The Beauty of Worship

I recently asked Tara Neill if she would write a blog sharing some of her journey, her passion, and her vision for worship. Tara has been leading Missio Worship for nearly 6 months now and my hope is that, through this blog, you get a glimpse into her heart as she leads us in worship and helps us create the culture of worship at Missio Church. We are so blessed to have her use her gifts and talents to serve our new church and I sit in eager anticipation of what God will continue to do through her and the worship she leads us into. You really should come to our worship gatherings and experience being led in worship by Tara. You will be glad you did. 
 

It has truly been a joy getting to be involved with leading worship for Missio in this season. I want to share a little bit about my journey with worship and desire for us to grow in understanding what worship is and what it looks like in our lives.

When I was in high school I was involved in a play that I thought would just be another show on my resume with the hope of pursuing theater in college. I had no idea how God would use this in my life and the changes that would come from this experience. The character I was playing was processing through the divorce of her parents and some of the same things I was going through at that time in life. There were a number of parallels. The character I was playing came to know her heavenly father. That he created her and knows her. God used it to speak to me about who he is and who he has created me to be. This is one of the first experiences I think about when it comes to worship. There was this response that came from me, in this moment through song but it wasn’t about the song I was singing or because of anything I had done. I was simply focused on who my heavenly father is and responding out of adoration of what he has done. Worship coming from an overflow of understanding how much he loves me.

I remember times during this season in life where I would be alone and just sing out to the father whatever was on my heart, “I love you and I thank you for all that you’ve given to me, yes you have opened my eyes to see, that your love is all around….” Being near the ocean or driving however far it took to see an amazing sunset was not just about being near something beautiful for the sake of it. This was now an opportunity to take in the beauty of what God had created. I love to journal and in this season I would write out prayers and ask God questions or thank him for what he was teaching me. There were times of simply crying out to God with confusion over circumstances in life.

Would these experiences with God be considered worship? At the time I do not think I would have been able to answer that question if you asked me. Now, I see that worship can take so many different forms. We can worship through song & music, through admiring the beauty of God’s creation, through being in the word, through prayer and fasting, and so many other ways.

As Missio we are committed to gathering to worship corporately. As we gather on Sunday and worship through prayer, the word, and singing together, I pray that we would worship from an overflow of knowing God and resting in being known by him.

We are also committed to worshipping God individually every day. This is what my heart longs for in my own walk with the Lord and for Missio. For us to walk in the identity of who God has created us to be. My hope is that as we individually worship God each day, we will see more and more of the depth of who he is.