It is a fact that Jesus is alive and that He continues His story in the worship of the church.
Because He is alive, His manifest presence is in our worship. We don't just come together on our own. We don't gather to worship a memory or a "dead" statue. When we gather as the church, we celebrate a living Presence among us. We don't have to fulfill some formula or create something on our own in order to be rewarded by His presence. He is Lord of our worship and Master of all, gathering together His own and orchestrating their praise to the Lord God.
In some ways, our singing is more His than ours. We can confidently take our place as worshipers among our brothers and sisters in Christ with joy unspeakable and confidence that Jesus, the chief worship leader, has already taken His place.
In the manifest presence of Christ we can have a sense of awe and a sense of relaxation at the same time. Since He is in control rather than us, there is the potential for us to "rest" in Him. We can be disciplined and free at the same time in our worship. And, because Jesus lives, we can overcome. Living in a world that can overwhelm us with its pain, songs of victory in the resurrected Christ make us more alive in our inner person and give us a constant spirit of thankful, victorious praise. That will certainly set our hearts and minds in a good place for both our personal and corporate worship. mjm
