eNotes

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This past Sunday we began our teaching series, The Way of the Worshiper.  The focus of this series is exploring: What is worship and why do we do it? We are looking at the structure of worship that was formed from the Early Church until now. It is not a steadfast playbook chiseled in stone. Rather, we hone in on basic components and flow of how corporate worship has happened through the ages. We are examining the following elements of worship:

• Call to Worship
• Confession and Assurance
• Listening to the Word
• Benediction
• Thanks Be To God
• 
  

[There is also an aspect of worship that is the people’s response to the Word or response to worship overall in the Thanks Be To God – presenting our “sacrifices” or offerings]

Pastor Steve kicked us off on Sunday teaching on the Call to Worship. Here were three points that I learned and wrote down during his message:

1) God calls us to enter his presence with thanksgiving and praise (Psalm 100:4). God is not looking for parades and applause as though God had an ego-need to fill. Pastor Steve shared that what this means is that God calls us to readjust our thinking and focus toward him and away from ourselves.

2) Jesus is the ultimate model for us in responding to this call. Of all of the animal sacrifices offered to God in Old Testament worship, none went willingly. Jesus as the Lamb of God was the only one who did go willingly. Jesus said, “No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of my own accord” (John 10:18). We, then, should also willingly “offer our sacrifice of praise to God” (Hebrews 13:15).

3) Pastor Steve taught that God does not say, “Come” and then require us to jump over a “high bar” of worship to get to him. We don’t have to pass a form and function litmus test to get into God’s presence. We come as we are and God meets us there.

I am not going to forget those three points anytime soon when I hear the call to worship at all of our worship experiences on Sunday morning!

Since Terri and I were unable to be present on Sunday, we participated in worship online. Our Online Campus and Online Pastor Curt Bissell are such a blessing. Our personal preference is not to gather around a phone or laptop or tablet unless we absolutely have to. Rather, we stream on large screen TV’s in our home or even in hotels, turn up the volume a bit and feel like we are right there in the house! I would encourage you to do this as well to enhance your worship experience. The easiest way to do it is by streaming our YouTube channel or else using the Boxcast App on your Smart TV, or Roku or Apple TV.

Some like Facebook Live because it is easier to interact with others in the room. There are options to interact on YouTube and our own Website Platform, but FB is probably easier. What I do is participate in worship on the big screen and keep the Facebook Live running on my phone sitting next to me. When a sermon point, testimony or song moves me, I pick up my phone and share it and interact with those in the FB Live feed (I guess it’s the 21^st Century version of whispering to the person next to you in church?). Here's a link to our website page that has more details on how to access online worship. 

If you miss Sunday morning (or the Heritage stream in the afternoon), you can always play it back during the week and set aside sacred time to worship. Worship is not limited to Sundays. The Psalmist says, “I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth” (Psalm 34:1). We have said around Garfield Memorial Church for as long as I can remember: “Miss a Sunday, Miss a Lot.” We provide multiple ways to make sure that doesn’t happen for you. I am sure glad that I did not miss this past Sunday or I would not have the three gems to share with you from Pastor Steve’s message. More importantly, I would not have those teachings to better prepare myself to respond to God’s Call to Worship going forward. I will see you this Sunday on Mother’s Day as I will teach on Confession and Assurance.