(Re)Discovering Worship

We’ve spent two months so far in our (Re)Discovering series. The first month asked ‘do you know how to work your jaw?’ – the focus was evangelism. The second month asked ‘do you have a pulse?’ – the focus was vocation. Eight weeks summarised in four words: say something, do something. We grow as disciples as we speak about God; we grow as disciples as we serve alongside each other in the church and the world. What next? Coming on Sunday 14^th July for four weeks, (Re)Discovering Worship.

Worship is holistic, it incorporates all of our lives; it is orientation. Before the fires descended on Mount Carmel, Elijah went up to the crowds and had one final word with them, a simple request, ‘if the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.’ (1 Kings 18:21) The sadness of that moment is that the people said nothing in response. St Paul writing to the church in Rome similarly calls for a complete reorientation of life in light of Christ’s sacrifice: ‘I urge you brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.’ (Romans 12:1) Worship is the orientation of a human life in such a way that it declares the worth of God. It is all grace, God’s gift to us that we might give ourselves to him.

But what the psalmists discovered was that as they orientated their lives towards God, often literally walking the roads towards the temple in Jerusalem, something happened to their bodies: ‘I spread out my hands to you’ (Psalm 88:9), ‘In reverence I will bow down towards your holy temple’ (Psalm 5:7), ‘Clap your hands all you nations’ (Psalm 47:1), ‘His praise will always be on my lips’ (Psalm 34:1),and ‘Praise his name with dancing, make music to him with tambourine and harp’ (Psalm 149:3.) It all flows from this: ‘I love you LORD’ (Psalm 18:1). The psalms mention love more times than any book in the Bible; the psalms engage the entire being in worship more than any book in the Bible.

You’ve probably already put yourself into a worship category: ‘I praise the Lord with my impressive theology’ or ‘I praise the Lord with my radical life’ or ‘I praise the LORD with my exuberant song’ or ‘I stand passively with folded arms’ or ‘Diligam te Domine fortitudo mea’. But we all know that that’s not right, true love doesn’t compartmentalise. The question for the next four weeks brings it all together: do you have a first love? The answer is our worship.