Harold Best says, “We do not go to church to worship, but, already at worship, we join our brothers and sisters in continuing those actions that should have been going on – privately, family, or even corporately – all week long.” So, the first step of our gathered work together on Sundays is taken by showing up. This choice to prioritize worship, to leave behind the myriad of other things we could be doing to set apart this hour and fifteen minutes as holy and important. In a society where we have a million choices of how to spend our time and energy, just showing up to gather as the church (whether in person or online) is our first act of worship.

God’s Word is at the heart of our worship and faith. We read from the Scriptures each week, trusting that the Lord will allow it to dwell in us richly. The gospel is shared among the people as a reminder that Christ came into the world to live among us, and so the gospel resides at the center of our lives as believers. We preach through the Scriptures and find Christ throughout. We incorporate historic creeds, confess our sins, assure our people of the assurance of grace, and pass the peace as a renewal of our obedience to the command of the Lord in Matthew 5:24, “First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”

No symbol captures a sense of timelessness like the Lord’s Supper. It has been the meal of the Church for more than two thousand years. It is a foretaste of a meal that will be eaten in the New Jerusalem at the wedding feast of the Lamb. Past, present, and future come together at the table, connecting Israel’s Passover to the body and blood of Jesus and offering a through-a-glass-darkly foretaste of the wedding feast of the Lamb. It is a beautiful, tangible, concrete gift where we can physically remember the goodness of the gospel story.

Having received from the Lord Jesus in Word and Sacrament, we are sent forth into the world as ministers of reconciliation in His name. Worship in the local church (and the whole of the Christian life) exists between two worlds. We live in the light of the resurrection, but we live in a darkened world that awaits its fullest renewal in the return of Christ and the restoration of all things. And until that Day comes, we continue the liturgy in a scattered sense, working as God’s people on mission to see lives transformed by the power of the gospel and by the power of the Spirit through our faithful witness as a church.