Relationship With God And With Your Family Religion Essay

Relationship With God And With Your Family Religion Essay As we begin our worship pilgrimage together, perhaps it will be best to try to get at the core meaning of worship. The word worship itself is fascinating. It is a shortened English version of the old Anglo-Saxon word weorthscipe, which is transliterated Worth-ship. It simply means worthiness. Thus to worship someone means to recognize and to declare that persons worth (Basen 1999:17). Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord (Colossians 3:16:2193, LASB). There have been a great many definitions of worship, some of quite recent origin, yet, it is my main purpose to analyse the different forms of worship. To worship, finally implies to do or to work, so let us reflect on each worship experience and give ideas on how our churches should facilitate worship. ASSIGNMENT 1 1. Experience of a liturgical worship service. a. Briefly describe the service event by event. On Sunday 15 August 2010 I went to the Lutheran Church with one of my colleagues. He is the Reverend of that specific Lutheran Church. The service began with opening sentences from Psalm 124: If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, let Israel now say. The Reverend then followed by saying The Lord be with you. This was followed by a prayer of confession and then by a biblical word of comfort and an absolution. The absolution is confession that you are a sinner, humbling yourself before God. Thereafter followed the singing of the Ten Commandments, sometimes done in two segments with a prayer in between. Up to this point, the service had been led from the Communion table. Now, either during the singing of the second hymn, the Reverend took his place in the pulpit. First he would offer a prayer for illumination, read the lesson for the day and preached the sermon. Then the collection of Alms takes place. Following the sermon, the R everend offered a lengthy prayer of intercession, which concluded with the Lords Prayer. The Apostles Creed was said or sung at the conclusion of the prayer. Psalm 138 was sung and there followed a prayer of thanksgiving. The people were dismissed with the benediction. b. Discuss how it facilitated worship as revelation and response. Revelation and response for the Lutheran Church entails the following: Although the liturgical worship is structured very formal, the people are called to worship with sentences taken from Scripture. They use the Scripture of Isaiah 6:1-9, where Isaiah sees a vision of the Holy God, and confesses his sin and finds forgiveness when an angel burns his lips with a burning coal from the altar. The aim for the Lutheran Church is that the people may bow before the transcendent glory of God, that is, to praise Gods greatness and power. When you have experienced Contemporary worship, by comparison, the closeness of God receives much less emphasis. In this worship, they see it appropriate to feel Gods greatness more than His nearness. They observe God from a distance, not up close. In Liturgical worship the service moves from adoration to confession to absolution to commission. They do everything in a fitting and orderly way. H ymns of praise and adoration are used to highlight the greatness and glory of God, not the worshipers thoughts or feelings about God. They do the corporate confession of sin by reading Scripture passages, the call to worship and the benediction also do the same. In the Lutheran Church, the congregation performs the Lords Prayer or repeats the Apostels Creed as a confession of faith. 2. Experience of a traditional worship service. a. Briefly describe the service event by event. On Sunday 22 August 2010 I went to the Reformed Church with my Mother in Mokopane (Potgietersrus). First it is interesting to note that in the Reformed Church the organ plays the most important part before the service commences. The organ is the only instrument used to create worship and praise. Also very interesting is the pulpit in the middle front of the church with the elderly and the deacons sitting on each side of the pulpit. The deacons come in first, then the elderly together with the Reverend. Before he gets onto the pulpit, he first prays at the foot of the pulpit. The service begins with one of the elderly blessing the Reverend. The Reverend then follows by giving the Opening Prayer. This was followed by a song from their hymn books, consisting of Psalms and Songs. Then everybody says out loud the Apostles Creed and the Ten Commandments. Then the collection of Alms takes place. Before the Reverend starts his sermon, he gives a lesson on the Scripture that he is going to us e for the day. The Reformed Church uses the Old Testament more than the New Testament. Again he then prays before he commences with the sermon and then a prayer. After the sermon they sing a song again from the Psalms and Songs hymn book and then everybody stands to receive the blessing or grace from God. b. Discuss how it facilitated worship as revelation and response. Although less formal than the Liturgical style, traditional worship still follows a planned and structured order. Gratitude and preaching dominate traditional worship. The overall purpose is to lead the congregation to thank God for His goodness and to hear God speak through His Word. The Reformed Church demands that Psalms, not hymns, were to be sung and the organ were to be played in the service. Their preaching includes exegetical preaching for the week to insure that every worshiper was confronted every week with the promises and demands of God. In this way heartfelt worship can occur. 3. Experience of a contemporary worship service. a. Briefly describe the service event by event. On Sunday 29 August 2010 I attended my own Church (Living Word Church) in Brummeria. Our Church starts with the Pastor welcoming everybody in the building. Then the praise and worship starts with a band and a lead worshipper. Our music is gospel and contemporary Christian songs that stirs the emotions and prepares the heart for the sermon. We sing first the praise songs and then the worship songs. Usually the praise songs speaks about revival and renewal, stressing the need for God to visit His people in power, such as Lord, Send a Revival or Nothing but the Blood of Jesus. There is singing, clapping, and shouting praises to God. Then we go over to the worship songs that prepare us for a connection with Jesus and the Holy Spirit. During the worship people might lie on their faces or bow down seeking the face of God. Others will dance before God seeking to have a personal relationship with God, getting into the Holy of Holiest. We all kn ow that praise and worship is very important, but the sermon is actually the main event for the day. The congregation then hears an evangelistic message calling everyone present to get saved or sin and redemption. After the sermon the Pastor will pray and then start with the call for unbelievers in the worship service to make a personal decision to follow Jesus Christ. The invitation is sometimes lengthy in order to allow unbelievers to recognize their need of Jesus Christ. b. Discuss how it facilitated worship as revelation and response. Our Church uses informal methods that speak about exuberance, zeal and sometimes aggressive preaching, but it is still generally planned and structured. This style of worship seeks to turn lost sinners towards a merciful God. The informal mood of the service directly impacts the emotions, so that we will feel Gods presence during worship. Our worship also motivates us as believers to live godly lives in an ungodly world and to share our witness with unbelievers. Worship in our Church incorporates both revelation and response. As God reveals His power, we respond in wonder. As God reveals His grace, we respond in humility and prayer. 4. Personal reflection on the three experiences. a. Discuss how Parretts teachings and the three experiences have impacted your own understanding of worship. Let us first look at the style of worship: Parrett (Parrett 2008:22) says the following: There is no such thing as the correct style, whether traditional, contemporary, mystical, or liturgical. All our styles of worship must be submitted to the test of substance is God plainly revealed through the elements of worship, and are the worshippers assisted in response to Him? Our worship must be God-focused and Christ-centred! It must include elements of revelation and response that are Biblically informed and Biblically faithful (Parrett 2008:23). The liturgical worship service for me has got many strong points. The formal structure takes the congregation to God because He is worthy to be praised in majesty and honour. Magnifying Gods transcendence brings to mind in the worshiper a sense of amazement. Their Scripture reading enfolds the liturgical service more than it does any other worship style. The only thing that bothers me is the fact that the God who is worshipped in the liturgical service seems unapproachable. Although I grew up in The Reformed Church, the traditional worship service for me is somewhat predictable and boring, but it will always hold a special place in my heart. Why do I say that it is predictable and boring? The service is formal and for that reason you sometimes struggle to warm your heart for whats to come. But yes, they worship God who is Great and Good, Holy and Helpful. The problem with traditional worship service is the fact that the young believers think this style is boring. Contemporary worship service makes it almost impossible to sit still. The music excites you and you just want to worship God. Everything is excellent, the only problem that I experience is that Christians begin to think that the only way to please God is to be saved and baptized, even if they have already done so before. So often people also feel guilty of not serving God every minute of the day. It impacted my understanding of worship in the following way: Diverse cultural backgrounds and personality types make it highly unlikely that one worship style will fit all people. What seems genuine and meaningful to some strikes others as false and blasphemous. Worship styles isnt really the primary issue, it is absolute essential that the Church keep God as the subject of worship since to be Christian means to believe that God revealed in Jesus Christ is everything to us, Creator, Provider and Sustainer. We must always remember that God has called us to be His people and that our ability to respond to that call in worship is totally the gift of Gods grace. I think the only aim is to please God, whether by adoration and praise, prayer and proclamation, confessions and offerings, thanksgivings and commitment, or all these actions combined. b. Indicate how you believe your church could broaden its understanding and practice of worship. Dawn (1995:124) gives the following on what people want and need: My point is that people want worship to be more meaningful, but they often need careful instruction to make it so. Children, teenagers, young adults, senior citizens all will gladly receive more depth, especially because so much is our world is superficial and trival or else deep in a way that is painful and tragic. Here are a few ideas on how the Church should broaden its understanding and practice of worship: First of all, there can be no worship if we dont deal with our inner self. All Christians are supposed to be faithful, however, some do have a continuous struggle with doubt. The Churches must remember, good worship heals a sinful, selfish congregation and enables it to assume the burden of discipleship. Worship fosters the attitudes and convictions that enable people to worship. The churchs calling is to bring people to an awareness of the true nature of the things that steals our spiritual energy and to provide them with appropriate nourishment (food for the soul). Worship leaders facilitate worship by guiding people in the use of their senses and thoughts, they must also clear away the obstacles and distractions that hinder focused prayer and meditation. We should remember that services of worship are constructed by human beings, and like all things, they deteriorate and need renewal from time to time. Before Christians set about renewing their Churches and reforming their worship , they need to over think the implications of the fact that they have no power to save themselves, only God has that power. A congregation that fails to insist on the very highest standards in its worship is demonstrating not charity, but blasphemy. No Christian community should ever even think of offering God anything but the best of which it is capable (Frankforter 2001:146). CONCLUSION I have reflected on three worship services, discussed how it facilitated worship as revelation and response and tried to broaden my understanding and practice of worship. We should always remember, the success of worship is not measured by its entertainment values, nor is its success the sole responsibility of the leaders. We the Church should never sit passively waiting for worship to happen, we must practice the discipline of prayer and meditation. There should always be the willingness to make personal sacrifices to serve God.

Glass Menagerie and Streetcar Named Desire - Comparing Amanda Wingfield and Blanche Dubois :: comparison compare contrast essays

A Comparison of Amanda Wingfield And Blanche Dubois In today's rough and tough world, there seems to be no room for failure. The pressure to succeed in life sometimes seems unreasonable. Others often set expectations for people too high. This forces that person to develop ways to take the stress and tension out of their lives in their own individual ways. In the plays "The Glass Menagerie" and " A Streetcar Named Desire" written by Tennessee Williams, none of the characters are capable of living in the present and facing reality. Two of the characters are Amanda Wingfield and Blache Dubios. In order for these characters to deal with the problems and hardships in their lives they retreat into their own separate worlds of illusion and lies. Amanda Wingfield is mother of Tom and Laura. She is a middle-aged southern belle whose husband has abandoned her. She spends her time reminiscing about the past and nagging her children. Amanda is completely dependent on her son Tom for finical security and holds him fully responsible for her daughter Laura's future. Amanda is obsessed with her past as she constantly reminds Tom and Laura of that " one Sunday afternoon in Blue Mountain when she once received seventeen gentlemen callers" (pg.32). The reader cannot even be sure that this actually happened. However, it is clear that despite its possible falsity, Amanda has come to believe it. Amanda also refuses to acknowledge that her daughter Laura is crippled and refers to her handicap as " a little defect-hardly noticeable" (pg.45). Only for brief moments does she ever admit that her daughter is crippled and then she resorts back into to her world of denial and delusion. Amanda puts the weight of Laura's success in life on her son T om's shoulders. When Tom finally finds a man to come over to the house for diner and meet Laura, Amanda blows the situation way out of proportion. She believes that this gentlemen caller, Jim, is going to be the man to rescue Laura. When in fact neither herself nor Laura has even met this man Jim yet. She tries to explain to Laura how to entertain a gentleman caller; she says-talking about her past " They knew how to entertain their gentlemen callers. It wasn't enough for a girl to be possessed of a pretty face and a graceful figure although I wasn't slighted in either respect.

City and Urbanization

Urbanization is a socio-economic process by which an increasing proportion of the population of an area becomes concentrated into the towns and cities. The term is also defined as the level of population concentration in urban areas. The proc ess of urbanization increases both the number and size of towns and cities. Urbanization is the most significant phenomenon of the 20th century which has almost affected all aspects of the national life in India. Being the second most populous country in the world after China India's fast growing urbaniza tion has a regional as well as world- ide impact.India's urban population constitutes a sizeable pro portion of the world's urban population. This can be well corroborated from the fact that every 12th city dweller of the world and every 7th of the developing countries is the Indian. India has as many small towns (population 20,000-49,999) as in the United States as many as medium towns (population 50,000 – 99,999) as in the former Sovie t Union; as many cities (population 100,000-499,999) as in the United States; and as many metropolises (population+500,OOO) as in Australia, France and Brazil combined.India has a long radition of urbanization which has continued since the days of the Indus Valley civilization. According to an estimate the percentage share of urban population to total popu lation was higher in the last part of the 17th century in comparison to the last part of the 19th century. The development of cottage industries and tertiary ac tivities during the medieval period helped in the evolution of about 3,200 towns and 120 cities in the country around 1586 A. D. (Raza, M, 1985, p. 60).The damage to this indigenous industrial structure during the colonialism gave a serious blow to the process of urbanization. The roots of the existing process of urbanization lie in Western model of factory industries which started developing in the country during the early part of the 20th century. Urbanization, in India, can be studied through Census data provided at a regular interval of 10 years since 1881 onwards. These data help us in analyzing the trends of growth in the urban popula tion, decennial increase, and urbanization and number towns during the 20th century.At the time of the reliable Census taken in 1881 the urban population contributed 9. 3 per cent of the total population of the country. The growth-trend was sluggish and even negative in some decades (1911-21) due to outbreak of epidemic (plague) and natural calamities, trend of slow growth in urbanization continued unto 1931. The decade 1931-41 observed about 32 cent growth in the urban population which increase' its share in total population to 14. 1 percent. The growth trend was further accelerated during the following decade which witnessed a decennial growth of 41. 2 per cent (Table 28. II) Raising the percentage share to 14. 1 . Here rehabilitation of refugees from Pakistan into cities played a significant role. During 1951-6 1 the growth trend as slowed down (26. 4 per cent) which contributed marginal increase (percent) in the urbanization ratio. It was due to change in the definition of urban places and declassification of 803 towns in 1961 Census. Since 1961 onward there has been steep rise in the urban population and urbanization ratio so as to reach its highest point during 1971-81 (decadal growth being 46. 2 percent and addition of record number of 900 new towns). This was the peak point in the urban growth of the country during the 20th century. The trend ot growth nas been slightly slowed down during 1981-91 (39. 32 per cent) and 1991-2001 (31. 8 per cent) which is a matter of serious study by urban geographers and urban sociologists. Causes may be many folds including increasing pollution, decreasing opportunities of employment and liveli hood in urban areas and development of new sources of livelihood in rural areas to reduce the flow of rural migrants.Above description leads us to conclude tha t during the last 90 years of the 20th century the number of towns has increased by 144. 6 per cent? urban population by 140,23 per cent, and urbaniza tion ratio by 133,6 per cent. Industrialization con comitant with economic development and rural o urban migration has made significant contribution towards this phenomenal growth. But compared with developed countries this rate of urbanisation is still slower. Wulker has rightly observed that while in Western countries urbanization is expanding towards rural areas but in India rural life is influencing the urban areas.

Water and Quality - 1557 Words

(Rough draft) Final Lab Report Angela Blake SCI 207: Dependence of man on the environment Instructor: Bo Sosnicki Date: November 23, 2015 Introduction Body Paragraph #1 - Background: In this lab we will examine the different pollutants of water and examine contaminates of it as well. Body Paragraph # 2 - Objective: The lab was performed so we could investigate the effects of common pollutants on groundwater as well as mimic the filtration process utilized by wastewater treatment facilities. Body Paragraph # 3 - Hypothesis: Experiment 1 Hypothesis = I think that the bleach will filtrate and remove the contaminants because bleach removes contaminants. Experiment 2 Hypothesis = I think the tap water will contain the most†¦show more content†¦My water also smells very dirty like dirt. #6 Beaker My water is darker in color now with particles but the dirt/soil smell is not as strong and all of the oil is filtered out as well. (The oil was left in the soil). #7 Beaker My water is about the same color as beaker 6 but has a light vinegar smell and soil smell. The water still has particles from the soil present. #8 Beaker My water is very foggy and a darker olive green color but smells very clean. My water also has a lot more particles present in the bottom of the beaker. The rough draft of the results section should include all tables used in your experiment. All values within the tables should be in numerical form and contain units. For instance, if measuring the amount of chloride in water you should report as 2 mg/L or 0 mg/L not as two or none. Body Paragraph # 1: The rough draft of the results section should also describe important results in paragraph form, referring to the appropriate tables when mentioned. This section should only state the results as no personal opinions should be included. A description of what the results really mean should be saved for the discussion. For example, you may report, 0mg/L of chlorine were found in the water, but should avoid personal opinions and interpretations such as, no chlorine was found in the water showing it is cleaner than the others samples. Experiment 3: Drinking Water Quality Table 2:Show MoreRelatedWater Quality Of Drinking Water1629 Words   |  7 Pagesdrinking water.† This may not seem serious, but it is Water quality is sometimes unseen, it is a serious issue yet often ignored by many. Most people are convinced that bottle water is the best solution therefore no one really questions the quality of tap water. As a result, tap water is rarely investigated, and this leads to a detrimental issues. 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