Participation in worship, personal and corporate, has become one of the greatest sources of strength in my life. I am compelled to share this part of my journey, for I have found it to be a great source of peace and strength. Worship cuts across several dimensions of our existence - connecting with the divine, with our deepest innermost self - our spirit, our emotions; connecting with others in a shared journey of faith, connecting with our creative and artistic and musical selves, and that in others. In the act of communion with God, worship and prayer overlap and blend together. And allowing others to "lead" us in worship can open up our heart, mind, and emotions to more immediacy of encounter.
Worship can be experienced differently by different people, and variously in our own experience, meaning that it can be loud our quiet, it can be ecstatic or contemplative, it can be verbal or non-verbal, it can be corporate, with thousands, or hundreds, or with two or three, or it can be a solitary encounter. In worship we can be honest and unguarded, we can express our true self, and feel God meeting us there.
The Old Testament book of Psalms, a book of worship, demonstrates expression of adoration, joy, grief, lament, anger, fear, loneliness, healing and comfort ... the widest range of emotions.
We can share worship across time with people whom we have never met, in particular through their writings, through their music, through their art. We can experience worship with people and groups in separate settings, through the multiple audio and video media available to us. This requires a measure of openness to the the work of God in others. We can exercise appropriate discernment without being overly zealous in litmus testing our fellow believers who are worshipping God just as we are. Consider that holding this or that different view or doctrine (or style of worship) need not deny you the opportunity to be blessed by their sincere worship. You may not have learned to appreciate what they are sharing - give them a chance. And for those exploring faith who may not have encountered God in worship - give yourself a chance.
A fundamental question that we must consider is, why worship? Some, particularly outside of faith, may be perplexed by the concept that a divine being would want their created beings to engage in worship. I'm not sure if I can explain it, or if anyone can. It's just that we find the practice in the sacred writings. I would say, in my confession, that I find worship to be ever present throughout the experience of the people of God in the Old and New Testaments. If God is God, so to speak, and we are God's created beings created as vessels for God's love, then by the nature God's identity and our identity, worship is a most natural thing. More than the abstract idea, I would say that participating in the experience has demonstrated its validity to me.
I experienced this reality worshipping with my family and my grandparents in my little country church in Alabama. I experienced it in the college student groups where we learned "contemporary" guitar worship, and in the Calvary Baptist Church college choir. I experienced it in the African American churches that I attended with my wife and children as a young adult, where I could feel the catharsis connected with the experiences of oppression, healing and liberation. I experienced it in many worship "concerts" which resembled and perhaps emulated rock concerts but nonetheless were authentic and energizing (no doubt many musical performance experiences that are not intended to be "religious" are likewise cathartic or healing or liberating in their own way). I experienced worship in the church of my Pentecostal pastor who fed and ministered to the homeless and mentally ill street people in her store front church on North Avenue. I experienced it as I led the worship at the Sparrow's Nest inner city ministry for six years. More recently, as I have struggled through recovery with my own failures, I have experienced God in silent worship with the Quakers, in the labyrinth (prayer walk) that I constructed at the Cherokee Corner church, in contemporary worship with a Presbyterian multi-ethnic church plant, in liturgical worship with an LGBTQ friendly church, with new Hispanic friends in the churches of Acuna, Mexico, and yes, through many You Tube worship teams like Hillsong, Passion, Bethel, Jesus Culture and the Upper Room.** All of this has been significant in my healing and restoration.
Don't be a skeptic; don't worry about judging your fellow worshippers. I invite you to taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in God. (Psalm 34:18)
**I enjoy and am ministered to by a wide range of musical selections from different worship spaces recorded and made available over a period of years. Reference to inspiring worship presentations by a specific worship team on a specific date is not intended as an endorsement or agreement with the whole theology and ministry of the pastors and leaders of the churches mentioned. Further, these leaders and their theological beliefs and ministry practices change and evolve over the years. Undoubtedly I do not agree with all of their teaching, some of which I am aware of. That does not nullify the work of God through a specific worship team offering their gifts on a specific occasion.
My You Tube worship playlist is called "Live Worship Selections" and is found at
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRLDhFjDoD_C4ppw9iatDntt2LyUUh1JM
Photos:
(1) Elyssa Smith, Upper Room, Dallas
(2) Athens Quakers
(3) Yimi Rodriguez Sanchez, Centro Vida, Acuna, Mexico
(4) Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, New York
(5) Kim Walker Smith, Jesus Culture
(6) Labyrinth, Athens Quakers at Cherokee Corner, Arnoldsville, GA
