Day 13: Worship  

For all the hard work we put in reducing our possessions and shaving down our schedules, practicing hospitality and hopping off the busyness train, our lives will remain cluttered without regular, repeated, continual worship of the living God. 

This begins in communal worship, when we gather with our fellow sinners and saints in the church to praise and pray and hear the ancient words of Scripture proclaimed once again as true and radical and beautiful and right. Though this communal act is absolutely essential, worship goes beyond the Sunday hour. Communal worship as part of a Christ-centered congregation is a beginning, not an end—an invitation into the life of worship we were created for.

The Paradox of Uncluttering

The paradox of uncluttering is that we begin to learn to find this majestic, magnificent, all-powerful God in the small, immediate, ordinary things of life. When we have less, God becomes more. When we do less, God looms ever larger. And the way we keep going back to the well of this living water—the presence that refreshes us for the journey, orders our lives in love, and supplies our every need—is in the act of worship.

As we draw closer to Jesus in weekly worship, we will be invited and formed into the type of person who worships him with every other area and every other hour of our lives. Worship opens up the space for God to unclutter our hearts and lives. Without worship, we will remain blind to our clutter. In God’s presence, however, we gradually see ourselves as we truly are and as God wants to make us.

Reflection/Discussion Questions

1. Our lives will remain cluttered without regular, repeated, continual worship of the living God. What role does worship play in your average week?
2. What other ways does God call us to worship, in addition to worshiping with a congregation on a Sunday morning (or Saturday night)?
3. When we have less, God becomes more. How have you seen this idea in action since beginning the Uncluttered journey?
4. In what ways does a healthy fear of God help orient and order the rest of our lives? What role does this fear play in your life?
5. Read Hebrews 12:28–29. What does it mean to worship God with “reverence and awe”? What role does reverence play in your worship? Awe?
6. The heart of an uncluttered life is the glory of the God who created us, loves us, sustains us, and calls us forth. How have you seen God’s love? How has God sustained you? How is God calling you forth?