This month we celebrate the first anniversary of the launch of ConnXions, our contemporary worship service at 5:30 p.m. on Saturdays. While evaluating that service, we will invite everyone to share personal perspectives and opinions. We want and need that data. Yet, worship is not primarily about “me,” regardless who the “me” is. Worship is about God and us. Here are a few guidelines for worshipping together.
Prepare for worship and come expecting to encounter God. We would never plan to attend a pot luck meal without bringing a dish. Do we come to worship expecting to be fed but to contribute nothing? Reading the designated scripture passages and praying for our leaders and guests involves us in worship before we arrive. Looking for God in faces new and unfamiliar and in each component of the liturgy helps to make room for the Spirit. Preparation and expectation respect God and those with whom we gather.
Welcome and support those around you during worship, especially if you don’t know them. Greet everyone with a smile. If they’d rather sit alone, that will be obvious. Otherwise let them know you’re glad they’re present. If they have trouble following the liturgy or finding a songbook/hymnal, lend a hand. We all come hungry for the gifts of God. Let’s help everyone feast.
Understand that we all have favorite parts of the liturgy. I’m particularly fond of well crafted and delivered sermons. Yet, if I only participate during the sermon, I get in the way of those who most experience God in the songs, the time with the children, the silences, or another aspect. Engage in the entire service. It’s like eating vegetables. Some prefer meat or grains to vegetables, but our bodies need them all. During worship the body of Christ needs the entire “course” to remain healthy.
We are blessed to have three distinct services. Select the one that works best for you, but avoid getting in a rut. Some think that God intended worship to begin at 11 a.m. on Sundays. Some think that the Spirit doesn’t move in us unless we’re in motion as well. We all have preferences. Select the service that meets your deepest needs and rejoice that others have another option. From time to time, sample what others are doing. Even if that only reinforces our preferences, it helps to keep us open to God’s movement in our community.
Tell our Celebrate Ministry Team members or worship staff what you find meaningful as well as what gets in the way. We try to provide meaningful worship experiences for all our members and guests and currently plan more than 170 services a year. Knowing what feeds the saints and prepares us to serve in Jesus’ name helps us to focus our time, energy, and creativity.
Don’t judge how others respond. If I’m not clapping, that does not necessarily mean I’m not engaged in the song. God meets us where we are, and our responses can vary from week to week as well as from year to year. Worship is not a tandem bicycle. We all don’t have to peddle at the same time or even to be pointed in the same direction.
Worshipping together offers gifts not available in private devotion. Let’s intentionally worship together. That gives God even more room in which to welcome and move in, through, and for us all.
Grace and Peace,
LP
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