by Tara Taylor

Ask me anything about worship...I’m kind of an expert. After all, I’ve spent twenty-plus years playing guitar, singing and leading others into God’s presence. My identity as a worshipper is strong and unshakable, and I never miss an opportunity to share my gifts – at church, retreats, conferences. I spend a lot of time doing worship. So much time, in fact, that I never noticed the chip growing on my shoulder - one that said I’d really “arrived” in my understanding of worship. How wrong I was! Fortunately, the Lord intervened just in time and jolted me into a journey of discovering the true heart of worship.

It began several years ago when I felt Him asking me to give up the guitar as a “fast” for Lent. I questioned and wrestled a lot before I was finally able to open my fists and say, “ok.”

On Day One, He asked me if I could worship Him without my guitar, and I realized that I didn’t really know how. Surely there were other forms of worship, but they were so foreign and uncomfortable to me. My identity as a worshipper seemed rather lost, and shakable after all.

On Day Seven, I spent a few early minutes at church going through the bulletin, critiquing the service before it ever started. The Lord eventually tapped me on the shoulder and exposed my attitude, saying: “Tara, worship is about My glory, not your entertainment - if you can’t worship Me simply because I’m worthy, we’ve got a problem.” Ouch.

And so began my re-education in worship. A few lessons stand out from that time: First, there are many different forms and expressions of worship. These tools help us see and interact with God. By isolating my experience of worship solely to music, I’d severely limited my ability to encounter the Lord.

I was challenged that year to explore other forms of worship – lifting my hands, praying aloud, kneeling, shedding tears, listening (to name a few). These different practices helped me find the Lord in fresh ways, and I began entering times of worship with a growing sense of expectation.

Second, I discovered that “it’s not about me”. Worship is about giving honor and attention to the Uncreated God who, among other things, spoke the universe and all we know into being by the power of His word (consider that for a moment!). If I could really begin to grasp even a small fraction of God’s greatness, and the terrific wonder that He actually pursues relationship with the likes of me, it wouldn’t really matter which particular songs we sang on any given Sunday, or whether the prayer time was a bit long or the sermon too short or the children too wiggly.

I’ve been learning to notice my propensity in worship towards personal entertainment, distraction, even boredom. And so I’ve been cultivating a longing in my heart – to know Him more – by intentionally looking for Him, whether the circumstances make that easy or not.

Finally, worship is not about what we do each Sunday, but about who we are every day of the week. The more I make a practice of encountering and acknowledging the Lord, the more I find it comes naturally. Sometimes that’s a “set aside” time, but more often I’m discovering His presence in some of the most mundane moments in life – walking to the store, paying invoices at work, visiting with friends. Worship is becoming less of a ritual and more of a lifestyle.

So, how would I define worship now? Well, it’s certainly more than singing songs! Louie Giglio, a teacher I admire, says it this way, “Worship is our response, both personal and corporate, to God – for Who He is and for what He has done, expressed in and by the things we say and the way we live.”

May my responsiveness to Him continue to grow!