Make an Effort
It’s hard to do on
a Sunday morning, but my first word of advice for worshippers is that you
should put something in. Give God your
best; you’re on time and alert for work, why not for one hour on Sunday – a
gift from God, a day of rest.
Prepare: If
readings have been given before the service take a moment to read through them,
especially the gospel reading, maybe on the evening before or in the week
before Sunday.
Pray: Ask
God to speak to you and help you to listen and obey. With God all things are possible.
Greet:
There is a good reason we don’t stay in bed and watch church on TV. God created us for community. Bless those around you by taking a genuine
interest in them; as full of the spirit and joy as you may be – the person
sitting next to you may just need your encouragement today. Be aware of the community around you – as you
sing you are singing to God and to each other; like flames – when you burn
together you burn much brighter.
Imagine: As
you worship and pray don’t just sit there – use your imagination – if you sing
about Rocks that praise God, form a picture in your mind, trees clapping hands;
all the nations of the world singing God’s praise – the word pictures that we
use in our prayers and songs warrant the use of our imagination.
Listen:
Whoever the preacher is, whether you like them or not, they are there to
challenge you and stimulate you in your faith.
God works in spite of us, so even if you disagree with the preacher,
allow the preaching to stimulate your thoughts on the faith. Consider different perspectives, ask yourself
why you like or dislike what the preacher says.
If you are a mind wanderer take notes to help you keep focused.
Elements of the
Service
Opening
The first part of
the service is normally a call to worship – a chance for us to think about why
God is worth worshipping, and to call each other to worship through song.
Psalm
Almost every week
we read from one of the Psalms, the Psalms challenge us with God’s might and
authority, they put words in our mouths that we might not think to use in our
prayers. They are honest – the Psalmist
speaks his pain as well as his joy.
When we pray the
Psalms we remember communities who over thousands of years have prayed these
prayers with us, and the God who remains the same from generation to
generation.
Confession
In this moment we
admit to God that we are not as holy as we like people to think. We come to God honest about who we are and
what we have done, and we boldly ask for more grace and forgiveness. Looking to the cross we remember what Christ
has done; and accept / receive forgiveness; and the possibility of God’s transformation
of our hearts and minds.
Praise and Thanks
Jesus’ grace to us
is worth some celebration – once we have confessed and remembered Jesus’ words
of graceful forgiveness to us we usually celebrate with appropriate songs of
thanksgiving.
Offering
Part of our
response of praise and thanks is giving ourselves to God, the money that we
offer on a Sunday morning is symbolic of our life and work. It is a very important link between Sunday’s
worship and our busy working lives. When
you make an offering you symbolically put your work life in the plate (or bag)
too; if you have no money; simply offer yourself.
Sermon
Sometimes sermons
don’t meet OUR needs, sometimes they challenge more than comfort, sometimes we
agree / sometimes we disagree with what the preacher has to say. Always, God is probably saying something to
us – it is not up to the preacher to tell you what that is; sometimes hearing
God’s voice through a sermon demands attention and meditation on your part.
Intercession
After the sermon
we normally take a moment to ask God to help us to not only hear what it is God
may have been saying. But also, to put
it into practice. We also lift up the
very real needs of the community around us, present our needs and state our
longing for the coming of the Kingdom of God.
We pray – not because God has to listen to us because we’re such
wonderful people; but because we know that God loves us (we see this in Jesus’
death on the cross) and because God loves us – God answers us (not always with
the answers we had hoped for).
Grace / Benediction
At the end of the
service we say the grace to each other. Reminding each other that in the
difficulty of walking through life as a Christian; God is there to help us; and
God has given us a community that supports us.
