Wind in Our Sails
The Holy Spirit and corporate worship

by Kevin J. Navarro

Over the years, I've had people tell me that they couldn't worship unless they had 40 minutes of uninterrupted praise songs or unless they sang hymns. My response has always been the same: nonsense. We can worship with a band, a choir, in a cathedral or in a storefront, because our worship isn't dependant on those artifacts. Our worship is about our life in Christ.

In other words, music and the arts are an expression of our worship but not the means to our worship.1 Jesus Christ and our union with Him are the means to worshiping the living God. The Holy Spirit makes this a reality (Ephesians 5:18-21). Because of our union with Christ, worship is a 24/7 reality (how I love my wife, how I care for the poor, etc.).

In recent years, there has been a major emphasis on the manifest presence of God in worship literature. Although I appreciate the spirit of this material, the methodology can set us up for discouragement. For example, some people teach that you must sing a set of worship choruses with no dead space or awkward transitions, so that people can "get into the presence of God" more easily than with a start/stop approach. This is simply too formulaic.

To say that God must always do this or that He never does that is to put God in a box. God is not a vending machine.

When we show up and do our programming without dynamic prayer, crying out to God, marinating in the Word, listening to the Spirit, obeying what He says and cultivating our relationship with the Living God, we are "doing" church but not being the church. Instead, we must listen to His Spirit even as we plan for our worship service each week.

We cannot control the wind by putting up the sail. But when we put up the sail and the wind blows, sailing will be fantastic. The spiritual disciplines, including corporate worship, are the spiritual sails for the Christian life.2

I'm not sure who first said this, but my practice as I prepare myself for corporate worship each week is: "Read myself full. Think myself clear. Pray myself hot. And let myself go."

Reading myself full has to do with my time in the text. During my study, I am talking to God, asking Him to help me understand His Word. I like to think of it as marinating myself-memorizing the passage I'm preaching in addition to the exegetical and commentary work.

Thinking myself clear is related to structure, writing, word choice, etc. Again, I do this prayerfully.

Praying myself hot follows the sermon preparation. This usually runs Saturday night through Sunday morning. Furthermore, our elders and men's ministry host a prayer meeting before each service. Many times they have laid hands on me before I preach.

Letting myself go means, for me, that I do not use notes when I preach. Often, the Holy Spirit "downloads" a better illustration or a scriptural cross-reference into my mind during the service.

Sometimes I've been prompted by the Holy Spirit to ask the congregation for a different response from what I was initially planning. This might sound risky, but without fail, people have responded.

God is not asking for religion. He is asking for relationship. We should become as familiar with the Holy Spirit's voice as if He were a good friend on the other end of our cell phone. We have built-in voice recognition with those we know (John 10:27). Furthermore, the still, small voice of the Spirit will always honor the Scriptures and reflect the character of God.

The apostle Paul did not have a 15-year strategic plan to reach the Roman Empire. He just kept in step with the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-26).3 When the Spirit says no to going to Bithynia, we need to be open to Macedonian visions (Acts 16:6-10). Listening to the Spirit is effectual ministry.