Why do we gather together every Sunday morning? Wouldn’t it be far nice to go play golf, sleep in, or go eat brunch with your family? I spent some time last week reading Resonant Witness, edited by Jeremy Begbie and Steven R. Guthrie, and was struck by the line, “In worship, we are re-oriented to God.” James K.A. Smith has done a great job with his cultural liturgy series on addressing how all humans are created as worshippers who are shaped and formed by our practices. The events we participate in, the rhythms that we practice in our lives, and even the way we approach our spending of money all shape our worldviews. This means it is vital for us to spend regular time worshipping together to re-orient ourselves to who God is, what he is like, and what he expects from us.

This also gets to the point and purpose of the gathered church. Many churches pick one side or the other saying it’s either for Christians, or it’s for the unchurched. Others will try to balance that out and say it’s both. But the real purpose for the gathered church is for God. With the focus and purpose being on God, we then have to articulate how we go about focusing on God, which gets to our liturgies. Another book I’m currently reading, Reformation Worship, states, “The mission of the church, Christ’s bride, is worship and witness.” Once again, it’s easy to focus on one or the other, it’s much more difficult to encourage a faithful pursuit of both areas. We are commanded to meet together (Hebrews 10:25), and to go and make disciples (Matthew 28:19).

Our worship services, or liturgies, either help or hinder us from seeing God as he truly is (see ‘The Visible Gospel’ for one way for us to structure our services to better understand God). For many people, this is unfortunately the only time they set aside each week to “fix their eyes on Christ” (Hebrews 12:2), so it is vital for us to be faithful with our task as worship leaders to plan our liturgies in such a way that they help us marvel at God’s goodness and grace in our lives.