Back in the 1980's Huey Lewis wrote a song called "the Heart of Rock and Roll". I can't remember the lyrics and they were never critically acclaimed. The gist of the song was that we think about alot of things when we say rock and roll but there must be a core element that is most important. For Lewis that core element was the "back beat".

When we say "the Heart" of something we are trying to get down to the core element. What is it that is really important in an area - the attempt to differentiate from the fluff and stuff and non essentials that surround it.

As Christians we certainly need to evaluate our faith and whether we are focused on "the heart" or the non essentials. One area to consider is worship. What is the heart of worship. To know that we must look at God's Word.

Ps 96 says: 7 O nations of the world, recognize the Lord; recognize that the Lord is glorious and strong. 8 Give to the Lord the glory he deserves! Bring your offering and come into his courts. 9 Worship the Lord in all his holy splendor. Let all the earth tremble before him.

This verse speaks to "the heart" of worship. It is all about our heart bowing down before our God. It is recognizing God in all His glory and submitting our life to Him.

Unfortunately we often fall into habits and attitudes about worship that miss the heart. It is easy for us to make our focus a building and a time slot on Sunday. It is easy to go through the motions of singing a few songs and enduring a sermon and maybe putting something in the basket without worship. We call it a worship service - and if we are not careful we will claim to have worship just because we had a service.

In our church we meet at a school, others meet in a home, others meet in a variety of structures. In some churches they sing from words on a projector, some from song sheets, some from books. Some churches have a 10 minute sermon, some have an hour or two. Some churches the people dress up, some churches the people barely dress.

The reality is that all of these things are side issues. God is calling us to Worship from the heart. To recognize His holiness and bow our hearts before Him. As Christians and as Churches there is little good in all showing up on Sunday morning and going through motions - we might as well stay home if that is our worship. I pray that we all come to "the heart of Worship" It is all about our mighty God - not about our convenience.

In our church - we are looking at options for a new location to gather on Sundays for Worship together. I pray that our heart will be such that the location of gathering means nothing compared to our desire to submit our hearts to the Lord. I pray that the heart of Worship is still beating.