We hurry into the worship service with our minds and hearts focused on something other than worshiping God. Yes. We want to worship God. That is why we are in the service, why we put forth the effort to be present. But all the things that claimed our time and attention before we scurried to our seats still dash through our minds.
Focusing on God is hard, we find. Worship is not something that can be turned on or off like pushing a button. Worship takes time. It takes preparation. Without preparation, when the service is over, we feel more as if we have fulfilled a duty than experienced the living God.
Experience has taught us that when worship begins so frantically, it often ends less than satisfactorily.
What we know anecdotally, a study by the Barna Research Group confirms scientifically. In one study, 75 percent of adults said worship is very important to them, while 92 percent of adults who attend church regularly rated worship at the same level.
However, only about one-third of the adults said they always experience God’s presence during church worship events. Another one-third said they frequently experience God’s presence during worship events. The remaining one-third said they experience God’s presence in worship less than frequently.
Some of the responsibility for these experiences rests with the church. But Barna found a relationship between the way an individual approaches worship and the experience he or she has in worship.
The study concluded, “Part of the challenge may relate to personal preparation to worship.” George Barna, who directed the study, added, “Without giving themselves time to clear their minds and hearts of their daily distractions and other problems, many people attend a worship event but never enter a worshipful frame of mind.”
The study also found that only four out of 10 adults said they regularly prepare themselves for worship. A large share of regular churchgoers does not pray, meditate, confess or focus on God prior to the start of a church worship event.
As a consequence, these people reported they find it difficult to connect with God spiritually during a worship event.
Churches received a share of the responsibility for the low satisfaction of worship. Churches were chided for breaking worship experiences with extraneous items. Announcements being made in the middle of a service was one example cited.
Unnecessary distractions such as seating latecomers in the midst of a worship time — special music, Bible reading, prayer — were also mentioned.
In short, churches must consciously avoid structuring or conducting worship events in ways that build anxieties or frustrations for participants, Barna counseled.
Worship is always God-centered. It is not man-centered or institution-centered. The Greek word most often translated worship (“proskuneo”) means “to fall down before” or “to bow down before.” The implication is that worship cannot be forced or coerced by an outside source. Worship is an attitude. Worship relates to the state of the individual spirit seeking to encounter God.
Perhaps that is why the primary responsibility for worship rests with the individual who centers his or her mind on God and not on the things of this world, whose heart is open and repentant as he or she seeks to encounter the God of creation through the risen Lord.
The Old Testament offers guidance about preparing for worship.
According to Jewish law, before going to the Temple to offer sacrifices, worshipers were required to cleanse themselves through ritual bathing. Those who have visited Jerusalem in the last few years likely have been taken to the Pool of Siloam, where worshipers stopped to perform the ritual bathing before proceeding to the Temple.
Frequently worshipers put on clean clothes to signify their clean status before proceeding up the street to the southern wall of Temple Mount. There they would climb the steps through the wall to the level area where the Temple stood. This is one of the few places that modern-day pilgrims can walk on steps actually used by Jesus and the disciples.
Once on Temple Mount, priests offered the many sacrifices brought by worshipers, while people gathered in the various courts to worship, pray and discuss Scripture.
No one dared come to Temple Mount haphazardly. Jews understood the need to prepare to meet God. God is holy. Before encountering Him in worship, it was necessary to cleanse, confess and pray.
In Deuteronomy 4:29, God promised His people that when they seek Him with all their hearts and souls, they will find Him. In Jeremiah 29:13, God said, “‘You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord.” Those promises are still true.
But seeking God with the whole heart is more than rushing into a church worship event with no preparation — no prayer, no confession, no meditation. For the church, helping people seek God with the whole heart is more than catering to the latest fad or focusing on institutional needs.
Marking worship as important on a survey or even attending a church worship event does not make worship important. Worship only becomes important to us when we prepare to meet God in a worship event and there we fall down before Him in reverence, praise and gratitude for what He has done in our lives. And when we do that, we will experience God’s presence through worship.
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