Over time my public worship style has changed, and I think it is for the better. Now before we get to far into this let me be very clear - worship is NOT just what you do inside the church building during services, nor is it what you do when “worship” music is played. Worship is you fellowshiping and praising God and that is something that should go on continually - both inside and outside of the four walls of the church.
With that understand, today I am going to focus on the COMPONENT of my worship that occurs during church services. For a long time I was afraid to lift my hands in praise as I sang. Now as anyone that has ever been around me in church, the quieter I sing the better it is for everyone around me and the service in general, but I really did find myself constrained. This was because I went to churches were no one raised their hands If someone raised their hands the eyes of the other members went to them like they were demon possessed. I do not share this to say that we should become more charismatic, etc, in fact I really am uncomfortable when services become to "excited" as well. I guess my point is that personal praise and worship should be that - personal.
To many times we begin to think that the only way to praise and worship is how we personally do it and if anyone disagrees with us then they have to be wrong. That is exactly the problem that Team Swap helped a young lady in Washington state deal with a few years ago. She was praising God in a way that she consider ok, but it interrupted her church, and was very disturbing to others. In the end it was simple - she was doing it in the wrong spirit (her admission) and she said that she was going to be more respectful of others in the future. However, she was not going to just stand there like the rest of the church as well, I can more then relate and respect that as well.
I told you that story to say that we do not all need to worship the same way, but we do need to be in the right spirit of worship. If we do that our public worship can be done freely in our own personal style. If we are uncomfortable with the majority of the fellow worshipers, or making the majority of fellow worshipers uncomfortable either, at our local body then we needed to seriously pray about how we are worshiping.. In the end we will find out if we are out of God's will (meaning we need to change), or if God is leading us to go where our worship style is more compatible (we need to move). There is also a third option. That is adapt your worship to your current bodies style.
In my mind, the young lady from Washington eventually reached a fine solution. One need not be publicly worship like everyone else, but one should publicly worship in a fashion that is compatible to their local body. If your personal style is not compatible with your local body (be it too reserved or too energetic) then you most likely need to find another local body.
The important thing to note is that with any of the above solutions we have to change or move. We are either changing our mode, our heart, our intention, or our location of worship. For many, that is a problem. Most people do not like to change. We want to stay where we are, and do what we like to do when we want to do it, but that is not always a option. In the end our issues with worship style usually reflect not a challenge to God, as he can handle it, but a challenge to both our relationship and our direction with God.
The simple truth is that most of us are not all called to be the Martin Luther's of worship in our local bodies, but we are all called to worship God openly. To some that may mean hands down, eyes open looking straight ahead, to others that may mean arms up, dancing and celebrating. To me the right answer for most is some where between the two.
The fact is that we are different and we all relate to God differently. Personally, I believe that is why there are so many individual units of the body. We all are part of the same universal body, but we all need to be at a local body where we are comfortable worshiping God. Personally, I can not worship if it is too hectic, but I can no longer really worship with a completely stiff body. I may never get both hands up regularly, but it does sometimes happen. For me, when I feel God now I want to lift at least one hand or rub the center of my palm which reminds me of the nails He took for my sins (yes I know I am strange) .
When I lift my hands, I close my eyes. I also know why I close my eyes when I lift my hands. It is because I do not want to see if anyone is looking, or if anyone else has or is rasing their hands. The majority of the time I know the words to the song, so I do not need the projected verses, I just need to be one on one with God.
Simply, I want to worship God without noticing everyone else where I do not feel that I am conforming or changing for man instead of God. I guess I just need to connect with God without worrying about if someone else is starring or not, or weather they are lifting their hands or not.
Basically, right now my style of worship is good for me and it is not disruptive to those around me, and it is compatible with my local body. So, right now God and I seem to have that part of our relationship going well. This has allowed me to focus on the other areas God is working on me in.
I know this note has not been very organized but has been from the heart. I like to publicly worship God openly now and I can not go back. It is like moving from middle school to high school or high school to college, once you are there you do not want to go back. For too long we have let everyone around us dictate our worship style. Public worship, like all forms of worship, is personal and intimate. The difference is that public worships is a personal and intimate act that is performed in public. We need to remember we are not here to satisfy the eyes and ears of men (or women), we are here to worship God and praise Him for both who He is and what He does. Again that means worshiping and praising Him everywhere we go. Remember, worship is far more then what occurs at or in a church.
If we are in a local body where we are not freely worshiping then we need to first pray to God, checking our heart and motives. If those motives are found pure, we should then begin to worship how God leads us. If that is disruptive, or counter, to our current body then we need to consider moving to where we can worship God freely. Life is too short to spend it not publicly worshiping God in a way that He has called us too. Worship is also to important to others for us to be hugely disruptive to those are around us.
My last two churches are the first two places that I have ever felt comfortable worshiping the way I want to. What is also truthfully is that I felt comfortable at each of them for different reasons. At one church we were all loose cannons. In a group of loose cannons, no cannon notices the degree of looseness in the other cannons, it was just not important to them. At my current church it is probably more due to the fact that I sit around people that worship like me, and my church has been very receptive. In fact, the majority of my church worships very much as I do. Being around people I feel comfortable with, and supported by, allows me to focus on God and not the eyes that may or may not be looking at me. I pray that everyone else can have those same feelings and experience as they worship God.
Have a great day and be excited about worshiping God be it in your car / truck, in our office, in your home, or at the altar.
