Worship-Part 3

Worship is also about REST.  Let’s face it, we have trouble resting. Our culture doesn’t always know how to rest.  Sometimes we even look down upon those who rest as lazy or unproductive.  To be the child of God that He has called us to be, we need to rest.  We must take a deep breath: spiritually, emotionally, physically.

Worship is a time of REST.  We REST in the arms of the God who loves us and desires that we too love Him.  He wants us to cast our cares upon Him and take rest from the burdens that the world, others, or even ourselves have placed upon us.

In our worship we can sometimes get so caught up in singing about God or reading about God or hearing about God that we forget that worship is an experience OF God.  We experience God’s love so that we too might be changed more into the likeness of Him.   Have you ever considered how you might move from all those things about God and move into a restful experience of God?

The REST in our worship is also a preparation to be a part of the ongoing work of the Kingdom of God outside the walls of our worship spaces.  As United Methodists, we affirm the priesthood of all believers and we can all minister to one another through Word, action, and deed.  The things that happen to use in worship--Power, the Joy, The Rest--are not intended to stay there.  They are not to stay in the worship space or in the time frame of our worship.

Our worship truly takes on a whole new meaning when we live our that which we say and do in worship.  We affirm that God is all powerful, that He forgive sins, that the saints are to commune together, and that our body will live on (among other things).  Do our actions reflect forgive, community, power, and a view of eternity in all that we do?

Wherever you worship this week, do so in POWER, JOY, and REST.  Do it not for your sake, but for the sake of the LORD.  You’ll be amazed at what happens--to you and to those around you.