Discipling Life

“Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come into his presence with singing” (Psalm 100:1-2). This psalm reminds us that worship is not merely a duty to fulfill but a joyful response to the God who has lovingly created and redeemed us. We belong to him. We are “his people, and the sheep of his pasture” (v. 3). The psalm also calls us to remember God’s character. We are invited to enter his gates “with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise” (v. 4). Gratitude changes the way we see the world. God’s grace is already at work around us and within us, drawing us closer to himself. As we respond with thankful hearts, we become more aware of his presence and more open to his transforming work. Worship is one of the ways God shapes us in holiness, teaching us to trust him, love him, and reflect his goodness in our daily lives. Psalm 100 concludes with a beautiful promise: “For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulnes...

I confess that I have always been time conscious during worship. I see to it that there is a clock I can always look at during worship. This started at the very beginning of my ministry when a served a three-point charge (in Methodist lingo that just means I had three churches). I had to make sure I finished one service with enough time to start the next. Be honest: we like our worship to begin and end on time, our prayers to feel familiar, and our sense of God to remain comfortably within reach. And then we open Acts 2 , and everything we thought we knew about how God works gets blown wide open. Quite literally. When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, ...

As we move deeper into the season of Lent, our hearts are often turned toward quiet reflection and self-examination. But this week, our scripture from Psalm 95 starts with a bit of a joyful noise. It invites us to sing, to make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation, and to come into God’s presence with thanksgiving. 1 O come, let us sing to the Lord;     let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! 2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;     let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! Psalm 95 begins with an invitation to praise. It calls us to lift our voices, to bow in worship, and to remember that the Lord is our Creator and Shepherd. There’s a sense of joy and gratitude—God is good, and all creation belongs to him. Psalm 95, known as the Venite (Latin: “O come”), has been used as a call to worship for millennia. Originating as a song for Israel’s Temple festivals and Sabbath, it ...