I became acquainted a few years ago with a worship pastor who serves a large church outside of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The church is large enough to require a fully staffed welcome center during office hours. One particular volunteer would serve once a week and every week when the worship pastor passed by the welcome center, she would ask him, “Am I going to get anything out of worship this week?” His response was always the same: “That depends. What are you bringing to worship this week?” She never got the picture.
If we gauge worship by what we get out of it, whether or not we’re blessed by what happens in the worship service, we will always be disappointed. Why? Because worship isn’t for us. Worship has one goal: to declare the glory of God. We will be blessed if our hearts are clean. But if our hearts are clean, we’re not looking to be blessed; we’re looking to bless.
What are you bringing to worship this week?
Impacting the Kingdom Through Worship,
Why is it that so many people don't get this? I know that I felt a little like this in my earlier days as a Christian, but it seems so clear now that I'm not there to get anything out of worship, but to give. If I have a lousy "worship experience" it's not because God was not there or that someone failed to do their job well, but because I wasn't prepared to truly worship.
Now, I realize that there can be a lot of distractions during the designated time for worship. The worship leader might not be able to sing or play, or the band might be out of tune, etc. However, if I'm really ready to worship, I can still worship. I think that the leaders need to be ready/able to do their jobs well, but whether or not people "get anything out of" worship really does depend on the people themselves, not the leaders.
I feel for that volunteer who never understood the point of that response. I'd hazard a guess that she's missing out on a lot.