{"id":89,"date":"2020-05-25T12:24:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-25T11:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thirteencreative.co.uk\/onelife25\/?p=89"},"modified":"2025-12-01T12:26:38","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T12:26:38","slug":"celebration-of-discipline-week-10-worship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thirteencreative.co.uk\/onelife25\/celebration-of-discipline-week-10-worship","title":{"rendered":"Celebration of Discipline Week 10: Worship"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We had just told the kids that both the School of Leadership (the highlight of Nate's year) and our holiday (which Jessie had not stopped talking about) had been cancelled.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were tears. A lot of tears. Processing and managing disappointment in this season is vital, but as we turned the corner of the weekend and hit yet another Monday in lockdown I realised there was very little on the horizon that induced a sense of hope and excitement. It was with that heavy reality I turned to the chapter on worship from Richard Foster. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would have been easy to brush over this chapter. Surely anything he says about gathering together in corporate worship won\u2019t be relevant at the moment because we can\u2019t physically do it? But to dismiss the chapter like that would be to miss the central truth here about the wonder, adventure and depth that worship has to offer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a youth pastor I used to find myself unpacking the idea of worship a lot with teenagers. We would talk through worship as a lifestyle, that the little choices we make every day are all an act of worship to Jesus. We would talk through sung worship, how to approach it, what to do when you don\u2019t know what you believe, what to do when you don\u2019t feel like it, what to do when you are embarrassed to sing, and whether you can text and worship at the same time (you can\u2019t!). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I learned so much about worship in that setting and what I learned has stuck with me for the rest of my life. We would often have a young person leading worship who was willing to put themselves out there in front of the pretty terrifying non-engaging, non-expressive glare of their peers! As they stood and played the note, or picked up the guitar, praying a prayer like their life depended on it and worshipped like no one else was in the room but Jesus, I knew I had to back them and be led by them and ultimately that it didn't matter if it was Jesus Culture or Bob from down the street leading me: Jesus was worthy, he was here and he deserved my praise! If I wasn't about to model this to the young people then who would?!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I would often find myself in our youth Portakabin at the back of the church with my hands held high, the loudest in the room, exhausted after a 12-hour day, worshipping. Sometimes it rubbed off and helped others engage a little more, sometimes I would open one eye and wish I hadn't! But those moments never left me. In the years after this as my husband Stew and I moved and joined a new church, we took those lessons with us. It didn't matter if we didn't like the song, it didn't matter that no one seemed to be singing around us or that we had a really tough week. Jesus died for us, he is here, he is worthy of our praise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In lockdown, your worship leader is probably playing through your computer or TV. It\u2019s probably just you, or perhaps you and your family or friends. You're right, it\u2019s not the same as gathering with others. In fact, Richard Foster talks of the power of Christians physically coming together to worship: \u2018When we are truly gathered into worship, things occur that could never occur alone.\u2019 But in the same way God showed me the things I could take from the youth Portakabin into the rest of my life, I believe God wants us to take things from lockdown into the rest of our lives both for our own walk with God and what we bring to our congregations and churches when we can meet together again.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Holy expectancy\u2019 is how Foster describes the way people in the Bible gathered together to worship. They expected to hear the voice of God. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Take a moment to read that again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 When Moses went into the Tabernacle, he knew he was entering into the presence of God. The same was true of the early church. Foster says, \u2018As those early believers gathered they were keenly aware that the veil had been ripped in two...they were entering the Holy of Holies.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I look back at the days when we could meet together at church I don\u2019t think that was always my heart posture approaching worship. I think I let disappointment, other people\u2019s responses, or lack of responses, set the bar for my \u2018Holy Expectancy.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So how can I change that in lockdown? Is it just a question of learning from this chapter of our lives and waiting until we can be together again?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No. Foster says that we can cultivate a holy expectancy by living our daily lives with a quiet inner posture of listening, worshipping and talking with our saviour and God. It\u2019s to begin a journey of continued connection with God in a way that shapes our thoughts, actions and conversations in the same way doing our day with a friend next to us would. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have started to try this. I unload the dishwasher in the morning with Jesus. This looks like a choice. I\u2019m always tired and foggy at this point of the day, I have a million thoughts in my head and a trillion things fighting for my attention but I take a breath. I recognise that Jesus is there in the kitchen \u2013 normally by acknowledging him out loud or in my head and then I quietly pray in tongues as I unstack. It feels awkward and I'm often distracted, but I do it to set the conversation off for the day. I then take moments in my day where I take that same breath and remember he is with me. I fall out of the habit more often than not, but my hope is that this will grow into more of a conversation and a sense of journeying with him in my day \u2013 expectant for him to point things out as we go.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what about the actual act of sung worship? There has never been a bigger battle for my attention. My emotions have never felt more against me when it comes to the desire to worship. At times the territory has felt so unknown as the news reports have felt bigger and more powerful than the God I serve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, there has never been a better time to pick up a heightened, more committed, more passionate discipline of worship. I love creating playlists and when lockdown began I created a playlist called Psalm 112 (if you look up the psalm you will see why!). It\u2019s my weapon against the fear, the lies, the exhaustion and the weariness. In the uncertainty it points me to certainty. In the darkness it shines lights with every word. My bedroom, my kitchen, my lounge have become spaces of encounter. But it all starts with a choice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Foster says that, \u2018Worship is our response to the overtures of love from the heart of the Father.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We must choose to connect with those overtures to grow a habit of journeying with Jesus \u2013 from the washing up to the essay writing. We must choose times to concentrate on those overtures of love so we can hear afresh the rhythm of grace and the beauty of his love. We must choose to cultivate a life which is shaped by worship. We approach worship because of Jesus and for Jesus but as we do that he meets us, changes us and speaks to us. Can you imagine coming together with other Christians again having journeyed with Jesus closer, worshipped in the unseen times, in the broken time and hurting times, having done our days in lockdown with him? How could that impact the spiritual temperature of our churches?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This week pray about one new worship habit you could pick up:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Connect<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

How could you begin a conversation with Jesus throughout your day which sets a different posture of your heart to worship him? Pick one normal thing you do in the day and decide to turn your heart and mind towards him during it. Try first just whispering his name or repeating a psalm and just be aware of the words you are speaking. (You will need to try this more than once because it often takes a while to move past the distraction!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Concentrate<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Book an appointment of worship where you can either join a live worship set from a church online or you just worship in your room alone to music. Prepare yourself, lay down the distractions and remind yourself of what it is you are about to do and who it is you are meeting with as you worship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cultivate<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

To cultivate means to \u2018acquire or develop a quality or skill.\u2019 How could worship shape your daily life from this day onwards? Pray about one thing you could pick up every day to engage in the posture of worship. It might be an attitude of thankfulness at the end of each day. It might be bringing more worship into your quiet time or your daily exercises. It might even be learning an instrument during lockdown in order to worship! Lay this before God and see what idea you come up with \u2013 start small and see where he leads you! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Richard Foster recommends these daily scripture readings as explore worship this week:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monday:<\/strong> Worship in spirit and truth<\/em> \u2013 John 4:19\u201324<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tuesday:<\/strong> Communion: the essence of worship<\/em> \u2013 John 6:52\u201368, 63<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wednesday:<\/strong> The life of worship<\/em> \u2013 Ephesians 5:18\u201320, Colossians 3:16\u201317<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thursday:<\/strong> The Lord high and lifted up<\/em> \u2013 Isaiah 6:1\u20138<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friday:<\/strong> Sing to the Lord <\/em>\u2013 Psalm 96<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saturday: <\/strong>Worship of all creation \u2013 <\/em>Psalm 148<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sunday:<\/strong> Worthy is the Lamb<\/em> \u2013 Revelation 5:6\u201314<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Read about the discipline of Worship, from our series unpacking the Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":90,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thirteencreative.co.uk\/onelife25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thirteencreative.co.uk\/onelife25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thirteencreative.co.uk\/onelife25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirteencreative.co.uk\/onelife25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirteencreative.co.uk\/onelife25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thirteencreative.co.uk\/onelife25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91,"href":"https:\/\/thirteencreative.co.uk\/onelife25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89\/revisions\/91"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirteencreative.co.uk\/onelife25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thirteencreative.co.uk\/onelife25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirteencreative.co.uk\/onelife25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thirteencreative.co.uk\/onelife25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}