sixty day shift: readying my heart for worship

Can I tell you I’m excited for church without sounding like a total dork? I really don’t want to ruin my image here, but something has happened this year with me and corporate worship.

We attend a church with Saturday and Sunday services and always go Saturday afternoons. We love this option and practice resting and rejuvenating on the Sabbath (which I highly recommend if you can work it out). I spend Saturday thinking about and looking forward to worship and the message. I’ll be the first to admit it’s the weirdest thing ever.

It’s not like I’m a newbie, riding high on those first few months in church where everything feels fresh and new. I’m not coming off a baptism where I’m extra gung-ho about Jesus and experiencing the newlywed bliss of a new relationship. I’ve been doing this for a while. My whole life, actually. So I’m attributing this change in attitude and absolute joy in attending church to my changing relationship with Jesus.

I walk into church hungry to learn more about him, eager to worship, and longing for the quiet time of communion. My time spent with Jesus in the mornings has not filled me up in a way that makes me full and satisfied, it has actually left me wanting more. The longing I had for more relationship hasn’t gone away, if anything, it has intensified. I feel insatiable in my time with Jesus. I just can’t get enough.

So walking into our church on Saturdays feels like I’m being quenched and loved and fed all at the same time. It’s become a holy time when I didn’t realize it wasn’t holy to begin with. My early morning commune with God has made me restless and unsatisfied with the little time I spend with him.

This shift has been in an area I would have not paid much attention to. I enjoy attending church and it has never seemed like a chore. But now I look forward to it, I anxiously await the start, I feel awake and alive while I’m there. It seems like I’ve spent all week preparing my heart for this moment and now we’re going to celebrate together, Jesus and I, right in the sanctuary.

I have never been more convinced than I am right now that believers need to worship corporately. I have always felt that saying you’re a Christian but not attending church or living in community with other believers through a small group, Bible study, or home church was coming up short. I’ve always felt that there were parts missing when you tried to be a Jesus-follower by yourself. But now, sixty days in to this deepening relationship with our creator, I know without a doubt that corporate worship has to be a part of our lives for us to fully experience him.

This shift has been huge. The anticipation and excitement I feel attending a church service, there is no way to explain it, it’s like I just woke up and realized what was really going on inside our church. Sixty days in the Bible shifted my heart and my church experience. What could he do with you in sixty days?