Stuart Townend, writer of songs such as How Deep the Father's Love and In Christ Alone, has started a series on Worship in Spirit and Truth. In part 1, he examines the context of John 4 where the phrase "in spirit and truth" occurs twice. Townend concludes thus:
Out of this almost bizarre context comes the most profound, life-changing proclamation that the kingdom of God has come, that it doesn’t matter whether you live here or there, you won’t be able to please God by fulfilling religious duty (in fact, you never could) and when all who turn to Him – Jews, Samaritans, and Gentiles – will be reconciled to God and each other. It’s the message of the kingdom.
And it’s a message we need to hear now. Why? Because we, like them, can be guilty of reducing the word of God to religious duty, to a series of rules and traditions and ways of doing things, both in our daily lives, and in our corporate worship. So our church services are reduced to a list of songs or a form of liturgy that doesn’t engage our hearts, or we feel we need to go through this ritual to win God’s approval (emphasis added).
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