A Theology of Worship For First Free Brooklyn by Pastor Chris Hooper
February 2023 – Draft 0.1

Our worship is directed toward AND shaped by the one true God; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

• Our worship is inspired by, reflective of, and lift toward the Trinity. Our God is one in three persons and this truth matters profoundly to how we worship.
• The phrase “we come together to worship our God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,” or some equivalent, is spoken toward the beginning of nearly every Sunday worship gathering.
• Through the service we direct our songs, prayers, thanksgiving, and offering to God, who is one. At times we will as address a single person of the Trinity and often we will clarify we lift our worship to the Father through the Son by the Holy Spirit.

Worship Shaped By The Trinity is Relational

• Relational Worship is Creative & Reproducing (The Image of the Father?)
  • Deuto 6:4-6, Mark 12:28-34
  • Gen 2:27-28
  • Each service is uniquely created and formed around a presiding scriptural text.
  • Prayers, songs, calls to worship, etc are found, crafted, or revised to draw worshipers from our individual lives of discipleship into our corporate worship together toward hearing from God together from the central scripture with the Holy Spirit’s aid.
  • The actions of worship are not limited to the Sunday service but are culminated corporately there displaying our fellowship as Gods children and our unity in Christ. Here “all peoples” come together to raise one voice to God who unites us to himself and each other.
  • Our corporate worship involves actively as many attending congregants as deeply as is possible. If every attendee had a role every Sunday to read, teach, sing, hand out, welcome, collect, or anything else, it would be a wonderful construction of our worship time by the worshipers.
• Relational Worship is Incarnated & Sacrificial (The Image of the Son?)
  • Phil 2:1-11
  • 1 John, especially 3:11-24 (note verses 23 and 24 who the Trinity shapes our obedience in loving each other)
  • We bring our whole selves (body, mind, soul, emotions, abilities) with flaws and wounds to participate in worship with actual others (w/ their particularities, flaws, and wounds).
  • We stand, sit, read, sing, listen, and wait as led by each other submitting to the Spirit as he works through the preparation of leaders, the practice of a celebrant (reader, singer, musician), and our own participation as congregation members.
  • Worship is bearing the image of Christ before each other which requires our personal sacrifice. The offering up of a tithe our time, talent, and treasure is the core of worship even if a visitor only witnesses the hour long shell.
  • God is glorified by humble self sacrifice made by his people for his adoration and praise and he uses sacrifice to shape our soul and grow our faith.
  • Our online experience is a sacrifice made for those unable to join us due to illness, distance, or precaution. We need not judge those using it, nor have they asked for us to make it more central or normative.  
• Relational Worship is Animated & Inspired (Image of the Spirit?)
  • John 14:15-31, 17:20-26
  • Our preparation, presentation,  and participation desires to be animated (brought to life) by the Holy Spirit.  We pray for guidance, listen for direction, look to scripture that the Spirit inspired and illuminates and we trust that his quiet fresh movements lead our selection of songs, words, passages, quotes, and liturgy.
  • As congregationalists, we trust God’s Spirit leading the congregation, and we work hard to witness and lean into the Spirit impacting worshipers around us.  We listen with discernment to feedback, ideas for elements (songs, prayers, times of silence, etc), and we are open to occasional redirecting even mid-service.  We do value orderliness and highly value the Spirit’s role in preparation, so we don’t favor impromptu interjections or changes as “more Spirit led” than what God has guided us to in our preparation for worship. We depend on our leaders (elders and worship leaders) to make any decisions during worship service or before concerning any elements brought by other worshiping members.
  • We desire for worshipers to engage with their whole selves as the Spirit enlivens their spirit. We value people singing strongly, clapping if moved to, raising their arms or swaying with the music. However, we generally see emotional expression to be following intellectual examination and done within an ordered but not dispassionate corporate tone.