The Worship Quote of the Week for (09/03/2002):

Christ-Centered Worship Today’s WORSHIP QUOTE is taken from WORSHIP BY THE BOOK, a brand new volume edited by D. A. Carson. This selection is by Kent Hughes, the pastor of the College Church (Wheaton, Illinois), and deals with the importance of Christ-centeredness in Christian worship. CHRIST-CENTERED WORSHIP If you worship Christ as the CREATOR of everything, every cosmic speck across billions of light years of trackless space, the Creator of the textures, shapes and colors that dazzle our eyes: if you worship Christ as the SUSTAINER of all creation, who by his word holds the atoms of your body and this universe together; if you worship him as the GOAL of everything, that all creation is for him; if you further worship Christ as the RECONCILER of your soul—then you worship the God of the Bible. Anything less than this is reductionist and idolatrous. — R. Kent Hughes, "Free Church Worship: The Challenge of Freedom," chapter three of WORSHIP BY THE BOOK, edited by D. A. Carson. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002, p. 153. ISBN 0-310-21625-7. Other chapters in this book are by D. A. Carson, Timothy Keller, and Mark Ashton. Highly recommended! [Read Colossians 1:15-22 in light of the above quote; or rather, read the above quote in light of Colossians 1:15-22. For another WORSHIP QUOTE from Kent Hughes, take a look at www.wqotw.org/WQOTW/2002_WQs/WQ04302002.txt.] Have a great week, Chip Stam Director, Institute for Christian Worship School of Church Music and Worship Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Louisville, Kentucky www.carlstam.org www.sbts.edu