Spending Time Together

“Mom, I’m kidnapping you, so clear you calendar for the whole day.” The invitation was made, and with that I was told to prepare for celebrating my birthday with her. My daughter wanted me to set aside the other things I might do that day, and spend time with her. I didn’t know her plan. I just knew that we would be in each other’s presence.

On “the day”, she brought me a beautiful card that told me we were about to embark on a journey of memories, and she told me how much she loved me. With that, we were off and down the road. That was basically our day. She took me places that were special in our lives and gave me more messages and gifts that spoke about how much she loved me. I was overwhelmed by it, and I knew she loved me. But just being in her presence that day, knowing that she really wanted to be there with me and tell me those things, touched my heart and gave me the opportunity to respond to her, telling her how much I loved and appreciated her. (Ahhh, what a lovefest.)

Let me tell you about another day- another lovefest. There is a day that I set aside each week, because I’ve been invited to just spend time with someone who loves me. I am given time to anticipate that day together and prepare for it. Then, when that day comes, there is a celebration. The Person who adores me comes to me and tells me how much He loves me and reminds me of the love and gifts that have been given to me that show me of His great love for me. The special time that we spend together is a time to listen to Him, and gives me the opportunity to respond to His great love by telling and showing Him how truly thankful I am that He is present in my life.

Of course, this goes way beyond a birthday celebration. This is what should happen as we celebrate and worship our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. God doesn’t demand that we worship Him just because He’s the greatest thing around (which He is). He is telling us that we are so important to Him that He wants to spend that special time together with us, AND, He wants us to want that also.

Too often we view “worship” as a block of time that we “have to do”, because we are afraid of wrath, or honor-bound to do our “duty” on that day, or simply out of habit- a habit that has lost site of the joyful anticipation of gathering with others to celebrate. Worship should be anticipated throughout the week and culminate in excitedly arriving at the church building where you enter the worship space ready to be in a communal response to God’s love. None of this arriving 10 minutes late every week because… (insert repeated excuse here). None of this half hearted singing and inward complaining about the music because… (insert gripe out too loud/ soft, too fast/slow, “we’ve done this song before”/”I’ve never heard this song before”). No quick exit afterwards to beat the church down the road to the nearest restaurant.

Instead, it is your primary concern to be there, connecting to God, connecting to one another, and preparing to go back out in the world to serve others with love. THAT… is worship… worship with a full heart of love, ready to give, ready to receive, and ready to give again. Thanks be to God.