Devotional 3-11-08

What is Worship?

What is worship? Paul discusses the answer to this question in his first letter to the Corinthian church. What should be done in worship?

"What should be done then, my friends? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.” 1 Corinthians 14: 26b

Paul describes a church where every member is a crucial and indispensable part of the body. In order to worship God, it is necessary that the entire body be present and member using her or his particular spiritual gifts. “Let all things be done for building up.”

Does Paul describe the worship in your church?

Sometimes I feel like Sunday morning worship is something I watch, like a “spectator event.” The ministers and the worship leaders use their gifts of proclamation and music, while the rest of us soak it in, trying to have a “meaningful worship experience.” If the ministers and the worship leaders do an inadequate job, then I might not “get anything out of the service.” If someone is in my seat, or if the music is not what I am used to, it might interfere with my worship. If I didn’t get the word that someone is filling in the pulpit today, or if it is a youth-led service, then perhaps I’ll just go home and come back next week.

This passage reminds me that I should probably worry less about what somebody else is doing, and focus myself on what it is that I am bringing to God in worship. If I am so concerned about somebody else, then am I really present for worship? I need to let go of those things, and bring my offering—my prayers, presence, gifts, and service—to God.

On March 30, our church is hosting JesusQuest for the third year in a row. This is a youth-planned and youth-led alternative worship experience that is geared toward reaching out to youth and lifting youth up. I know there are many worshipers in our congregation who won’t see JesusQuest as their “thing” that they would enjoy every week; but I am so thankful that they are willing to give up what they might favor so that youth can be lifted up. By showing up, being present, offering the sacrifice from their traditional worship service, they teach our children and youth a valuable lesson about worship: It’s not about us!

Dear God: Reveal to me what my spiritual gifts are, and give me the strength and the courage to use them in worship to build up the Body of Christ. Forgive me for the ways I make worship something other than what you intended. Amen.

Jeff Taylor