A few years ago, before retiring from pastoring, I suggested the church have a “Preparing for Worship” time—15 minutes of sitting in the sanctuary on Sunday mornings to “still our minds and hearts” before the Lord.
It went over like the proverbial lead balloon.
Here’s how I reasoned. In worship we are coming before the Holy God, the Creator of the universe, the Eternal God of our Salvation, the One Isaiah saw in a vision and shuddered, “Whoa! I’m a dead man!” (Actually I got my “whoa” wrong. It was, “Woe is me . . . “) Anyway, it seemed totally inappropriate for us to go from hollering “hi” to each and chattering about the hot weather or the cold Rays to singing, “Holy,Holy, Holy.” We needed some sort of transition to shift our mind’s gears.
That swift shift from the noise of people talking and laughing to consciously entering God’s presence reminded me of the drive-thru at MacDonald’s. One minute you’re yelling at your fighting kids in the backseat, the next you’re speaking like a sane adult to the order-microphone. But the gathered church isn’t a hamburger joint. (Well, some churches have a coffee-bar complete with Sunday edition of “The New York Times”, but that’s for another time.)
No matter. Critics thought the silence too somber. It reminded others of waiting in the grave (no pun intended)-quiet funeral home for the sad service to start . Then there was the occasional person (if I was brave enough I would say it was usually a woman) who came into the sanctuary, sat down next to a friend and held an even-the-deaf-can-hear conversation.
So I gave up.
Still I wonder: Shouldn’t we prepare for worshiping the great God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ? Maybe we could pray individually or as a family at home before leaving for church. (Right. Getting kids out of the house with clothes on is almost more than we can handle now!) Or maybe we could pray a brief prayer in the parking lot before we all climbed out of our car. (Besides, that might be a good way to end the family battle that typically breaks out on the way. Clean up the blood later or you’ll be late.) Or maybe, after greeting a few people in the sanctuary, those who wish could individually speak silently with our Father to ready their hearts and minds.
I’m not advocating a church program, just tossing out some ideas for us as individuals. If there’s a way you prepare for Sunday Worship, why not let us all know? And if this all sounds too “liturgical”, count this as not one of my best blogs and delete me.
Here’s my bottom line: I know that I need to prepare to enter our Lord’s presence in Sunday Worship. Brushing my teeth and taking my weekly Saturday night bath aren’t enough.
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