By Stephen Torhaus
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.
- Does worship ever seem boring to you? What do you do or think about when you’re bored?
- Worship doesn’t always have to look like standing around and singing songs. What are some other ways of worshiping that feel easier to do? (Parents, help them brainstorm a bit as needed)
Feel free to share with the kids your own experience of worship in times when you didn’t feel in the right mood.
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 Luke 19:37-40 over the group and then pray to ask the Holy Spirit to lead and guide your time together.
Debrief (pick 1 or 2 from the below prompts as needed)
- What has stuck with you from the most recent teaching, and how are you processing it?
- How was your experience with writing a Psalm from the previous Practice? Would anyone like to share their Psalm with the group?
- What has stood out to you from the Lectionary lately? Was there anything challenging or hard to understand?
Read this overview
True Christian worship cannot be forced; it generally just happens, often as an outflow or excess of emotion in response to the great things God has done, even if in contrast with the pain, sadness, or anger of the given moment. But what do you do when worship simply isn’t happening? How does one worship amid boredom or numbness? Sure, you can try to stir up the requisite emotion to “get in the mood”, but success here is varied.
The human heart (usually the primary driver in worship) is a fickle thing, meaning it’s “not constant or loyal in affections.” Thus, we aren’t always going to feel like worshiping. The question then becomes: Is worship without emotion or feeling inauthentic?
Recall our working definition of worship for this series: Worship is the expression and display of love and devotion to someone or something that is ultimate in a person’s life. Despite our modern, Western conceptions of the words “love” and “devotion”, neither one necessarily means or implies anything related to human emotion. Many biblical descriptions of love, particularly, are couched in the language of action and virtue rather than feeling or emotion.
Ultimately, then, worship is a choice. It’s a choice to participate in something that’s going to happen whether or not we ourselves are involved. This is the beauty of Jesus’ statement in Luke 19:40; if we don’t worship, the rocks will! But in choosing to worship, we don’t just put the rocks out of a job; we also commit ourselves to an act of spiritual formation. This is especially true when our choice isn’t accompanied by any particularly positive emotion. In those moments, when perhaps we fear we’re being inauthentic, we’re declaring that God’s goodness and greatness are true, regardless of whether our hearts agree.
Discuss the following prompts
- What stood out to you while the Overview was being read? Was there anything surprising, challenging, or validating?
- Consider for a moment a time in your life when your experience of worship was difficult. Share with the group how God may have been forming you in that season.
Practicing right now:
If your Community has time tonight, take some time to worship as a group.
On Sundays, when the lights are dim and music fills the room, it can be easy to fade into the anonymity of the moment and avoid any challenge or awkwardness. So tonight, sing a song or two a cappella (just your voices). A familiar hymn may be the most conducive to this exercise, but decide as a group what you will sing.
Bear in mind that this is not meant to be an exercise in harmony or authenticity but in faithfulness, so please lean into the awkwardness of the moment (presuming at least one person feels that way).
Practicing this week:
Worship comes in many forms and moods, but we often tend to stick with what is comfortable. However, this can also sometimes lead to boredom. So tonight, share with one another some of your individually preferred ways of worship.
Then, have each person pick from someone else’s preference to practice this week and commit to trying it out at least a couple of times over the next week as both an act of faithfulness and as a way to expand your horizons on what worship can look like.
Next time you meet, be prepared to share your experience of trying a different method of worship than what is normal for you.
Close in prayer
End by having someone read Colossians 3:16-17 over the group:
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and exhorting one another with all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, all with grace in your hearts to God. And whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.