Worship can be difficult. For one, the God we praise is so relentlessly invisible. For another thing, why does God need to be worshipped anyway? Is his ego that fragile? And beyond all that, sometimes you just don’t feel like singing songs and praying. Sometimes you feel distant from God. Sometimes you’re sad. Sometimes you don’t have the words.

It’s these realities that make the book of Psalms so immensely valuable.

The Psalms sing to us, “This is who God is, and this is what it looks like to connect with him as a human being who’s living in the real world.” In this series, we’ll dive into this ancient song book in an effort to better understand and better practice worship. As we do so, we’ll also find ourselves exploring God’s identity and celebrating some of the myriad reasons he’s so worthy of our praise.

The Psalms show us a wide variety of expression, but at the core of each of them lies a love for God that drives a deep desire for relationship and a devotion to the communication that’s integral to meaningful connection. In this message, we’ll zero in on how praise and thanksgiving are communicated through the Psalms, and what we can learn from that example.

2/5/17  Speaker: Justin Gerhardt 

People have been telling stories through song for a long, long time. In this message, we’ll take a look at a classic story song that also happens to be one of the Psalms. As we do, we’ll explore one question that will get us writing more songs about God.

2/12/17  Speaker: Justin Gerhardt

Ever been so angry, you actually wished pain and suffering on the person who wronged you? If so, you’re not alone.

In this message, we’ll explore a Psalm that communicates some startlingly vengeful thoughts and find that it has much to teach us about ourselves, our relationships with other people, and our relationship with God.

2/19/17  Speaker: Justin Gerhardt

Sometimes we worship because God is close. But sometimes we worship because God seems far away.

Many of the Psalms include frustrated questions voiced by human beings who are flummoxed by the ways of a God they can’t see and whose ways they often can’t anticipate. In those times, we must remember that God doesn’t prize conceit or convention in worship, but instead always welcomes honesty.

2/26/17  Speaker: Justin Gerhardt