It’s Not a Spectator Sport
Jazz musician Gerald Albright has said, “I love when the audience is part of my show.”
Please note: a Service of Divine Worship is not a show for our entertainment. May our Lord forgive us for the times we’ve turned it into one.
That said, however, participation in worship is key to worship being worship.
We are not invited to be passive observers in worship. We are certainly not to act like celebrity judges rating the performance of the people leading us in worship.
Your God loves it when you’re an active part of worship.
Worship is not a spectator sport.
How will you participate this weekend in worship in your church?
joescheets 
For the most part I think we get out of worship what we put into it. Go with the attitude of praise and thankfulness.
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You got it, Janet, you got it! Thank you for reading and commenting.
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I wrote a long answer here, just after Easter and then the site eliminated it in the process of “signing me in”! Let’s see if I can, kinda, put it together again.
I have not been physically able to attend worship. However, I was bound and determined to bookend my Lenten experience this years. I took great care to make it to Ash Wednesday service and then Easter Sunday. I reconnected with a church friend who had been through a horrible physical challenge as well (wish I had known) and we sat together. Worship is a participation for me, though intense prayer, and worshipful Amen after prayer and, especially after the shared gifts of the choir (on Easter, that includes the sanctuary choir, the bell choir and the orchestra). I am filled by the spectacular gifts of the members of all!
My shock and dismay was, as I was adding my breathless (participation by filling with the spirit of the music, about 1/2 the congregation was issuing applause as though they were at a concert at Scott Trade Center. I didn’t allow it to detract from my worship, but it was an interruption to my peace for my silent prayer of thanks. I didn’t view their applause as participation, but more observant. I realized later that most belonged to the congregation of the contemporary service. Since the DVD I get of the service every week is of the contemporary service, I overlook those moments (and can fast forward it). Are we raising a generation of irreverence? This from the woman who has fought creation of contemporary services as a Traditional Worship Coordinator as the contemporary services were disrupting the sanctuary at St. John’s. OR, does this POV make me old-fashioned in my expectations of participation in worship?
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