Worship In the Wreckage

My hand was strumming with vigorous intensity, my voice resounding with a passionate plea to experience God, that familiar feeling came over me that God was truly doing something... I might have been able to convince myself that it was a normal gathering of the church if I never opened my eyes. But this past month of worship has been far from normal.

A full building is replaced by a tripod. The people who used to join in with me are now sitting behind screens in their pajamas, hopefully worshiping along with me.

It would be impossible to deny that the way we worship in this current season of Covid-19 is entirely different than any other season before it. At least if we consider worship to be only that one scenario; all of us, side by side in a room, singing along to someone leading on stage.

That is typically what we think of when we hear the word “worship”, isn’t it? As a worship leader, I feel like I’m guilty of proposing that idea when I start a service by saying “Let’s enter in to a time of worship”. What is worship really?

In Romans 12:1, Paul lays down a definition for us:

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”

Romans 12:1

If offering out bodies as a living sacrifice is true worship, how do we do that? What does it mean to be a living sacrifice?

I love how simply it is put in the message translation:

“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering.”

Is it possible then, that we can worship God by helping our kids with math problems, calling someone who has been on our mind, introducing ourselves to a neighbor walking by our house, preparing family meals or even being humble enough to accept help that we have never needed before?

As I think about worship and faithfulness during this entirely new season that we have all be flung into, I believe worship is simply this:

Be faithful to do whatever God has put before you.

What God has put before you in this unique season may feel grand and important, or it might feel entirely insignificant to you. But it’s not your job to judge how important it is, it’s simply your job to be faithful to do it.

If we can be faithful to do whatever God has put before us, we may just enter into a time of worship and never leave... wouldn’t that be something?