What do you think of when we think of Worship? Probably singing. Maybe lifting hands or closing our eyes? Perhaps you think of extended times of prayer with folded hands and bowed heads. All of these can be part of the act of worship, but it is sometimes difficult to figure out if we are actually worshipping. If I don’t lift my hands am I not worshipping? There are several Biblical essentials that should be included in our worship in order that have a full worship experience. In this post, we are going to look into the concept of Active Participation in Worship.
Stop me if you’ve heard this before. You come to church and socialize before the service beings, you sing along to the all too familiar songs without really thinking about the words, you try to focus during the pastoral prayer but find yourself thinking about the work you have to do when you get home, and the sermon is about “How to be a Godly Parent”, but you have no children so you write it off as not applicable to your life. When you finally get to the car, you feel like you’ve been to church, but you haven’t experienced God. You haven’t worshipped.
What is missing is Active Participation. You can actually come to church and “participate” without actively participating. The difference is how involved you are in the service. This is a very difficult concept to master and is something I struggle with every week. In today’s culture, we are used to viewing everything as a performance. All information and entertainment comes to us. The only effort really required from us is a touch of our finger to the screen. Church requires the opposite of this. God does not ask for partial attention, he asked for everything. Isaiah 29:13 says The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” We do not get “religious points” for merely showing up to church, we actually have to mean what we are doing.
So, how can we actively worship? There are several things we can do to actively worship during the service. First of all, when we are singing, we need to contemplate the words we are singing. This is particularly difficult when we have sung a particular song 100 times. But, we can still worship even with these songs. When singing “Mighty to Save” for instance, concentrate on the power of God mentioned in the song. He can “move the mountains”, he “takes us as he finds us”. It is all about using your focus instead of going into “auto pilot.”
Another thing we can do is pray our own prayer during the pastoral prayer. This is a part of the service where I find my attention slipping, not because I don’t believe in what is being prayed, but because I am just sitting and listening. So next time the pastoral prayer happens, actively pray in your head for what the pastor is praying for or for your own prayers. Prayer is so powerful and when an entire congregation is praying, not just listening, great things can happen.
What areas of the service are you struggling to participate in? Are you leaving the service knowing you have not worshipped? Take this week to pray and ask God to show you how you can go deeper into worship on Sunday Morning and even during the week. God demands our everything. Let’s challenge ourselves as a congregation to draw closer to God and leave everything on the altar of worship.
So, how can we actively worship? There are several things we can do to actively worship during the service. First of all, when we are singing, we need to contemplate the words we are singing. This is particularly difficult when we have sung a particular song 100 times. But, we can still worship even with these songs. When singing “Mighty to Save” for instance, concentrate on the power of God mentioned in the song. He can “move the mountains”, he “takes us as he finds us”. It is all about using your focus instead of going into “auto pilot.”
Another thing we can do is pray our own prayer during the pastoral prayer. This is a part of the service where I find my attention slipping, not because I don’t believe in what is being prayed, but because I am just sitting and listening. So next time the pastoral prayer happens, actively pray in your head for what the pastor is praying for or for your own prayers. Prayer is so powerful and when an entire congregation is praying, not just listening, great things can happen.
What areas of the service are you struggling to participate in? Are you leaving the service knowing you have not worshipped? Take this week to pray and ask God to show you how you can go deeper into worship on Sunday Morning and even during the week. God demands our everything. Let’s challenge ourselves as a congregation to draw closer to God and leave everything on the altar of worship.
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