What do people need in order to worship Jesus Christ? Do we need great resources to facilitate worship? Do we need great talent to inspire worship?A while ago I witnessed a church service that was absolutely impressive. It involved well choreographed dance routines, at least a dozen person band, multiple LCD screens displaying cutting edge video production, top tier sound reinforcement, dynamic preaching, and on, and on. While this experience was remarkable, I don’t know if any of it was necessary.
Now I want to be clear: I don’t think that this church’s leadership would suggest that the resources/talent required for such a service are necessary for worship to take place. My guess is that they would say, “We are very blessed to be able to put such a high level of talent and resources into our worship service, but this is not what we NEED to worship.” And if they said such, I would agree.
The 21st chapter of Luke begins by saying, “As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. ‘I tell you the truth,’ he said, ‘this poor widow has put more in than all the others.’”
Obviously this widow did not have a lot of resources to put toward worship. She gave a lot less than the others. But according to Jesus, the widow didn’t need resources to worship well. She needed something else.
What we see in this scripture is that Jesus celebrates the person that gives fully. She had very little in terms of worldly wealth, but what she did have was completely devoted to God. So in answering the question, “What do people need in order to worship Jesus Christ,” it is not wealth, talent, resources, or privilege. It is an attitude of full devotion. This widow brought an attitude of devotion to God into the Temple and it is exactly what was needed for true worship.
Let this be true for the worshipers at the Cathedral too. Let us recognize what we really need in order to worship Christ. Though our local community might be blessed with the talent/resources to produce an engaging worship service, don’t let those blessings serve as a substitute for our right attitude. Let us all enter worship ready to fully devote every aspect of our lives to the Lord who is watching.
