Dear BPCWA worshipper, Every Lord’s Day, we gather together as God’s people – His church – for worship service. For most of us if not all, it is somewhat of a regular pattern of what we do, which is important and needful. We include in our monthly prayer booklet to pray that worshippers will consciously prepare themselves each week for the worship service. While we do pray from it every week in our church prayer meetings, we must honestly ask ourselves about how much thought we personally put into this preparation for the worship service.

The need for preparation. As a child, I remember preparing for school. I went to school every weekday and I was familiar with school, but even so, it was unthinkable for me not to prepare to go to school. One did not just “manage” to make it to school without any preparation. Packing my textbooks, writing equipment, calculator, etc. I still have nightmares at times that I forgot to bring something. Parents, you consciously prepare at least the night before to be ready to send your children off to school – even if going to school is something that the child has been doing for months or even years. Similarly, a working person does not just turn up for work without any prior preparations. Even going on holidays requires preparation. We are diligent in preparing for things that matter to us. Let us be stirred to conscientiously prepare to come to church on the Lord’s Day to worship our Living God!

Preparation begins before Sunday. In the gospel accounts, we read of how the Jews had a day which they called “the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath” (Mr 15:42). Before you dismiss it with a “that’s so Pharisaically legalistic” to prepare for the Sabbath, think again. God did teach the children of Israel to prepare for the Sabbath while they were in the wilderness. When He gave them manna, “Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning” (Ex 16:19). Yet, when it came to the day before the Sabbath, “This is that which the LORD hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning” (Ex 16:23). It is not an “extra” sabbath day, but they were to put in prior thought and effort so that they would be able to keep the Sabbath holy unto the LORD. While we are not dependent on manna today, this is a principle that we should learn for ourselves too. I am sure that we have found that when we are unprepared for something, it can make us so flustered, upset, and distracted that we cannot concentrate on the event or activity, especially when there is a host of secondary logistical things we need to do. If so, let us then prepare for the Lord’s Day and in particular the worship service so that we can focus on God.

Logistical preparation. The logistical preparation is not to be just a list of dos and don’ts. They are intended to remove logistical distractions so that you can (as much as possible) avoid having a distracted heart during worship. Parents probably ensure that their children have school uniforms washed and pressed at least a day before school. Those going to work would put thought into what to wear and prepare that the day before. We don’t want to rush all these at the last minute. If we take such care for school or work, we should certainly think and prepare ahead for what we intend to wear for the worship service. This way, we won’t end up having to iron our clothes on Sunday morning, getting all hot, and perhaps even arriving late! Then, there are the bags to prepare as well. Whether adults or children, we may use our Bibles at home for our daily devotions and will need to remember to put them into our bags to bring them to church as well. Set our phone alarm clocks to wake up in time for English service. For the Chinese service, set our phone alarm clocks to have an early lunch so that we won’t be late for worship. Besides that, we should prepare in advance for the offering. The night before, prayerfully prepare for the return of your tithe and offerings. Set it aside in a fixed place and make it accessible so that you don’t have to dig for it in your bag or wallet when the offering is announced.

The Lord’s Day is more than just the worship service. Let us aim to prepare ahead both to be ready for the worship of God and a day of unhindered and undistracted time with Him. Learning from the early preparation of the manna, we should consider early and do what preparation we can for our meals or snacks so that we don’t spend too much time in the preparation. Lord’s Day morning breakfasts are not the time for big breakfasts before the morning service, or for elaborately prepared lunches before the afternoon service. What can you prepare early especially in the meal preceding the worship service so that there isn’t a whole lot of preparation and cleanup that will take your mind away from preparing for the Worship Service? Think also of preparing early for your meals after the Worship Service so that what you learnt during Worship Service isn’t immediately pushed out of your mind with the busyness of meal preparation after worship.

Spiritual preparation. Now that the logistical preparations have been taken care of, don’t just leave it there. This is a good time to go through what we learnt from the past week’s sermon, as the backdrop for the upcoming narrative. Read through the following verses of 1 Samuel which will be covered next. Most importantly, spend time in prayer for the Lord’s Day. Pray that God will be exalted, help you to worship with zeal, speak to your heart through the sermon, and help you to focus during every aspect of the service. Think of the Lord’s goodness and grace to you over the week past and be reminded of how much you should praise and thank Him at the worship service. Search your heart and deal with your sins. If God brings to your mind someone who hasn’t been regular at service, pray that he or she will be stirred to come for worship. Pray for your and your family’s hearts to be prepared to worship God on the Lord’s Day and for receptiveness to the sermon.  Revise with your children their Sunday School memory verse. If you are trying to train your children to sit quietly through worship, pray, and speak with them about it as well. And not forgetting, pray for the worship leader and preacher who will be delivering the message. Pray that the church will come together in joyful witness as God’s light during the worship service, testifying of the Living God whom we worship.

2Th 3:1 Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you:

Yours in our Lord’s service,
Pastor