Holy Anticipation

Sometimes I run around like a scatter-brained fool.  Okay, not sometimes.  Most times.  But if we’re honest that’s really become a societal norm.  We run around day after day carting ourselves from point A to point B to C and then back to A and then find at the end of that day there are only a few hours before we have to do it again.

And then all of a sudden it’s Sunday.  We pull ourselves out of bed, into the shower, raid the cupboards for the last Nutri-grain bar before shuffling the family in the car and arriving 4 and a half minutes late for church.  Even though we’ve all got issues we realize that they won’t get “fixed” in an hour and 15 minute service, so we hang on until it’s time to take a much-needed Sunday afternoon nap.  We’ve been so busy worrying about getting from A to B that our brain has gone on autopilot and our sense of living life to the fullest has been lulled into a numb stupor.

Recently, I’ve been asking myself “what is the spirit of worship at my church?”  Is it Christian karaoke?  Are we really here to celebrate all that God has done and will do through the people of this church?

If you find yourself wondering what has happened to the spirit of worship in our church, I have one recommendation: holy anticipation.   I love what Richard Foster describes in his book Celebration of Discipline when describing the discipline of worship:

A striking feature of worship in the Bible is that people gathered in what we could only call a “holy expectancy.”  They believed they would actually hear the Kol Yahweh, the voice of God…it was not surprising to [the early church] that the building in which they met shook with the power of God.  It had happened before…they were coming into the awful, glorious, gracious Presence of the living God.  They gathered with anticipation, knowing that Christ was present among them and would teach them and touch them with His living power… When more than one or two come into public worship with a holy expectancy it can change the atmosphere of a room.

I believe that true worship starts with aligning oneself with the same power that raised Jesus from the dead not only on Sundays but every day of the week.  I write this not because I am a prayer guru or that you should pay homage to my greatness.  I am a pastor but I am just like you.  I write this because you and I are both human and need to become desperately teachable.  I write this as an encouragement not only for you but for myself–so that each one of us can be carefully listening for God’s voice throughout everyday.  (I’m told it gets easier the more you do it.)

But there’s a catch.  It starts with you.  And me.  Each of us listening closely to God’s voice.  Our times in worship can be filled with the power of God, lives can be touched, hearts can be healed–but only if we join as one to seek God’s face–together.  Are you in?