Worship

This is from the Beth Moore study I mentioned yesterday.
Psalm 134
"Now praise the Lord, all you servants of the Lord who stand in the Lord's house at night!
Lift up your hands in the holy place, and praise the Lord!
May the Lord, Maker of heaven and earth, bless you from Zion."

(from Beth) "Peterson echoed..."The sentence ['Now praise the Lord'] is an invitation; it is also a command. Having arrived at the place of worship, will we now sit around and tell stories about the trip? Having gotten to the big city, will we spend our time here as tourists, visiting the bazaars, window shopping and trading? Having gotten Jerusalem checked off our list of things to do, will we immediately begin looking for another challenge, another holy place to visit? Will the temple be a place to socialize, receive congratulations from others on our achievement, a place to share gossip and trade stories, a place to make business contacts that will improve our prospects back home? But that is not why you made the trip: bless [praise] God. You are here because God blessed you. Now you bless God."
[Beth] wrote: "Do what you came to do!" [Peterson's main point above] Of course, God blesses our fellowship and our shared experiences; each of those have important places in our travels here on earth. You and I, however, were created to praise God; so let's spend priority time doing what we came to do. I felt a tang of conviction over my attentions during worship at my own church. I dearly love the people who sit in my same general section and, goodness knows, God wants me to! He desires for us to embrace and be happy to see one another; but when worship begins, God wants us to push the hold button on our fellowship with one another and give Him 100 percent of our attention. He wants us to do what we came to do!"

Okay, so this is a little confusing considering it's week 6 of the study, and it's a little difficult to explain the context (which is why I threw in Psalm 134, which is what her comments, and Peterson's comments - whom she quotes in the 1st paragraph - are about). Peterson is talking about the Jews, and how when they arrived in Jerusalem to worship the Lord, how some may have wanted to handle it instead: telling stories, making business contacts, looking at other places.
All of it just really spoke to me on the point of worship. It reiterated what I have felt is the foundation of going to church in the first place. My father was very clear growing up that when we entered into the sanctuary, it was a holy place - not necessarily the chairs or velvet pews or bright green carpet - but that the whole point, the only point, of why we went to the sanctuary on a Sunday morning, was to worship God. To praise Him. To acknowledge the greatness of our King. I wasn't allowed to talk to friends, write notes to them, or just not show up. Many may consider this legalistic, but maybe their parents didn't explain the whys of the rules. Dad made it clear - it wasn't about the "thou shalt nots" - it was about giving to God what God is due - the reverence, the "100 percent of our attention". Do I do this every week? No, of course not. Many Sundays I am tired, worn down by getting the boys ready, and not prepared to give God His due. Hopefully more times than not, though, I do get to spend an hour or so in reverence to a holy God, who is so much bigger than me, and remember how gracious He is to us. I get to surrender my worries and burdens to a great God who will give me His lighter yoke, and revel in the joys He has blessed me with for now. What a privilege!