Skip to main content

A Call to Worship, Or Called to Worship

When I became  youth pastor at my current church, I had a job description that probably looks very similar to many other youth ministry job descriptions. Maybe all job descriptions. There was a line towards the end of the list of my roles that said; other duties as assigned.

It's a bad thing to have that line in a youth ministry job description for two reasons. First, you shouldn't use the duty around youth pastors. After all, we hang around middle schoolers and this just begs us to chuckle at the use of words that can have double meanings. 

Secondly, and more importantly, those other duties (snicker) can begin to swallow your time whole.

I digress. 

I was leading in worship and shared some thoughts, but I thought I would use this space to expound.

Have you ever had one of those Sundays when you simply wanted to get into the worship time? Maybe most Sundays are a battle between how your reality looked the rest of the week and your desire to engage in worship. It's not that you don't love God. It's just that the rest of life really gets in the way. It can be really distracting.

However, let me offer two details.

We are always worshiping something. 

 If not something greater than us (God), then something lesser than us (false gods). Or even worse, we will hold ourselves in the highest esteem. It's a simple equation. Look at your last week and find out where your greatest energies were directed. That's what you worship.

Don't get this confused with the things we do as an act of worship for God. After all, I believe God did create us to worship in our work. And if everything we are called to do, both work and play, is done with a heart full of joy and thanksgiving, then we are living a life of worship.

If that's true, then...

You should bring your worship (of God) with you.

 If Sunday morning is where your worship of God begins and ends, then I would suggest that worship of God is not what you have been participating in. Perhaps what you worship is some habit of appeasing your parents or your spouse. Maybe your worship is only a shadow of what is actually true.

But if God has been what you have been worshiping, then that overflow will come in and unite that worship with everyone else who is bringing in their worship. Unity, who knew?

So, the next time you enter a church, be sure you're ready to worship. Perhaps you will be so ready you will want the worship leader to stop talking so you can get to it. But, seriously, let him speak. After all, he did prepare.

So, who has your worship?
Labels:

Comments

Recipe Spooning said…
Great blog you have herre
June 7, 2022 at 12:12 AM
Rick Nier said…
Thank you Recipe Spooning. I am actually continuing this blog at a new site. You can read my current thoughts here - https://ricknierwoo.wordpress.com/2022/06/01/blogging_again/
June 8, 2022 at 7:18 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Studies on the Go...Genesis

To be honest, I had not heard of Studies On The Go before being offered a review copy by my god friends at Youth Worker. But since I’m always looking out for study ideas, I said yes to this opportunity. Studies On The Go by Laurie Polich-Short has 30 studies. This particular edition is on the book of Genesis. Any book of the Bible can be daunting when you’re trying to interest and impact teenagers. But Genesis increases that difficulty due to the many questions that arise on the topic of creation. On top of that, you have the many stories of questionable characters that we often call heroes of the faith. Each study comes with great questions, not mindless Sunday School questions where every answer is Jesus. They also come with an optional activity to take the lesson a step further and create true impact. Add to that a weekly plan for students to go deeper and you have a winner of a study in one little book. If all the book studies are as well done as this one, I’d ...
Post a Comment
Read more

What Are You Capable Of?

I fancy myself to be just like Batman...without the money, the cave, the vendetta, the car and the cool belt. Other than that, we're pretty much the same guy. Does it help my case that I have a boy wonder? It's my son, but I'd take him over a dude in green tights any day. I've also imagined myself to be similar to Superman...you know, but without the super strength, speed, or that thing he can do with his eyes. Oh, and I'm also not from another planet. But he was a reporter and I like to write, though that hasn't been proven much by my blog. At least, not compared to what I used to write. The first time I write this post, it sounded like an apology. But that's not really the message I want to convey. Yes, I wish I were posting more. I also wish I had super strength or a cool utility belt, but those things aren't happening right now either. Maybe some day . The truth is I have been keeping busy. I'm not sitting back, sipping lemonade. I've never c...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Facebook Maybe

Granted, I'm a pastor. I have Type-A tendencies. Ok, my tendencies border on freakish OCD behavior patterns, but... Few things bother me more than the Facebook 'maybe'. I suppose I could go on and on about the grey areas of our society and the refusal of people to accept absolute standards. I could discuss the great need of people to accept that what is wrong for one person is likely wrong for everyone. I should certainly be concerned about mentioning that someone might have sin in their life. But I don't believe the Facebook 'maybe' is quite sin. Perhaps if I were coming up with new sins, I would add this to the list. But alas... Some might think the Facebook 'maybe' did not exist prior to the Internet, but they would be wrong. When I was in high school and asked a girl out on a date, I would normally be told that if they had no other plans, if nobody else called them, if there was nothing good on television and their hair did not need washing, then per...
5 comments
Read more