It has been a long period of isolation. Your state may be at a different place than other states in the COVID-19 quarantine and you may or may not be able to do more than you previously could under various orders. No matter the circumstance, this has been a very trying time for our country and world. Young people especially are anxious to get back to life as they know it. Grief may be a reality for those who are missing events, graduations, and summer trips they had been planning for a long time. Be especially sensitive to your teens’ feelings about all of what they are missing and wish they were doing. A lesson on worship may seem challenging when they look at all their “have nots”—but it is the perfect message for this moment in history.
Going to church has looked quite different over the past few months. People have connected over social media platforms, met in cars in the church parking lot, etc. Here’s what one congregation did to “meet together” for worship over Easter.
Share this video clip [:54]:
The Today Show – A Pastor in Tennessee on Easter Sunday
Sundays are considered a day of worship. Even if you are indoors and watching “virtual” worship online—it is still worship if your heart is in it.
- What does the word “worship” mean? (Answers will vary. Allow teens to give their definitions. The dictionary defines worship this way: “to honor or show reverence; to regard with great or extravagant respect, honor, or devotion.”)
- What are some things/people we typically regard with respect, honor, or devotion? (Answers will vary but may include Hollywood celebrities, YouTube influencers, sports figures, musicians, philanthropists, scientists, politicians, etc.)
The dictionary defines worthy as “having sufficient worth or importance to be remembered.” Worth means “the value of something measured by its qualities; merit or excellence.”
- What makes the things/people we mentioned earlier worthy of respect and honor? (Answers will vary. Students may mention talent, number of followers, achievements such as awards won, good done for humanity, etc.)
Typically, when someone or something falls off the grid—if they stop making movies or TV shows, lose their phenomenal sports ability, stop having number-one hit songs, or embarrass themselves publicly, our respect, honor, and willingness to give accolades wanes. Someone who received a standing ovation earlier might be booed off of the court or someone who went viral with approval could receive a record number of dislikes on an unpopular post or tweet.
Not so with God. His measured qualities, merit, and excellence are worth being remembered—always. Why? Because He never changes. He is good all the time. He is truth, righteousness, justice, and honor. God deserves our praise every day for all that He has created and done for us. We don’t have to know what He is doing by allowing this pandemic…but we can know that He is doing some kind of mighty work, whether we understand it or not.
Let’s take a look at someone who found out firsthand that Jesus is worthy of worship.
Additional resources:
Merriam-Webster definitions: worship, worth, worthy
