Rhythms Of Grace Summary

For my third book report I read Rhythms of Grace by Mike Cosper. I found this book through research I was doing online about worship, and while reading through the description for the book my curiosity was hooked when I read that Cosper would ultimately attempt to answer the question of what is worship. Cosper starts off his book in the preface with explaining his reasoning behind the book. It started through his journey of trying to answer the question of why? Of asking “Why did we gather? Why did we sing? Why did we do it the way we did?” (17) Through his and his fellow pastors soul searching he comes to the conclusion that worship is all about the gospel. He expands on this idea by saying that the gospel “is the center point for all of
the Christian life.” (18) Cosper uses the rest of the book to explain and defend this thesis. This book can easily be broken into two halves. The first is a look into our history, our lineage; looking at where we come from. The latter looks at where we are, and where we are going. It’s practical through giving the reader tools to use in their own experiences. Cosper spends a significant amount of time going through the Old Testament in leaps and bounds looking at the history of worship, he also devotes the last few chapters of the book to talk about music. I think it interesting yet important that Cosper deliberately waits until the end of the book to talk about music. “…the Bible’s definition of worship ins’t exclusively music. Instead, worship in the gathered church is the total work of the people—the gathering of the church for prayer, preaching, sacred symbols, giving, and singing.” “Worship is a broader thing than music, and music’s purpose in the church is bigger than my personal experience. It’s not merely my song, but our song. We sing together, uniting our voices and our words.” (153) Cosper is excellent at breaking down hard to comprehend thoughts into easy to understand ones, he words ideas in such a way that they make sense. I’ve always struggled with trying to understand the necessity and reasoning behind the sacrificial system and practices of the Old Testament. But Cosper breaks it down well; In the chapter The Song of Israel, he talks about the history of the sacrificial system, about the necessity of it back then. “God is holy, and Israel was not. They needed to shed blood for sins both great and small so that God could dwell in their midst. Sin demands death, and Israel couldn't live in community with God without a clear, violent, and ever-present reminder of the cost of their sins.” (55) God cant be where sin is present. If a sinful person enters into the presence of God, they will cease to be. Jump ahead now to the chapter entitled The Song of Jesus where Cosper explains how Jesus is the ultimate loving sacrifice “…the Son of God, who holds the universe together, through whom everything was made, gives up his spirit. He dies. The King of Glory dies. What a strange turn of events. God, in a whiff of thought and will, could have wiped the universe clean and started over again. But he didn’t. Instead, he took our burden of shame and guilt upon his own shoulders, endured the scorn and humiliation of the cross, and died the death our sins deserve.” (63-64) This is the gospel. This is why we call ourselves Christians; because of what Christ did for us. Because Christ died, He intercedes on our behalf. He has atoned our sin, and has made it possible for God to come and make His home in our hearts. We don't need temples anymore because through Christ and His Spirit God has made our hearts into the Holy of Holies. We are now able to come into the presence of God, or maybe more accurately, God can now come and dwell among us. This is the good news that Cosper continuously points to through his book. This book is full of gold nuggets, and it’s been challenging for me to try to decide which nuggets I want to share about in this report.
I would recommend this book to other interns, and also other worship leaders and pastors. It’s been refreshing to read through Cosper’s thought’s and ideas. He displays them in such a way that just make sense. To close I'm going to leave you with Cospers closing paragraph. I think it is explanatory of his main message found throughout the book. “Gathering for worship is a life-shaping moment in a congregation’s week, and our task as pastors is to seize that opportunity for an all-out assault on people’s hearts. As servants of God, we prepare people for death, and we prepare them for eternity. And most of them think they’re just ‘going to church.’ They gather and they scatter, and what we give them goes with them as they struggle and pray thought their week. Worship leaders and pastors have been entrusted with the task of building up congregations through the life-giving rhythms of grace. When God’s word is clearly seen, heard, spoken, and sung in worship, hardened hearts are broken, and the weak and browbeaten are lifted up. We are able to join the celebration of the joyful and weep with those who weep. We want to draw out these voices in the songs and prayers of the church in a way that helps worshipers see afresh the story and glory of the gospel.”
(187)