Worship Without a Sound

We live in a noisy world. From the moment our alarm clocks jolt us from our dreams until the time we finally shut down all the screens in our lives (TV, computer, phone… your new Apple Watch), we are constantly bombarded with images and sounds. Sometimes we just need some space to be still and listen, but we all know how hard that can be to find. For many who walk through the doors of reGROUP, there is a strong desire to hear God’s voice, but the sheer volume of the everyday world is just too hard to turn off. For this reason we are trying something new for this season of reGROUP across all of our Summit campuses. We are transitioning from a live musical worship element to an intentional time of prayer, reflection, and meditation before the reGROUP teaching begins. This is happening for a number of reasons, but the main purpose is for reGROUP to be increasingly intentional about creating space to hear God’s voice in the midst of our busy and buzzing world. While we still believe that this space can be and has been achieved through the singing of songs and hymns to the Lord, we feel that moving forward in this way will give participants a safe and restful sanctuary that they can come to at the end of their day. We want to help our reGROUP community develop the discipline of stilling ourselves to feel the comfort of our loving Father. A time filled with liturgy, prayer, and meditation is what we feel will achieve this goal the best, encouraging participants to essentially hit the spiritual “reset” button before beginning our time of teaching together—to “regroup,” if you will.

While we often think of prayer as talking to God, asking for help for our loved ones and ourselves, or expressing gratitude for our blessings, we know that communication with God goes both ways. There is a broader definition of prayer that we are leaning into this season: that prayer is the practice of the presence of God. This definition includes both listening for answers and just leaning in to experience God’s presence and grace. There is “a time to be silent and a time to speak…” (Ecclesiastes 3:7)

What You Can Expect at reGROUP

We are setting aside the first 15 minutes of our reGROUP service to worship God through prayer, reflection, meditation—or to use how you see fit. reGROUP will still begin at 7 p.m. on Monday nights at the Herndon campus and 7 p.m. on Tuesday nights at the Waterford campus. There will still be coffee, conversation, and fellowship in the lobby. We will still hear teachings of how God can meet us in our most broken places. And perhaps most importantly, there will still be a safe and authentic community waiting to meet you where you are in which you can truly be known. Come and worship with us.

reGROUP kicks off for the fall on Monday, September 15th at 7 p.m. at Herndon and Tuesday, September 16th at 7 p.m. at Waterford. Read more about reGROUP, including FAQs, at summitconnect.org.