Just Go Through The Motions

“Clap your hands, all peoples!
     Shout to God with loud songs of joy!
For the Lord, the Most High, is to be
           feared,
      a great king over all the earth.”
                                      (Psalm 47:1-2 ESV)

Since the late 1980’s and early 1990’s the Body of Christ has been undergoing what some have called the “Worship Wars.” There has been this fight for the heart of the church over whether worship music should just use organs and choirs, or electric guitars and drums. Should worship music sound like blue grass music with little old ladies who can barely carry a tune wailing for the glory of the Lord, or should worship be people sitting, standing or kneeling while some guy up front preaches in a language no one understands? What is worship, and is it okay to just show up on Sunday morning and do your best to stay awake while simply going through the motions? I hope the answer to the last question is obvious. No, it is not okay to just go through the motions because that kind of worship is dead, and our God is a living God. Worship is about offering up our love back to God for all of the wonderful blessings He has bestowed upon creation. God gave us life and breath. God saved us through the death of His only Son on the cross, and raised us from our destruction in the resurrection. God has given us life, and salvation to new life. Shouldn’t worship offered up to the Lord be full of life as well? I have had the privilege of worshiping in high steeple churches, and back woods country churches. I consider myself blessed to have worshiped in an Emmaus Community, and in a Pentecostal church. Each worships God in their own way, but let us not be closed to continually looking for new ways to express our gratitude to God through worship. Let us not hide our appreciation because we’re afraid we’ll be thought of as odd. Whatever, style of worship you attend let your worship be free of concern for how you’ll look or what other people will think. If need be clap your hands and shout for joy with songs and dancing that love for the Lord would be heard.