Gathering and Gratitude
By E. Chris Curvin
Chris Curvin is Pastor for Evangelism at Church of the Palms in Sarasota, FL, USA. Chris leads a “growing" contemporary worship service and is Chair of the Evangelism and New Church Development Committee of Peace River Presbytery, (Southwest Florida). His Worship Team hosts an annual conference on "Inspiring Worship" and has assisted three congregations begin new worship services in 2003.

"Then I went into the sanctuary of God." (Psalm 73:17a)

Why do we gather for worship week after week? Do people just go to church out of a sense of duty or to do the pastor or God a favor? In my role as a pastor responsible for the evangelism and outreach ministry of a large congregation, these types of questions press upon me from time to time.

I ended up preaching a sermon on worship to attempt to answer the question for myself (preachers often do this a lot I've learned), and my message for our contemporary worship gathering became a commentary on Psalm 73. It is a beautiful Psalm. The psalmist talks about how the wicked seem to be rich and have great bodies, (without gastric bypasses), and how they don't get in trouble or if they do they buy their way out of it. They appear to lead the good life and the psalmist says, "I don't understand this." The psalmist asserts that they are doing so well it is if they are wearing a necklace of pride. They're opposed to God, but life's turning out pretty well. The psalmist then says about himself. "All in vain I have kept my heart clean. I've washed my hands in innocence," all in vain, because I look at my life next to theirs.

I'm wondering how many of us who gather week after week have recently had an envy-free week? How many thought during the last week, "I wish I had that person's career or car or marriage or personality. I wish I had their waistline! Probably a great many of us do this. As human beings we have all fallen short of God's image for us and some have fallen farther than others. Even my observation of how far some have fallen illustrates how, even if we don't participate in envy or jealousy, we do have a tendency to judge.

But I'll tell you something that does happen week after week in God's sanctuary. Worship, when it inspires, frees us from our fallen state of humanity. During the hour in which we gather each week, as we sit in a pew, (and freeze from the air conditioning), we rarely, if ever, have jealous or envious thoughts. Why? The psalmist says it's because he went into the sanctuary of God. "Until I went into the sanctuary of God," (v. 7), he says, until I went to gather with others in worship, even though there was not a happy bone in my body, I was given a new perspective!

The psalmist says that when he went into worship he perceived that there's more to living than just the stuff that he can see or hear or possess. He remembers that every human being is one heartbeat away from giving an account of their life to a transcendent God, regardless of bank accounts and possessions. The psalmist says (v.19) "They are destroyed in a moment, swept away…"

"In worship I remembered." In worship I experienced again the truth - I am not alone. God is always with me and it is as if He is holding my right hand. The Psalmist gives a grateful glorious cry, "Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire other than you." (Psalm 73:25).

I hope as we go to our places of worship in the days ahead, each one of us will remember that gathering for worship with others is a way, to not only seek answers for our problems, but a way to express gratitude to God for God's nearness, God's goodness, and God's strength in our hearts.

I am so grateful for being in a congregation that gathers three times on a Sunday morning, (soon to be four times with all guests we welcome in Florida!)

I'm grateful because I am reminded, more than most, that when I'm in the sanctuary, hear great music, and am with people that I love, I am focused on powerful words. When that happens I'm filled with gratitude. I have this feeling that I want to thank God who guides all of us with His counsel and afterward God will receive us with honor. (Ps 73:24).

But between now and next week when you worship, you're going to have times when you don't feel like worshiping. When things are all going wrong, or when you have a really bad hair day. Just gather anyway and you too will remember like the Psalmist, "Who have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire other than you." (Psalm 73:25)

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