Ps 45.1 My heart overflows with a good theme; I address my verses to the King; My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.
One of the things I enjoy on my journeys to and from Swindon, is to sing along to worship songs that I select from my iPhone playlist, played through my car speakers. If I feel really inspired, I add my own words to the song, and if no one is with me I can sing as loud as I like. That is one of the things I have really missed during this lockdown – not being able to sing and worship with others in the same place. For me there is a special sense of the presence of God when we are worshipping Him together. We cannot quite capture that same atmosphere on Zoom calls.
Yesterday I spent some time with a couple who lead a black church in Swindon, and they are re-starting their meetings with all the social distancing measures in place. Their building will only allow them to have 50 people in the meeting, so they will have to have two meetings of 50 in each. The band will be able to play the songs but only one person can sing. That will be their worship leader. Everyone else will need to wear masks, although they will be allowed clap or dance to the songs. Can you imagine what this is going to look like? Well done church for having a go!
Singing and worshipping God together is something to be treasured. I am looking forward to the day when we can sing together again with our church family without restrictions. In the meantime, I am trying to find all the ways I can to recreate that same privilege of worshipping together. That includes singing along to the worship songs on our Zoom Sunday morning meetings, even if everyone is muted. In addition to singing worship songs in my car, I am also playing Spotify ‘Best of Worship Songs’ as I work on the bikes. The person working with me is also a Christian, so we often end up singing the songs together. Then of course, there is always singing in the shower!
Can I encourage you to keep finding ways, as the psalmist did, to “address his verses to the king.?” If we look for fresh ways of worshipping now, we are less likely to get out of the wonderful discipline of praising each day. When, eventually, we are allowed to sing and worship together without restrictions, there will be great joy, and we will treasure worship even more.
