Playing Church

by Dawn Johnson

Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.  Psalm 95:6-7 ESV

I have been sorting through things in our house lately, weeding out things that are no longer needed. I came upon a mini pulpit that my husband made for our children when they were small.  They used to like to play church.  Taking turns preaching from this mini pulpit out of their Bibles and storybooks or simply standing by the pulpit and calling out, “Repent!”  I hadn’t thought of those moments in quite some time. But then my thinking went to myself and all of us as believers and the question, how am I, how are we, “playing church” today? Do we attend church or is it easy to find an excuse to not go? Since the pandemic, it seems that finding excuses for not attending church is easier than before.  If I attend church, am I going to fulfill a duty or obligation, or am I going in an attitude of worship recognizing the need to surrender to God and bow before His majesty?  It is easy to sit in the pew and go through the motions (play church), saying and singing the words but not paying attention to any of them because they are so familiar. We need to remember that we are a part of His flock, and He deserves our worship, our praise, and all our attention. So, when we are in church let us not just “play church” but be engaged in our worship time. Ponder the words that we are repeating, singing and hearing as they are preached. Worship Him in spirit and truth!!!