Corporate worship is beautiful. We hear a great deal about this in the New Testament. Paul said to the Colossians, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” In Acts, we see the early church gathering together and devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

With corporate worship being such an important part of the believer’s life, it led me to think about my role in corporate worship. Here are a few things that I have learned and continue to learn about corporate worship that I’d like to share with you:

1. Every believer is a worship leader…even if they don’t have a lick of musical talent.

Have you ever noticed that the lights at Brook Hills are always bright during our Worship Gatherings? One of the reasons is because we want to be able to see each other in worship. I love looking around at the people next to me singing the same truth I’m singing. It’s as if the lady standing and singing next to me is ‘amening’ every word of the song. “Yes! This is true…Hallelujah! God be praised! He’s risen from the grave!”

She’s leading me in worship. In the same sense, when I see someone lift their hands or jump up and down or smile with a big cheesy grin on their face, I’m reminded of how good God is because I know that at that moment the truth of God’s goodness is taking root in their heart, and they are rejoicing in it. It’s like I get a little glimpse of their testimony.

2. There’s more to worship than just showing up.

It can be easy to let your heart disengage from worship and, instead, miss out on letting the Word of God wash over you and mold you more into the likeness of Jesus. When we gather together, we come to hear the Word sung, preached, and even prayed. It’s a powerful thing. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

Here are some practical ways I’ve learned to stay engaged in worship:

• Show up on time and don’t leave early. Every part of the gathering is important.
• Sing along even if you’re not crazy about the song. If you feel like you don’t know most of the songs on Sundays, keep track online of the songs we sing each week and begin listening to them on your own.
• If you’re like me and you have a hard time paying attention for more than 20 minutes, take thorough notes while you are listening to the sermon. Take notes as though you have to explain the sermon to someone else the next day.
• Don’t be afraid to be expressive in your singing and in your listening. The Psalms are full of exhortations to clap your hands and make a joyful noise. Sometimes we can be physically expressive as a result of what is going on the inside. Other times, being physically expressive can guide our hearts to be more engaged.
• Pray. Ask God to fix your eyes on the gospel and keep your mind from potential distractions.

3. God is infinitely more glorious than we even dare imagine, and He is more worthy of our worship than we can even begin to comprehend.

I turned 28 a couple months ago, and with each year of my life that passes, my view of God gets bigger and bigger. The more I learn about Him, the more His unchanging character amazes me. He is always faithful, compassionate, all-knowing, all-powerful, and completely sovereign. And there will be a day when we get to meet this holy and gracious God face-to-face. Until that day, we have the privilege of meeting together each week to worship, to be reminded of Who God is, how He saved His people, and how,one day, He will come back for us. 

Today's post was written by Audrie Appel who serves as a Worship Associate at Brook Hills.