Wonder and Expectancy

It's March, and a great stirring in the hearts of Ozark "river rats" begins. I want to get that canoe out so badly that I can taste it. And my kayak purchase is maybe a couple of months away. The Current River awaits...

Ozark river rats never find complete contentment on a pond or a lake. They're fine for a while, especially if the fishing is good. But after a time, it's just the same water, the same shoreline, the same topography. Ozark floaters live for the river, and the unknown that a river trip brings. Even if it's a stretch we've travelled before, we don't know what depth we may be facing through this next set of rapids, what trees may have come down since the last trip, or exactly where the mainstream is this time. We bring a certain preparation of predictable equipment, skills, and accumulated experience. All of that, though, engages an adventure that is delightfully unpredictable each time, at least to some degree. That's the nature of rivers.

We who are Jesus-followers bring planning, preparation, skill, and commitment to the event known as worship. At some point, though, we must invite something that is beyond anything we bring to the trip. Nancy Beach challenges us to invite wonder. (I recommend her book - An Hour on Sunday: Creating Moments of Transformation and Wonder. Zondervan, Grand Rapids. 2004.) She speaks of worship services that adventurously seek the wonder of a quieted soul, the wonder of deeply felt emotion, and the wonder of a turning point in a person's life. We can set the stage for this, but God is ultimately the source of wonder. Our job is to get the boat in the water and paddle into God's wonder, with hope and courage.

I tell our people here that our goal needs to be to have all our worship services infused with a sense of expectancy. What does God have in store for us in the river ahead? It's sometimes scary, because a lot of it is out of our control. But it's worth the trip.

When was a time that you experienced wonder and expectancy in worship? Let's talk about that around this next bend in the river.