The wonder of worship

There is an extraordinary ordinariness as your church gathers for congregational worship.

Our church was part of the revitalisation of a church in Wembley. It’s an ordinary church of ordinary people, especially compared to the huge stadium just around the corner where great multitudes gather to see the rise and fall of some of the greatest sports men and women in history.

But, according to the Scriptures, something truly extraordinary is happening as they come together: through their worship leader Jesus, they are caught up into an even greater multitude as they join the worship of heaven through the ordinary means of grace. They join in the song of the saints across the centuries; they participate in the worship of the angels and the living creatures around the throne of heaven.

The glory they behold far outweighs the greatest accolades human history could ever offer. And the same is true of your church, no matter how much evidence there may be of weakness, limitations, and just plain ordinariness.

In Hebrews 12, the writer contrasts worship in the Old Covenant with the New through the image of two mountains: Sinai and Zion. Sinai is where Israel received the law through Moses, and it was terrifying. The people didn’t want to come near; Moses himself said “I am trembling with fear” (Heb. 12v21).

But then the writer turns to our experience as we come to a different mountain: “But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel” (Heb.12v22-24).

Notice he doesn’t say it is “as if” we join in the worship of heaven; we actually join in the worship of heaven! Jesus Himself had taught this to the woman at the well in John 4. We do not meet with God on earthly mountains – neither in Jerusalem in Israel nor Gerizim in Samaria – but now “true worshippers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth” (John 4v24). Wherever we are in the world, as the church gathers on the foundation of gospel truth, we are by the Spirit caught up into the great gathering of worship that Jesus is leading in heaven.

Church feels very ordinary. We are very ordinary. When you next lead congregational worship, see by faith this extraordinary reality: our King Jesus leading the worship of heaven around the throne. Give thanks as you add your voices to the anthem of His praise and glory.