Corporate worship at The Church at Maumelle is an exciting time each Sunday, but it means far more. Worship is the fuel by which we get the energy to live the Christian life. To fail to worship would certainly lead to a malnourished life. Worship is more than what happens in a building on Sunday morning. It is a lifestyle. What we do on Sundays is one aspect of a life that brings glory to God. Corporate worship flows out of and into individual worship. They intrinsically play off one another. We learn important lessons from both types of worship that lead us into a deeper relationship with God. There are other times for corporate gatherings from time to time as the church staff schedules such events.

THE LESSON OF INDIVIDUAL WORSHIP

The key lesson gained from individual worship is the idea that we must worship honestly. The danger as we move from individual worship into corporate worship is the idea that we have to fit the cultural climate of community worship. Expectations have to be met, styles have to be mimicked, and before long our worship can lose authenticity. Yet when worshiping alone, it is easier to worship as one’s self. There is no one to impress. There is no one watching. Individual worship tends to be void of self-awareness. It is an action in which we open our hearts honestly before God. We no longer have to protect ourselves, and so we are deeply aware of our situation, our sin, our need, and we are honest about it all before God. In individual worship, we worship as ourselves.

THE LESSON OF WORSHIP

We must worship in unity if we ever desire to deepen our vision of God. Dynamic worship expands our knowledge, ability, and experience. This is the place we are led in prayer, forcing us to pray for things we otherwise wouldn’t consider. This is the place we sing songs that we don’t choose, forcing melodies and words with which otherwise we would not associate. This is the place we are led in Bible study, opening up sections of Scripture we might not read and providing insights which we might never understand. This is the place that other worship styles may be introduced, showing us multiple ways of worship. Some are more expressive, others are more solemn. Some are more reflective, while others are more celebratory. All are vital to our spiritual development. Without corporate worship we forever would worship in the same style and worship the same attributes of God. By worshiping with other people, we are drawn into a deeper worship of God.

The difficulty and the challenge is to take the lessons learned from both types of worship and to incorporate one set into the other. In individual worship, we seek for the depth of vision that we experienced in corporate worship. In Psalm 63, the psalmist searches for God in the midst of his situation, and that search is nourished by the glimpse of God he receives in corporate worship at the Temple. In corporate worship, we seek for the depth of honesty that we experience in individual worship. By extending our worship of God as individuals, we extend our worship as a community. In dynamic worship our experiences are tied together. The more one person grows this week, the more someone else will have an opportunity to grow today. The deeper one person goes in worship, the deeper someone else will be given a chance to go today. In corporate worship, everything that we do and are affects the experience that everyone else has. If you do something distracting, we are all distracted. If you check out, we all suffer. If you are passionately involved in what is going on, we all are benefited. Individual worship is integral to our corporate experience. Likewise, our corporate experience is integral to our individual experience. It teaches us how to better worship God. It provides the tools by which we grow.