Monday Reflections...the perfect church service

Since Sundays come around every 7 days, it seems like I finish one worship service and start thinking about the next.  Throughout the week I put hours of planning into what will happen as we gather together. I execute the plan and then give a quick evaluation before heading off toward the next one.  This endless cycle only gets broken when I am on vacation or a special holiday service is led by someone else.

What is the perfect church service?

Who would have thought that the great C.S. Lewis would have written on this subject?  In his book, "Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer" Mr. Lewis gives us some of his thoughts on the perfect church service.  I love this word picture that we probably all have experienced or suffered from when it wasn't right.

"A good shoe is a shoe you don’t notice."

Isn't this so true?  The shoe functions and fits well.  You can travel throughout your day and your feet at the end are not suffering for being confined into these foot restraining devices.  There is support where it is most needed and they are not too heavy to tire out the rest of your legs.  You are truly sad when they wear out and many times buy another pair that are the same in every way so you can continue in this experience.  

C.S. Lewis takes this word picture and then applies it to the church or worship service.

"The perfect church service would be one 

we were almost unaware of; 

our attention would have been on God."

Mr. Lewis goes on to say,

"But every novelty prevents this. 

It fixes our attention on the service itself; 

and thinking about worship is a different thing 

from worshipping…"

I am sure that Mr. Lewis has pegged me to the wall.  I do a lot of thinking about worship rather than spending time in worship.  

"Yes, Mr. Lewis, there is quite a difference between the two."  

I think that one (thinking about) is necessary for the other (actual worshipping).  Maybe I think that too much.  I seem to have a hard time shutting off the thinking and actually get to the doing.  Maybe this is an occupational hazard for those who are on the platform or behind the sound board on a regular basis.

I desire the free flow of worship that just happens and being able to set aside what others might think as my criteria if we hit the mark this week.  A prayer that goes a little longer than usual or another run at the bridge and chorus of a song are okay because we are caught up in the moment of actually worshipping our God.

There is a balance between what we prepare in glory to God and the attention to what the Spirit might throw in that isn't in the program or outline of the service.  I feel we move from thinking about worship to actually worshipping when our human efforts of attention toward God give space for Him to present what we could not plan.

Was it a perfect church service last Sunday?  Did I get to the actual worship of God?  Were we in charge or was He?  A big thank you to the great C.S. Lewis for some needed insights on this weekly activity that I lead and hopefully get to the point of actually engaging in worship.

Adam