Worship: Our passionate response to God

Hey Friends and Family of TCC,

Recently, someone wrote on a Connection Card (yes, I do read them) and asked if we could explain what “corporate worship” means. Let’s begin with an understanding of worship. Worship – means to put God first with our heart, mind, soul and strength. It means to ascribe worth, to make worthy, to hold the Lord before us in His fullness, to express His greatness. David said, “I have set the Lord always before me. He is at my right hand, therefore, I shall not be moved.”

Worship in the Bible is much more than what we do personally to express our love to God. It’s also what we do when we gather together to be led to make much of God with others.

The Psalmist says, “Come worship the Lord with me.” The writer of Hebrews says, “Don’t drop the habit of meeting together.” I believe there is something that happens spiritually in our hearts, when we allow ourselves to be led by someone else to express our love for God and need of God with others. Corporate worship allows me to give up myself and my needs and worship God for who He is. It challenges me to surrender myself to God even when it’s not natural or comfortable. It allows me to be vulnerable with my church family and express the reality that I am desperate for Him.

Corporate worship helps us realize we are not alone. Christianity is not a personal faith. It is a communal faith. Only in our culture have we redefined our faith as a personal experience. For centuries, Followers of Jesus have gathered together under the leadership of individuals called and anointed by God to be led before His throne. We sing, dance (even though I have Baptist roots), cry, give, listen and praise God together – as one.

Corporate worship unifies a church. It brings us together to state that we need God first and foremost, and we need each other. At TCC, we define worship this way: Our passionate response to all God is with all that we are. We do that both personally and corporately. We need both.

I hope you will be with us on Sunday as we gather together to be led before God’s throne and express our firm conviction that He is our only hope. We get to begin a new series as we learn to “Pray Like” people in the Bible as they faced difficulties and trials in their times of need.

Looking forward to engaging and being led to make much of God with you in corporate worship,