by Randy Tsuchiyama

This year’s Single’s Retreat was titled, “Living Sacrifices” and was centered on the theme of worship. Through the four messages that Dr. Andy Snider gave during the retreat, the importance of worship was clearly portrayed. Thinking about what worship ought to look like and seeing how I approach worship brought a lot of conviction about changes that I need to make in my life

The first two sermons of the retreat were used to exposit the story of worship in the Bible. During the first sermon, Dr. Snider explained what worship in the Old Testament looked like. During the second sermon, he explained what worship looked like in the New Testament. One key point that hit home for me was that worship is something that needs to be done every moment of my life and is not relegated to certain events throughout the week (namely, Sunday worship service). Though this point was not a new one, being reminded of the importance of worship in EVERY THING that I do was a very sobering one. I was challenged to think through worshipping God in how I work, how I serve at church, and even how I choose to relax. As a worshipper of Christ, I am called to revere, love, and submit to God in everything that I do

The last two sermons of the retreat were about the worshipping church’s identity. Dr. Snider discussed what our identity as a church ought to be based on the fact that we are Christians and that we are all worshippers of Christ. As a church that is worshipping God, we are all redeemed, separated, devoted, and related (like a family). Thinking about how to love one another like family is a huge challenge. The way that we love is the way that we make the love of God visible to this lost and dying world around us. The way that we ought to be showing love to one another should look drastically different than what the world expects love to look like. This is one aspect of worship that I was particularly challenged by and am looking to grow in more and more.

The topic of worship is such an important one for the Christian. Worship is what we do every moment of our lives. Sometimes we choose to worship ourselves and other times we choose to worship God. After being blessed by the preaching of Dr. Snider, I am praying that God graciously helps me to choose to worship Him more and more everyday.