I think I have always loved to worship. My parents had our family in church basically every Sunday. Other than not attending church for one semester in college — a time I spent prayer journaling in a nature preserve — I basically am in worship most Sundays of the year. Doing the quick math, that means I’ve been in over 2500 worship services. For almost twenty years as a pastor, I have had two services each Sunday, so that puts me somewhere between 4000-5000 worship services at midlife.
That’s a lot of singing and praying and listening.
Worship varies from church to church. When I made the move from Georgia to Kirk in the Hills, I knew I was taking a big step in the direction of very formal liturgy. We processed and recessed every Sunday, with acolytes and choir leading the way. I had to learn the art of walking and singing at the same time. About a year into my time there, someone pulled me aside and said, “Troy, no one else smiles in the procession. They all look so serious. But you’re always smiling. I love that, but why are you smiling?”
The answer for me was quite simple. Shouldn’t joy and delight be some of what we feel in worship? Yes, we should take it seriously, but the full breadth of who we are is what we bring to worship. That should include our smiles too.
You see, God made us for worship. The very first question in the Westminster Catechism addresses this. What is the chief end of humanity? To glorify God and enjoy God forever. In a few words, this tackles our purpose now and forever, and that purpose is to use our lives for God’s glory. One of the ways we do that is worshipping.
The psalms are filled with worship. Today’s reading included singing and making a joyful noise. It touches one the divine and human connection strengthened through gratitude. It urges us to come, to bow down, to kneel even before the One who made us and shepherds us. We see it in our gospel reading, where the reality of who Jesus is stuns Peter, James, and John, and they are left with no alternative but to see Jesus as worthy of their worship.
Today I am briefly touching on the third Great End of the Church — the maintenance of divine worship. The meaning of this one is quite plain. One of the chief purposes of our very existence as a church is to worship the God we know in Jesus Christ using our very best. Worship is a very high value at this church, of course. We’re here every Sunday. We gather on special days. We offer varied ways to worship — traditional and modern, contemplative on Wednesdays in Lent. Our budget includes substantial resources for worship. A large portion of our staff and lay energy is focused on worship, whether that is bulletin preparation, choir rehearsal, or sermon writing.
God made us for worship, and I hope it’s not something we take for granted. God gave us these rhythms of life, including Sundays every seven days, so that we might pause all the other good things we do to reorient our lives around the One who not only gave us life but whose saving work has given us eternity.
You see, there is both a vertical and a horizontal dimension to worship. From a vertical standpoint, we worship because we need to connect our lives to God. It’s why the ceiling is so high in here. We want to draw your attention up. God desires our worship and is glorified in it. It also reignites the divine spark in all of us that gets smothered in the dailyness of life. So, we come to worship to engage intentionally with God, with God’s words, and in ways that go far beyond words.
But there is also a horizontal dimension to worship. It connects us not only to God but also to one another. It’s why uniting our voices in song matters beyond the words or even the quality of our singing. It’s why stilling ourselves to pray together and to hear God’s Word together goes far beyond whatever we personally might find interesting. The Spirit is forming a body — a church — in our worship. God calls us to worship, but have you ever considered that God might have called you to be here for someone else? That you might have a divine appointment waiting for you as you extend grace or kindness to another? That God might be doing something in you or for you through the presence of another sibling in Christ in this space?
There’s another dimension of worship I want to bring up today as I close. Worship connects heart and head. It enables us to feel deeply. Sometimes that twelve inches of space between our hearts and heads is the longest journey to travel. Worship connects those two. It enables us to think in new ways. It gives us permission to feel deeply too. Now, I don’t come to worship week after week expecting an ecstatic experience. But sometimes it happens. Often, it’s a quietness that I needed or a song that pierced my heart. Being present and engaged in worship opens us up to the possibility of that happening.
I love that this topic came up on this Sunday where our youth are leading us so well. I love it because it’s a reminder that learning the importance of worship happened when I was young, and worship is something that sustains me today. Worship is part of what makes life meaningful, and I hope that’s something you find to be true as you worship even today.