Worship And Praise

         

        My favorite day of the week is Sunday, which I call ‘Worship Day’!  The truth is every day should be ‘worship day’, but this is the day we get to come together corporately and worship together!  And I love to sing!  I may not do it well, but there is something so compelling about the music, I must sing!  

Once I was quite taken back by a lady in the choir who looked at me and said, “I love to watch you sing! You look like the song you are singing is coming straight from your heart.”  I was shocked.  My immediate response.  "Well it is!  Isn’t that what we’re supposed to do?”  I was completely confused!  It’s my gift back to God!

Now that said, the more ‘modern, contemporary’ music leaves some of us a little rattled.  I admit I am a Southern Gospel gal.  It’s my go to music!  However, the music even in our church service, has shifted to mostly contemporary Christian music, which I rarely listen to.  It’s not bad music; mostly it’s quite beautiful and the lyrics are often straight from God’s Word.  But I ‘wiggle’ a little when I try singing one I don’t know—-or have even never heard before.  

At first it made me really uncomfortable, but gradually I’m coming to realize it’s not about being able to sing it perfect! I sing along quietly until I pick up the tempo and then revel in lyrics!  It truly is beautiful!  

We, as Believers apparently come to church for a variety of different reasons.  It is truly supposed to be a ‘worship service’.  That for me, means we worship and praise the God we serve.  I’m not supposed to be there for ‘show’ or what I ‘can get out of it,’ although there is nothing wrong with God blessing us because we are there!  And he does!  But in my mind (and heart) we are supposed to be there to give back God and others! 

One friend shared she was so uncomfortable with the newer music where she went, she began coming in just before the sermon, thinking this is ‘what she needed’ from the service anyway; to hear the preacher.  But one day as she was reading about Paul and Silas singing in prison, her heart changed.  She realized it’s about worshipping and being 'actively present' during the service, while offering praise to our Risen Savior.

This thought process applies to the entire service.  I heard a story once about a parishioner who while in church, didn’t think the sermon had been worth her time invested.  Yet while leaving this same service, another person came up to her completely enthralled by the message!  

She went on about how much that particular sermon meant to her!  It was just was she needed to hear!  The first person was confounded and hadn’t thought that what she considered totally useless, someone else would find an answer to something she’d been struggling with!

Even when we give our tithes and offerings, it’s a way of worshipping!  God wants us to be ‘cheerful givers’ and as we drop our ‘sacrificial funds’ into the plate, we should be rejoicing with praise and thanksgiving for all He has provided!  

God is an actively living God.  He is ‘present’ with us always.  We should offer the same kind of attention to him!  Granted, our world is filled with so much ‘noise’, sometimes he gets drowned out; making it take a conscious effort to stop, and focus on him.  While we are in the worship service, however this gift of worshipping corporately, is a wonderful opportunity to shut out the noise of the world and truly feel God’s surround us as we commune with him.