Those who are newer to the church might say, “I come because of the sermon/music/prayer/ liturgy.” “My parents make me”While all of these answers may be honest, none of them express a Reformed understanding of why we bother to worship God at all. Each of these answers is centered on the needs, habits, or expectations of individual worshipers.As Reformed Christians we believe Christian worship is all about God.The modern English word “worship” comes from an Old English word, woerthship or worth-ship. Worth-ship suggests something or someone is recognized of honor. Worship is how we respond to a Creator who is uniquely worthy of our admiration, our reverence, our awe, our thanksgiving, and our praise. When we worship, we acknowledge God’s glory, majesty, greatness, power, and goodness. We recognize and honor God as Good, while recognizing that we are not God, but the children of God.Again, reformed worship is all about God!The gathering of the children of God is about approaching worship as our opportunity to give praise and thanks to our Creator, but this isn’t always the case in our world today? More and more people today are approaching worship as consumers. George Barna’s research shows that most Americans expect worship to satisfy or pleasethemselves, not to honor or please God.–Again, reformed worship is all about God and not about us!“Amazingly, few worship-service regulars argue that worship is something they do primarily for God,” says Barna. “A substantially larger percentage of attenders claim that attending worship services is something they do for personal benefit and pleasure.”In other words, we often come to church to “get blessed” by God rather than to focus our praise, adoration,and attention on the One who alone is worthy ofworship. The writer of Psalm 95 brings us back to the “main thing” of worship.First, we arecalledto worship.1O come, let us sing to the Lord let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!2Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!(Ps. 95: 1-2, NRSV).Four times inthe opening verseswe read,“Let us….”The psalmist states that worship is designed to be congregational, not merely individual. There is a benefit to corporate worship that cannot be found elsewhere.Next, we have cause to worship(vv. 3-6). The sovereignty of God is given as a basis for our worship.Verse 3says,3For theLordis a great Godand a great King above all gods.God is the sovereign Lord of the whole creation. There is absolutely nothing that happens in the universe that is outside of God’s influence and authority. As such, we should worship him in the reality of who he is.Finally, we are given a caution in worship (vv. 7-11).8Do not harden your hearts,as at Meribah,as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,9when your ancestors tested meand put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.(vv 8-9, NRSV).Psalm 95 ends with a reminder of some disappointing episodes in Israel’s history.Meribah and Massah are two places that the children of Israel hardened their hearts and even chose to question and rebel against the Lord. God asks in verse 11, which will it be, my wrath or my rest? We either give attention to the voice of the Lord or we harden our hearts to his voice.Are weobediently listening to God’s Word or stubbornly hardening our hearts? Perhaps the best way to gauge our heart is to examine our attitudes in the area of worship. Whether slow or fast, modern,or vintage, keep the focus where it belongs—exclusively on God.Pastor and author Sam Storms sums it up well: “If you come to worship for any reason other than the joy and pleasure and satisfaction that are to be found in God, you dishonor him …. God’s greatest delight is your delight in him.”We were created to display God’s glory. Our lives are only properly oriented when we are seeking to give glory to God, honoring revering and recognizing God as the source of our lives. Our praise is not merely in words, but from the heart and from every part of our being. We are meant to be a living hallelujah. In seeking to give thanks, to praise God not only with our wordsbut also with our lives, rendering our worship to God, we find communion with God and the grace, strength,and love to live as God’s people.We will be continuing this worship service focused upon God later today, when several representative from the Session and congregation will go to welcome a family into the church and celebrate the sacrament of Baptism for Sovana Raimonda Janka. Sovana’s parents, Vinny and Lauren have asked to join the Presbyterian Church at Woodbury and have their daughter baptized –but due to Sovana’shealth condition, she can’t join us in corporate worship, so we will take the community to her. It is a rarity to have our Sacraments outside of the regularly scheduled worship but is allowable: A Sessionmay authorize a Baptism, to be administered by a minister of the Word and Sacrament†, in certain situations beyond the congregational setting, such as hospitals, prisons, schools, military bases, or other ministry settings. During that extension of our Service for the Lord’s Day, we will continue to makeworship allaboutGod, even as new members make a profession of faith and the baptismof asmall girl into the body of Christ. This will be a living hallelujah! May we continue to make worship about God as we sing to the Lord, make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation, come into to his presence with thanksgiving!!!Liturgy and Commentaries provided by Stephine Sorge, Adam Hamilton,PCUSA Book of Orderand PCUSA Book of Confession