June 28, 2013 Friday Epistle from Sara Buffington, Worship Leader - God is Looking for Worshipers. And this means you. When the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt, Moses and Aaron approached Pharaoh with a message. "This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me." (Ex 8:1) It was a message worth repeating--it is recorded six times between chapters 8 and 10. God was, and is, calling His people to worship. So what does it mean, exactly, to worship? Gerrit Gustafson, author of The Adventure of Worship, defines worship this way: Worship is the act and attitude of wholeheartedly giving yourself to God--spirit, soul, mind, and body.
If you participated in last fall's churchwide study on the Jesus Creed, this may ring some bells. We said this every week. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." (Mark 12:30)
This doesn't just mean you "get into the music" on Sunday. Worship includes singing, but it certainly is not limited by it. Worship is a life of sacrifice. When you love God with every ounce of your being, you don't have anything left for yourself. You give yourself to God--and you trust yourself to Him.
Last Sunday we sang these words, first one half of the congregation, then the other. "The cry of my heart is to bring you praise from the inside out."
God is looking for worshipers. You were made for it. It is your natural eternal occupation. Just read Revelation 19: 1.
Then I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting, "Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God!"
But that's then, you may say, not now. This is a time for nice songs and a comfortable life where God doesn't ask that much of us but gives us what we ask for. But God has called us out of Egypt today to worship Him! Let's join the holy roar of heaven right now and fulfill the calling that has been on us since the moment God created us.
Sara
