more than songs and a nice speech

Restoration,

I am so thankful for our musical worship on Sundays.  There is so much thought that goes in to the sets each week.

I am so thankful that we are a teachable community.  We come wanting to learn about the Scriptures and how they point to our need for a forgiver and one who can lead our life.

I am so thankful that our worship is more than songs and a nice speech.

I love our liturgy–  that we are connected to a pattern of worship that has happened for thousands of years.  I love that it is ‘the work of the people’–  that we play a part in our responses, our prayers [Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer], in our posture [we stand, we sit, someday we will kneel].

And I love this passage from 2 Samuel 6:

17 And they brought in the ark of the LORD and set it  in its place, inside the tent that David had pitched for it.  And David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.  18 And when David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings,  he blessed the people in the name of the LORD of hosts 19 and distributed among all the people, the whole multitude of Israel, both men and women, a cake of bread, a portion of meat,  and a cake of raisins to each one.  Then all the people departed, each to his house.

David lead a worship service that feels a lot like the rich liturgy we follow each week.

• They set the ark of the Lord in its place.  We enter the building and we are called to worship.  We are called to lift up our hearts.  We are called to shift our attention from the details and noise that has been clamoring at us and to be attentive to what God is saying to us.  We remind ourselves of Jesus’ rightful place.
• They had burnt offerings and peace offerings.  Each week we are given the privilege of confessing our wrongs against God and against our neighbor.  Each week we are reminded that we are only forgiven because of what Jesus did on the cross and as far as it depends on us, we are to live at peace with those around us.
• They were blessed.  To be blessed is to be given a gift.  It is to receive the wholeness and kindness of the Lord.  We make the sign of the cross as we receive blessing.  It is an ‘action prayer’.  It is using our body to receive what was prayed.
• They were given special food.  Every human needs a certain amount of calories a day.  Needing to eat may be our most ‘in common’ need.  God is so deliberate to build eating into worship.  The message could not be clearer–  I have food that your soul needs.  I have means of sustaining you that are similar to putting in calories, but they feed your spirit.

Worship is so much more than some nice songs and a pretty speech.  King David said, ‘I was glad when they said, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord” because he knew that being with people in worship met one of his deepest needs.

I am looking forward to being with you tonight at 7:30 at Restoration as we continue to dream about our new facility and the way we will use it in our worship!  Hope you can be with us.

-David