5 Ways to Combat Half-Hearted Worship on Sunday
July 3rd, 2023 • by Lainee Oliver
In C.S. Lewis’ book, The Screwtape Letters, Screwtape, a demon, writes to his nephew, Wormwood, about how to win a man over from “the Enemy” (God) to “our father below” (Satan). When Wormwood’s patient becomes a Christian and begins attending church, Screwtape instructs Wormwood not to worry because “all the habits of the patient, both mental and bodily, are still in our favour.”
Lewis goes on to describe how Wormwood can take advantage of the man’s habitual propensity for clinging to distractions during a corporate worship service: drawing his attention to someone singing off-key, another man’s squeaky boots, or a neighbor down the pew who he typically tries to avoid.
Fighting Half-Hearted Worship
I am just like this man attending church in Lewis’ allegory—my flesh is weak. I have to actively fight against distraction during worship, and I make it harder on myself (and on my family) to fight this temptation if I don’t pray and prepare before Sunday morning comes around.
It's already difficult for my weak flesh and distracted mind to worship the Lord rightly, and if I’m not doing anything to prepare my heart for worship on other days of the week, it's even harder. How much more would I benefit from Sunday’s blessings if I anticipated them rightly ahead of time? After all, worshiping God together alongside the body of Christ is a gift. Singing songs of praise, confessing our faith with other brothers and sisters in Christ, and hearing God's Word preached faithfully is something we as Christians look forward to each week, and part of anticipating its blessings is preparing practically for it!
“How much more would I benefit from Sunday’s blessings if I anticipated them rightly ahead of time?”
Preparing Our Hearts for Sunday
Here are five simple and practical ways our family has (imperfectly) sought to prepare our hearts for the Lord’s Day. With the help of the Holy Spirit, I hope these ideas might help the body of Christ combat distraction and half-hearted worship:
Pray
Pray that the Spirit would focus your heart and mind to bring God worship that is acceptable to him. Our family prays for our pastors (or whoever will be leading worship and preaching that Sunday) who labor during the week to humbly preach the Word by the power of the Holy Spirit. We can also pray about communion and not taking the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner (1 Cor. 11:27–30).
Read
Look up the passage the sermon will be about ahead of time. If your church doesn’t share a bulletin ahead of time, ask your pastor or church administrator to make it available! Reading the entire chapter of Scripture beforehand adds context while listening to the sermon. Because of our church’s liturgical tradition, we also try to read through the other passages of Scripture and corporate prayers that are planned for that Sunday.
Sing
Become familiar with the songs planned for Sunday (by looking them up in the hymnal, online, etc.). If there’s a new-to-us song, we try to familiarize ourselves and our kids with the tune so that we can sing the lyrics more genuinely come Sunday since we won’t have to be trying to figure out the tune in real time. I know it makes a difference for my children’s attention spans when they’ve heard the songs we sing on Sunday outside of church, and adults aren’t that different from children in this area.
Work
Seek out opportunities during the week to make Sunday a little smoother. Worship is work. A worship service is not service to us, it is service to our Lord. I’ve been trying to look for ways to take some of the work out of Sunday by thinking ahead during the week. For our family, this even includes thinking far enough ahead to get adequate sleep. There are few things more difficult to combat on Sunday morning in a comfortable chair or pew than physical exhaustion. I try to think about our Sunday meals during the week to help take some of the stress and work off Sunday. Thinking through ways to prepare groceries or at least components for meals ahead of time makes meals on Sunday a slightly easier task.
If you’re bringing children to church, you know there are a thousand variables. Clothes, snacks, backup clothes, shoes (that actually match), more snacks, Bibles, and notebooks start to add up, and gathering it all can mean that it takes an unfathomable amount of time to get out the door on Sundays. We try to set out clothes, pack backpacks, fill up water bottles, and do anything else that can be done on Saturday night. This is especially helpful for single parents or pastors’ wives who may be bringing children to church alone each week. Anything that can be done to get ahead of Sunday morning is one less thing that might contribute to frustration or distraction.
The main idea is to think periodically on Monday through Saturday, “What can I do today to make Sunday more simple and enjoyable?”
Talk
Worship doesn’t just stop when we leave the church building. A pastor’s wise wife once told me that when she had small children she would pray that the Lord would give her at least one thing to take with her throughout her week from a worship service. Just one thing. I’ve started praying this same prayer, and I also ask for eyes to see opportunities to talk about something from Sunday throughout the week with friends, my kids, or my husband.
“A worship service is not service to us, it is service to our Lord. ”
The Gift of Corporate Worship
We get to encourage each other in the Lord throughout the week. We get to take the preached Word of God and use it to ask questions and think more deeply about the Lord and his Word in our lives as the week continues—and we get to do this alongside our brothers and sisters in Christ. What a privilege that is!
Thinking and praying about corporate worship before we arrive on Sunday will help prepare our hearts to worship the King in a way that is glorifying to him. And isn’t that the entire reason we’re there? Although we as the body of Christ receive many blessings from participating in corporate worship, it’s ultimately not about us. It’s about God.
In corporate worship, we get to submit to someone leading us in worship. We get to be edified by hearing our fellow believers sing and confess truth, and, in turn, we get to be part of their edification in this same way. Part of our sanctification comes from the reading and preaching of God's Word, so preparing for worship before Sunday is also vital for our growth in faith and love as Christians.
Let’s spend our weeks thinking about the Lord’s Day so that we can more easily and joyfully embody Hebrews 10:23–25, which says, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”
Lainee Oliver lives in North Alabama with her husband and children. She studied Public Relations and English at Auburn University and currently serves as a writer and editor on the Journeywomen team, and is an Associate Editor with Gospel-Centered Discipleship. Lainee cares deeply about the local church and enjoys playing the piano, reading, and writing in the margins of full days at home with her children.
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