Tuesday, February 9, 2021
A NEED TO WORSHIP
Psalm 84:1-2, 4. How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, indeed it faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God…
Happy are those who live in Your house, ever singing Your praise!
It has been hard to worship these last months. Once the pandemic hit, St. John’s closed for several weeks. Then, we had video worship for several months – but only for those with a computer or smart phone. We learned to Zoom our Bible studies. When in person worship resumed in July, there were very limited, reserved, socially distanced seats, with no singing or passing of the peace among the masked attendees. Even that was suspended for several weeks in December and January.
British psychologist Robert Wood, in his book, Being Human, suggests that every human desires to admire, praise and be part of something greater than himself or herself. Wood calls this a “need to worship.” He goes on to say that in eagerness to worship something, people can choose the wrong thing to channel their devotion. How many do you know who replace the courts of the Lord with other gods? They worship a sports team, celebrity, or politician. On Twitter, soccer player Christiano Ronaldo has 90 million followers, Katy Perry gets over 109 million, and former President Barack Obama has even more than that. To compare, the United Methodist Church in America has only about 24,000 Twitter followers.
We need to worship and to nuture our relationship with God as described in the reading from Psalms. We need to feel the presence of God and Jesus our Savior at times other than Sunday morning in places other than the St. John’s building. We can share a faith meme on social media, watch video sermons, drop off a food donation, or send in a check. It takes intention to frame our week around our faith without a familiar Sunday ritual. Worship components like prayer, praise, song and scripture reading can happen any time and anywhere. Our happiness depends on it!
Prayer: All praise to you, Lord! Help us learn to worship you in different ways. May we come to dwell in Your house, no matter where we are physically. Let us sing a new song of joy as we grow closer to You. In Jesus’s name, Amen.
Carol Rice
