Contrary to what you may have been led to believe, one’s presence at worship, though desired, is not an end in itself. Rather, it is the means to an end. We gather to offer praise to God, to reflect on His grace toward us, to give thanks for His goodness and for one another, and to nourish the spiritual heart. In the process, our life together as a church is defined, sharpened, solidified, and recharged.

No church will survive without authentic worship, just as no individual will flourish without it. Perhaps no activity of the church is taken for granted like worship, no enterprise so criticized, abandoned, or misunderstood. We may manipulate worship to suit our latest whim or dismiss it as irrelevant. Neither extreme honors the Lord whom we approach “in spirit and in truth.”

I invite you to think with me of worship as an adventure, an experiment in renewal, an encounter with the Almighty, a cooperative undertaking of fellow pilgrims, whose search for God and self always leads to and through the mystery known as worship. I also ask that you join with your extended family, the community of faith, as we seek the Lord’s face!

They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer (Acts 2:42).

Borrowed