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Creating a Lifestyle of Worship
Worship - A Way of Life by Patrick Kavanaugh, Chosen Books, 224 pages, paperback, $12.99
by Pamela Robinson
Patrick Kavanaugh urges Christians to reach their hands to God in daily private worship so they can be lifted to the mountaintop, especially when they encounter the inevitable valleys in their earthly walks. Kavanaugh, a veteran worship leader and executive director of the Christian Performing Artists' Fellowship, appreciates corporate worship and even quotes Scripture to underscore that believers should remember the Sabbath. But he wants them to realize that corporate worship is ultimately about each individual's private relationship with God.
Indeed, Kavanaugh distinguishes between worship, referring to meetings and church services, and Worship, the private relationship between each individual and God, which in its highest and purest form is synonymous with praise. He clarifies his definition of Worship as "times of private worship, just between you and God, in which you are not praying or interceding or employing any externals, such as reading from a Bible, but simply worshiping God, period."
For this reason, Kavanaugh hopes ministers will encourage Christians to spend more quiet time with God. He asks readers to reclaim time lost to "vegetating," not really thinking or doing nothing, such as when stuck in traffic, waiting in line or performing rote tasks.
In the final two chapters, Kavanaugh gives samples for quiet time and making worship a way of life. This new life, he trusts, will move mountains during corporate worship and cause believers' spirits to soar.
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