When We Bring Our Ignorance to Worship
9/28/2026
Sometimes I wonder if we have forgotten what we are doing when we walk through the doors of the church.
We arrive carrying our coffee, our worries, our to-do lists, our tired bodies, and all the noise of the week. We sing. We listen to a sermon. We pray. Perhaps we take Communion. Then we head home.
Another Sunday. Another service. And somewhere along the way, we can begin to believe that worship is ordinary.
But what if the problem isn't that worship has become ordinary? What if we have simply forgotten what is happening?
Jonathan Landry Cruse, in What Happens When We Worship, points to the ignorance we can bring into worship. When we don't understand what God is doing, we begin looking for something to make worship feel meaningful: better music, stronger emotion, more excitement, a more powerful atmosphere.
But Scripture points us somewhere deeper.
“Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!”
—Psalm 95:6
We are not walking into a concert. We are coming before our Maker. And that changes everything.
When Ordinary Looks Insignificant
We know the routine of worship so well that we can miss the reality behind it. We hear a familiar passage and think, "I've heard that before." We sing a hymn we've sung a hundred times. We listen to another sermon. But familiarity does not make God's Word less powerful.
“Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”
—Romans 10:17
God uses ordinary means to do extraordinary work. His Word teaches us, corrects us, comforts us, exposes our sin, and points us again to Christ.
That sermon we almost dismissed because we were tired? God's Word is still living and active (Hebrews 4:12).
That song that didn't give us goosebumps? The truth in it is still true.
When Feelings Become the Measure
We can also begin measuring worship by how it made us feel.
Did I cry? Did I feel moved? Did I leave energized?
Emotion isn't wrong. God made us with hearts that feel deeply. But emotion is not the measure of God's presence.
Jesus said, “Those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
—John 4:24
Truth matters. God matters. Christ matters.
Some Sundays worship feels powerful; others feel painfully ordinary. But our feelings are fickle.
God is not.
Maybe Worship Hasn't Become Smaller
This is the part that convicts me. Sometimes we say, “Worship just doesn't feel the same anymore.” Maybe the better question is: Have I forgotten what worship is? Have I become so familiar with the blessings of gathered worship that I no longer recognize them as blessings? Have I come expecting to be entertained instead of expecting to hear from God? Have I judged a service by my experience instead of God's faithfulness?
Maybe worship hasn't become smaller. Maybe we have.
Our understanding has. Our awareness has. Our sense of awe has. The extraordinary work of God has not disappeared simply because it looks ordinary.
So the next time we gather, perhaps we don't need a bigger experience. Perhaps we need bigger vision. Eyes that see. Ears that hear. Hearts that understand.
PRAYER
Father, forgive us for the small expectations we bring into worship. Open our eyes to see You at work through Your Word, our prayers, our singing, and the gathering of Your people. Remind us that You have not become smaller, Your Word has not become weaker, and worship has not become less meaningful.
Sometimes the worship service hasn't become smaller—we have. Our understanding has.
Lord, enlarge it.
Give us reverence where we have become casual, wonder where we have become familiar, and hearts ready to recognize the holy work You are already doing.
Help us come looking not for something spectacular, but for You.
Amen.