My daily readings are taking me through the book of Leviticus at the moment. On one level, these detailed instructions about ritual offerings to God seem worlds apart from our daily reality (don't expect to see the carcass of a bull being burned on the altar this Sunday ...).
However, the principles underlying the message of Leviticus are worth considering. The book invites us to be very conscious of God's holiness and not to be presumptuous about entering God's presence. The Israelites were taught that many things made them unclean and, while being unclean was not sinful, they needed to address these things when coming to worship God. We don't need to offer sacrifices to make us clean (Hebrews 10 reminds us that one sufficient sacrifice has been made for us in Jesus) but we're still invited to prepare ourselves for worship, taking seriously the gift of being together in God's presence. Leviticus also speaks about thanksgiving offerings, which have the effect of lifting our thoughts above our own struggles and challenges to consider also all that we have to be grateful for. We don't bring grain offerings to worship, but we do offer songs and prayers of thanksgiving and lay our gifts of money on the altar. These things remind us that worship is not about us - we come to acknowledge and honour God.
Leviticus challenges us as 21st century believers to be very intentional as we pause and prepare for worship. May God give us all a real sense of expectancy as we prepare for worship this Sunday.