Die Here is in sy heilige tempel oor die teenwoordigheid van God in die erediens

Abstract

The question on how God’s presence in the worship of the church can be discerned is once again on the theological table because of two contextual influences, namely post­modernism and the image-oriented culture in which we live. The author suggests a way of thinking about the presence of God which honours postmodernism’s criticism of traditional metaphysics on the one hand, and contemporary culture’s call for experiencing God’s presence through more than one sense (the auditory) alone. He contends that the presence of God in worship is something different from the omnipresence of God; that it is perceived in faith and that it interrupts the faithful’s everyday life by addressing him or her on the self-sacrificing love of Christ for the world in need. God is then present in worship as He is in everyday life, which is in the face of need, and his presence can be more appropriately depicted as a confrontation reelle than a praesentia realis.