A Party!

We had a small dinner party for the first time in a very long time.  It was lovely, and we started preparing for it far in advance of the date.  We invited some folks who didn’t know each other but we thought would have common interests.  We planned the menu, shopped, and prepped.  We cleaned the porch, arranged flowers, got out the silver and the crystal (to go with the pottery plates!).  When the evening arrived, we were ready to welcome our guests and celebrate being together.  We had a great time!

Our experience makes me think that worship ought to be like a dinner party – something we look forward to, plan and prepare for, a celebration of being together.  We might think about including new people, inviting those who don’t know each other to come together in fellowship.  And how wonderful it would be to make it special, to bring out all of our best – singing voices, generous offerings, fervent prayers – rather than treating the occasion as just another day.  

 

There is always the hope and possibility that worship will transcend the ordinary, that something wonderful will happen.  When we prepare ourselves, when we anticipate the holy, we are more likely to see how God is always present.  

 

And worship is not like a party that we give for God, but the reverse:  Worship is a grand feast that God has prepared for us.  Every Sunday we are invited to “taste and see that the Lord is good.”  Every Sunday we are welcomed to God’s great banquet, where the best of everything is waiting for us. Every. Single. Sunday!