An Honest Discussion on Worship

 

Creative worship can mean various different things. God created every person with different talents and tendencies. Which, in my opinion, is great. Otherwise, life would be dull. I was recently introduced to one of my brother-in-law’s favorite bands – Though She Wrote. In their song There is Hope, they write “Tear my mind open like you split the sea I’ll give anything just, just to believe Keep pressing on through all of the lies, we have to fight let’s not lose sight You are my redemption” Lyrically this song is amazing as it goes on to talk about searching for God. However, if this hard-core genre song were to be played in most churches, people would be up in arms about the way it is delivered. If these lyrics were played with a softer delivery most would consider it to be more inspired by the Holy Spirit. Either way it is worship to God and pleasing to him.

Col 3:16-Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.

To me this says whether you are screaming your lungs out or softly singing to yourself, if you are singing it to God it is pleasing to him.

I grew up in an independent church that had controversy over whether to clap or not. Can you imagine the scene when we had a lady dance to some music?! I can still see the sneers on peoples’ faces, yet she never noticed and danced as though it were her and God. I admit even I was like, “What the heck is this all about?” But, we are called to worship God, whether that is clapping your hands, screaming, singing, jumping up and down, dancing, and running around or just following the rhythm with your hands and feet.

Times change and as I matured in my relationship with God I started to see things much differently. God also has a sense of humor. As you all know, Trisha throws down and could care less what anyone thinks about her when she is worshiping. So in the beginning of our relationship the scene looked like this: here I am standing next to my girlfriend and she starts moving around, jumping and yelling praises. I am thinking, “Oh, not one of these crazies!”, but God said, “She is worshipping Me.” Trisha and I had many conversations in regards to church and worship and we were on the same train, different cars. The first time I went to her church I thought, “Is anyone listening to the music?” There were people laughing, crying, heads bowed, screaming, hands lifted in their seats, dancing and painting. I was looking for the exit because this was not my deal. What God showed me in time is that these people were showing their God the praise He deserves.

Now, where this white boy is not going to get up and dance around like I can move any better than Kevin James in the movie Hitch, I can appreciate someone like Dionya that does a spectacular dance to our God.
Col 3:17 – And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

I have seen people painting during church service and while some may consider it disrespectful, it is amazing to see what these artists create while there is worship music playing. Most consider singing and song to be the only kind of worship, but I say there is much more that God is trying to teach us. Could working on a car or motorcycle in service be worship? What about a sculpture? What about cooking? What about praying at your seat? Have we explored worship enough to know what it is?

The Israelites followed the Ark into town with animals, musical instruments, shouting, banners and flowers. They were praising God and worshiping him for who He was and is, giving God all their praise and acting a fool for God. However, this was their norm. I am sure there were people walking the animals and not really moving around, but tending the animals was their worship. Others were singing and moving around with instruments, streamers and all sorts of things. Wait. Let’s back up. Did you notice that they were not in the church but just going down the road? Worshiping out of church? How radical, or is it? When I am on the motorcycle I have some of my greatest intimacy with God. It is just He and I going down the road. Did we put such a box around worship that we no longer know what it is? If everyone is worshiping God, it should be as though there are only two people in the room—you and God.

~Todd Bowman
Christ Fellowship member