Get Together
What happens when people worship God together?
There could be many directions this answer would go. When people worship together they develop something in common; growing together, discovering new things about themselves in each other. God’s plan is for us to be with each other and with Him.
One of the problems of worship is other people; people I think are not like me. Most of us tend to segregate ourselves according to what makes us comfortable. I like to be with people whose company I enjoy. On the other hand, people I don’t know, people who are different from me, people who disagree with my point of view, people who are a different color or culture from me: these people are often excluded. They are excluded because something about them disrupts my sense of well-being.
It seems to have become comfortable for churches to segregate themselves according to age. The teens have their own service, the children have a service for them, and the adults “do the real worship.” Often the segmented venues of worship devolve into separate entertainment venues, serving up a worship menu for different pallets, resembling a “worship buffet” rather than a Christ-centered family.
While diversity is something to be celebrated, I wonder how diverse the church is when it separates its congregation into “age appropriate” groups. How healthy is it to segregate that Sunday Worship hour? I know it is convenient to have the little kids and teens in their “own little service,” but what have we gained? Are we still a worshiping family? Has the church become little more than a spiritual mall where each person finds something to satisfy their own taste? Also, if we are merely satisfying ourselves, then how are we becoming more like Jesus?
I remember when children came into our home because my life changed, and changed in a big way. The entire house, and family schedule, as well as, my identity as a person was profoundly and irrevocably changed: I had become a daddy. Although I had anticipated the “daddy” experience enthusiastically, I had no idea what was coming. Not only was I now responsible for raising, and educating a tiny person, I instantly became a student of that little person. Not all those little people that came into our family were the same, and some were more challenging than others. Nevertheless, each of them was, and still is, a magnificent creation, individually crafted. No, one size did not fit all. I had to be “daddy” to four distinct people. While it has been confusing at time, more than anything else it has been a thrilling blessing to participate in their lives.
And so it is in the church of Jesus Christ, we are a family. We are not all the same, and we do not all think alike. Some of us have weird ideas, and even stranger tastes, but we have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus. It is just that, the blood of Jesus that makes us family. We want to be together. We want to celebrate together; singing, laughing, crying, and holding on to the life that God gives us. Yea! It’s just that good, and to top it all off, it is fun.
So, when we worship, we like to have all the generations together; the gray headed ones with the toe headed one, and the sleep deprived parents with shiny faced teens. We are a family. We all have something to give to each other, and we all have something to learn from each other. Jesus did an amazing thing when He made us apart of God’s family.
There are words to an old song I heard a long time ago that seem to fit well here:
When We All Get Together with the Lord
Verse 1:
Now when the rich and the poor get together with the Lord
Get together, get together with the Lord
They’ll treat each other like sister and brother
When they all get together with the Lord
Chorus:
Now when we all get together
When we all get together with the Lord
They’ll treat each other like sister and brother
When they all get together with the Lord
Verse 2
Now when the weak and the strong get together with the Lord
Get together, get together with the Lord
The weak are no longer, afraid of the stronger
When they all they all get together with the Lord
Verse 3
Now when the tall and the small get together with the Lord
Get together, get together with the Lord
They’ll soon realize they’re all the same size
When they all get together with the Lord (Unknown, 2016)
Love & Prayers,
Pastor Jeff