Joyful Worship Pt. 1

Here is an article that I wrote for Family Matters, our weekly Sunday bulletin. It is the first in a series that I will be writing. I'll post each one here as they come up. Kudos to my friend Dan Morris. I got a wealth of material from his sermon of the same title.

Somewhat recently, the National Constitution Center surveyed American teenagers. The intent was to discern their level of knowledge and understanding of the Constitution and our history. The results were very interesting.

They found that only 41% could name all three branches of the government, but 50% could name all three stooges. 74% knew that Bart Simpson was from Springfield, Illinois but only 12% knew that Abraham Lincoln grew up there. 75% knew what city laid claim to the zip code 90210, but only 25% could name the city where the Constitution was written. A surprisingly high 74% knew the name of the Vice-President, but 90% knew the names of the stars in the movie Titanic.

This prompted the director of the National Constitution Center to comment, “…the Constitution does not work by itself. It depends on active and informed citizens.”

The same can be said of our worship. We need active and informed people who understand worship. How can we make it work if we don’t know what it is? Most of us would not do very well in a survey that describes and defines worship. This is a sobering thought when you realize that the Bible tells us we are created to worship. We are worshipful beings. What does that mean? Have we lost that identity?

Over the next few months, we will explore the meaning of “joyful worship.” Who are we worshiping? Why do we do it? When do we worship? And how? Let us pray that God will lead us to a better understanding of the meaning behind “worshiping in spirit and truth.”