A Royal "Waste" of Time: The Splendor of Worshiping God and Being Church for the World (Paperback)

~ (Author) "To worship the LORD is - in the world's eyes - a waste of time..." (more)
Key Phrases: royal waste, church marketers, worship participants, Grand Rapids, New York, Holy Spirit (more...)

Product Details

• Paperback: 377 pages
• Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (June 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080284586X
• ISBN-13: 978-0802845863
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #378,670 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

66 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "A Royal Waste" is a great investment of your time, July 30, 2001

By	Esther Hetrick (Lansing, MI United States) - See all my reviews

This book is very helpful in understanding and interpreting our postmodern culture as it impacts worship. The author describes God as our "Infinite Center", and worship as "immersed participation in all the fullness of God's splendor." She emphasizes the need to "be Church" to our culture. The author also deals candidly with many of the music issues affecting worship today, especially the "traditional" versus "contemporary" struggles, and worship and evangelism issues. While many authors offer practical suggestions for "what works," she gets to deeper levels, reminding us that worship is not a matter of taste, that evangelism itself should not "drive" what happens in worship, that we cannot sacrifice substance for style. Throughout the book, she reminds the reader that she is not seeking to provide answers for "being church" in our culture, but she invites us to ask better questions about the meaning and purposes of worship in postmodern times, and how our worship practices form us to be God's people. Reading this book is definitely not a waste of time!

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beyond Singing, November 10, 2003

By	Mark Van Steenwyk "Van S" (Minneapolis, MN USA) - See all my reviews

Those who have read anything by Marva Dawn will love "A Royal 'Waste' of Time." Those who aren't familiar with her work are in for a book that is very compelling and challenging. This book isn't merely about worship singing; it is about being a church community centered on the worship of an Infinite God. The book articulates a missional ecclesiology focused on biblical worship that engages the world.

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars nice ideas, poor execution, January 23, 2008

By	M. Hackworth - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Marva Dawn has some great ideas and insights on worship: we need to think theologically about how we go about setting up a worship environment rather than being stuck in traditionalism or blindly following the latest trends of church-marketing strategists; worship should be about God, not about evangelism; et cetera. I agree with these statements, and while she does give a bit of practical advice on how we should go about doing this, I felt like I gained most of what I needed to from the book merely by reading the back cover. I found her writing to be distracting and unprofessional...(is it really a common practice to cite yourself that often? or to complain about your visual impairments several times in a book? or to spend so much time defending your previous work against criticisms?), and probably at least half of the book is merely revisions of work she has published elsewhere. This leads to a very hodge-podge feel, what with the addition of her own sermons interspersed throughout the book. I might also mention the fact that although she claims to be impartial, her writing comes across as very slanted toward "traditional" worship style. If you attend a church that uses contemporary worship styles or doesn't have an organ, prepare to be somewhat offended, or at least feel like you're not the audience she's writing to. Again, I think she does have some great ideas, but overall this is not a book that I would recommend. If I didn't have to read this book for a class I'm taking, I would have put it down a long time ago.