Sunrise view of Mt. Arayat last March 1, 2020 at 6:06 a.m.
Just yesterday, I passed by Mt. Arayat again and every time I see it, it fascinates me. I don’t know why but I have this obsession of taking photographs of mountains, volcanoes and everything beautiful. Maybe it’s because it shows me that there is a great master Designer and Creator of all these majestic beauty all around us. It tells me that there is a triune God who has designed all of these so that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit could share their life and love with us for all eternity. The triune God wants us to be delighted as well just like the angels shouted for joy when they first saw the awesome universe after it was beautifully and wonderfully created.
Sunrise view of Mt. Arayat last March 1, 2020 at 6:07 a.m.
Having lived in Pampanga for 7 years, I’m fascinated that I am able to see this mountain–it’s actually a stratovolcano–in the four provinces as I went driving and passed by it. The mountain can be seen from the provinces of Tarlac, Nueva Ecija, Bulacan and of course in Pampanga.
Sunrise view of Mt. Arayat last March 1, 2020 at 6:08 a.m.
I also have a photo of Mt. Arayat while I was on board a plane on my way from Clark International Airport to Mactan International Airport. I even took a shot as well of Mayon Volcano along the way. Click this photo below and read more about it.
I don’t know why but I love photography as an art expression. Maybe that’s just how God wired me. As a young boy, I was fascinated that a Kodak camera could take pictures. But then of course that was an expensive hobby back then using black & white films and then later on colored films. I even tried developing films myself but it was just too expensive for me so the hobby was set aside for a long while.
Mercury 3.1 megapixel digital camera
Decades later, I was finally able to buy my own digital camera with 3.1 megapixels haha! That got me started again since expensive films plus developing were no longer a hindrance. I could just shoot and shoot without worrying about the cost.
This very sharp picture of my wife’s orchids in Davao was from my cheap digital camera called Mercury. It was still new when I took this shot.
I actually have an old camera right now, a second-hand Lumix GF2 but it still works . It has been serving me well till now despite its back screen having defective spots already. It’s a gift from my eldest daughter.
This is the micro four-thirds camera I’m using right now, a Panasonic Lumix GF2 with a 14-140mm zoom lens attached to it.
I guess hobbies are important too. It focuses your attention on something else which you love to do for the love of what you want to do haha! Do I sound confusing? Yes, you just love to do it. I guess that’s what hobbies are. It temporarily directs your attention away from your personal concerns and other matters which might be troubling you.
So, back to my hobby. The above featured photo (also below — you can zoom it) is just a random shot I made at home. The reason behind it? I just loved the lighting condition at that moment so I took a shot of the place where coffee is made. Just a silly reason to take a shot haha!
This is just a random shot I made at home. I just loved the lighting condition at that moment so I took a shot.
I also use my smart phone and thankfully, it does capture good pictures too — a Sony Xperia F3216 model as well as my old iPhone 5 camera which captures really good videos for YouTube and Facebook.
Some people love to pray and meditate as they walk through a beautiful garden and that’s how they connect to God. Others love to devote their time to doing missions & evangelism, to serving others, giving alms, study the Bible or maybe dance for the Lord and that to them are their ways of worshiping God. Some are diligent to practice some spiritual disciplines like fasting or maybe to spend time in silence and solitude. Some are okay with loud music while others hate it. Others clap or raise their hands when they worship in church while some others just stand there like nothing is happening all around them. These are various ways or forms of how people worship God.
During one of the youth summer camps in Mindanao in 2008 where the worship songs can be very loud and the worshipers are jumping up and down and having fun. It was meaningful to them.
Hymnal or Hillsong?
When contemporary worship music became the “in” thing several decades ago, some opposed this new trend and wanted to retain the old hymnal songs. Some did not mind singing all types of worship music whether it be from the hymnal or a contemporary song. But it sure did cause some division in the churches for some time. I guess that generational and cultural differences are things to consider when planning and organizing worship services in the church. That’s what I have observed.
JB Torrance’s Thoughts
James B. Torrance
I like what James B. Torrance wrote about the “forms of worship” in his book, Worship, Community and the Triune God of Grace on pages 15-16. He wrote:
“We must ask ourselves whether our forms of worship convey the gospel. Are they an appropriate response to the gospel? Do they help people to apprehend the worship and ministry of Christ as he draws us by the Spirit into a life of shared communion, or do they hinder? Do they make the real presence of Christ transparent in worship, or do they obscure it? To answer these questions, we have to look at the meaning, the content of worship, before we can decide whether our traditions and procedures are adequate. More profoundly, we have to consider our doctrine of God in worship. Is he the triune God of grace who has created us and redeemed us to participate in his life of communion and in his concerns for the world or is he the contract-God who has to be conditioned into being gracious by what we do–by our religion? If our worship is to be intelligent, meaningful worship, offered joyfully in the freedom of the Spirit, we must look at the realities which inspire us and demand from us an intelligent, meaningful response.”
Trinitarian, Christ-centered Worship?
So this is a good reminder from JB Torrance as we consider our forms of worship. Is it Christ-centered worship? Is it trinitarian or is it a unitarian kind of worship? Is Christ the Worship Leader?
“With eyes wide open to the mercies of God, I beg you, my brothers (and sisters), as an act of intelligent worship (logike latreia), to give him your bodies as a living sacrifice, consecrated to him and acceptable by him” (Romans 12:1 J. B. Phillips)
I’ve been reading James B. Torrance’s book entitled, Worship, Community and the Triune God of Grace and I’m fascinated by what this author has to say. Previous to this, I’ve heard his audio lectures on prayer countless of times over the years including the audio lectures of his brother, Thomas F. Torrance. Their audio lectures so inspire me each time. I can’t finish this book as yet. I keep on going back to the first few pages thinking about it, meditating about it and sharing it in my Facebook account. I still have to continue reading and hopefully finish the book. Here’s an excerpt from the book on page 15:
Christian Worship Defined
“Christian worship is…our participation through the Spirit in the Son’s communion with the Father, in his vicarious life of worship and intercession. It is our response to our Father for all that he has done for us in Christ. It is our self-offering in body, mind and spirit, in response to the one true offering made for us in Christ, our response of gratitude (eucharistia) to God’s grace (charis), our sharing by grace in the heavenly intercession of Christ. Therefore, anything we say about worship–the forms of worship, its practice and procedure–must be said in the light of him to whom it is a response. It must be said in the light of the gospel of grace.”
Incarnational, Trinitarian Worship
This is a very Christ-centered, incarnational and very trinitarian concept of worship. The author explains that in many Christian churches, their worship is more of unitarian instead of trinitarian. He also added that some are trinitarian in concept but unitarian in actual practice with Christ as High Priest, Mediator and Worship Leader being absent in their theology and practice. If I may add, some focus only on the Father, some only on Christ and some focus more on the Holy Spirit. Their worship maybe trinitarian in concept/theology but unitarian in practice. More on this later in his book.
In this excerpt I quoted above, the author defines and explains what true incarnational (Christ-centered) and trinitarian kind of worship is all about. In my next blog, I will quote him on the forms of worship as a response to what we know as true worship.
Yesterday afternoon, my wife asked me to go out for a walk and see how the Nuvali Lakeside Picnic Grounds look like after the ashfall which fell in our area right after the Taal Volcano eruption last January 12, 2020.
The place is still filled with ashfall although they have begun cleaning the place. Here are some photos of the place yesterday afternoon:
The park still needs to be cleared of ashfall
Ashfall at the Nuvali Lakeside Picnic Grounds
SEDA Hotel, a 4-star hotel at Nuvali
SEDA, a 4-star hotel at Nuvali
The leaves exposed to the ashfall have dried up but it’s still green underneath.
A man cleaning up the roof of ashfall at the Nuvali Lakeside Picnic Grounds
