Dear Church,
This is not a suggestion. This is a rebuke given in love.
We must confront a pattern that has quietly taken root in our congregations: a casual, irreverent, and dismissive attitude toward the time of worship that precedes the preaching of the Word. What we have normalized, Scripture calls disorder. What we excuse as habit, heaven sees as dishonor.
Week after week, worship begins—and many of God’s people are not present. The call to stand is given, yet conversations continue. Laughter carries on in the aisles and lobby. Coffee is poured. Greetings linger. People drift into the sanctuary as though the presence of God has not already been invited to fill the room. The first song ends, the second is halfway through, and only then do some finally decide it is time to participate.
Let us be clear: this is not a minor issue of preference or personality. It is a matter of reverence.
“Guard your steps when you go to the house of God.”
—Ecclesiastes 5:1
Worship is not the prelude. It is not the warm-up. It is not background noise while we finish our conversations. The worship team is not a band filling time until the “real” part of the service begins.
Worship is the people of God responding to the holiness of God.
“God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.”
—John 4:24
When we habitually arrive late, disengaged, distracted, or indifferent, we are not merely disrespecting a team—we are demonstrating what we truly believe about God’s worth.
Arriving late to worship affects more than just you. When you slip in after worship has begun, you disrupt those who honored the call to be on time, pulling their focus from God to accommodate your seat. Coffee, conversation, and convenience should never take priority over inviting His presence. This is not neutral—it is disruptive and dishonors the sacredness of the moment.
The worship team does not stand on that platform for applause or performance. They carry a spiritual burden. They labor for hours in rehearsal and in prayer, often unseen and uncompensated, so that the body of Christ may be led into the presence of the Lord. They come prepared to serve, yet many in the congregation come prepared only for convenience.
This should grieve us.
Worship is not passive. It is participation. It is submission. It is sacrifice. It is an offering of ourselves before the Word is ever preached.
“I appeal to you… to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”
—Romans 12:1
Ask yourself honestly: if your employer required you to be ready at a certain hour, would you make a habit of strolling in late and always expect grace? If a judge summoned you to court, would you stop for coffee first? If a wedding ceremony began, would you walk in halfway through the vows and see nothing wrong with it?
Yet we do this before the King of Kings.
We understand punctuality when it affects our income, our reputation, or our relationships. But when it comes to the Lord, we often offer Him what is left over—our leftover time, our divided attention, our delayed obedience. And delayed obedience is still disobedience at some point.
Church, this should not be so.
We were created to worship.
We were formed to bow.
We were designed to lift our voices in reverence and awe.
“Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.”
—Psalm 95:6
Worship prepares the soil of the heart. It softens us. It humbles us. It aligns us with the holiness of God so that when His Word is preached, it does not fall on hardened ground. To neglect worship is to come unprepared to hear Him speak.
If we have treated worship casually, we must repent.
If we have prioritized comfort and coffee over reverence, we must repent.
If we have shown up late without conviction, disengaged without remorse, distracted without shame—we must repent.
“If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven.”
—2 Chronicles 7:14
Repentance is not regret. It is change.
It means planning to arrive early.
It means entering the sanctuary with intention.
It means silencing distractions, ending conversations, and standing ready to worship when the first note is played.
“Let all things be done decently and in order.”
—1 Corinthians 14:40
Let us once again treat worship as sacred.
Let us honor those who lead us.
Let us revere the God we claim to serve.
The Lord is worthy—not of our leftovers, but of our first and our best.
“Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.”
—Psalm 29:2
Church, it is time to act like we believe that is true.
Faith Love n Joy 