Many of us have probably heard someone say at some point that repetition and ritual gets boring or loses its meaning. I certainly think this is something that can happen in the church as well. We can get caught up in “doing” church and often it is the same routine every Sunday. There is certainly good to ritual and repetition, but it takes the right amount of intention and focus to keep it fresh and new. Do you go to church to go through the motions or do you go to church for a fresh outpouring of God in and through your life? This is a serious question we must ask ourselves. Here are some thoughts on how we can do this in our lives:
- Spend time preparing your heart in prayer for corporate worship. Ask God to pour out of himself into the gathering and ask him to reveal what it is that is specific for you. The importance of preparing our hearts cannot be understated.
- Stay focused on worship and try to not let your mind wander. I am guilty of this myself. I have to take conscious effort to ensure that I stay focused on what is going on around me and intent on being present.
- Participate in worship. Sing, give, take notes are all things that can help us stay focused on worship.
- Find places to serve. Our times of corporate worship are not to be the only time throughout the week that we are the church. We are to be the church all day, every day. We cannot do this without serving others. Serving others helps keep our minds on the things of God and helps us to look forward to what God has for us the next time we gather corporately.
- Participate in your daily spiritual disciplines. Worship is not just something we do on Sundays, it is to be a way of life. Our entire lives should be worship to God our Father.
On mission together,
~Pastor Todd