When I think of worship at LOG, I think of singing, praying, feeding, blessing, and serving.
Worship is like smashing two words together: worth and ship. To declare worth or place value in the Lord by lifting Him up and striving to live a life worthy of God’s love for us. LOG is Love of God, and our worship is a response to God’s love for us. We spend the entire weekend showing participants the love that God has for them and worship is a big part of that.
Psalm 100:2 says, “Serve the Lord with gladness; come into His presence with joyful songs”. At a LOG weekend we sing a lot, some songs are silly and some are more focused. Anyone who has been on a weekend with me knows how much I love doing motions to the songs. Whether it’s riding a horse or being a gorilla breaking down barriers with the silly motions or singing the more focused songs to quiet the spirit before a talk, singing adds so much to the weekend. The songs are chosen carefully to make participants feel God’s love for them. Music speaks to people in different ways than the spoken word.
Worship can be both horizontal and vertical. Horizontal worship is shared with others and Vertical Worship is one on one time with God.There is a time set aside on Saturday evening where participants and team and adults get to pray with one another. Adults try to pray with every participant, and seeing team members make a point to pray with each participant reinforces the idea that we are a community that welcomes people from all backgrounds, and spread God’s love to all we encounter. The Love of God is often felt stronger when the message comes from our peers. I am inspired and determined to support team members’ efforts to bring participants closer to that experience of love. Psalm 88:2 says, “May my prayer come before you; turn your ear to hear me cry”. Saturday is a very long emotional day and being able to spend time in prayer helps to prepare participants for the next steps of the weekend.
Every Saturday there is also a time of service and celebration where a feast has been prepared. The team and participants get the chance to feed and hug one another while listening to worship music. This is a time of celebration and interaction with friends new and old. The sounds of joy being lifted up to God as the group sings songs of praise are beautiful to hear. There is also a chance to take communion or receive a blessing from one of the adults on team. Communion is a time to remember Christ’s sacrifice for us, a time to reflect on who He is and what he is doing in our lives, and a time to realign our hope in Him.
Psalm 16:11 says, “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore”. Serving on a LOG team is a huge blessing; as an adult I get the chance to witness God’s love for us in a real way. I see God’s love through the work that teams do to build a community based on love, and illuminate God’s truth for participants in tangible ways. The team thoughtfully prepares palanca, project work and skits all in an effort to show how much God loves us.
Being able to worship God in all these ways on a LOG weekend fills my heart with joy.
- Jenifer Hyer (LOG #60)