Worship Him

We are a people who carry a vast memory within us.  There are times when a few words spoken from the past will rekindle a memory of something which until that moment seemed to be forgotten.  It is also true that there are some memories which need no rekindling.  Instead, they dwell in us as if they are a part of us.  When the organist started playing "The Lord's Prayer" as a prelude to worship this morning, I was immediately aware of these words of Jesus and overwhelmed with the emotion that came from the blending of the powerful words and the beautiful music.  

It was a moment of closed eyes as the blessing of the moment washed over me.  If the purpose of a musical prelude is to prepare us for worship, I was more than ready.  Of course, there are other pieces of our worship liturgy which bring our senses and our spirit alive to the presence of God.  It can happen with any passage of Scripture, or a poem, or even a song from the hymnbook.  For some what happens in worship is just a  religious ritual experienced without any feeling while the same ritual can stir the heart of another to the point of deep emotions.   When we worship, our hearts are more likely to be stirred if we have intentionally taken some time to prepare our spirit for worship.  This may happen through anticipatory prayers, or a daily devotional time, or creating some space for sacred music to open our hearts to praise.  

However, there is another side as well.  We can walk into worship with our minds on a thousand worries, having done nothing to ready our spirit, and find ourselves caught up in a transcendent moment of being in the presence of God that can only be understood as a miracle of grace in our lives.  When the Holy Spirit begins to work among us in worship,  prepared or not, He will do the work He is present to do and we can only bow our heads in deep gratitude and lift our hearts in wondrous praise.