Welcome to a peek behind the scenes, as I prepare for Sunday morning's church service.
Every Sunday is Super Bowl Sunday in my line of work. And the devil is in the details so either I have everything ready or the wheels come off.
Tomorrow is Communion Sunday. I love Communion Sunday and try to make each one different and special. This is harder than it sounds because we celebrate Communion once a month, so I have to come up with 52 fresh ideas a year to keep Communion a celebration and not a routine chore.
The good Lord hasn't infused me with inspiration "yet", but I have learned from experience to be patient. He doesn't like to be crowded. So my tendency to fidget and over prepare just doesn't impress Him.
And there is church music. A wonderful Christian friend types up the PowerPoint presentation, so all I have to do is prepare the sheet music (preferably in the right order). The Worship Team gathers at the church at 9 am to go over the music and work out any details that need attention. This gives us time to pray and prepare our hearts as well as our music.
The sermon is obviously more spiritual than anything else. I can spend 20+ hours studying and preparing for the sermon, only to have the good Lord push the sermon in a totally different direction than I planned. Lucky for me the church is flexible and used to the Holy Spirit nudging me in unexpected places.
So my pre-game warmup for the sermon requires basically 2 things. (a) print off a sermon handout for each bulletin; (b) empty my heart and mind of all distractions that interrupt me from sensing the Holy Spirit's leading.
I get to the church about an hour early for 2 reasons. (a) make coffee, it takes a full hour to peculate; (b) spend time praying for each person that God is drawing to church.
As people start showing up, I begin making contact with each person that walks through the door. If they are a "guest" (no one calls them visitors anymore), then I go to work making sure they know I am glad to see them and they are welcome.
Finally, at 10:00 am the Sunday School Bible Study kicks into gear and people open their Bible's and begin to listen to the the good Lord's voice.
So what is your spiritual thought from all this?
I was glad when they said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the LORD.” Psalm 122:1
The word “worship” comes from an old English word “worthship”, meaning that God is worthy and deserves our praise.
Worship is our response to all God is and says and does.
When we really believe God deserves our worship, nothing will keep us away from church.
It’s simply a matter of priorities. Priorities NEVER conflict.
What you "worship" is evident by what you are excited about doing on Sunday morning.
