Worshiping Like a High School Dance

Much of our worship is like a high school dance.  I look around and decide forms that are comfortable to me.  Should I raise my hands?  Should my arms be stretched taut to the sky or more subtly as if cradling a baby?  Dare I start swaying to the music or would that be too much like dancing!?  Judging for comfort often means that I don't dare stand out too much.  After all, there's a certain propriety that must be maintained, right?

We should all be blessed to witness unbridled worship.  A woman from our church is spending her summer serving in Kenya.  Through her, we catch a glimpse of the freedom in Christ manifested in song and dance.  Some may still question whether that form of worship is simply the norm in other cultures.  But if you've experienced it, you get the sense that they've tuned out the world.  Nobody is looking around to see if they're dancing to the same rhythm or if they're singing louder than their neighbors.  Their only concern is communing with God.

I share these thoughts not to be critical but out of grief.  Until we've experienced this form of worship, we haven't fully experienced the freedom that was purchased on the Cross.