A central feature of proper Christian worship is a right understanding of the promised presence of God.
But too often we assent to such phrases with a superficial and glib understanding — of course God is present with us in worship because He is omnipresent, and this leads us to think nothing unique happens here in corporate worship. But in doing this, in “making everything worship,” we are in effect making nothing worship. When everything is special, nothing is.
The Lord is present here with us this morning in a particular way, in a way that He is not present before the call to worship and after the benediction. This refers, not to His spiritual presence, or His constant physical sustaining of the material world. We are speaking of His covenantal presence.
At this time, God meets with His people in a unique way. God promises to gather with His people in accordance with the elements of worship He has established in order to enable us to do so. This of course must affect and inform the rest of our lives, but it must never be confounded with it.
Meditate on these words — God is covenantally present with us this morning in a unique way. Learn to look forward to it, and learn to meditate on it in retrospect. Learn how Christian worship on the morning of the first day of the week recreates the world.