A Silent Sunday

So Sunday was a strange Sunday for me. It is the first time in over ten years of preaching that I had to take a Sunday out of the pulpit due to ill health. There have been some close shaves like Easter last year when I only got my voice back on the Thursday of Holy Week and the famous Sunday in our church family when I had to wrap up pretty quickly just before my final point to make a quick exit from the service. God has been gracious to give me health and voice to preach.

I am so thankful for our Elders who rallied round and, in particular, for Russell who stepped in at very short notice to preach a message to our church family. You can listen to it here, it is well worth your time.

Coming to church with no voice to be able to participate was interesting. I love to worship and one of the biggest dangers I find to my voice before preaching is the danger that I blow it out by singing too loudly. My silence caused me to reflect on some things:

The words we sing matter I mean really matter. It was such a blessing to read though, mouth the words of and think about what and not just how I was singing. The notes are irrelevant when you are at best mouthing the words. There is something about the weight of consecutive truth in the songs that we sing that are immensely valuable- that was reinforced as much in my personal silence on Sunday as it has been in the past by people who have come to our church for the first time and said 'I didn't know the words but cried my way through most of them.'

The heart is what matters If our worship becomes little more than some kind of collective choral celebration then we are missing something everything. It never occurred to me that I would feel the urge to raise my hands even when I couldn't raise my voice. It didn't seem wierd it seemed very right. Ultimately worship is not me responding to the song but to the One the song is about. I raise my hands in praise to God, I lift my heart to the One who is the greatest treasure in the cosmos and beyond.

The demeanour matters I also got to stand in a different place on Sunday and to observe our family. I am praying for all of us for soft hearts and a great view of who Jesus is and what Jesus has done to breed a fresh, contagious and overflowing affection in our hearts towards Him as we worship Him together each week. I remember preaching on worship at the end of the Olympics and laying down a challenge to our church family. Let me encourage you to review it here after you have checked out Russell's great message from Sunday.