Journey to Riga 4

God is to be worshipped. Our great privilege is to be the worshippers that the Father seeks, and Romans 12:1 tells us that all of the Christian’s life is to be lived as telling forth the glory of God. Worship is not confined to the time we gather together as God’s people in church. However there is such a thing as corporate worship, when we focus our attention together on the One in whom we live, move and have our being.

Over the centuries, to our great shame, this corporate worship has been the scene of much strife and discord. In my own experience of over thirty five years as a Christian I have seen the whole idea of how we should come before our God stretched into all sorts of weird and not so wonderful forms. Theologically I come from a conservative background, with the conviction that God has given us clear guidelines in Scripture as to how He wishes to be worshipped by us. (For an interesting book about this subject see Worship By The Book,edited by Don Carson and published by Zondervan). I have found myself at times cringing with embarrassment as I’ve witnessed things offered up in various events – things which seemed to do little to raise Christ up, and much more to raise man. (I say this without reference to the motives of those who participated.) So when I come to new situations, I sometimes feel a nagging doubt that what is done may not necessarily be helpful in building each other up and glorifying Christ.
In Riga, I was told that an artist would be using her gifts as part of the worship. As you will understand, I was cautious in my approach to this. However I must admit that I found what she did helpful, challenging and inspiring. It was not “gimmicky” or showy, and done in a way which seemed to me to be Word centred. I will try to explain what happened.
I must begin with the artist herself. Her name is Kristine Peterson, married to a pastor/missionary in Latvia. She was trained as an artist, but went through a difficult time when she did not pick up her brushes at all. However when she turned again to paint, she asked herself how she could use this gift to the glory of God. She found one answer was to use her work as a visual way of connecting the message of the Bible with the congregation at worship.



Before the conference she had been meditating much on Scripture, and praying that God would lay something appropriate on her heart. She painted three times, and this happened during the meetings. She set up her easel at the side of the stage, so that it was not obtrusive, but everyone would be able to see. Then, as the congregation sang and prayed she painted. It was always finished before the preaching was done. What I found was that I would be singing, and occasionally looking over, seeing what she was doing, and as the picture developed, so a message was being given to us.
I will take the third picture, to explain more. The conference had been a challenge to get involved in Mission. Kristine began painting some words on the blank canvas: I’m afraid; I am not gifted; The cost is too much. She then drew an outline of a head around these words. Gradually this was filled in, whilst at the same time a hand was painted stretching from the other side of the canvas, pointing towards the lips. Eventually the whole of the head was filled in with all the excuses covered, and the words from Jeremiah 1:6 and 9 appeared – “Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.” …. Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the LORD said to me, "Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.”
The whole process was done in such an unobtrusive manner that it did not interfere with what else was happening. In my case at least it added a new dimension, and spoke clearly to serve the rest of the meeting. The preached word which followed was in no way diminished by what Kristine had done. Seeing the painting develop brought much more to the work, as in the finished picture you don’t see the excuses that have been covered. She herself is a humble person, with the simple desire to serve God and his people. These pictures are born out of prayer and meditating in God’s Word. So she succeeded in helping me to enter into the worship of the Christian community at the conference.