Relevant Worship?

So what's the big deal with worship? How important is worship anyway? I am so glad you asked! Our weekly corporate worship experience must be the foundation upon which we build each ministry endeavor of North Riverside Baptist Church. It is through these shared encounters with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit that we begin to recognize and formulate His vision for our church.

So, if God is to reveal Himself to us in worship, does this mean God cannot and does not speak to us each individually throughout the week? Of course not! On the contrary, when our worship experience is at its best we blend each of our individual encounters with God throughout the week into a unified encounter with our Creator.

The importance of God's people gathering for the purpose of corporate worship can be found throughout the Bible. In the Old Testament we read of the sanctity of the temple. Jesus shows His priority on worship as He regularly attended synagogue on the Sabbath (Luke 4:16). In the New Testament the early church places a great deal of importance on congregational worship as they began worshipping the risen Savior on the first day of the week (I Corinthians 16:1-2). This was not only significant because it was the day Jesus rose from the grave, but it also served as a symbol of Christ's importance in our lives.

But, in order for the corporate worship experience to be the driving power in our church we must recognize worship as an applicable experience to our daily lives.

As I write this article, I am surrounded by the horrifying images, descriptions and stories of tragedy surrounding the events on Virginia Tech's campus on the morning of April 16th. While writing an article on worship, it occurs to me that this terrible incident is a tangible example of how our perspectives can change from week to week. I expect that as we gather on Sunday, April 22nd, all of our hearts will be heavy. Our pews will be full of people overcome with emotions that they didn't feel last week. Feelings of sorrow, grief, anger, despair, mourning, pain, guilt, blame and remembrance overwhelm many of us as we deal with this astonishing disaster. Some of us will see God this week as the good Shepherd who guides us through the valley of despair. Some will identify with the broken-hearted and discouraged who were so often the objects of Jesus' ministry. Some may even find it hard to approach God's throne at all this week.

But we must never overlook the glorious privilege that we have as Christians to enter into the presence of the God of hope....the God of Love....the God of renewal. The God we worship on Sunday is present with us in all the circumstances of our daily lives. His presence is not only with us as we gather in our beautifully adorned sanctuary, but His presence is with us as we suffer through times of tragedy and despair. He is with us equally when we celebrate our joys and when we grieve our losses. He is with us when we do not understand and when we think we know it all. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Perhaps our goal is not to make our weekly hour of worship more relevant to our daily lives....but to make our daily lives more relevant to our Sunday worship experience!