The Work of Worship

"The work of worship gathers everything in our common lives that has been dispersed by sin and brings it to attention before God; at the same time it gathers everything in God's revelation that has been forgotten in our distracted hurrying and puts it before us so that we can offer it up in praise and obedience. All of this does not take place merely in a single hour of worship. But, faithfully repeated, week after week, year after year, there is an accumulation to wholeness."

This brief reflection is taken from a devotional book I have been using with my morning Scripture readings: Eugene Peterson's Living the Message, p. 240 (August 30).