Image from sharonbrobst.com
The Lord is king; let the peoples tremble! He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake! The Lord is great in Zion;he is exalted over all the peoples. Let them praise your great and awesome name.Holy is he! Mighty King, lover of justice,you have established equity;you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob. Extol the Lord our God;worship at his footstool.Holy is he! Moses and Aaron were among his priests,Samuel also was among those who called on his name.They cried to the Lord, and he answered them. He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud;they kept his decrees,and the statutes that he gave them. O Lord our God, you answered them; you were a forgiving God to them but an avenger of their wrongdoings. Extol the Lord our God,and worship at his holy mountain; for the Lord our God is holy. (Psalm 99)
Once I understood what Church was all about, it was fun going each and every Sunday. I loved being taught Psalm 122:1: "I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord." "They" being my parents and I longed for, and eventually, lived for going to church. It started with Sunday school, and my teacher was always there before I arrived. She had a lesson prepared, and sometimes she made the lesson even better by bringing some arts and crafts things to make the lesson come more alive. It may have been two Popsicle sticks tied with blue yarn, but we thought it was straight from a European museum! And sometimes, sometimes, she would even bring a snack. Now those of you who know me, know I don't like snacks... smiley face! Then worship. Organ and piano music of great old hymns. I brushed up on my reading skills en español by singing along with my parents and reading along with the alternate readings in the back of our hymnals. Then the sermon and I usually followed along and laughed at the jokes if they were included; sometimes I would just laugh at friends staring at me and making faces. When church was over, I would run quickly to join my friends and we would usually find cool ways to get our Sunday best as muddy or dusty as we could. Usually we were scolded for that, but it was worth it. And Sunday didn't end there! My mom and grandmother changed out of the Sunday best in what seemed like superhero speed and before we knew it, there was a chicken frying in a skillet and before long we were called to eat a delicious Methodist meal. (Remember the old song, "I've got that chicken-eatin' Methodism down in my heart.. to stay!" - where do you think that lyric came from?) Sundays were also when I would see the comics in color in our Sunday paper. I would read those carefully and quietly, and then either go outside to play or take a nap.
But the key was that this special day of the week was dedicated to God, not me. It may seem like a lot of what I shared was about me, and in a way it was, but I learned early on, that the key character in Sunday was God and God's worship. As the psalmist writes, where God is and Who God is, merits our praise. All of Sunday's worship components should be about God and God's awesomeness. Nothing should be about us nor should we angrily give up and say, "I'm not coming back to this church because the new preacher changed the doxology we sing!" It's about God. Re-read the psalm. God deserves our worship and praise. God has done so much for us that we should just be grateful to be in church.
PRAYER: Lord, we lift Your name on high; Lord, we love to sing Your praises! I'm so glad You're in my life; I'm so glad you came to save us. Help us to realize how important it is to worship You every day, but to set apart one day, Sunday or Saturday, to worship You in spirit and in truth. Bless those moms who fight the urge to stay home and fight the struggles of their children who resist going as well. The victory is Yours, dear Father, and we claim it for us and for those we love. In Christ Jesus we pray, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
