The church we visited this week was a very charismatic church. At one point during the sermon, the pastor made the point that people who don't get into worship physically aren't really worshipping. I think he is wrong. I would argue that people could be dancing around, waving banners, and clapping with all their strength and they still might not be worshipping. They might just be having a good time. On the other hand, someone could be sitting there not even singing the song yet desiring to change their life. A changed life is more worship than a thousand songs.
The different worship styles are not a result of people worshipping or not worshipping, but a result of people's personality and the sub-culture they were brought up in. We are different people who express ourselves different ways. If you went to a rock concert, you would be able to see that. There are people in th mosh pit, dancing around, raising arms, just jigglin their head, and just sittng in a chair enjoying the music. All of them are enjoying the music in the way they enjoy music. Most of them paid to come and here one of their favorite bands live in concert, but they all enjoy their favorite music in different ways.
We worry about unity when it comes to doctrine, race, and age; however, it seems like we could care less when it comes to personality types. With race and age, we don't want everyone to be the same. However, with personality types, we do. We have yet to even address the situation about how we do worship alienates certain types of people, and we find churches that are filled with all of the same types of people. Maybe that is the way it should be, but it sure doesn't seem like that is right. How can we have a church environment where people can express themselves the way they naturally would to God without being looked down upon by others?
And in the end, it's just another symptom of our misconstrued idea of worship. It is fruitless to be overly concerned about the way we sing songs on Sunday. Our real worship is our life. A good song service reveals nothing about the health of a church. Sadly, to see deeper into the heart of the church and how they worship God with their lives, it would take more than just experiencing the Sunday morning gathering.
Watch out for the potholes.
