Polemical Praise

To ascribe glory and honour to this God and to no other is to put to the sword the claims of all other pretenders to the throne. Debates about worship which focus primarily on aesthetics may be important - form and content are never neatly separable. Far more important than reflection on aesthetics per se is reflection upon who God is.

Ultimately, to praise God is to make a theological and doxological protest against the claims of all pretenders to his throne. When the church gathers on Sunday morning, what we have is a protest meeting, a gathering of those who simply will not put up with the arrogant claims of the world any more. That should be the starting point of any discussion about seeker sensitivity, about worship style and about how the church relates to the culture around it.

Make no mistake: praise is protest. If it is not protest, it is not praise.