What Do You Expect?
Since writing the last “Sunday Set List” post, I’ve been wondering what part my expectation plays in what happens during a time of worship (or in anything else for that matter). As I wrote about my preparation time for worship and how a particular song stood out; and then about how worship took off during that same song in the service, I began to wonder how much of that was because of my expectation?
Why did worship take off at that point? Had God decided beforehand that he wanted to do something during that song? Was it because I’d believed He wanted us to sing the song and expected something to happen? Had we reached a point of critical mass, where enough of the believers gathered had gotten to the place where we were more aware of God’s presence than our own circumstances, so creating a momentum? What part did others’ expectancy play? Perhaps all of the above were contributory factors.
As the cartoon above (courtesy of ASBO Jesus) suggests, are our expectations sometimes misplaced or misguided?
I believe that our expectancy plays a part in worship. I’m curious as to what others might think or have experienced.
Let me know & join the discussion!
therealworshipleader
I believe it is a combination of our being more aware of God’s presence and then resulting in our expectancy of where He is leading us in the worship.
As we release ourselves from our self “centredness” and fully enter into praise and exaltation to God, He being the “centre” of our thoughts and attention, our eyes open to the fact that His presence is right here with us and when it is felt in that way our spirit knows to have an expectancy – thus it becomes a real experience and our worship takes off!
At our Church (Stevenage High Street Methodist) on 7th September we were also talking about expectations and how they effect how we behave…the following story was used to illustrate
Once upon a time a man found the egg of an eagle. It had been abandoned for some reason by its mother, but as it was still warm the man took it and put it in the nest of one of his chickens along with the other eggs that were being brooded upon.
After a period of time the eaglet hatched, and along with the other chicks from his nest began to go about the yard doing what the other chicks did. He scratched the earth for worms and insects. He looked for the corn that the farmer would throw into the yard. He clucked and cackled as best as he could, and as he grew, he would, like the other chickens, thrash his wings and fly a few feet in the air.
Years passed in this way and the eagle grew very old. One day he saw a magnificent bird far above him in the cloudless sky. It glided majestically among the powerful wind currents, soaring and swooping, scarcely beating its long golden wings. The old eagle looked at it in awe and asked “what is that” “That is the eagle, the king of the birds”, said one of his neighbours. “He belongs to the sky and to the high places. We belong to the earth, we are chickens.” The old eagle knew that this was true, and so it was he lived and died as a chicken, for that is what he believed he was.
We were reminded of Romans 8:14-17 ‘For all who are led by the Spirit of God are Children of God, for you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear but you have received a spirit of adoption when we cry ‘Abba! Father!’. It is that very spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs. Heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.’
I believe if we don’t expect to become more Christ like, we won’t, if we don’t expect and seek to encounter God in a meaningful way in worship…we won’t.
Becca,
Thanks for the illustration. I love it! It both inspires and scares me.
I find the more I look to Jesus (who He is and what He’s done), the more I’m inspired and empowered to live and express the life that He’s placed in me. I guess, the more I’m “transformed by the renewing of my mind” (Rom 12:2).
It’s a beautiful, wonderful journey that we’re on, “being transformed into the same image from glory to glory” (2 Cor 3:18) as we behold Him “with unveiled face”.
You’ve inspired me. I choose to look to Him – not to my circumstances, not my old nature. I expect to become more like Him; being “confident… that He who has begun a good work (in me)… will complete it” (Phil 1:6).