Dear Grandpa,
Last Sunday I was at a retreat for teens. We talked lots about worship. Wow! We sure worship in a lot of ways. One church only uses an organ. Another has a worship band, complete with drums and amplifiers. There's a church with one Sunday service, while another has services on Saturday evening, Sunday morning, and Monday night. At one church the pastor wears a black gown while at another the pastor wears a suit. Aren't there worship rules we're supposed to follow?
I love you,
Denali

Dear Denali:
You'd think that since God gave us a commandment about worship, he would insist on specific ways to honor him. But we would be wrong.

The truth is that God permits us Christians wide worship variety. God nowhere commands that we use certain instruments in worship. He didn't make a rule that Sunday is the day for worship. He doesn't insist that pastors wear certain garments. He doesn't dictate the shape of a church or the kind of furniture we place there.

But he does command us to worship him. Luther explains that in the Third Commandment, God demands we "regard [preaching and his Word] as holy, and gladly hear and learn it."
So what should we remember about worship?

Worship must be God-focused

Consider the worship attitude of the psalmist: "Worship the Lord with gladness . . . Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name" (Psalm 100:2,4). The reason for this joyful thanksgiving and praise? "The Lord is good and his love endures forever" (100:5). Worship God, the psalmist says, because he keeps loving and forgiving you. Worship must be God-focused.

That's not so easy. Do you see a difference between worshiping and "going to church"? Church can be a place to catch up with friends. It can be a place we expect to be entertained—and complain when we're not. Church can be where we conduct business: a place to make a sale or to take care of congregational matters. It can even provide people with a few minutes to daydream.

Where's the focus of that kind of "worship"? It's on us. On our pleasure. On our goals. God has a different purpose for worship. Through Word and sacraments, God invites us to look at his bright smile. At worship he wants us to thrill to the good news that Jesus has forgiven us—completely—and that we are adopted by him for eternity.

God is the reason for our being at worship. He's the center of our attention. In fact, even if the pastor preaches the most boring sermons ever, even if a baby screams through every service, even if Mrs. Peterson on the organ slaughters all the hymns, we'd still want to gather at God's house because at worship our focus is on God and his love.

Worship must be gospel empowered