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Melodie Rivera
Professor Jenna Campbell
ENC 1102-0040
14 March21 April 2017
Worship: A Textual Way of Life
Worship is an activity associated with religion, in which the Christian community

commonly partakepartakes in this activity, as a way to express gratitude and respect towards

God. It might seem like a ritual but for the non-denominational Christian community it goes

beyond that. Worship has gone from thisThe view of worship as an impersonal religious act to

has transformed into the perspective of a more personal way of life. It is, reflected through a

persons everyday testimony. This can be achieved through a variety of texts and genres. The

primary text used in the literate activity of worship is the Bible. The Bible can be read in

different ways. It can be read in a literal account; historians usually partake in this form of

reading. For, however, for this specific literacy activity, the Bible is it will be interpreted to fit

modern time circumstances. Other text examples include lyrics, and devotionals that are

influenced by the Bible. Everyday Christians searching for ways to enhance their worship

experience with God are both the consumers and creators. These texts help shape other

participants contribution to the literate activity of worship. Due to technological advances the

sharing of worship materials has been facilitated. Now, allowing Christians from all over the

globe canthe opportunity to communicate how God is working in their lives and share their

experiences with others. Through the use of different research methods, the different ways in

which worship texts contribute to religious reflection, deepen religious understanding and build

religious communities will be identified.

In order to support my research findings, I used journal articles developed by scholars

from different areas of Christianity. I reviewed a previously done study conducted by aA group

of clinical psychologists, frompart of the Christian Association for Psychological Studies. They,
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conducted research on corporate worship by studying and spiritual formation. The purpose of the

study conducted was to gain a greater understanding of the process worship leaders. go through

that contributes to the act of corporate worship. The study was composed of different interview

questions that each worship leader had to elaborate upon. WithResearchers got their compiled

research the group of clinical psychologists came to the conclusion that worshipinsight by

studying 26 worship leaders. The main concept discovered within each participant was the God-

Centered approach. They also suggested a definition of worship, which is sharing the essence of

God, and it that is experienced in times of prayer and bible reading. The research focuses on

congregational aspects but the evidence suggests the influence of personal worship time.

Worship goes beyond a simple act done in church, it is a way of life.lifestyle impacted by

different texts. Taking the view away from an impersonal ritual to a personal everyday

experience.
Along with the study, I used the journal article The Mystery of the Holy Trinity and

the Experience of God in Liturgy Dogma, Spirituality and Liturgy in Orthodoxy by Dr.

Cristinel Ioja,. Dr. Cristinel Ioja is an assistant professor of Orthodox Theology at the University

Aurel Vlaicu. This in Romania. In his journal article discussed the Christian principle of , Dr.

Ioja discusses the Holy Trinity, which is important when examining through the conceptset

principles of personalChristianity, spirituality and worship. TheHe draws a connection between

the Holy Trinity and the Church. He has a similar approach to Father Ciprian Streza, because he

also discusses the relationship between the Trinity and Lithurgy, but the overall focus of his

journal article is the different roles of the Holy Trinity in Christianity. Overall Dr. Ioja concludes

that there is no way to fully understand the Holy Trinity. It is a mystery that the deeper we go, the

more perspectives are uncovered. For my research purposes, I drew Dr. Iojas claim on the

establishment of the Holy Trinity. This is seen as what broke the veil between man and God,
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dismissing the . Now there is no distance between them and allowing man the development of a

personal relationship withman has unlimited access to Gods abundant grace. Through this

perspective, worship is no longer a ritual done to fulfill religious requirements, it becomes a

personal experience between man and God through worship.

A section from The Greek Orthodox Theological Review, written by theologist, Father

Ciprian Streza also played a role in my research. The section The Divine Liturgy in Orthodox

Spirituality: The Mystery of Man's Personal Encounter with God through Worship and the

Ascetical Life, covers different aspects of a mans from The Greek Orthodox Theological

Review, written by Father Ciprian Streza. Father Ciprian Streza is a theologist and a member of

the Greek Orthodox clergy. He and a group of clergy members collaborated in writing The Greek

Orthodox Theological Review. This review is a book establishing the concepts and beliefs of the

Greek Orthodox church. My focus was on the section written by Father Streza, which covers the

topic of mans personal encounter with God through personal worship. Father Streza expresses

the importance of reading worship during the Divine Liturgy. The Divine Liturgy is a special

service conducted by the Greek Orthodox Church with hymns, prayer and scripture readings.

This section covers the beliefs of the Greek Orthodox Church which is a different denomination

of Christianity. My research is focused within the Nondenominational community. However, the

reading discusses concepts that apply to both of the communities, such as the concept of Worship

and the effects of text on mans personal encounter with God. It is discussed that the word of The

Bible whichis a way in which God manifests Himself during times of personal worship. The text

becomes a place to establish a relationship and deepen religious understanding. This relates to

the creation of devotionals, having a greater understanding of the Word of God provides courage

and a passion that drives Christians to share the insight they have gathered through texts, which

assist in expressing their Faith with others, establishing religious communities. .

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The Bible is a very important source, every Christian text revolves around it. The

scholarly journal articles all had references to the scripture. This shows the importance of the

text. I was able to draw connections from my own personal research to The Bible. From

analyzing song lyrics to devotionals, The Bibles importance is evident.

Along with these books, the Bible was the number one textual source mentioned by every

interviewee. This text is plays a vital role because it is considered the Word of God. The Bible is

revered very highly in the community. Due to the importance of the Bible, all the other texts used

by the community revolve around it. An example of this can be seen in worship song lyrics. My

research findings suggest that the majority of song lyrics are based off a biblical text. EvidenceIn

order to support this claim can be found in my I picked a song to rhetorically analysis of the

song,analyze. According to the iTunes Hot Tracks the number one song at the moment in the

Christian & Gospel genre is What a Beautiful Name by Hillsong Worship. Right from the start,

the influence of the scripture is evident. As part of my research I also, collected a sample of a

devotional text. Devotionals are common text within times of intimacy with God in the

Nondenominational Christian community. I studied the form and the content to gain a greater

understanding of the text. Similar to the worship song lyrics, the use of the scripture as a basis

was apparent.
In order to gain a greater understanding of how worship texts influence personal worship

lives, I conducted multiple interviews. Since there are different levels of expertise within the

population, the interviews consisted of two sets of people. One set of interviews was conducted

with a group of worship pastors/leaders. They have a higher level of expertise due to their

education and years of experience in the field of worship. The other set of the population

interviewed is the congregation. These, which are people who attend church and are involved in

the worship experience both congregational and personally. The use of these two populations
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show the different perspectives and how they all tie together in the act of worship. The two

groups had similar questions, with slight differences to best fit the interviewees. For the purpose

of the annotated bibliography, I selected one personal interview from each of the population

samples.

Through the years, worshipWorship has gone past religious acts and is now considered

more of a way of life. This can be seen through different acts of service both inside and outside

the church. Through the research process of interviews and textual analysis it can be seen that the

Bible plays an important role in worship texts, it is intertwined in multiple aspects of a religious

text, and it plays a vital role in text creation. With the use of different sources, such as scholarly

journal articles and research studies, the positive impact of worship texts on religious reflection,

deepenby deepening religious understanding and buildbuilding religious communities is evident.

Abernethy, Alexis D., et al. "Corporate worship and spiritual formation: insights from worship
leaders." Journal of Psychology and Christianity, vol. 34, no. 3, 2015, p. 266+.
Religion and Philosophy Collection login.ezproxy.net.ucf.edu/login?
auth=shibb&url=http: //go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=PPRP&sw=w&u=orla57816&v=2.1&id=GALE
7CA454485083&it=r&asid=a5eff9a64f3ccaaa9f022c1347dcc84f. Accessed 16 February
2017.

A group of clinical psychologists, part of the Christian Association for Psychological

Studies, conducted research on corporate worship and spiritual formation. The purpose of
the study conducted was to gain a greater understanding of the process worship leaders
go through that contributes to the act of corporate worship. Researchers got their insight
by studying 26 worship leaders. through a series of interview questions. The main
concept discovered within each participant was the God-Centered approach. They also
suggested a definition of worship, which is, sharing the essence of God that is
experienced in times of prayer and bible reading. The research focuses on congregational
aspectaspects but the evidence suggests the influence of personal worship time. Worship
goes beyond a simple act done in church, it is a lifestyle impacted by different texts.
Taking, taking the view away from an impersonal ritual to a personal everyday
experience. These claims relate to the data collected through my interview process of
both the congregation and church pastors/leaders. Worship texts are influenced by times
of intimacy spent reading The Bible, which enhances the textual experience of worship
by deepening religious understanding.
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Gonzalez, Elimar. Personal interview. 15 February 2017.

Elimar Gonzalez is a member of Restoration Christian Center, a local nondenominational

church in the Orlando, Florida area. She is very involved in the church, by serving in
different ministries. Wherever there is a need Elimar and her family are there to help in
whatever it may be. Her favorite part of the Sunday service is worship. With this in mind,
I asked her about her personal worship life, aside from the routinely congregational
Sunday morning service. Elimar was very open about her views on worship as a lifestyle.
For her, lyrics and devotionals lead to breakthroughs in situations by presenting the
different perspectives, everything is a learning experience when it comes to God. When I
asked, her what other texts influenced her personal worship time, she said The Bible.
During her times of trouble Elimar turns to the scripture in order to find peace and
strength. It is during those times of trouble that her faith is strengthened and she gains a
deeper understanding of who God is in her life. This interview is crucial to my research
because it demonstrates howthat texts can influence personal worship time, not only for
worship leaders/pastors, but also for the congregation. The texts, such as lyrics and The
Bible can deepen a persons religious understanding.

Hillsong Worship. What a Beautiful Name. Let There Be Light, Capitol CMG Label
Group/Sparrow Records, 2016, http://hillsong.com/lyrics/what-a-beautiful-
namehttp://hillsong.com/lyrics/what-a-beautiful-name.

Hillsong Worship is the praise and worship musical group of a local church in Australia,
that through the years has grown and impacted many people. They are a very successful
group who have earned the chance to travel the world sharing their passion for God.
Hillsong Worship seeks to spread their love of Christ, no matter the situation and
circumstances. The power of Jesus Christ will always shine through and overcome
adversity. Through an analysis of the song What A Beautiful Name it is evident that
their lyrics demonstrate how worship texts impact personal worship experience by
deepening religious understanding. The overall motif of the song is to exalt the greatness
of Jesus Christ. They constantly proclaim the beauty of all His works, using biblical
scriptures and concepts as a basis. By stating One with God the song then goes on to
reference the Holy Trinity. The Holy Trinity is a fundamental concept inwithin
Christianity which describes God isas three people in one.: The Father, God, theThe Son,
Jesus, and theThe Holy Spirit. This is a foundational belief in Christianity, especially
when it comes to understanding Gods grace. When analyzing the lyrics, I personally
gained a greater understanding of their biblical truths and was able to draw a connection
between the lyrics and Dr. Cristinel Lojas view of the Holy Trinity and how it relates to
the textual experience of worship.

Ioja, Cristinel. The Mystery of the Holy Trinity and the Experience of God in Liturgy Dogma,
Spirituality and Liturgy in Orthodoxy. International Journal of Orthodox
Theology, vol. 2, no. 1, 2011, pp. 106-116, www.socwork.net/sws/article/view/60/362. Accessed
16 February 2017.
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Dr. Cristinel Ioja is an assistant professor of Orthodox Theology at the University Aurel
Vlaicu in Romania. In his journal article, Dr. Ioja discusses the Holy Trinity through the
set principles of Christianity, spirituality and worship. He draws a connection between the
Holy Trinity and the Church. He has a similar approach to Father Ciprian Streza, because
he also discusses the relationship between the Trinity and Lithurgy, but the overall focus
of his journal article is the different roles of the Holy Trinity in Christianity. Overall Dr.
Ioja concludes that there is no way to fully understand the Holy Trinity. It is a mystery
that the deeper we go, the more perspectives are uncovered. For my research purposes, I
drew Dr. Iojas claim on the establishment of the Holy Trinity. This is seen as what broke
the veil between man and God. Now there is no distance between them and man has
unlimited access to Gods abundant grace. Through this perspective, worship is no longer
a ritual done to fulfill religious requirements, it becomes a personal experience between
man and God, which is related to the song What a Beautiful Name by Hillsong United.
The text leads to a deeper religious understanding of biblical concepts.

Montanez, Marielis. Personal interview. 15 February 2017.

Marielis Montanez is a worship leader at Corner Stone Church in Bowie, Maryland.

Aside from being a worship leader, Marielis is also a Christian singer/songwriter who has
had the privilege to work behind the scenes with some of the most influential Christian
music songwriters in the business. She has a great passion for music and for reaching out
to others. When I asked her about her personal worship time, she responded the it was
more than just something that usis done. For her worship is a way of life. Worship is how
our testimony speaks to others. Her testimony, is her story and what brought her to the
place she is currently in. It plays an influential role in her song and text creation. In her
perspective, the most successful worship texts are those based on personal experiences. I
asked her if there were any other texts that influenced her worship time, and she
responded with a whole list of different resources. The list consisted of book titles, blogs,
podcast and The Bible. They each cover different topics and perspectives, but there is one
thing that ties them all together, God. Each text shares a persons perspective on
Christianity, which leads others to a deeper religious understanding. The texts also
encourage religious reflection by highlighting a persons views which help shape our
own.

Respondent Personal Devotional. 10 Jan. 2017. Accessed 16 Feb. 2017.

As part of my research I collected a sample of a devotional text. The text is based on the
biblical scripture found in Philippians 1:12-18. This scripture covers the story of Paul in a
jail cell. The devotional is reflecting upon a difficult situation and establishing a sense of
hope. The writer takes this scripture and relates it to any unideal situation. Faith is
expressed by assuring that God will take any situation and turn it around to show His
greatness. This devotional was created while reading and contemplating The Bible. It was
a personal act that can also impact others. An act of religious reflection can lead to
establishing religious communities. By sharing his understanding of what Gods word is
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saying through text, the author can encourage others to pursue faith and hope. This
establishes religious communities in which the members encourage one another to
enhance their worship experience by reading different texts, such as devotionals. This
devotional is an example of the use of intertextuality within the Nondenominational
Christian community. The author pulled scriptures from The Bible and developed a text
that influences others religious understanding.

Streza, Ciprian. "The Divine Liturgy in Orthodox Spirituality: The Mystery of Man's Personal
Encounter with God through Worship and the Ascetical Life." The Greek Orthodox
Theological Review, vol. 58, no. 1-4, 2013, pp. 141-167. EBSCOhost,
login.ezproxy.net.ucf.edu/login?auth=shibb&url=http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.net
.ucf.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=reh&AN=ATLA0001986327&site=ehost-live.

Father Ciprian Streza is a theologist, and a member of the Greek Orthodox clergy. He and
a group of clergy members collaborated in writing The Greek Orthodox Theological
Review. This review is a book establishing the concepts and beliefs of the Greek
Orthodox church. My focus was on the section written by Father Streza, which covers the
topic of mans personal encounter with God through worship during the Divine Liturgy.
The Divine Liturgy is a special service conducted by the Greek Orthodox Church with
hymns, prayer and scripture readings. This section covers the beliefs of the Greek
Orthodox Church which is a different denomination of Christianity. My research is
focused within the nondenominational community, however the reading discusses
concepts that apply to both of the communities. Such, such as the concept of Worship and
the effects of text on mans personal encounter with God. It is discussed that the word of
The Bible is a way in which God manifests himself during times of personal worship.
The text becomes a place to establish a relationship and deepen religious understanding.
This relates to the creation of devotionals, having a greater understanding of the Word of
God provides courage and a passion that drives Christians to share the insight they have
gathered through texts, which assist in expressing their Faith.

The Bible. New International Version, Biblica Inc., 2011.

The Bible is the number one textual source within the Nondenominational Christian
community. This text is plays a vital role because it is considered the Word of God. It is
made up of two components, the Old and New Testaments. Each testament consists of
multiple books, each written by different authors, with a specific message. The Bible is
known as the Word of God because it is said that God revealed each message to His
disciples with the purpose to share it with His people. This book is revered very highly in
the Christian community. Due to the importance of The Bible, all the other texts used by
the community revolve around it. Which means, all the different texts used within my
research have at least one reference to The Bible. Each journal article uses the scripture
as a way to establish credibility in the Christian community. For my research purposes
The Bible is the prime example of how intertextuality is used within the
Nondenominational Christian community. Members of the community pull quotes and
scriptures from this text and use them in order to develop new texts affect personal
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worship time. It deepens religiousthat represent a deeper understanding and encourages

religious or personal reflection by learning from the experiences of those who lived
thousands of years ago.