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A Royal 'Waste' of Time
The Splendour of Worshiping God and Being Church for the
World.
Marva J. Dawn, Wm.B.Eerdmans Publishing Co. 1999 377p
Review by Ray Hoekzema
Dawn gives us a number of reasons for titling her book as she did. Her
primary concern is that God be the Subject and Object, the Infinite
Center of our worship and that the worship of all denominations lead to
genuine adoration of God, and faithful formation of His people. Though
for a while the book was called “Immersed in Splendor”, I for one would
have preferred her to stick to her originally intended title, “The
Infinite Center”. Dawn needs to expend an inordinate amount of energy to
explain the somewhat strange and abstract concept of really wasting time
– to worship the Lord in the world’s eyes. I suspect that many a reader
will be left wondering.
Having said that, this book, like all others she has written, is again
an excellent, balanced exposition of all that is at the centre of
worship. As Dawn herself says: “Worship is idolatry unless it is a total
waste of time in earthly terms, a total immersion in the eternity of
God’s infinite splendor for the sole purpose of honoring God”.
Having read three of her books on worship and related subjects, I find
some of the repetition, borne out by her numerous cross references to
her other books, somewhat distracting. There is also a tendency for the
first ‘half’ of her books to present her major thrust, while the
remainder tends to gradually tune you out.
This does not take away from the fact that Dawn is a very gifted author,
well qualified and being much travelled, writes from a perspective of
intense and wide experience. She is thus able to give insight in the
things that matter and broaden our horizons very effectively. She is
equipped to offer us assistance in sorting out our ‘worship wars’. Her
books are full of Biblically based teaching and “A Royal “Waste” of time
is no exception. Her primary focus in this book is on being church in
terms of building community, forming character and right choices when it
comes to the things we do in worship services. Of itself, well worth the
read.
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