Tammy Tate: Thank you for seeing the giftedness in people and allowing us to use those gifts in the Body of Christ. I’m glad that this year I wasn’t sick and actually had a voice!
As I prepared for the worship portion of this year’s training, I reflected on an experience that I had a few weekends ago at Associational Leadership Training at Camp La Vida. When I plan a worship service, I usually let lots and lots of ideas float around until something seems “right.” I don’t know how to explain when I know that it’s right, but it’s a calm that I get—a peace—like I know it’s where the worship service should go.
While waiting for that peace to come with ALT worship planning, I found myself constantly praying, “God. Help me know how to plan this service so that you will be honored.” Then I thought, “Wait. Worship is supposed to be about honoring God and giving back to God. So shouldn’t this be about what we think of for God instead of asking God to show us how to worship?” The more I thought, the more I wondered, “And if worship is about honoring God, then why do we always ask God to speak to us during worship? Doesn’t that make the ultimate object of worship us—what we can get from God—not what we give to God in sacrifice and praise?”
As I waded through all of the thoughts and ideas in my mind, I finally stumbled upon the peace that I needed. I knew which direction to take the service and did everything I could do to allow the service to flow through different types of prayer, singing, hearing of God’s word, experiencing God’s story, giving, and responding. In the end, I think a space was created for participants to worship and that God was honored during the time. I think, too, that God spoke to many people and that they walked away feeling different than when they entered one hour before.
When I got to my room that night, I fell onto my bed and said, “Thank you, God. Thank you for letting worship go well tonight.” And I meant it. But then I thought, “Wait a minute. If God directed the service and caused it to go well, then how was it worship? If God was doing the guiding, then how were we freely honoring God?”
And then it hit me: Think of worship sort of like a well-planned birthday party, Deanna. When planning a big birthday party—unless it’s a surprise—the person being celebrated is often consulted. Sometimes, the person being celebrated even pays the bill. She gives party ideas, offers what guidance she can, but she then allows her friends and family, the party planners, to take care of the details. On the night of the party, the honoree gets to attend her party and be honored by everyone who joins her. She gets to see what the party planners have done with what she’s given them and she gets to celebrate how they have given a celebration back to her. She enjoys the party and the people who attend enjoy it as well. She blesses each person who attends and is grateful they’re in her life. She is proud to know them and proud to see how far they’ve come since the last party. Attendees often have meaningful conversations with the guest of honor or other people at the party. They eat, drink, and fellowship together. They tell stories of the honoree. They meet new people. And sometimes lives are changed by something that happens at the party. But... the main idea of the party is to celebrate the honoree.
In this analogy for worship, God, of course, is the person being honored. Those who plan worship are the party planners. Those who attend the party are those who attend worship. The party happens more than once a year. And the fellowship that occurs is the same that can occur at worship. This may seem so simple, yet...
Somehow, in my room that night, thinking of worship like a well-planned birthday celebration hit me in a new way. Maybe I’d heard the analogy before? Maybe I hadn’t? I don’t know. I just know that in that moment I smiled and thanked God for giving me (and my coworkers) some ideas, allowing us the freedom to develop them, offering the space for celebration, attending the service to be honored, speaking to each of the guests, and calming my mind’s wondering about why—and how—God should involved in planning God’s own worship. I think that God smiled, too.
Don’t worry. I didn’t go into all of those details this weekend. I very simply said, “Worship tends to be most meaningful when planned. Think: Successful birthday celebration. We plan. God is honored.”
May God be honored in their worship this summer. And may we include the guest of honor in our worship planning for each day.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:1-2
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