As people of God, worship is at the center of our lives. We gather so that we can offer God our praise and our prayers, our proclamation and our ponderings. The song “As the Deer” in The Faith We Sing professes, “You [God] alone are my heart’s desire, and I long to worship you.”

And because worship is so near to our heart’s desire, we frequently have strong opinions about what worship should be—which hymns should be sung, how the scriptures are to be read, what makes for a good anthem and how the prayers should be uttered—to name only a few of the aspects of worship about which we might have particular views.

In Bishop Robert Schnase’s Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations (and, yes, I know I’ve mentioned this before!), he talks about Passionate Worship. Such worship, he says, “connects people with God and with one another, opens lives to the experience of God’s grace and to the hearing and doing of God’s Word, and forms people into the Body of Christ.” Bishop Schnase contends that “Passionate Worship is not restricted to any particular style . . .”

I suspect that nothing pleases the pastors and staff more after a Sunday morning than for those coming out of the sanctuary to tell us how meaningful they found worship. My hope and prayer is that within our worship life here at TUMC that you are challenged, sustained, and motivated by the Spirit of God. While realizing that we can never entirely please everyone concerning individual preferences about worship, we are eager to do what we can to plan and prepare and practice Passionate Worship.

So, two of us—Verna Lewis, chairperson of our Worship Ministry Area, and I are venturing forth early tomorrow morning (I am writing this Sunday evening, Nov. 9^th, after UMYF) to fly to Houston for a conference entitled, “Traditional Worship for Contemporary People.” My hope and prayer, of course, is that we bring home an abundance of creative ideas.

But, we also need you. Please contact Verna Lewis (410-821-0531 or vernlew1@verizon.net) or one of the pastors if you are interested in serving as a worship leader in some way. We welcome those who will serve as ushers, liturgists, acolytes, or singers in the choir. We also welcome your participation in our Worship Ministry Area gatherings where we help in the planning and preparation of our worship services.

Your sister and servant in Christ,

Mary Jo