Identity

Worship keeps us coming back to our church. We are disappointed with the children's program, the preaching is merely okay, and we don't feel like we're an integral part of the body. However, we keep returning because of the strong worship.

Our worship leader is a young HIGHLY-talented musician who strives to present an excellent musical offerent to God. However, the power of the worship doesn't really revolve around the excellence of the music (although this church probably has the finest musicians we've ever worked with).

The power of the worship revolves around that fact that he consistently points to Jesus. He has never planned a worship set without including a song about what Jesus did for us on the cross. We always sing Jesus crucified and risen. Every Sunday. Without fail.

Here's why I think that's so important-

The Jewish identity is largely based on the Exodus event. So much of their ritual and celebration activities are meant to bind them together under the remembrance of their salvation from slavery. The passover reminds them yearly of how God took them out of Egyptian rule and how the blood of the lamb kept their families alive. Their celebrations remind them that God preserved them through the desert and brought them to a new land. They were delivered from a cruel and horrible fate.

Our Christian identity is based on the cross. Our ritual and celebration bind us together as we remember Jesus' death to deliver us from slavery to sin and self. Easter reminds us yearly of how the blood of the Lamb keeps us alive. We were delivered from a cruel and horrible fate.

I think that too often Christians forget our identity. We choose not to remember just how evil and perverted we are without Jesus' blood cleansing us and the Holy Spirit in us. We have to be reminded of our identity. We are new creatures, made pure and holy by Jesus on the cross and dying for our sins.

Worship should remind us of who we are, not just once a month. Not just once in a while. It should be an every Sunday thing. We must remember who we are- saved, set free, chosen, precious, blessed... It is too easy to get caught up in regular life if we don't stop and remember together.

Worship draws us back to our church. A worship that sets our hearts free as we corporately remember our identity as the body of Christ, sanctified and cleansed, pure and holy, because of what Jesus has done for us.