When we worship we participate in praising and thanking God. We present ourselves before the Word of God. We gather to seek (and find) forgiveness for our shortcomings. Freed from sin, renewed through the Meal, we are then sent out (just like the original disciples) to be Christ in the world.
Although the experience of gathered worship affects our entire faith community, there is also something happening in EACH PERSON PRESENT.
The Word reveals truth to you (sometimes in a flood, but often by small drops). God's truth informs you about how YOU (and WE) are to live with others, loving and serving others. Each week you are sent with the hope and the promise (and the responsibility) of discovering where and how God will use you to reveal Christ to the "other".
Sometimes (but not very often) there will be no doubt in your mind. You will be hit over the head and know that the call to you is to "wake up and get on with...." But much of the time this call that starts in worship will quickly be muffled and muted by other things in your life.
You can't change God's will that you love and serve others. But you can ignore it! (at least for a while).
Your discipleship is dynamic. Each week is different. Opportunities will ebb and flow, come and go, sometimes with seasonal regularity.
As you seek to discover how God is calling you, there will be times you will feel like you are panning for gold
Other weeks may be more like an archeological dig
And then there are the weeks when the discovery process will be more like finding and sorting your way through clues
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It's important to process what went "on" in you during worship. To help you with that processing you might want to keep your bulletin and a pencil close at hand throughout the service and simply place marks at the point when you feel a bit of a nudge.
The "nudge" may appear in any of these ways:
A lyric in a hymn made your heart beat faster.
An announcement made you wonder -- hmm, is that for me?
A prayer concern hit you in the heart.
When scripture was read you thought: I have never heard it quite that way before.
During the sermon you said: Wow... I want to remember that! (or -- I hope I can forget that!)
Something wordless yet deeply touching happened during Holy Communion.
Try not to fixate on one of those nudges while you are still in worship, because if you stay focused on one you may miss others coming your way.
Take your bulletin home (you can recycle it next week).
Keep the bulletin with all of your markings on it close to your prayer/devotional space. You will want to refer to it as you discover something about the question: So what did all of that mean?
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