19 Oct Should Worship be Easy?

Posted at 14:10h in Worship by

In a culture that craves a great “experience” or entertainment, we can grow to expect that our times of corporate worship should be a similar consumable. Rather, I would say that corporate worship takes as much energy as any other task that we might encounter throughout our week. We need to show up each week having prepared ourselves for the work God can and will do.

Worship requires the expending of energy. It requires preparation, focus, discipline, singing, praying, meditating, response, movement, fellowship, and community. Worship doesn’t just happen to you by showing up. We cannot simply come to a corporate gathering expecting to receive something without putting in the effort to participate.

Singing is a great example of this. At Grace Church, we have people with various abilities and thoughts on singing. Some people love singing, have a great voice, and actually gain energy by singing. Others of us are not as excited when the worship leader makes the call to stand and sing. For some, singing is just not a natural activity. You may have pitch problems or are tone deaf and would rather not expose that to those singing around you. It is okay to acknowledge that! Just know that the energy you will expend to muster up some notes will pay off. If you don’t sing, then give it a try! Put some effort towards singing and see what God does. As the old hymn says, “Sometimes a light surprises the Christian while he sings.”

WORSHIP IS MORE THAN JUST SINGING

 

Focus: It takes energy to remain focused on the words we are singing as well as the message being explained by the teacher. With all the distractions we encounter on our way to a weekend service, from dressing kids to simply finding a place to park, we can find it immensely difficult to focus our minds and engage what God is doing. When we do the work of directing our thoughts and attention, we empty ourselves of all the things we feel are important and allow the Spirit to work in revealing His Word and truth to us. This even translates to how we plan our worship services. There are several great programming elements we could include weekly; however we will often choose not to incorporate them in order to help us focus on the most important elements. Focus can be as much about what we choose not to engage in as it involves what we do engage in.

Response and Meditation: We can hear a sermon and sing a powerful song, but if we don’t meditate on those words and respond or move in a way that God is challenging us, then the words may be useless. We need to make a practice of hearing from God and moving, being challenged by the Holy Spirit and responding to Him by taking actual steps. Most of us should start by repenting. Repenting in its simplest form means to turn or change from a sinful action to something godly. My first reaction, however, is typically to think of what I need to go do. If you are like me, then maybe we need to begin by reflecting on what motivates our behavior. I will write down areas where I need to repent and then a few actions for me to take after that. These become ideas I will reflect on and pray through during the week.

Prayer: Living a prayerfully dependent life is a core value for us. The rhythm of our prayer life throughout the week affects what prayer looks like on the weekend. As a child, I remember looking forward to the time when the pastor would pray during the service. Prayer was a time that I could mentally “check out” from what was going on and maybe even catch a quick nap. I find this same temptation today. The question to ask ourselves is, “Am I actively engaging in each time of prayer during the service?” Often, the songs we sing are prayers themselves. We can think of the words we are singing as words we are praying and declaring to God.

Fellowship and Community: God intends for us to worship with other believers in the context of the local church. I know for some of us extroverts, engaging in conversations on Sundays is quite easy, while for our introverted friends, it can be a real chore. There is so much value to be found in knowing the people around you–knowing their stories and what the songs we are singing mean to them. Some of my most memorable experiences in worship were when I walked with a friend through a very difficult situation. Watching them sing, while knowing what those words actually meant for them, enriched that moment and consequently gave those words so much more meaning for me.

Finally, I ask that we would all work to individually engage in worship on a weekly basis. If this is a new idea for you, then I encourage you to identify what it means to worship outside the walls of a church building. Your time inside these walls is simply an extension of the time you spend worshipping God in your daily life. Are you willing to commit to expend some energy in this area and see what God might do?

If you are interested in learning more about how you can help lead others in weekly worship, we are currently in need of the following roles for our Worship and AV teams:

Band: Drums, Bass, Electric, Keys, Vocals

AV: Audio, Slides, Camera, Switcher, Lights, Resource Producer, Resource Downloader

brian_darnellBrian Darnell directs the worship leaders across all our campuses.  He is a graduate of North Greenville University and has been at Grace Church for seven years.  He is married to Noelle and has two daughters, Addison (3) and Peyton (1).