Worship word: approach

My wife and I head the worship team at our church. We get to be on stage occasionally, but mostly this involves us training our young team. It's a lot of fun, and I always tell my pastor that I hadn't meant to sign up for youth ministry.

One of the things I do is what I call a "worship word." Every week at practice, I take a couple of minutes and do a short teaching around a single word and its application to worship. I'm going to start posting them here every Thursday or Friday. This week's word was "approach."

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The Bible tells us that we are to "boldly approach the throne of grace." It is here that we meet the God who gives grace and mercy and help. As worshipers, we do this in part when we worship. Through our singing and playing, we approach the throne of the God who meets with us. I am coming to a new understanding of the remarkable nature of our relationship with this God. He is the one who dwells in inapproachable light, whom if we were to look upon him we would die; and yet we can approach him because he invites us. Just as the shed blood of Christ opens the way for us to share in his table, so it has purchased for us an invitation to approach the inapproachable God.

As a worship team, we have an additional gift. Not only do we approach God, but we are given the task of leading others as they approach him to. Our leadership in worship is intended to open the door for the congregation to follow us into the presence of the God of the Universe. What a wonderful, inexpressible opportunity!