I attended a youth service with my friends in a Gothic-style chapel in Shanghai. The solemn-looking Gothic building stood right in the midst of the glaring lightnings of a typical vibrant night that resembles all other mega cities. Yet inside the chapel, the atmosphere was amazingly contrasting. Some had faithfully made their ways to the service earlier than the scheduled time and started to settle down in their seats while the worship team stood in a circle praying with their hands held together in preparation for the night service that was about to start.
Though it's not my first time to attend the service in this church, the familiar surrounding of the chapel still never failed to strike my eyes- beautiful flowers flourished in spring blossom and creepers crawling on the chapel wall. What a blessed spring!
The service soon started on time. The worship team first lead a time of prayer, recited a Bible verse and then opened the worship by an upbeat song "We become one family". The song set a happy tone for the entire service and made all new comers feel at home. The worship leader's sonorous voice and inexpressible joy on his face demonstrated the overwhelming joy of worship. Besides him stood the keyboarder, drummer and guitarist who seamlessly played out the chords in complete unity while singing out the lyrics, "We become one family because of Jesus. By his blood, we enter his kingdom. By his blood, we are cleansed and come into his light...."
Towards the middle of the song, the worship team walked down from the stage to shake hands with new comers sitting among the congregation, which was in sync with the essence of the song. The congregation was also encouraged to greet each other with Jesus' warmth and love at the end of the song.
Afterwards, we moved to the second song "Hallelujah". Though the song only lasted for about 1 minute, the key chorus was repeated several times in order to reinforce the essence of the holiness and solemn praise through the lyrics.
While we were singing the next song " Life is a hymn", my heart was deeply struck and overworked. The powerful lyrics became my heart offering to God as well as a convicted declaration to the world about my love for God.
The lyrics goes like this:
" I pour out my life as a hymn. Through my passion for God, I compose the opening. Through my convicted faith, I compose the bridge. Through my open and honest heart, I compose the verses. My life then becomes a hymn, a hymn composed by Jesus. The melody comes from heavens and the lyrics are one of a kind. No one else except me can sing out this hymn, the hymn of my life. I sing it with love, bursting out light and warmth. My life is a hymn."
This 30-minute praise and worship had indeed touched me tremendously and immersed myself in a God's grace throughout the session. It greatly humbled me and softened my heart by God's encompassing glory, bringing me deeper into his presence. My heart was also made more ready to receive the sermon message later on. Only then did I experienced the power of corporate worship during not just the worship portion, but the entire service.
The preacher also shared a message on to reinforce how Holy Spirit can minister to us powerfully through a hymn or a verse during worship.
A sister in church once told me how she shockingly found a worship session lacking the essence of authentic worship. The hymn was delivered as pretty much dull and lack-lustred when the worship leader failed to display any sigh of joy on his face throughout the worship. While his band members all seemed to be looking down doing their own things with very little unity in pace coordination or any eye-contact with congregation were spotted. She also commented on another worship service she attended in a different church. The worship team members there could have dressed up more decently as worship is our sincere dedication to God.
If you flip through the bible, the extremely significant act of worship is made prominent through certain chapters crucial. In Psalm 22:3, it says, "Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the one Israel praises.” Also, in 2 Kings 20:20-21 , "As for the other events of Hezekiah’s reign, all his achievements and how he made the pool and the tunnel by which he brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? Hezekiah rested with his ancestors. And Manasseh his son succeeded him as king.”
When King Hezekiah are faced with extremely strong enemies, he clearly understands that it will be a fatal battle as his power is much beyond what is required to win the battle. Guess how does he react? In contrary to the conventional strategy of training his armies or preparing weapons, he chooses to worship the Lord! As we can see, he sends the worship troop at the front line to sing worship songs! Before what the enemies actually realize what has happened, God has already sent help from heaven to help Hezekiah defeat his enemies. Hezekiah conquers the war purely by the power of worship!
Despite the power of worship as illustrated in the scripture, some have overlooked the significance of worship or find it alright to be perpetually late for the worship session.
For me, I personally find worship to be extremely ministering and necessary in any form of service. When I go for the weekly Wednesday service after a tiring day at work, I often find it hard to quieten down or transit to the sermon session immediately. As such, the worship session becomes necessary for me to be moved by the Holy Spirit and to dwell in God's sweet presence first before hearing the sermon message. When the worship session is extremely anointed and ministering, it also spurs the preacher to deliver the sermon in a more impactful way as he senses the congregation's hunger for God's word.
The leader of Joshua Worship(a worship team in Taiwan) once shared this inspiring statement ," When we are heavy-burdened and yet choose to come to the Lord to praise him above all else, God's glory will dwell on us while the Holy spirit will be activated within us. This activated power not just helps ourselves but can greatly minister to people around us by setting their hearts on worship as well. This is the power of worship. "
Located in Hengshan Road, southeastern Shanghai, Shanghai Community Church is an international Christian rallying point. The Community Church is a Gothic building which was constructed in 1925 by a group of Americans as a place for their choir. There is English service every Sunday. Shanghai Community Fellowship is an international, multi-denominational congregation in the heart of Shanghai, China. Whether you are just visiting Shanghai or staying for a while, come and worship here (check here for details)!
Translated by: Maggie Li
