Worship Together

I love the fact that Cornerstone encourages personal expressions of worship. While our leaders often encourage expressive forms of worship - raising hands, bowing in God’s presence, even silence during the weekly worship gathering, these leaders acknowledge that no single form of worship is uniform among God’s people. This is how God designed worship, a personal expression of one’s relationship with the Divine. Worship is personal, but it is not exclusively private. Worship is a public act, designed by its Creator to be experienced in the context of a local church. Worship has always been something God’s people do together. 
 While any analogy of worship falls short of capturing the grandeur of standing in God’s presence as His gathered people, think of worship as a school of fish. Not all groups of fish qualify as a school. If a group of fish happens to be hanging around together but are not in any form dependent on each other those fish are a shoal. For a group of fish to actually be a school, those fish respond to each other’s movements, and common stimuli such as pheromones. If we were fish, when we worship, we would be a school, not a shoal. The Bible describes worship not as a large group of individuals doing the same thing, but as a group of God’s gathered people, spiritually and supernaturally connected one to another, simultaneously rendering praise to the Almighty. 
 Worship is a group effort. Colossians 3:12-17 begins with this phrase, “as God’s chosen ones.” This is the believer’s identity in Christ. As God’s chosen ones we embrace the reality of the gospel, but also God’s perspective on ultimate reality. We see things the way God sees things, we embrace the world as God embraces the world, we accept as completely true His description of what is. God views worship as a community event, and community lifestyle. Search the book of Acts and you will find that the first church is described as being together. “All who believed were together…and day by day attending the Temple together…praising God and having favor with all the people.” (excerpts from Acts 2:42-47). Acts 4:32 states, “Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul…” Worship extends beyond the final Sunday morning (or Friday evening) prayer, but worship only reaches its fullness when we embrace, as God’s chosen people, that He intends for us to worship with hearts joined together.
If worship is my heart joined to another, in some mysterious way impacting my worship and others, then I owe it to myself (and others) to be certain my heart is prepared for worship. The passage at hand describes a heart prepared for worship. The believer is commanded to adorn himself with “compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience,” (verse 12). We are commanded to bear with one another, forgive one another, and love one another. In fact this love is the binding factor in the harmony Jesus is honored by in His church. This binding in Christian community and worship becomes a gift of God’s grace.Togetherness is not laborious, but glorious. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a man who gave his life defending Christian community and worship said, “Christian brotherhood is not an ideal which we must realize, it is rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate.” 
The beauty of preparing the heart for worship together comes into full view when this heart begins to express itself. Worship comes with a deep understanding of Christ’s word which now dwells in the believer. Worship is emotional, but it is not carried along by emotion. True worship occurs in light of the gospel. Worship together occurs when we realize that all believers have experienced this same gospel. We praise the Lord for our own liberation from sin, but as much for our brother or sister’s liberation as well. We worship in unison, from a rich understanding that Jesus intends us to experience Him together, not as individuals in the same room.
We praise and sing, not because we enjoy the music, or in hopes of some new experience. We worship not for an experience with Jesus, but because we have experienced Jesus. He has been at work in our hearts, He has bound us together in love, humility and forgiveness. Worship is an outpour of “thankfulness in your hearts to God.” (verse 16) Do not miss the fact, though, that prior to the encouragement to worship through music, the focus again was turned to togetherness when Paul wrote, “teaching and admonishing one another.” (verse 16) 
Worship is a group effort, a celebration of togetherness. So before our next scheduled time of worship search your heart. Is there something within that hinders your worship, if so, it very well could be hindering others worship. If not, then come with a fresh vision of togetherness. You have the freedom of personal expression, but the responsibility to encourage the worship happening around you. Pray about how you can encourage those around you to worship, bound together in love, in the presence of the One who loves us beyond our comprehension.