Singers and musical groups will rise to the top of the charts (and eventually fall from public view). When they reach the top of the world of soul music or the world of country-and-western music, articles about them will appear in the newspapers and the newsweeklies. Such articles often note that the very popular singers of the moment had their starts, in music, singing solos in a church or in a church choir.

During our years in New Jersey, I attended an African-American Service of Worship in a New Brunswick church. (I had wanted to meet the pastor, who was a graduate of Duke Divinity School.) A mid-week service, it was presided over by a young man, who must have been all of 12 years old. He did it all: the welcome, the announcements, the prayers. Though he did not preach, he did practically everything else in the service. It would be interesting to know where that young man is today and to find out what he is doing.

The successful singers and the young-man leader remind us of a fact of our common life: the church is for practice. What we do in the church prepares us for what we do in the world. This is especially true of the church's Service of Worship: what we do in the worship service gets us ready for what we do in the world.

In the Service of Worship, we are invited to praise God -- the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit -- who rules the world in grace, truth, and mystery. That is, we can practice seeing who is in charge, who leads. Furthermore, we can practice letting go of our worries and our control-freak ways.

In the Service of Worship, we are urged to confess our sins to God and offered our Lord's forgiveness. That is, we can practice admitting that we are not always right, apologizing for wrongs we have committed, and trusting that we can be forgiven.

In the Service of Worship, we are challenged to give ourselves and our gifts to God. That is, we can practice giving ourselves to our families, our jobs, our schools/ colleges/universities, our neighborhoods, our society's common good, our nation.

In the Service of Worship, we are asked to listen to God's Word read and for God's Word preached. That is, we can practice quieting our own internal noise, tamping down our own opinions, and listening, truly listening, to the other.

While the church is for practice, it is easy to think that what we do at church is the whole game. We can think that we can be faithful Christians only when we are gathered at church, only when we are participating in a church activity, only when we are in fellowship with other Christians. But while gathering at church is absolutely essential to following Christ, it is "only the beginning," as Chicago used to sing. It is "only just a start." It is only just the practice.

Jesus Christ truly calls us to Himself, into His Body the Church. Then He sends us out to be obedient in our vocations -- in our homes, in the neighborhood, in the doctor's office, in the marketplace, in the store, in the classroom, on the football field, at the barber shop and at the hair salon, in the voting booth, and so on.

To use the language of sports, we Christians practice in the church and play in the world. Practicing in the church without playing in the world can amount to escapism. On the other hand, playing in the world without practicing in the church can be an exercise in arrogance and poor play.

Faithful Christians do both to the best of our abilities. We practice in the church and play in the world.