Surprised By Worship

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. - Luke 2:8–20 NIV

Worship is an interesting topic. If you don't think so, consider the fact that the people can get very upset over the subject of worship, people will argue about it, people will divide over it, people can even get mean and nasty about it. I guess it kind of makes sense – to a point -- people will react in all these ways over issues they feel passionate about; worship is something we should feel passionate about.

Worship should also surprise us. If worship is entering into the presence of the eternal and all knowing God, shouldn’t we created and finite beings, be surprised sometimes when we discover ourselves in that pretense?

• Have you ever been surprised by worship?

o Have you experienced a time where worship snuck up on you and you found yourself its midst without intending to be there? (That is perhaps for me its sweetest expression);

o Have you ever sought worship, been in the time and the place where you would expect to enter into it – even had it surrounding you -- and not found it yourself? (I have experienced that too).

The “Christmas shepherds” were definitely surprised when the Angel of the Lord appeared to them in the middle of a dark, dark night to announce good news of great joy – followed by, I imagine, a singing choir of praising angels, more light, maybe some instruments (maybe not) but in any event a massive worship experience. It was as surprising as it was terrifying. It would have been no less surprising, no less terrifying if their was no sound at all, “just” the glory of the Lord. Either way, the surprise of worship would have stayed with them for the remainder of their days.

While I doubt if any of us will experience surprising worship of this magnitude, we still can and should be surprised. And ironically, this surprise is more likely when we expect it, but don’t necessarily try to create it.

• Are you expecting to be surprised by worship? You should be.