Making time to worship

I've felt quite challenged recently by worship and what this really means to me as a christian. I think it's very easy to get into the firm mindset that worship is 'singing' or worship is 'prayer', ending up limiting worship to one specific thing or another. But if you look at David in the psalms (and in 1 Samuel too) you see him praising God in all kinds of ways. Across all his musings and praise, David's aim in worship was always to give God glory - to tell him how awesome he is, to extol (tell out) his virtues and effectively take his focus off himself and stick it firmly on God.

It's also made me think, 'how much time do I spend making time to worship?' which for me includes writing poetry and singing along to my guitar from worship books, but I know for others will include other things as well.

As I got into bed this evening, I found myself split between the powerful urge to kiss the cat goodnight (a long-standing habit) and go straight to sleep, or to spend a little time turning my thoughts to God. The words to a Delirious song came to mind and before I knew it, a verse started writing itself in my head. This poem is what came of it. I've tentatively named it 'Wash me anew', but if you can think of another name, please do leave it as a comment:

Wash me anew

Kneeling, aware of your grace,
oh how I want to stay here
in this holy place.
I don't want to be anywhere else
away from you.

And the day fades away,
dissolving into shadows
as I turn to your face
and gaze into the depths of your love;
darkest depths that burn with holy fire,
dispelling the shadows & piercing the doubt,
lighting all the corners of my mind;
my heart intertwined with yours.

Then it washes over me,
rushing like a mighty flood,
the monsoon of your peace,
drenching every corner of my soul.
The open thoughts & hidden secrets
laid bare before you.

Oh wash me anew!
Cleanse me and know me,
focus now my selfish heart of you.
Wash me anew.

I love how worship can be as simple as a word, and as profound as the most marvelously practical wisdom. I love how God accepts our worship - despite how it never manages to truly capture his awesomeness. I love how he can take the events of the most trialling of days (and I'm having a few at the moment) and dissolve them into nothingness in the face of his perfect plan and all-encompassing peace. Worship is a truly awesome privilege. Let's give it our all.

TheWeeScottie

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