Worshiping God Backwards


The sanctuary filled and everyone waited eagerly for the church bell to ring so we could start service lead by the youth. However, the church bell never rung and where was the praise band? At the traditional service folks whispered in confusion as they watched the acolyte put out the candles on the altar as he took the flame out of the sanctuary. Then the strangest thing happened... freshman, Hannah Maynard, asked everyone to rise and receive the benediction as she prayed for God to be with everyone as they left church today. There were many blank stares and puzzled looks as people were flipping through their bulletins trying to figure out what was happening. We then sang our closing worship song and some of the confusion was cleared up in the sermon by seniors Alli Dickey and Susan Crawford.

Why on earth did we do the church service backwards? The message of our youth Sunday was to remind the congregation that worshiping God goes beyond a structured order of service at church. Worshiping God is more than a church service it is a life-style. God's power is too wonderful to be put in a box. When we live a life following His agenda we are truly worshiping God with all our heart, mind, and soul! Therefore, it doesn't matter what order the church service is in and we can't force God to work according to our agenda. Worshiping God is a daily effort as we aim to imitate Christ's likeness. When God came and walked in human shoes as Jesus Christ He constantly blew away people's expectations of what it means to truly worship Him. People were so caught up in the rules of religion and the structured way of life, they wouldn't even listen to Jesus' teachings of how to live the good life. Jesus flipped all the rules completely upside-down.  He was radical! He loved to change expectations. Since we aim to imitate Christ, (Ephesians 5:1-4) we too wanted to change expectations for one Sunday and help people worship God in a fresh way.

Expectations of church were still being rocked as the youth continued on with the service. Testimonies were shared and skits were performed about worshiping God through prayer. We sang our opening praise songs and then sophomore, Josh Mucci got up and did the announcements and welcomed everyone to church. The bell finally rung and people sat frozen in their seats unsure of what just happened. That was the end of our youth Sunday... or was it the beginning????



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Home Run Prayer

Image
I was reading a book about adolescent development today and there was a section about sports. It caused me to heavily reflect upon my time as a high school and college athlete. I remember training harder than ever in high school so I could be a starter on the Varsity team. My defense skills as a catcher were very strong. My hitting was consistent, but I was not a power hitter. I was a decent single hitter and great a moving my team-mates around the bases. My greatest strength was bunting. Yet, every player longs to hit a home run. I had been trying to hit a home run ever since I could play ball. It was never accomplished. In high school I spent much of my time trying to make my swing more powerful. I remember after one of my best rounds of hitting in the cage every ball was a solid line drive to the back of the net. Hitting the ball like that felt so good! I hit almost an entire bucket of frozen ropes. When I was done I quickly ran over to pick up all the balls and I smi
Read more

Experiencing the Unseen

Image
Ephesians 6: 10-12 "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." This past weekend I saw student's lives changed, had open and honest conversation about sex and relationships, and watched three different generations bond together sharing wisdom and teaching one another. It was a beautiful picture of family ministry.  Adults and teenagers were together talking about subjects that I think most churches try to sweep under the rug causing people to learn about sex and relationships through media and other misleading sources. One parent put the weekend into her own words... "Mostly this weekend I was reminded that teens want adults to be real, truthful and to sh
Read more

What I Learned About Marriage from my Big Brother

Image
Here is the Wedding Message I gave during my brother's wedding Oct 22, 2011...  I have only lived with my brother for 16 years. And today Wendy you are committing the rest of your life to Jason! Now that I have been married for 3 years myself, as I reflect on the 16 years of living with my brother I realized that God had used Jason to prepare me for my own marriage. I learned 3 key important ingredients that have helped me in my own marriage and I hope will help you in yours as well. INGREDIENT # 1 -  Open Communication Thanks to Jason, I learned in my own marriage that it’s somewhat healthy to wear your emotions on your sleeve. My brother and I always spoke freely with very honest feedback about how we were feeling. Even though it could be hurtful at times I could always trust with Jason that there were no surprises since communication was so open. For example; even though we disagreed in high school and had very different lifestyles; there’s a part of me that always
Read more