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Worshiping is a skill. Faithful worship involves
learning new hymns and orders of service, mutual care and encouragement
of those sitting around you, mental participation in the story of the
liturgy, emotional preparation to be quiet and hear, and spiritual
readiness to receive God's Word. We all come to church with different
mindsets, difficulties, and needs. Some of us have little children to
care for, others "can't" sing, others are lost in the hymnal, others
have just received hard news. You will grow in meaningful worship by...
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Arriving at least ten minutes before the
service to prepare your heart and mind.
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Sitting up front so that the sound of the
singing supports you from behind and that the view becomes more open
and less distracting. Sitting up front helps the children pay
attention to the action up front, instead of the action all around
them and the backs of people's heads.
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Training your children to worship. Encourage
them to participate in whatever way they can, according to their age
level. There is no minimum age to teach children to worship.
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Singing, even if you don't feel like it--by
singing you are thus stating that God's promises are true despite
our feelings. Sing even if you are tone deaf--thus you will be
demonstrating the higher reality of God's acceptance of you and
living in faith that he receives your joyful noise with glee.
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Boldly participating with us. By boldly
speaking the creed and singing the liturgy with your whole heart,
and giving firm handshakes with the greeting, "God's peace by with
you," you are making a public witness among us that this hour of
worship is meaningful and unique. We will all be strengthened by
your bold leadership in worship participation.
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Listening to the sermon and looking
attentive. The communication during a sermon goes both way. Pastor
is strengthened and emboldened to preach when he sees a people
actively listening.
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Tie the pieces together. See how the
scripture texts, hymns, and sermon connect with the season of the
church year.
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Respect the dignity of the occasion. Such
respect is shown by dressing appropriately and avoiding flash
photography, baseball caps, walkmans, beverages, or snacks.
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Remembering that we have cassettes available
for you if a service touched you in a significant way, if you would
like someone else to hear it, or if you were just too distracted or
too sleepy to pay attention. Contact the church office for a copy.
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Preparing your heart to receive Holy
Communion. Such preparation would include taking inventory of our
lives and offering ourselves to the Lord that he would forgive us,
change us, and enable us to serve him. If you are worshipping with
visitors and they wonder if they are welcome to our rail, please
direct them to the questions posed in our Sunday morning bulletin.
If they can affirmatively answer each, they are welcome. They are
also welcome to discuss the concern with pastor, but please approach
pastor with at least ten minutes still remaining before worship
begins.
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Continuing to learn about worship. If you
have questions, please see Pastor. Worship should be comforting, but
not necessarily comfortable because we should be open to being
challenged and stretched in our worship life.
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