I was in church this morning and I had an experience that started getting me to think about expressions of worship. I was raised in the Assemblies of God denomination, which is a Pentecostal/charismatic denomination. On a typical Sunday, I'm used to seeing people raising their hands, kneeling, and verbalizing their praise (it's hard to explain without seeing it--just imagine that people are saying things of praise to God without being guided by song lyrics). On a less common Sunday, you'll see people dancing, shouting, and/or lying flat on the ground. This morning what I observed was a woman boogieing in worship--I call it boogieing, because it was unlike any dancing I've ever seen in a church. The expression "bust a move" came to mind. Anyways, some time later, a man near the back shouted "Amen!" The boogieing woman turned around and looked back in that direction of the "Amen" and she had a disgusted look on her face. It seemed to me that she thought she was worshiping and thought that the "Amen"-shouter was not.
Having grown up AG, I had often thought that you weren't truly worshiping if you didn't at least have your hands raised. My perspective on this changed after two events: First I spent a summer in Ireland and attended several traditional (Anglican, Catholic, etc.) services. The Second, I had to do a project for school that required me to attend churches from several different traditions. During this project I attended First Baptist Church in Siloam Springs, Arkansas. There were no hands raised or knees bent, but the passion in the peoples' faces shown in such a way that I had never seen before--I realized then that these people were in fact worshiping, even though they were not doing it the right way (or what I thought was the right way).
I discussed my feelings on this topic earlier today with my wife, and we realized that several of our friends from charismatic traditions were beginning to cling to the traditional traditions and vice versa.
As a quiet and contemplative person, I struggle with Charismatic expressions of worship, but I am very strong at expressions of worship that many loud/extroverted people struggle in.
I guess what it all comes down to is this: is there a right or wrong way to worship God? I'd say the answer is yes--the Bible speaks of many expressions of worship; and on the flip side, we can't expect to worship God by sinning. I guess the question would be better asked this way: is there a best way to worship God? Is there a thought or action that is the most pleasing to God? If so, how do we get there? If not, how do you know?
