Midland Evangelical Church

The Worship Arts logo expresses three primary truths about Biblical worship.

The Shape of Worship
The Circle

The Object and Subject of Worship
The Flame

The Response in Worship
The Hands

The Shape of Worship

The Circle

The shape of worship has three aspects which are represented by the circle.

First, worship is the only eternal activity of all of God’s creation. The circle has always been a symbol of the eternal. The circle has no beginning and no end.

Second, the circle is the object and subject of all worship of the Triune God (signified by the three color version of white, blue and red). Philippians 2:9-10 states "That at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father."

Third, the circle is not static, but dynamic. The motion is synergistic and momentous. God is revealed through self-revelation. There was nothing within His creation that prompted the revelation of His manifested glory. This revelation is due to His own good pleasure. "And he made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment – to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ." (Ephesians 1:9-10)

Finally, worship is revelation and response. God reveals, we respond. God reveals Himself as all-sufficient, all-powerful, all-glorious and we respond as being insufficient, powerless and in need of redemption. God is pleased to respond through His Son. This is the motion of worship. God’s movement to His people is most gloriously seen in the incarnation of His Son, Jesus, when God became man.

The Object and Subject of Worship

The Flame

There are numerous references within scripture that signify the holiness of God by a flame or fire. God first revealed His name, I AM, to Moses from within the flaming bush on Mount Nebo. God revealed Himself to the nation of Israel from Mount Sinai as a flame with thunder and lightning upon the mount. “From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth. Our God comes and will not be silent; a fire devours before Him, and around Him a tempest rages. He summons the heavens above, and the earth, that He may judge His people: "Gather to me my consecrated ones, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice. And the heavens proclaim his righteousness for God himself is judge." (Psalm 50:2-6).

Also in Hebrews, "Wherefore receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us have grace, whereby we may offer service (reference to a better way than altar sacrifice) well-pleasing to God with reverence and awe: for our God is a consuming fire." (Hebrews 12:28-29).

Thanks be to God, however, that He will not consume His people because we have been bought through the blood of our Savior. The fire of God consumes the unrighteous and purifies the righteous. "Each man’s work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it, because it is revealed in fire; and the fire itself shall prove each man’s work of what it is. If any man’s work shall abide which he built thereon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved; yet so as through fire." (1 Corinthians 3:13-15).

The Response in Worship

The Hands

Notice that the hands are not in the center of the design. Man is not the center of worship. Man is not primary. God is primary. The hands are upward turned toward the heavens which is a natural gesture of offering. However, the Christian understands that we come to God not with what we have as if what we offer augments God in any way.

When Paul proclaimed the Gospel to the Greeks on Mars Hill he said, "The God who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; neither is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything; since He Himself gives to all life and breath and all things." (Acts 17:24-25) God is not served as if He needs our service or our worship. He is worshipped in heaven perfectly. It is God who ministers to us.

The point of the upturned hands more importantly signify that we are needy beggars in need of grace and mercy and that God is an inexhaustible, free-flowing fount of grace. God pours out to His children. God is the supreme Giver and the gift is Himself. "And he said unto me, ‘It is done. I am the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the fountain of the water of life.’" (Revelation 21:6)