Luke 4:16 — And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.

So it’s Sunday morning — or Saturday evening for some of you. Here comes that two or three hour chunk of time called “church”. How do you feel about it?
For some people, church is an interruption in an otherwise satisfactory day — a rupture if you like. For some people the day just flows around that awkward chunk of time. If it’s like that for you, can I suggest you think about your relationship to your church. Are you just a weekly visitor or are you really actively involved?
For some people, church is a ritual. They go willingly, but they feel there is only one way to “do” church …the process is more important than the passion. I need to be careful in how I say this, for Paul was careful to warn the Corinthians of the need for orderly behavior in services : “For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. …” (1 Corinthians 14:33). Having said that, it’s important to know that we serve a God who is infinitely creative. I was reminded by someone today that God loves new songs. Psalms 96, 98, and 149 all start “sing to the Lord a new song.”. Isaiah 42:10 and Psalm 33:3 reinforce the message. I don’t think God wants “church” to be an unconsidered ritual.
For others, the regular weekly attendance at church is a rapture — an emotional lifting out of the rest of life, a pouring out of worship to a perfect God. It will be no surprise, perhaps, that this is the form I favor. Even here, though, there is a risk. Emotional outpouring, on its own, is not enough. Church should be life changing, not just an emotional uplift.
The more I think about it, the more convinced I become that the best way to attend church every week has all three elements in it — rupture, ritual and rapture. Though I shouldn’t resent it, there should be an interruption to daily life. The collective teaching and worship time shouldn’t be “business as usual”. There should be an element of ritual to weekly church. One definition of ritual is “an act or series of acts done in a particular situation and in the same way each time”. There is value in preparing for church, knowing when it will take place and having an idea of what will happen. There is no doubt out, either, that there should be a rapturous surrender to the process of worship.
If your weekly worship has become a little static, I hope these few thoughts might start you on a thought process and a journey to a transformed church experience.