According to Webster a liturgy can be described as: a customary repertoire of ideas, phrases, or observances. Often this word is used to describe the order of worship on a Sunday morning. But Sunday is only one day of the week, what do we do on the other days?

Over time, our actions describe our beliefs better than our words.

This is a thought I had some years ago as I was preparing a lecture for a bunch of aspiring missionaries. I like to use catch phrases and short quotes as hooks in my teachings and this one sounded good, so I wrote it down. The problem is that this saying is better than I am. As I stared at it I realized that this was not something the students needed to think about as much as it was something I needed to think about. Which is good I guess, since I am always telling young teachers that they can’t lead students anywhere that they have never gone themselves. Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander I guess.

This led me to changes in my lifestyle that I have continued to develop to this day. I started thinking about my daily worship and lifestyle. Does it have any substance? Is it an accurate reflection of a changed life? Am I consistent? What do I spend my time on? Do I read, if so, what do I read? Who and what do I listen to? And probably most important, why do I do any of it?

Today I am going to start with a famous verse from the gospel of John. It is part of a dialog Jesus was having with a Samaritan woman by a well. She asked a question about worship in her cultural context a wanted to know who is right about worship(Jews or Samaritans) and where it should be done.

John 4:21-24 (ESV)

I went in to this article today thinking about spiritual disciplines and personal worship. But this passage is once again better than I was looking for. In this passage Jesus is pushing past outward expressions of worship and zeroing in on the source of the worship that needs to be expressed.

Worshiping in Spirit and Truth

What was Jesus really saying with this often quoted phrase? Was he suggesting that formal corporate worship was not important? That it was in some way obsolete? Or was he saying that both Samaritan and Jewish outward worship forms are inadequate? True worship is not simply ritual, true worship flows out of the heart of the worshiper from and through the Spirit.

So if true worship flows from the heart of the worshiper, where does it go from there? How is this true worship expressed? Can true worship ever be unexpressed? Worshiping in Spirit certainly must find some means of expression or it has no reality. Think about it, is it even possible to have a cause without an effect? It seems to me that while true worship is not simply external activity, true worship in the Spirit must find some expression in order to be actualized. After all in Revelation we see many scenes of worship in heaven and they are all very expressive. So what is the proper expression of true worship in the Spirit for us today? Paul says in Romans 12:1 that true worship involves making our lives living sacrifices. Unlike the worship of Jesus’ day where sacrifice was offering up an animal’s life. Paul’s understanding of worship is to offer up our own lives continuously. What does such an ongoing sacrifice look like? And where do we go to learn?

The Word, the Spirit, and us

The Spirit of God breathed through men to give us the scriptures.

2 Tim 3:16-17 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

In a way, the scriptures like Jesus are a sort of incarnation. These words are an expression of God and His will and His ways to us in a tangible form. We know God by interacting with His word. Therefore to worship in Spirit we must in some way reflect His word to the world. We need to know His word. Through His word we know Jesus with the help of the Spirit. And the Spirit through his work and the word will bear fruit in us, just as Jesus explained to his disciples:

Matt 7:16-18

What does this look like on a Tuesday morning?

This is where it gets real for me. Am I a true worshiper? Or do I just worship sometimes if the music is right. What does worship look like? How do I express this worship? I will not completely answer these questions today obviously. These questions need to be answered though, they need to be answered through the entire course of our lives, and in many different ways.

In the coming weeks I will return to these questions, but for today I want to get very practical and lay what I consider to be the first brick in the wall. Reading God’s word. Going to church is important but it will not feed your soul on a Tuesday morning when life is crashing in from all directions. I know that worshiping in spirit and truth is more than reading the bible. But getting quiet before God and listening to the word that He has breathed out by his Spirit allows his Spirit to work in us, to revive and strengthen us for whatever the day may bring.

Habits can be good

This week let’s consider how we can build a habit of letting God speak through his word by His Spirit to us every day. So that, we can reflect that Spirit as true worship throughout the day.

So if you are not already in the habit of daily bible reading, I would recommend that you get a daily bible reading plan of some sort, there are many, and commit to read a portion of the bible every day. Do this with someone else so you can encourage each other. Use that time in God’s word to reflect and get quiet and allow God to speak through his word. Life will not want to cooperate with this so you will need to aggressively schedule this into each day. Jesus found time even when he was traveling, we can too. After all we never forget to eat and sleep, we always seem to find time for the things we believe to be important.

This takes me full circle to where I started:

Over time, our actions describe our beliefs better than our words.

This week let’s take steps toward becoming a people that truly worship in spirit and truth every day, so that we may show the world God’s glory through our actions. Take some time, make a plan, and begin to create a personal liturgy of your own - today. Build daily habits that will build your life.

Have a great week!

Resources:

Bible Reading Companion app (This is an app I have used especially when travelling)

Daily Lectionary Readings (a nice selection of readings throughout the year)

I am sure there are apps for iphone that give you a daily reading plan as well I just don’t know them to recommend them.