Enter with Thanksgiving
Before We Gather by Zach Hicks
| Scripture
Read Psalm 95:1-2
| Devotion
We may breeze right by it. If we’ve been worshipers for any length of time, we’ve heard, read, or sung the phrase “enter his gates with thanksgiving” from Psalm 100:4. It’s a staple call to worship which has been a part of historic Christian practice, embedded in some of our most ancient liturgies.
Entering with thanksgiving, whether we realize it or not, comes with at least one loaded assumption. It assumes that God has already been working, already been revealing, already been giving, already been speaking, even before we walked through the door. Even before God has acted and moved in our midst in public worship, he has been acting and moving “out there” in our lives, Monday through Saturday. And that means that we enter with something to thank God for.
This is why we can’t buy into the lie of what some have called the sacred-secular distinction-the idea that certain times and places are devoted to the work of God, to religious practice and devotion, and then the rest of our life in the world is disconnected from that.
Gathered worship is never a retreat from the world. Gathered worship is the most worldly thing we do, in a sense, because it’s the deepest expression of what it means to be human. Gathered worship reminds us, as we confess our sin and hear the Good News, that all of life is repentance. Gathered worship reminds us, as we partake of the Lord’s Supper, that we live Monday through Saturday sustained only by Jesus, the Living Bread (John 6:51), And gathered worship reminds us, as we come into his presence with thanksgiving, that all of life is a gift.
Two millennia ago, the apostle Paul asked the Corinthian church a potent rhetorical question: “What do you have that you did not receive?” (1 Cor. 4:7). He asks you and me the same question today. When we are instructed to enter God’s gates with thanks- giving, Paul’s challenging question hovers in the background. We could say it like this: “Monday through Saturday, haven’t you seen that every good thing that came your way was a total gift from God? You have so much to be thankful for!”
This all means that we can’t accept a disconnection between Sunday and the rest of the week. We are on the hook for being 24-7 worshipers. But this shouldn’t be heard as a burden, as in, “You’d better be thankful and worship God Monday through Saturday.” Rather, it should be heard as an invitation to open your eyes during the week to all the ways God is coming at you with gifts and graces. Because when our antennae are up to all the ways God is already working in our ordinary lives, we can’t help but be thankful. We can’t help but worship.
There is, therefore, a direct relationship between our Sunday gathered worship and our Monday-through-Saturday scattered worship. They feed off of each other and accelerate one another. If you’re looking for new heat and vitality in a gathered worship time that’s gone cold, try opening your eyes and ears to all the gifts you’re receiving throughout the week. If you’re looking for a more worshipful posture to your work week and day-to-day vocation, take the risk of pouring more of yourself out when God’s people gather more body, more emotions, and more passion.
And above all else, ask, seek, and knock (Matt. 7:7-11). Because even our thankfulness is ultimately a gift from God, it is a great practice to ask for it. So as we turn to God in prayer, let’s ask him to send his Holy Spirit to fill us with gratitude.
| Prayer
Aim your prayers in this direction:
- Pray for yourselves and your sisters and brothers who are gathering for worship, that all might be able to see just how much God has been faithfully working and graciously giving to them.
- Pray that believers in your church would find a deeper connection between the Sunday worship of the gathered church and the Monday-through-Saturday worship of their day-to-day lives.
- Pray for those who may be suffering acutely this week, who may have a harder time seeing the blessings and finding the gratitude. Pray that the Holy Spirit would supernaturally grant them thankfulness, even in this
moment.