I have been reading this book recently titled Experiential Worship by Bob Rognlien. I highly recommend this book for any of us out there that Lead. I found myself constantly wondering why I didn’t have a highlighter or a pen to underline things that I found insightful and intriguing. I probably will reference this book a lot in the next few weeks.
One of the things Mr. Rognlien discusses in his book is the presence of God during the worship time. Often I have heard and probably even uttered the words (or something like them) “we ask God to enter this place” or “may the presence of the Holy Spirit fill this sanctuary”. The question really is who is it that needs to “show up for worship?” Rognlien states that every time we come together to worship, God is already there. All too often though, the service has no life changing effect. “The question is not whether God is present to us; the question is how present we are to God” (Roglien 45). I have heard many people after a service say “I didn’t feel the presence of God today”. Maybe I should ask them, “Were you really there?” Understand I am just as guilty of this as anyone. There have been more than a few services where I have not really shown up. It is too easy simply to attend a service and never really have ever been there. I wonder how often I have gone to a service and ignored the Holy Spirit because mentally I was worrying about my finances or how my favorite soccer team was doing (up the toon!). Maybe there are times where God must feel like an impatient parent who is ready to get out of the house and the children are too busy watching cartoons to have gotten ready to leave.
I have found that the times that I feel the presence of God the most is when I lose myself in worship, such as when preparing for a worship service and working on the music. The words hit me and I find myself unexpectedly worshipping. Is it possible that this same experience could happen more often? Maybe we should stop letting our worries, fears, finances, or many other issues prevent us from our worship. We should give it all up to Him, run headlong into the presence of God and show up.