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Thanks Andy. Your comment went into my spam filter… Just saw it now. Sorry about that!

Perhaps this is one way of opening it up. The Bible has authority to challenge me and I am also assured that by nodding my head to what it says my relationship with God will be strengthened and be more enjoyable. Therefore, I can read or sing a Psalm and feel one hundred percent comfortable with it, that using it for worship will mean my worship is going directly to God and not an idea of God, whether it be my own idea or someone else’s.

Likewise, certain worship music lines up more squarely with what I see written in the Bible (lyrically) and therefore it is more appropriate, I feel, for intimate time. It is simply able to line up my heart and mind more closely and more in tune with God more effectively. Those that are more effective are more appropriate in this context.

I’ve been able to worship God through non-Christian artists’ music before, but not in ‘intimate time’. This is because in those songs the musical content moves me, but I have to do the work of filtering out lyrical content. I don’t really want to have to work at filtering when I’m spending intimate time with God. I don’t find it helpful for enjoying myself. Here I just want to chill and enjoy the fellowship, company and presence of my friend and King.

Lyrical content is what is important, I guess. When my wife and I were looking at what kind of tunes to play at our wedding for background music, we found there were a lot of nice-sounding songs that weren’t appropriate due to lyrical content.

I mean, there were a ton of break-up songs on the list. Just because ‘It Must Have Been Love’ by Roxette (ooh, we’re now scraping the barrel and I promise it was NEVER on our list) sounds romantic doesn’t mean it’s something to slow-dance with your wife to. I mean, it’s a break up song. You don’t play it at weddings 🙂

Oh, and I look forward to your article on God’s presence in the context of His omnipresence too.

Andy Rogers

I find myself still pulling at this string. What qualifies something as appropriate for or worthy of “the intimate”?

The worship and enjoyment question is a great question. No, these are not two separate spheres for me at all. In fact, the very opposite. I believe God can be enjoyed through all of life and this is actually the point of life – to enjoy God, thereby glorifying Him. We were made to enjoy Him and that’s what we should aim to do in life, thereby enjoying life as well!

However, I suppose what I mean when I say ‘worship to it’ (the album) is that I’m referring to intimate time with God. I mean, I’m able to enjoy God through music in many ways regardless of what may be sung and the music style but I’ll be a little different when I am looking to use music in my intimate times.

To paint a picture, there are certain kinds of music I would put on when I wanted to have a romantic dinner with my wife… not that the other kinds are not enjoyable, or not valid, or that we could not have a good time if they were being played — but it’s all about context.

As to engaging in those areas we are different, absolutely. I’ve been thinking a lot about God’s presence lately, in terms of the doctrine of omnipresence. I’ll be putting some notes together soon and I’ll send them to you 🙂 .

One point of intruigue: how is is that you can not “worship to” something that you enjoy? Are these separate spheres for you?

Note: no bongos were harmed or used in the making of this album. What you hear is undoubtedly Ronan Skillen on tabla – one of the most difficult Indian classical instruments to master.