All my life I’ve been surrounded by a church atmosphere of conservative, mellow-like culture—to be said in the exposure of worship and submission to the Truth as a believer, in the Trinity and Jesus’ coming to take the perfect wrath of God upon Himself. Although, as I have been introduced to different styles of worship—particularly in singing joyous praises to the Lord, and the act of surrendering oneself to Him—I look back on how I have previously adored my father in song and praise and to His truth, and I feel as if I have been almost restricted in presenting my true satisfaction to the Lord.
The experience and lifestyle my church has provided for me, is one that I really have and do enjoy in celebrating the Lord and His grace and sacrifice. It truly merely has me curious in looking over the different styles of how churches worship: hand raising, closed eyes, fallen to the knees, dancing about, a little to-&-fro sway, clap of the hands, etc. And even more so, which is “acceptable”.
My family church has experienced multiple transformations in its style, and it’s really neat to see where it has taken it now. I can assume that it began with the lovely written hymn songs that are often, sometimes at most, accompanied by piano keys. Eventually it translated to the contemporary manner, with the supply of acoustic guitar, possibly a bass and so on. An amused time, as well as it being a victorious one, was when we dragged in the drums; like one picking the weeks ice cream flavor for the family, only this is a new one, and hopefully everyone will enjoy it (not saying the worshipping the Almighty and the enjoyment of ice cream are at all equal… not at all!). The test of drums were mostly thoroughly welcomed by the young adults, teens, youth, and those old folk who don’t realize it…while others were hesitant to this new addition. Yet now, we do indeed have drums, and they are lovely and loud, and not at all ludicrous. But my focus is not the drums, the electric guitar, the harmonica, the banjo, no, no! It is the act of worship, and how we can do it in ANY atmosphere.
Often, my mother and I discuss songs that are to glorify the Lord, and how we find them quite distracting and almost annoying… which, at times, is followed by the power button. Although disobedient and the (and I’m sure) embarrassing child that I may be, I have always enjoyed my mom’s intellect of praising the Lord-à no matter: the people about you, the dis-functioning instruments, the time of day, or the circumstance, you are bloody worshipping the Lord! So disregard all those distractions, (who cares!!) and give yourself to the Lord!
There is a wonderful song (by the super band, Gungor) called “God is Not a White Man”, and a few lines that I enjoy ~
“God cannot be bought
God will not be boxed in
God will not be owned by religion”
~
These lines, though simple, really allow me to put into other words in how God is not One who we can (or should) manipulate so that we can worship Thee as we like or prefer for our enjoyment or better feeling. Because truly, God was not made for us, we were made for Him—for the purpose of glorifying Him, and He deserves this (& SO much more).
This past Sunday, a few buckaroo pals of mine and myself ventured off to a church that we have been visiting (at its evening service), and the worship that night seemed so real to me. It was the first one at that church that had been flowing with distractions and cries and teeter-tottering movement that could have me amused, but God allowed me focus on Him—I’m terrible at concentrating on one thing at a time, but God made this easy for me that night. When I first heard someone cry out in reply to praising God, I was somewhat alarmed, like “really? How old are we here”, but then I recalled that this may merely be their act of praise to the Lord, and the culture of the room was a pleasant one. It wasn’t strained (which is not at all something I disregard, but this experience of variety was fresh to me), but so real—with the multiple hands raised, movement of the body, and the loud voices worshiping the Lord… truly great.
I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to be on my youth group’s worship team, which can really distract me from genuine worship at times. Tis rather pressure-ful in trying to “sound good” or harmonize, hit the melody, or whatever else I am uneducated in. Throughout worship time, I need to remind myself that I don’t need to worry about sounding peachy or horrible, because it ain’t about me, but about Him (and God will use my time to benefit Him, and hopefully not distract others).
My hope is that others will realize this about worship. That is not about them or where you are at, and what instruments are being played…but about Him. Just Him.
G'night world.
--anna
p.s. continually praying for my grandparents who lack understanding and believing and living the Truth of life. If you could, please be asking the Lord for His guidance for them (as well as for fellow believers guidance).
farewell!!
