Finding Rest in Worship: Creating Space for God

Recently, I had some time to prepare for our Night of Praise coming up on November 8th at 6:30 PM. Kathy Glass, our pianist, has played a critical part in organizing it for us. She's helped to get together some special songs from individuals and our music ministry. We'll have some great congregational songs as well for us to sing together. And interspersed in there, we will have some time of praise and prayer, thanking God for His grace to us and all he's done in our lives! After the service ends, we will head downstairs for refreshments and an opportunity to fellowship! We will need folks to bring some sweets, so plan to buy or make something if you can!

Well, aside from music and food, I've been giving some thought to the atmosphere too. Now I'll be the first to say, we don't need anything special to worship God. We can do that by the sea shore just as well as we can do it at the kitchen table. God isn't limited by a lack of lights and speakers. But those things can help, inasmuch as they don't distract us by their beauty, but rather draw us to affection for the God of all beauty.

So with that in mind, I was sitting recently in the sanctuary thinking about different lighting options. I was testing different ways to draw attention to God. I was counseling with a few others about the best way to use these good gifts to magnify him by making a space that felt comfortable and encouraging. And all that thinking reminded me of a verse in Mark 6:31, which says, "And he said to them, 'Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.’” Jesus was calling the disciples together, away from the work of their ministry, to just rest with him for a while. Rest by presence with Him, and each other. This is what we hope the night of praise to be like. A pause to sing and pray with gratitude to our God, together.

And being in a spot that's set aside for that can help facilitate it. Now you may not have a sanctuary with special lights. But you do have that kitchen table we talked about, or a chair on the deck, or a special seat in the living room. It's important for you and me to have a space and a time, not just at church, where we get with God and "rest a while." Rest in reflecting upon His kindness. Rest in worshipping His wonderful name. Rest in praising him for all He's done. This month, as the year's end looms, don't wait till January to prioritize this. Begin now to build time alone with God to read His word, and rest in them and him. I can't wait until November 8th. I'm looking forward to it as a Christian, just to be able to sing some familiar songs together with my church family. I hope you can join us for this as well! It's going to be a rich blessing for you and everyone who is here— and invite a friend. Especially if you know someone who isn't connected with a church right now. This might just be the way they learn to rest with other believers, too. So join us for the Night of Praise and other activities in this newsletter.

Praising Him with you,

William