Real Worship

[there buster]

As we practice it at the HomePage, the purpose of worship is to "facilitate an encounter with God."

In order to do that, a number of things have to take place. Most of these are beyond the control of those in charge of the worship service. The best we can do is to help the worshiper remove some of the obstacles that separate us from an encounter with God.

If people don't want to, if they resist that encounter, God himself will not-- and therefore cannot-- force it.

When everything works, when the worship leaders direct attention to God and not to themselves, when worshipers voluntarily open themselves to God, when the spine tingles and we become fully aware of God's presence, true worship can take place.

The temptation is to try to reproduce that experience, to do everything just the same way, only better, or with more intensity, in the end to try an manipulate the worshipers. This, of course, is destined to fail.

That's the challenge for worship leaders. We can easily distract the worshiper, easily spoil the experience, but we cannot actually produce the experience. It's a great challenge.