PRAISE & WORSHIP - DEACON'S REFLECTION

Someone said to me recently how much she loved starting out the week with church. Like so many other words in our language, we have come to use the word “church” to mean and describe different things. Sometimes we use it to indicate the building itself. Sometimes we use it in its truest form when we say the “Church,” meaning the people of faith who make up the body of Christ.

I think I got what was said to me, though. When she stated how much she loved starting out the week with church, she was saying how important it was for her to start her week with those things we do and take part in during worship each week.

Jesus fed the five thousand with five barley loaves and two fish. There were basketsful left over, even after everyone had eaten. Many of those who had eaten gathered around Jesus and asked for another sign to show them that he was sent from God, that he was God’s son. They didn’t make the connection with the miracle he had just done and who he truly was. They didn’t realize that they had just been part of an event that could change their lives. Sometimes we don’t make the connections in our own lives either. But, sometimes we do, and it is life-changing! 

To start our week in worship is to ground all that is to follow on the foundation of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We gather to offer our prayers of need and thanksgiving to God. We sing hymns of praise. We hear the Word of God proclaimed in the reading of scripture and in the sermon. We offer peace to one another. We confess our failings in the things we have done and failed to do. We receive forgiveness. We are strengthened and renewed in Holy Communion.

Seeing school supplies already on the store shelves reminded me that, as much as we may be enjoying the summer, it’s time to start thinking of fall. As you make plans for the end of summer and a new school year, think of how church fits into all you do. Plan for your children to be in Sunday School. Plan to make church a scheduled part of your routine. 

The connection between daily life and what we do in worship and praise is life-changing. Let it change you!

~ Deacon Anthony Jones