So, I've been thinking lately, we worship kinda funny. I don't mean that to sound bad (but I guess it did, otherwise I wouldn't feel the need to put that disclaimer, right?), but it just struck me the other night how differently we worship. I went with a group of about 7 down to Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky, to see Tim Hughes in concert. There was a good number of people there (I'd say around 1,000-1500, but maybe more), and it was interesting to see how differently worship was taken by people. Some people stood, some sat, some raised their hands, some closed their eyes, and so on. Two distinctly different style caught my eye.
The first one was a teen to early 20's guy in the first row (I guess I should mention that this concert took place in lieu of their normal college age service, so the greater majority of people there were late teens to 20's). He was a great deal shorter than the people around him, but obviously about the same age. This guy was really into it. Which I thought was great. It was like watching a white guy in a black southern gospel church really. I mean, the stereotypical type anyway. He was dancing (sort of), and swaying, and moving around, really feeling the music (had pretty good rythm for a white guy, lol). And seemed to just have an endless amount of energy.
The second was the group of Mormon missionaries that were seated about 2-3 rows behind us. They were pointed out to me as they walked in, and I was curious throughout the show how they were going to act. Now, let me say this up front, I have friends that are Mormons and one who used to be a Mormon (post-Mormonism? sorry, bad joke), but, having never been to one of their services (I still want to go into their "Temple" but that's another story), I was curious to how they were going to act. During Tim Hughes singing of the great David Crowder song "Undignified," I took the opportunity to look back at them. I figured, if ever there was a song that even white people were going to move to, it's "Undignified"! But when I looked back, they were not only not moving, but had stern looks on their faces as if they were watching the evening news. No hands in the air, no feet movement, not even singing along. This caught me as odd, as they seemed to be the only ones not at least singing. So I continued to look back every once in a while to see if it was maybe that they just didn't know the words (although the words were broadcast on the big screens in front of us...), but they never seemed to sing any of the songs. They were just there...almost as if they were observing this "Christian worship thing" to see what how we acted. Their faces looked almost like that of an unapproving adult when they hear their kids "cool" music.
That reaction got me to thinking, "how are we perceived by others?" I mean, if they really were there to observe, I wonder what thoughts they left with. Were they moved by our devotion to our Savior through our singing and hand raising? Or were they just looking on in confusion as to why we would sing words such as "We lift up our hands" while the whole time our hands are in our pockets? Could they see the energetic teen on the front row giving all his energy to praise His King? Or could they only see the guy in the third row who never stood, never moved, and never seemed to enjoy himself? I wonder what message they left with about our worship?
Then there was the lady who defied protocol and security. During one of the Communion songs, she simply left her seat, climbed the few steps to the top of the stage, and sat (indian-style) in the middle of the band and started to cry and pray. I'm sure this was as confusing the the "security" (church members who volunteer to keep people out of areas they're not supposed to be), as it was to us. But she didn't care, she walked right up and sat herself in the middle of the worship band and started crying her prayers. I'll admit, my first reactions were confusion and then laughter at the audacity to do what she did. But my third reaction was to be impressed that she felt so called to go up on stage, that she disregarded common protocol about such a thing and followed what she felt she needed to do. One of the pastors went up to make sure she was ok, and I think, to pray with her for a minute or two, and then lead her off to talk a bit more privately (and probably to a place where they could actually hear each other speak, lol). Let me take this opportunity to apologize to anyone who may have seen my reaction as she came down the stairs. She missed the last few steps and fell quickly to the ground. Now, I know this was wrong, but yes, my first reaction was to start laughing! I don't know what it is about someone falling down that simply makes me laugh from the deepest depths, but it does, and I did. If you were offended by that, my apologies.
Anyway, this has lived up to the title of the entire blogsite, and has simply been rambling. But I really wonder how we feel about worship. Are the songs we sing simply words, put to music that make us feel better? Or are they our prayers to our King? Do we really mean the words that we sing? And if we do, why don't we follow them? (no guilt being thrown here, because I'm just as guilty as the next person).
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