Worship

Sing or say the words of this hymn as an act of worship to God.

O Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder
Consider all the works Thy hand hath made.
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee:
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee:
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

When through the woods and forest glades I wander
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees;
When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur
And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze:

Then sings…

And when I think that God, His Son not sparing,
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;
That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin:

Then sings… 

When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart!
Then I shall bow in humble adoration,
And there proclaim, my God, how great Thou art!

Then sings…

Sermon on the Mat: Do what is proper to a swan

Take a minute to read Psalm 100. It’s a short, simple psalm of praise. ‘Worship the Lord… come before him… he made us, we are his… give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good.’

One of the things we do when we meet together as church is to worship God, usually by singing to him and about him. It’s not the only way to worship, but it is probably the most common. And when we talk about worship, it is what we tend to think about.

But worship is so much more than singing. At the minute, worship is not singing, at least not congregational singing. That doesn’t mean we aren’t able to worship. It’s an opportunity to think about what worship is and how we can make it part of our everyday life. It’s easy enough to sing, but God expects our worship to be more than that.

In Romans 12:1 Paul writes, ‘in view of God’s mercy, offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship.’

The word translated true and proper is ‘logikos’: rational, reasonable. Paul is saying that the sensible response to God’s mercy is worship. It suggests that worship is an intelligent, thoughtful reaction to what God has done for us. It is not just a ceremony, not just what we do to fill some time at the beginning of a church service. The Greek philosopher Epictetus said this:

‘If I were a nightingale I would do what was proper to a nightingale,
and if I were a swan, what is proper to a swan.
In fact I am a rational person, so I must praise God.’

Worship is the natural, reasonable response of human beings to the God that created and saved them. And in the same way that swans always behave like swans, so we should be always worshipping God. Which means worship has to be a lot more than singing. No one can sing all day, every day. Even nightingales don’t do that.

Paul insists that worship involves every part of us. We are to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice. Not just our minds, or our hearts, which we’re traditionally asked to give to God. But all that we are. Sung worship engages our voices, our time, our minds if we’re concentrating, our emotions if we let it. It can be all consuming. But it is not the only way to offer ourselves to God.

We worship God by serving him. By devoting ourselves to him, putting him first and being used by him. When we sing or speak our worship, we are telling God (and reminding ourselves) how much he has done for us, how grateful we are. How lost we would be without him. We need to proclaim those same truths in all areas of our lives.

Do you see your daily tasks, your housework, your conversations, as worship? If we commit those apparently insignificant things to God, and do them as if for him, then they can be. As Jesus says, ‘whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ (Matthew 25:40)

There is still a place for sung worship. It’s still important. It just means more if it’s part of a life committed to worship. Like with our friends or family: it’s lovely when someone tells us they love us, but if they then ignore us or hurt us, those words are meaningless. For our sung worship to be honest and true, it needs to be one way that we show God how important he is to us. But only one way.

Prayer

Father I thank you for all you have done for us, for your love and mercy in rescuing us and restoring us day after day.
You truly deserve our praise and worship.
Help me to turn the detail of my life into worship of you,
To seek your leading in what I do,
To seek to involve you in all that I do,
So that even when I am silent, my heart is singing, my mind is praising and my hands are worshipping you.
In Jesus’ name. Amen

Please pray for –

• those who are struggling to keep to social distancing rules, that we may all be kept safe.
• schools and other institutions preparing for the autumn, that they will get the right balance between safety and access for all.
• work on vaccines and treatment; that a solution will be found to enable us to be free from the impact of the virus.