…the worship service is not an exercise in worship but a practicing of worship. It is not, of course, that the practicing of worship consists exclusively in going to church. Rather, it must be the one, grand, royal action of our whole life, in all our thoughts, words, and deeds. We are always God’s priests, called to serve his holy purposes. In your family you must serve your God from early in the morning to late in the evening, and thus ceaselessly exercise the service of God, and you and your family members gather around the Word and join in God’s praise and adoration. In the same way, all members of the congregation must each according to their own calling serve God.
However, the service of God for the congregation does not come to full expression until the congregation assembles in worship for the express purpose of bringing God honor, praise, and prayers. We can differentiate between a mediated and an unmediated practice of worship. A mediated practice comes by means of your walk and lifestyle, through the words you speak, and through the disposition of your soul in ordinary life. But there is also an unmediated practice when you pause in your everyday life and turn yourself intentionally and directly to the almighty God himself in order to present him with your praise and love. And it is this unmediated, this direct exercise of God’s service, or worship, that occurs in the moments when the congregation is assembled to meet their God and to honor him.
-Abraham Kuyper, Our Worship (Calvin Institute of Christian Worship Liturgical Studies)
