It’s 9:15 on Sunday morning. I’m in my office after having had two rehearsals already this morning. In a moment, I’ll walk around to various Sunday school classes (including the one I’m theoretically a member of but rarely get to spend significant time in) and say hello. I will then return to my office for some time of quiet (I hope) personal preparation before leading our folks in worship. You know, it’s very tough for a worship leader to get everything accomplished that needs to be accomplished and then settle down mentally and physically enough to worship while leading worship. Not to mention the things that could (and often do) go wrong in a worship service. For example, what if one instrumentalist misses a visual cue you’ve just given and everyone else sees it? How do you fix the train wreck while maintaining an atmosphere of worship in your own mind and heart and in the minds and hearts of the congregation? I think any worship leader will tell you the same thing: it’s very, very hard. But God is good and gracious and He is able to overcome our shortcomings. Our times of corporate worship are always a sweet time for me. I look forward to them. Never once have I dreaded waking up on Sunday morning, not wanting to drive the 25 miunutes to church and worship. I love worshiping and I love leading worship. I am so thankful God has called me to this task.

How do you approach your times of corporate worship, whether they’re on a Sunday morning, or Saturday night, or Friday night? Do you see your time of corporate worship as a good way to begin the new week? Or do you see them as the culmination—the climax—of your week? I can’t back this up with Scripture, so we’ll leave it in the realm of personal conviction, but I believe if we view our corporate worship as a culmination of our own week of private worship, our times of corporate worship will take on a whole new meaning. Imagine having personal times of communing with God throughout the week. He reveals Himself to you in new ways each day, you respond with adoration, confession, He reminds you that you have been forgiven, He teaches you something more about Himself or His Word, you respond with a renewed sense of commitment to His kingdom. Imagine if that were to happen several days this week; by Sunday, your corporate worship will not have the same focus it once had. You’ll be overflowing with joy for the Lord and for His people and your worship of Him will be increasingly intimate.

To help me, and by extension you, accomplish this, I am going to begin posting “mini-worship services.” These times of personal worship will usually include a recommended song (I realize not everyone has the same CD collection, so I’ll link to songs when I can or include the text when it’s legal to do so), a reading from scripture, perhaps a devotional thought, and a prayer. These may not appear every day, especailly right at first because I have a good bit of traveling coming up in the next several weeks. But I will do my best.

And I pray they will help you strengthen your times with God. Your personal worship times may not always be quiet, but they should always result in a fresh sense of the glory of God.

Soli Deo gloria