By Pastor Tim Morgan; Kellogg- Pleasant View United Methodist Churches
People I talk to often testify to the rejuvenating power of worship. When believers have missed church for any reason – illness, weather, what have you – I hear them say how that seems to take the wind out of their sails for the whole week. This has been my experience also. Like everyone, I sometimes feel dispirited. Usually, there are circumstances in my life I could blame that on. Then, Sunday morning comes, and I worship with the Body of Christ. The circumstances of my life may not have changed, but the condition of my soul changes entirely. I feel infused with new hope and energy.
In Psalm 63, I found an explanation of why that is. It starts out this way: “O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; my soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. Thus I have seen You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory.” The world, taken by itself, is a dry and weary place, devoid of the living water our souls have been made to thirst for. That thirst can only be satisfied in a relationship with God. If we believe this, then we are impelled to seek God earnestly. If you ignore someone, you don’t have a relationship with them. You could be standing right next to them and have no connection whatever. When we have a relationship with someone, our attention is drawn to them and we seek them out.
The Psalm makes clear we seek God, not just to quench the thirst of our soul, but also a yearning of the flesh; a relationship only physical closeness can satisfy. That’s why the wind that is taken out of our sails by missing church can’t be replenished by solitary prayer, Bible study, listening to music, or watching religious TV shows. All of these things are necessary parts of our spiritual development, but, alone, can’t satisfy our thirst “in a dry and weary land.” The psalmist gives us the remedy in the second verse: “Thus I have seen You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and your glory.” The church, which is not a building or an organization but the Body of Christ, made flesh in those who believe Him, makes God visible in the sanctuary; makes His power tangible not just to our spirit but to our flesh which, as an inseparable part of our being, shares in our yearning for God. In short, we find Jesus revealed in each other because His Holy Spirit has made Him live tangibly in us.
So, as the Psalm tells us, “I will bless You as long as I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name” as we often do when we worship. Then, “My soul is satisfied … and my mouth offers praises with joyful lips.”
