Unceasing Worship - by Harold M Best (Paperback)

About the Book

Harold M. Best casts a holistic vision for worship that transcends narrow discussions of musical style or congregational preference, corrects errors in how Christians have viewed the arts and misunderstandings about the use of music, and offers instead a more biblically consistent approach to artistic action.

Book Synopsis

One of Discerning Reader's Best Books

We are not created to worship. Nor are we created for worship. We are created worshiping.

Too often Christians have only thought of worship in terms of particular musical styles or liturgical formats. But a proper view of worship is far larger than what takes place in churches on Sunday mornings. Worship is not limited to specific times, places or activities.

God is by his very naturecontinuously outpouring himself. Because we are created in his image, we too are continually pouring ourselves in various directions, whether toward God or toward false gods. All of us, Christian or not, are always worshiping, whether or not that worship is directed toward God. We are unceasing worshipers.

The fruition of a lifetime of study, reflection and experience, this volume sets forth Harold M. Best's understanding of worship and the arts. Widely respected as one of the foremost thinkers and practitioners in his field, Best explores the full scope of worship as continuous outpouring in all settings and contexts. With careful exposition and eloquent analysis, Best casts a holistic vision for worship that transcends narrow discussions of musical style or congregational preference. On this broader canvas, Best addresses popular misunderstandings about the use of music and offers correctives toward a more biblically consistent practice of artistic action.

Incisive, biblical, profound and comprehensive, Best's landmark volume is one by which all other statements on worship and the arts will be measured.

Review Quotes

"Unceasing Worship is a cut above the rest of the books on worship. Drawing on a lifetime of learning, artistry and leadership, Best writes with clarity, passion and deep humility about the great loves of his calling: the triune God, the Bible, churches, and music and the arts. There's encouragement, insight and challenges for every pastor and worship leader in this refreshing and inspiring book. Unceasing Worship is a rare gift of wisdom that combines clear thinking and warm-hearted devotion."

--Robb Redman, pastor, Forest Hills Presbyterian Church, Helotes, Texas, and author of The Great Worship Awakening

"In a world filled with easy reads, this is a decidedly hard book. But it is exceedingly wise, and wisdom takes time and work--and love. Harold is my friend, and I know how agonizingly he labors over each word and phrase. That passion is alive on every page of this miraculous book. Like many of you, I have struggled alone all my life trying to understand what it is God wants of me when he calls me to worship. Harold Best has emerged from a din of voices to let us know we are not alone in ourstruggle to understand what worship demands, asks for and is. After all, this does not pretend, like so many others have pretended, to be an answer book. There is only one of those. This book is the sound of a voice, behind what was before a locked door. It invites us to struggle together to join together in unceasing worship to the One who alone deserves to be praised."

--Michael Card, songwriter, musician and author of Scribbling in the Sand and A Fragile Stone

"In this book Harold Best has given the church a gift--the gift of understanding that worship is a poured-out offering of love to Jesus that we give him every day of our lives, with the wonderful effect that our corporate worship on Sunday is all the better for it. Along the way he exposes our fallenness as worshipers, our capacity for idolatry (especially music), and the real but limited role of art forms as conveyors of truth. Prophetic, timely, compelling--just what the Lord of the churchordered."

--Paul Basden, senior pastor, Preston Trail Community Church, Frisco, Texas, and author of The Worship Maze

About the Author

Best (D.S.M., Union Theological Seminary) was for more than twenty-five years the dean of the Conservatory of Music at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. An organist and composer, he has been a mentor and model for musicians, artists and churchleaders. He also has served as president of the National Association of Schools of Music and has written extensively on matters of curriculum, culture and educational policy issues. He is the author of Music Through the Eyes of Faith.