Good Reasons to Worship
Good Reasons to Worship
In March I wrote about Bad Reasons to Worship, suggesting we ought not come to church on Sunday to “get saved”, to “prove we’re good people”, or to “be entertained”. I promised to complete the conversation by offering up some good reasons for going to worship and I try to be a man who keeps his promises. So let’s reflect on some better reasons to set aside a couple hours of your Sunday morning.
To cultivate a grateful spirit. God doesn’t need our worship like an ego needs praise, but we need to practice gratitude to become the versions of ourselves who live grateful lives. Gratitude not only changes how we see and experience the world, it changes how we act toward our neighbors and use our time and resources. Everything we have and everything we are is a gift, and it is important to be reminded of this.
To change our relationship to time. We are constantly being swayed to treat time like a commodity and thereby turn our entire lives into engines of extraction and profit. Worship demands that we break that cycle by patterning our days and weeks after ancient narratives and seasonal cycles. When we treat certain times as holy, which are inherently unproductive, we not only receive the gift of sabbath rest, but we insist on our own worth and dignity detached from any requirement of achievement or quantifiable output.
To connect with others seeking to follow Christ. The work of healing this broken money-obsessed war-torn world is not for one person or even one generation. It can only be done in a beloved community of fellow-seekers who help encourage and support one another. We may have holy moments in isolation on a mountaintop or watching a sunrise, but we only build holy lives when we work together in concert with others toward a just peace for all God’s children. Worship is one way we come together to be nourished and sustained for that collective project.
Well now I’ve given you 3 bad reasons to worship and 3 good reasons to worship. What are your reasons?
