In John 4, Jesus makes it clear that the Father is looking for those who seek to worship Him in "Spirit and in Truth." This is way beyond a Sunday-morning-corporate-worship service...it's a lifestyle! The corporate worship experience is a means through which God's people can come together and worship Him in a myriad of forms and styles; but He never intends us to substitute 'church' for intimate relationship with Him.

Our daily journey with Jesus Christ is the one in which we develop this relationship. It begins in the prayer closet - that time of solitude where we immerse ourselves in Scripture and learn to hear to His gentle, loving voice. As we yield ourselves to Him completely, we find that our interests, our desires, and our motives pale in comparison to knowing Him. We learn to see Him in the 'stuff''of daily life. We become aware of His guiding presence, His character, His love for the human race, and we are transformed.

When the weekly gathering of believers becomes a true outflow of this daily, intimate time, the presence of God through the power of the Holy Spirit galvanizes that church body to become a spiritual force that must be reckoned with within her community! At that point it doesn't matter whether we sing songs that are centuries-old, or written last week; what does matter is whether or not He is in our midst!