Richard W. Steffen: “Where Do I Worship?”

Where Do I Worship?

by Richard W. Steffen, Minister of Music

This year I have spoken several times about reading the entire Bible with my friend Brian; we are using the New Living Translation. Brian led our Choir in worship on the last Sunday the Choir sang in March 2020 before we began our worship services with the First Baptist Church of Redlands using our YouTube platform. Brian has a “heart” for our church; he has led the Choir in practice and in worship many times, and he has been a soloist with us. He was the Minister of Music of the former First Baptist Church of Corona, CA. In our reading we aren’t to the letter of St. Paul to the church at Rome yet – including the inspirational text of Romans 12:1, but I am continually enriched by the references to “worship” in the Psalms. “Come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come to him with thanksgiving. Let us sing psalms of praise to him. Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our maker, for he is our God” (Psalm 95:1-2, 6-7a NLT). “Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth! Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before him, singing with joy. Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name” (Psalm 100:1-2, 4 NLT).

We will ponder and reflect on our worship this last year and a half for a long time. As I have been engaged in that activity, I’ve allowed myself to remember and to be honest. On March 6, 2020, I worshipped as I was so moved listening live to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in the Mormon Tabernacle at the music conference I was attending. On Sunday, March 8, 2020, I worshipped as I was inspired listening live to a wonderful organ recital on the five manuals and pedals Schoenstein Organ in the 21,000 seat Conference Center of the LDS Church. (Brian was leading our Choir here that morning.) I returned to Redlands that same day feeling very empowered about leading our music program, but I quickly joined in the prayerful consideration of how we were soon going to be “doing worship” at First Baptist Church. I will always be so grateful for what I have learned about worship from our church leaders and from our gifted, patient Tech Team during the ensuing 15 months. (I had no classes at Taylor University, Butler University, or the University of Redlands on how to organize and lead a “virtual” church music program.) Soon after that, I was worshipping weekly in my La-Z-Boy recliner in my family room. Strange but Spiritual; unusual but uplifting; digital but devotional. Christmas Eve 2020 – between the raindrops – touched me; gathering on the Church Patio with our new artificial tree as we hummed carols in masks. And Easter 2021: in-person, although the music leaders where on the Education Building top floor walkway! May Day 2021 Worship: a joyful inperson experience with a hope for Pentecost Sunday 2021 in-person and inside!

We are not the first in this faith journey to experience worship in various places and different situations. Noah lifted back the covering of the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was drying. Two months later, God said to Noah, “Leave the boat, all of you. Release all the animals so they can be fruitful and multiply throughout the earth.” And he did! AND he built an altar to the Lord and worshipped God (Genesis 8 NLT). And later God said to Abram (afterword called Abraham), “Leave your native country, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and you will be a blessing to others. And Abram built an altar there and dedicated it to the Lord, who had appeared to him” (Genesis 12 NLT). He worshipped God there. God is not calling us to “leave” as God did Noah and Abram. But could God be calling us to “leave” our comfortable, safe, familiar “way” of worship? Now that we are worshipping again in our sanctuary in-person, can we discern where, how, when, how often, with whom, and why God may be calling us to worship our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer? In addition to our sanctuary? In addition to Sunday mornings? Oh, those empowering words: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship” (Romans 12:1 NIV). May God continue to bless us as we worship.