Pastor’s Ponderings: Worship- the Most Important Time of the Week

“In spiritually passionate communities, there’s a palpable air of expectancy as people gather for worship. Musicians, ushers, greeters, and other hosts arrive early; and with care and eagerness they prepare together, encouraging one another. They genuinely delight in one another’s presence, and they give attention to the smallest details to make the service go well for worshippers.  

The gathering congregation, even when it includes many first-time visitors, never feels like a crowd of strangers.

There’s a unifying anticipation, a gracious and welcoming texture to the way people speak, act, and prepare. The pastor, music leaders, and worshippers expect something important to take place, and they’re eager to be part of it. They expect God to speak to them while they experience God’s presence, forgiveness, hope, or direction. Singing together, joining voices in prayer, listening to the Word, confessing sins, celebrating the sacraments, they intermingle their lives with each other, and they connect to God! Expectancy pervades the congregation, the active passion to serve God and to love one another. You can feel it.

Authentic, engaging, life-changing worship derives from the experience of God’s presence, the desire of worshippers for God’s Word, and the changed heart people deliberately seek when they encounter Christ in the presence of other Christians. An hour of Passionate Worship changes all the other hours of the week.”