Is worship the same today as it was before?

You walk into a church and people gather around into their seats. People begin to chatter about their weeks. There is laughter and smiles all around you until a group comes out of a back room and begin to grab their instruments on stage. A man in a nice suit walks to center stage to greet the audience. After a short warm welcoming, another man (or woman) wearing jeans, a nice flannel shirt, and the a scruffy look (not a lot of women have this characteristic to them) walks to the microphone and welcomes you to join them in something called worship. After the welcome to worship, a song by the lastest Christian rock artist is played.

This is what a lot of us are used to when we walk into church. A lot of us even expect this when we walk into church. We plan on sitting down finding out about the week your friends have had, followed by a "hip" song to get things started. Sometimes worship does not feel right, we think that there is more to this whole worship thing. Acts 2:42 is no doubt my favorite verse to mention whenever I talk about worship. The verse says, "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer."

  The "they" here applies to the early Church founded by the disciples who were awakened by the Holy Spirit. These people were "those who accepted his (Peter) message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day". The key components that I want to emphazie are not the amazing message that Peter said, or the great music they probably sang after the message. I believe worship is based off of four key themes that are: the apostle's teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer.

1) Apostle's teaching. The apostle's teaching based off this passage is like the message that Peter proclaimed a little bit before this verse (vv. 14-41). In our churches today, the Pastor has a great oppurtunity to proclaim the message of Christ that is hope, grace, peace, and salvation for all humans who are willing to accept Him. But, I believe the pastor is not the only one who has this job; it is also the people in the Church. Those of us who teach Sunday School, lead small groups, and teach the children's ministry.

2) Fellowship. Fellowship is a great part of worship and which is why I am happy when I walk into Church and see people talking to one another. I believe it is not only a great way to get into people's lives, but also to find those people that you can confess to and have them walk with you through the rough parts of your spiritual journey. Fellowship is also a great way to find discipleship and mentoring partners that will teach us how we can truly worship God through their own walk with God.

3) Breaking of Bread. Many people believe that this only refers to that of communion. While I personally believe that communion has an important part in worship, this is not the only thing this verse could be referencing. This could just be feasting in general, like our Wednesday spaghetti dinners. I believe communion is a good way to serve in worship to God because it not only involves this breaking of bread, but it is something done in fellowship with one another.

4) Prayer. Prayer is a crucial time in worship that involves an act of communicating to God what the struggles in your life are. Prayer brings us on our knees before God to give Him praise for the week and to seek His guidance throughout the service. This is also done through fellowship with others through the pastoral prayer, and the closing prayer. This is also an important aspect that needs taught to many people of the Church.

All of these are all very important to a worship service. When we come to worship, one is not greater than the other. I encourage you as you finish this blog to find someone to talk to, ask someone to talk you through what worship means, and even have some questions ready for them. Find those people in your Church that seem to be in such a close relationship with God. Our goal is not to be like these people, but to worship in the way that leads us to a relationship with God.