Ready for Worship?

You’ve been there—every honest Christian knows it.  You’re in a worship gathering, the leaders invite everyone to join in, and the church launches into song.  But something’s wrong.

Maybe you’re just “not there” yet—your head is full of parking lot squabbles or last night’s movie.  Or the lyrics are strange (what do we mean by “Cherubim and seraphim falling down before Thee” or “Ye chosen seed of Israel’s chosen race, ye ransomed from the fall”?).  Or maybe the song expresses things that just aren’t true for you, at least not at the moment, so you don’t feel you can sing along with integrity.  How do you partici­pate—or do you?

The fact is, ushering all God’s people into whole­hearted worship is complicated.  Leaders don’t just stand up, say some words, play their instruments, and “make” praise happen.  (So don’t forget to pray for the Spirit’s vital work to soften our hearts, clear away the mental clutter, lift us above mundane distractions, and give us a glad willingness to go with our leaders before the throne of God.)

When worship lyrics seem strange, or if the message is densely packed and comes at you way too fast to process on the spot, take time later and re-read the words (maybe discuss them at the dinner table).  I think you’ll find, if you make the effort to dig into the words, that they’ll eventually yield spiritual treasure.

We also run into another problem—when we know all too well what the words mean and we’re painfully aware of the yawning gap between our limping spiritual lives and a songwriter’s heroic cries of devo­tion.  What do you do when the lyrics say things that you just can’t echo?  Just clam up?  I’d say:  let the words become a prayer.  That is, sing along, but utter those lofty claims of loving God with all your heart-soul-mind-strength as an appeal, “Lord, please make this true for me, draw me close to yourself, awaken my slum­bering soul, help me turn away from sin, and pour out your mercy that I might worship you authentically and zealously!”