Your church may have restarted physical gatherings or may soon be about to.

With some churches already a few weeks into this uncomfortable experience – no singing, mask-wearing, spaced-out seating – it’s not surprising that some people have been thinking: “We waited 4 months for this?”

Or perhaps you’re still joining in worship online for the time being? 

Regardless, this is a good time to examine our hearts. What is it we have been waiting for months for?

Many of us just want everything the way it used to be, but this is an opportunity to consider questions such as:

• What has God been teaching us while we haven’t been able to meet?
• What is the point of church?
• Why do we gather together on Sunday?
• Is there anything we should change?
• What is worship?
• Why do we sing?

The words to the song “The Heart of Worship” came flooding back to me as I prayed for friends who were navigating the process of regathering in their church.

When the music fades
All is stripped away
And I simply come
Longing just to bring something that’s of worth
That will bless Your heart

I’ll bring You more than a song
For a song in itself is not what You have required
You search much deeper within through the way things appear
You’re looking into my heart

I’m coming back to the heart of worship 
And it’s all about You, it’s all about You Jesus
I’m sorry Lord for the thing I’ve made it
When it’s all about You, all about You Jesus

It was a timely reminder that this moment is not so much just a chance to come back to church, but to come back to the heart of worship.

Maybe our Sunday gatherings had become a bit of a production. Or perhaps for years we had equated the warm feeling of togetherness, the uplift of corporate singing or some of our denomination’s style with the presence of God.

Maybe we kind of believed that the Holy Spirit arrives during the third song or the moody keyboard interlude. Or that it wasn’t really a proper service if it didn’t end with a rousing hymn.

God, however, does not depend on these things for Him to be among us. Nor is He limited by government directives on singing, mask-wearing and physical distance.

He comes near wherever and whenever people come near to Him (James 4:8). Corporate singing or not. Masks or no masks. Sitting apart or sitting close together.

He waits to be wanted, as A.W. Tozer wrote in The Pursuit of God.

He is much more concerned about our hearts than about having things the way they were.

There are things that will always affect our sensitivity to God’s presence among us. If we’re coming with irritable, cynical, self-seeking hearts, we won’t recognise God’s presence.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God,” taught Jesus (Matthew 5:8).

The accumulation of the last few months of stress and strain means that we’re more prone to be less gracious than we otherwise would be. It’s something to be careful of as we restart church gatherings.

I have missed singing during corporate worship, but it has always been good not to think only of that when we talk about worship. Hopefully you’ve found various ways to worship alone or as families – God values this as much as any corporate time of praise.

He’s “looking into our hearts”.

If we regather under the current restrictions, some of us will read scripture aloud. We can use open prayer to speak our praises. We can write psalms. We can listen to a song and let our hearts affirm the truth of the words. Soon we hope to let our collective voices rise again in congregational singing.

He is much more concerned about our hearts than about having things the way they were.

Whatever we do, we choose to worship because Jesus is the “King of endless worth” and we want “to bring something that’s of worth”.

This moment is also a great reminder that worship is much more than these acts of worship, whether in our homes or back in a building. It is a whole disposition.

It is about our daily lives offered as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God (Romans 12:1), full of acts of love, obedience and service, with all our gifts and talents offered in Jesus’ name.

Let this moment be a return to the heart of worship. For it’s really all about Jesus.   

Alex is a Country Team Leader in South East Asia with mission organisation Interserve. Leading a team of around 40 adults, he and his wife run a a transitional housing and mentoring programme for young women who are leaving shelters/safe houses after being exploited. He was previously an Assistant Pastor in London.