Be Upstanding

I love the opportunity to worship in an international church.  We were privileged yesterday to worship at Basel Christian Fellowship in Switzerland.  People from various nations and backgrounds gathered around Christ as Lord. Meeting in the chapel of a retirement home, they come together to worship.  While their native tongues are often something other than English, the service is in English and thus becomes the lingua franca for worship. 

Yet even English has its differences.  Very early in the worship the pastor called us to be upstanding for the first hymn.  For one brief moment I thought he was calling us to high ethical standards.  But the context told me he was asking us to stand up.  That brief moment caused me to shut off my auto pilot and engage in the service as it unfolded.  It is the reason I often will read passages in translations other than the one I use primarily.  It forces me to slow down and stop reading over the top of the story or ideas being communicated.

Being told to join together in upstanding forced me to think about what I was doing in worship.  Oh, that this same intentionality would be my weekly experience in my own culture.  How many times have I gotten deep into the worship service before I realize I am there to worship.  My mind has taken several excursions by then.  When I get back to the U.S. I hope to have an “upstanding” moment every week in which I am quickly called to check back in to worship and turn off the cruise control.

Whether it’s a call to be upstanding or simply a call to worship, my desire is to engage in worship from its beginning and stay engaged to its conclusion.  May we all be upstanding every time we join with other believers to honor God through our worship.