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

In my opinion, this book hits the mark, and Marva Dawn has a prophetic view of contemporary culture. Much of the church, in order to attract members, has succumbed to the idea of competing within the popular consumer marketplace, using worship as a tool for evangelism, and creating worship to appeal to various tastes, even within individual churhes. Dawn makes her points with numerous citations from other sources. This book will be affirming for some, and challenging to many cherished pre-conceptions.

As a Catholic, I have enjoyed reading Marva J. Dawn's book "Reaching out without Dumbing Down" as well as this book. Her theology is close to ours in so many ways.

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.

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!