Closing

Worship is not the hour when the religious people put on their religious face for an hour and then go back to real life.

Worship is real life. All of it. All the time. Lived before God. Gathered on Sunday. Scattered through the week.

The shape of biblical worship is the square. Four sides. Four answers of the creature standing before the Creator.

Adoration. "You are God and I am not." Confession. "You are holy and I am not." Thanksgiving. "You have given and I have received." Supplication. "You are sufficient and I am not."

Take those four into your prayer this week. They are the shape of worship for the congregation on Sunday morning. They are also the shape of worship for the single believer at the kitchen table at six in the morning.

The square has four points too. Four things God gives His gathered people that He does not give them apart. Gathering. Singing. Sacrament. Sending. Do not neglect any of them. Show up. Sing. Eat. Receive the blessing.

And then go.

Three things to take into this week.

First, come Sunday with one specific preparation. Pick something small from the Sunday Prep step. Do it.

Second, when you sing, sing. When you confess, confess. When the bread is broken, eat. Take what God gives in the service.

Third, do not run to the parking lot. Linger. Pray for somebody. Get prayed for. Be part of the body God is gathering.

The Core Value for this value at Mayflower: We exalt Christ, gathering in reverence and joy, giving God the glory due His name in all of life.

Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. (John 4:23)

The next course in Pathmark is Fellowship. We have just talked about gathering. The next course is about what God gives us when we gather. Shared life in Christ. The communion of saints.

Until then, worship.