Out of Moab

Avenues into worship

· Corporate worship is an extension of your daily worship. If you go through daily life in the flesh, you will come to worship in that way, and it will be harder to enter in during corporate worship. And genuine worship changes us and calls us into obedience.

· Praising God - Praise brings emotions into worship (worship should be a balance of mind and emotions)

· Worship should involve our whole being. In Scripture, there are lots of physical postures associated with worship (lying, standing, kneeling, lifting hands, bowing heads, clapping, dancing). We should challenge ourselves to worship expressively, unhindered by self-consciousness. As someone with a naturally reserved temperament and a Lutheran upbringing, this is still not something that is easy for me.

But there is one caveat: people can respond in different ways at different moments, so physical expressions may not look the same – which means that you can’t judge the genuineness of the person’s worship by their physical expression (or lack there-of).

When I’ve been in atmospheres that are more open to physical expression, sometimes those who are the most expressive are seen as the most spiritual, so there is pressure to conform. Instead, we should be aiming to cultivate an atmosphere of freedom for people to worship expressively however they’re led in that moment without identifying any particular expression as more spiritual.

For instance, in the moments when I am feeling and hearing God the strongest, I am usually sitting quietly with my eyes closed, absolutely still, so I can tune into what God is doing in that moment, without outer distractions. From the outside, it would appear that I am completely shut down and not engaged – but the opposite is true!

Practical Steps to Worship more effectively:

· Learn to practice God’s presence daily (to help prepare for corporate worship)

· Have different types of worship experiences (small group, individual, etc) – this enhances your corporate worship.

· Find ways to prepare for corporate worship (e.g. go to bed early the night before, study the Scripture passage ahead of time, arrive early to pray and prepare, and let go of inner distractions that would hinder your full participation.

· Receive outer distractions and noise during worship with gratitude (vs. feeling like they are keeping you from worshipping God.)

· Learn to offer a sacrifice of worship (not just when you feel like worshiping!)

Celebration: Going through life celebrating the goodness of God in all of the big and small ways it is manifested.

Practicing this intentionally in the midst of the drudgery or trials of daily life is what makes this a discipline. Celebration brings joy which brings strength to endure difficulties.

Celebration is central to all of the Disciplines, in that it gives us the strength to live them out – and keeps them from being legalistic tasks.

What can celebration look like?

· Celebrate through worship by singing, dancing and shouting

· Laughing

· Celebrate creativity and imagination (we had it as children and lost a lot of it)

· Celebrate lesser events (e.g. finishing a project, getting a new job)

· Celebrate our cultural festivals but in a countercultural way. Get creative and find ways to celebrate and bless others!

Practicing Celebration

Those of us who are single can miss out on a lot of the traditional cultural milestone celebrations (weddings, baby showers, etc.) It is especially beneficial for us to be intentional about celebrating other milestones.

Eight years ago, right before I started at my current position, I had been desperate for a change – there was a lot about my job at that time that was not healthy for me. So when I officially got this job, everyone celebrated with me in different ways – but this was perhaps my favorite way, courtesy of my small group:

Practicing Worship

I’ve always loved worship and have had some of the sweetest times of meeting with God through it. Several years ago, there was a group in our area that would do worship and prayer around the clock for a full weekend. I would go and sit there for a few hours at a time and would always hear from God in unique ways.

I don’t have access to that kind of setting now, which means that I have to be intentional about creating space in my schedule to worship. So I welcomed the opportunity to do this while following my assignment this week. I put on my worship playlist and tried to take steps to worship more expressively (which is much easier when I’m alone).

As has often been the case as I’ve walked through the other disciplines, I was reminded of what it looks like when I am practicing a discipline more fully – and the good things that can happen!

Questions for Reflection:

What forms of worship are most effective for you, and why?
What are some things you would celebrate about God and His goodness right now?

Comment below or contact me – I’d love to connect with you!