During this season of lent Perhaps many of you have chosen during this time to “Give up” something, laying something down so that you may draw nearer to God.
This made me think, Lent is perhaps a microcosm of the lifelong path of the disciple, each day as a disciple we must choose to lay down our wants, desires and temptations in order to pick up our cross and follow Christ, fixing our eyes on Him and forsaking all other distractions and idols that contend for our hearts.
However, unlike Christ in the wilderness we can often fail and stumble into temptation. We are “only human” after all.
Brother Lawrence wrote: “To Worship God in truth is to recognize Him for being who He is, and to recognise ourselves for what we are.”
Through worship we recognise the beautiful relationship between God’s transcendence and imminence. We recognise that God is so much greater, so much holier and more perfect than we could ever imagine, we recognise he is set apart unlike any other. The psalmist writes: “Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; His greatness no one can fathom”. We may sing “O, Praise the name”, “Great is thy faithfulness” and “How Great thou Art”.
However, we also recognise during our times of worship his imminence he is here right now, in this place, closer than the very breath that we breathe. Despite all of our failure, all of our humanity, God is near. And joyfully by the cross we can draw near to Him.
This is why worship is such a vital aspect of any Healthy and sustainable church. Worship is the lens through which we see Christ and Christ sees our hearts.
Worship is the great equalizer, it doesn’t matter who you are or how far you have wandered, we all enter worship on a level playing field having all fallen short of the Glory of God, and yet, forgiven and in glorious harmony (hopefully) we are all able to lift our voices and join in one song recognising the greatness of our God. “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty who was, and is and is to come”.
