Full Throttle Worship.

During Lent I find myself thinking more intentionally about my relationship with God. Some years I add an activity or a practice to my life. This year I feel a need to be more intentionally aware of God's presence in my daily life. I have given up snacking between meals. When I am tempted to grab a cookie or a candy bar, I pause and breathe in deeply, saying: “Light of the World, fill my mind with your peace” and then I breathe out, saying “and my heart with your love.” This simple act centers me so that I am more aware of God.

I treasure worshiping weekly with the Asbury community! But I think there is more to worship than what happens on Sunday mornings, and I don’t want to come to worship with a completely run-down battery!

John Shelby Spong has written that to worship God is to:

Live fully…because God is the source of life; to
Love wastefully…because God is the source of love; and to
Be all we were created to be…because God is the Ground of our being.

I find this understanding helpful. Asbury used to have a summer Music, Arts, and Drama (MAD) Camp for elementary children. I vividly remember feeling “fully alive” after directing the performance at the end of a hectic week of preparation. I have also unexpectedly experienced that “fully alive” feeling at the end of serving and cleaning up at the Cross-Lines food kitchen. For me it is a blessing to define that “fully alive feeling” as worship.

And what is the mission we are called to by this understanding of worship? I believe it is to do all we can to make sure that all of God’s people also have the opportunity to live fully, love wastefully and be all they were created to be. That is no small task, but it is one Jesus modeled for us very well. With the help of the Holy Spirit, may we follow Jesus’ example.

Libby Schoeni

Walking The Road 

Libby Schoeni sings weekly with the Chancel Choir, serves with United Methodist Women, and is Asbury's liaison to the Cross-Lines ministry. Libby and husband Terry live in Overland Park.