The famous Danish philosopher, Soren Kierkegaard compared worship to a play. He pointed out that the congregation, however, is not there to watch. The congregation is made up of the actors and the building – the church – is really the stage. There are a few people that stand up in front like a choir director or pastor. They are really the prompters whose responsibility is to prompt the actors, the congregation, in this great drama of worship. The audience? It’s an audience of one, and that’s God.

What a revolutionary perspective that brings to the whole process of worship. It makes us see everything differently. We don’t go to church to be an audience, but to be participants. We don’t come to see one another or the pastor, but to speak to God. God is the invited guest. He is the one who is taking special note of the songs that we sing, of the thoughts that are in our minds, of all of the things that we do and present to him. We come to church to acknowledge God’s worth; we come to center on him and not on ourselves.

Teddy Roosevelt once said, “Even if the preacher can’t preach for sour apples, and the choir is more than a half note off-key, you can always get something out of worship if you will put yourself into it.”

And that’s true! The more we put into worship, the more we get out.