anyway? Only thing that occurs to me is that the HS never speaks audibly in the bible: Christ and God do, yet God speaks thru the Prophets via the HS (please correct me 1. if I've digressed horribly and/or 2. I'm completely wrong) but the HS never speaks himself. Just my 2 minutes of thoughts... btw Tim, love the music - after 8 years in the wilderness "Holding Nothing Back" contributed greatly to bringing me back to Christ :) God Bless you
Gravatar for emma (not verified) From unknown
#3
11 June 2008 - 7:39am
Great new song choice for during the Euro 2008, guys :0)
Gravatar for Al Gordon Al Gordon From HTB
#4
11 June 2008 - 7:59am
I think Graham's spot on and puts it beautifully. We worship God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit: the-three-times-holy-three-in-one, the Holy Holy Holy. It's a full-on mystery. Christopher Cocksworth writes in Holy, Holy, Holy: Worshipping the Trinitarian God, that “it would be foolish and unfair to devise our own understanding of God and to refuse to engage with the way God has described himself... God has spoken to reveal who he is. God has given his self revelation. God has shown himself to be the Trinitarian God of love.”
Gravatar for steve cracknell (not verified) From unknown
#5
11 June 2008 - 8:32am
If we believe ithere is only one God Father Son and Spirit then however we address God we worship Him. I have a song written in 1975 born out of the charismatic renewal of the time "Holy Spirit we sing to you we lift our voice as one." (This one is not on my website) This song recognises the indiviual work of the Spirit but there is still only one God
Gravatar for phil (not verified) From unknown
#6
11 June 2008 - 8:55am
Hi Tim, Wow great question. I'm going to have to give this one some more thought. When I read 'Good Morning Holy Spirit' that definately gave me a greater understanding of the Holy Spirit and the fact that He is a real person. If the three members of the trinity are equal (are they?) then does this mean they deserve to be worshipped an equal amount? Can we worship one without worshipping the other? I have started a discussion about this on my site too as I think it's such a great topic: http://www.hemustincrease.com/forum/topic/show?id=988607%3ATopic%3A63658 Thanks, Phil
Gravatar for liam byrnes (not verified) From unknown
#7
11 June 2008 - 10:51am
As a worship leader who just finished a degree in theology I love conversations like this, I think theology forces us to really engage with the things we sing. I would agree with Graham Tomlin that the Holy Spirit is divine and deserves to be a focus in our worship, in fact if we refuse to worship the Holy Spirit we end up with a hierarchical relationship in the trinity instead of the Perichoresis image of the trinity which describes the inter-relatedness and mystery of three persons, one God. Although as Graham says the Holy Spirit points to Jesus, we also see jesus pointing to the Father theough his ministry in the Gospels, and the Father pointing to Jesus through the prophets of the Old testament, this seems to encourage the idea that God is One yet three. The idea of the trinity was a really helpful unpacked for me a few years ago by Eugene Petersons very accesible Book 'Christ plays in ten Thousand Places' where he speaks about how a good translation of perichoresis as dance.
Gravatar for tino (not verified) From unknown
#8
11 June 2008 - 10:55am
No reason why we shouldn't worship the Holy Spirit. He is just as much a part of the Godhead as Jesus and the Father. Father God and Jesus are in heaven and it is the Holy Spirit that is the part of the Godhead on the earth. When we feel His presence it is the presence of the Holy Spirit that we feel and engage with. Besides, the scripture says that "God is Spirit". If Jesus wasn't talking about the Holy Spirit in that statement then who was He talking about? Cheers Tino
Gravatar for dan bladen (not verified) From unknown
#9
11 June 2008 - 1:21pm
I agree with Graham. if the Holy Spirit is the gift of God's own life to us then surely He is to be worshipped.
Gravatar for david (not verified) From unknown
#10
11 June 2008 - 1:41pm
I agree...a great question and a very timely one. Worshipping the Trinity is something i've been thinking about and recently reading a book of that name by Robin Parry...i recommend it highly. For me the book opens up some of the many facets of the wonderfully mysterious Trinitarian God we worship. In some ways like a diamond that you can never get bored of looking at, different from every angle. I'm 100% convinced that we should be worshipping the Holy Spirit along with the Father and the Son. He is God, He played His part in creation and, just like Christ, is an incredible gift of God to his people.