Weekly Worship
One of the marks of active discipleship is the weekly gathering with the people of God for collective worship. This provides something altogether different than our personal devotional time of prayer.
In worship we gather with the whole people of God to lift our hearts in praise and song, to hear the old, but ever-new story of our faith, to pray for ourselves and the world, and to bring our spiritual hunger to the Lord ’s Table in the breaking of the bread. The worship of God shapes a community and it is the centermost spiritual activity of the church.
Worship is for all ages, beginning with children. It doesn’t matter if children don’t “understand” everything that is happening or said; we help them on their own level. And they, in turn, grow into the symbols and dramatic ritual as they develop. This cannot happen, this communal shaping, unless they are actually present and experiencing Christian worship.
A reasonable challenge for your spiritual life is to increase the frequency and grow the depth of your worship.
In terms of frequency, you may move up the number of times a month that you join in the worship of God. If you are a Christmas/Easter Christian, then make it once a month. If you worship once a month then increase it to twice a month. If you are an every-other Sunday worshipper, strive to make it every Sunday unless you are out of town or sick and unable to attend. In terms of worship you will reap exactly what you sow, receive back exactly what you put in.
As far as depth goes, come expecting some great moving of the heart, a powerful insight, a healing moment, and the joining of your heart and mind with those of others. Bring something great to worship and worship will bring something great to you.
At Broadway we have three distinct gatherings for Christian worship. From informal to traditional to contemporary there is a place and style and way of worship for everyone. But far beyond style, beyond some music that I happen to prefer, is the act of worship itself to which we are willing to commit, being in the spirit with others who long for the same experience of the spirit.
Worship weekly …
