By Cameron Silsbee
Optional Kids Practice
Invite kids in your group to be with the adults for a few minutes. Once they seem ready to engage, ask them the following prompt. If you think it would be helpful, you can explain to the kids that the grown ups are going to be talking about Worship and you want to include them by talking about it with them for a few minutes.
- What do you like about singing songs at church?
- Why do you think we sing about God at church?
Feel free to share with the kids why you, as adults, worship God at church.
Begin with prayer
Gather together as a Community in a comfortable setting. Take a moment in silence, in the presence of Jesus and each other. Have one person read Romans 8v14-17 over the group and then pray to ask the Holy Spirit to lead and guide your time together.
Debrief the most recent teaching
- What did you take away from the teaching, and how has it added to what God is doing in your life?
Read this overview
Over the coming weeks on Sunday evenings, we will be exploring who God has been and what that means for us. During each week, Van City Communities will be engaging with the spiritual discipline of Worship. Far from simply being a genre of music, Worship engages a person’s whole being and identity in response to God. While there are many ways Worship has been defined, the working definition that we will be using is this: Worship is the expression and display of love and devotion to someone or something that is ultimate in a person’s life.
Worship involves many different kinds of acts. Singing is one way to engage in Worship. Other ways include creating art, prayer of intimacy and affection, expressions of gratitude, practicing generosity, and serving others.
When the Practice of Worship is limited to what happens on a Sunday in a church building, led by a musician or a group, it robs the idea of its fullness. In a similar way, if Worship is only something that Christians do, we can misunderstand something fundamental about worship – that it’s not just a spiritual exercise but something that humans are created to do, often Worshipping things that are not designed to receive worship – family, ideologies, politicians, career, sex, reputation, and self. The object of our Worship, our love and devotion, matters.
Discuss the following prompts
- Spend a moment reflecting on an impactful time of Worship you’ve experienced. Think about the reason(s) it was so impactful based on what you were experiencing in that season/moment of life and what God was doing (e.g. “I was hoping to get a good job and during a time of Worship I had a sense that God was going to take care of me no matter what happened.” etc.). Spend some time going around the group sharing about each person’s impactful time.
- What sorts of themes or situations tend to stir in you a love for God?
- In what ways do you usually express love and devotion to God? (e.g., when I sing worship songs, in times of imaginative prayer, while journaling, spontaneously when something beautiful catches my attention, etc.)
Practicing right now:
If your Community has time tonight, take a handful of moments to reflect and respond to Romans 8:14-17.
Have one person read through the passage slowly. As it’s read, notice what God (Father, Son, and Spirit) is doing. Sit quietly reflecting on this for a moment.
Have the person read the passage slowly again. This time, notice what we receive from God (Father, Son, and Spirit). Sit quietly reflecting on this for a moment.
After a moment, take a few minutes to discuss as a group what sort of Worship you might engage in if your focus were on the truth of this passage, what it means for your life, and who God is. What would you want to do in response to the truth of this passage?
Practicing this week:
This week, you will set aside time to engage in intentional Worship. Remember, Worship is more than a music genre, but can include singing worship songs.
Before your time of Worship, spend a few minutes reflecting on Romans 8:14-17. Then, choose a response to express your love and devotion to God. This could include:
- Singing
- Making art
- Generosity
- Prayers of intimacy and affection
- Serving
- Gratitude
Do this at least twice this week. Be prepared to debrief with your Community next week how it went.
Close in prayer
End by having someone read the Nicene Creed over the group:
I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.
I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father; through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets.
I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.
Amen.