Worship. Praising God. What does worship look like? How does it sound? Smell? Feel?
In
America worship looks like a building with a stage. It sounds like a praise band- acoustic guitar, bass guitar, drum set, singers. It sounds like a choir and looks like choir robes. It sounds like a soloist with a microphone. It looks like people standing in front of pews. Worship smells like perfume and feels like 70 degrees, cold enough for some to wear a sweater and just right for others.
In the Swazi bush, worship looks like a mud hut. The windows are simply portions of the stick wall that weren’t filled with rocks and mud. It sounds like the steady beat of a traditional handmade African drum. It sounds like rich full voices that intertwine with such beauty you wish you could join in. The lead voice in each song begins but is soon drowned out by the others. Several phrases later, the leader’s voice has found its way to the top but soon as you notice, it dips below the surface again. The drum beats steadily behind it all. Worship looks like dancing. It starts with the tapping of your feet to the beat and quickly becomes a dancing circle in the middle of the room. You watch for awhile but soon join in. Just as dizziness sets in, the circle turns and you dance the opposite direction. The elder with one leg joins in, hopping on one foot behind you. The drum beat picks up and the dancing grows faster. You drop out and become a spectator once again. The young men continue dancing and are now spinning as well. Spinning while dancing in a circle. Faster and faster they go. Worship smells like sweat and feels like heat as the afternoon sun pours in the windows.
There is nothing wrong with the way Americans worship. I enjoy praise bands (I’m listening to American Christian music as I write this). But I’m learning that worship can be so much more than what I’ve always thought.
What does worship look like on the World Race when you’re not at a church? It sounds like an iPod playing worship music while the chickens cluck and cows moo. It looks like people sharing testimonies or reading passages from the Bible as they feel led while zebras chase each other just beyond the fence. It smells like hay and ash as people sit on hay bails around the fire pit where dinner is prepared every night.
During training camp we were given an assignment: list 50 ways to worship. After you get though “singing, playing guitar, reading the bible” it gets hard. You really start questioning what worship looks like. We had to think outside our traditional American Christian box.
It boils down to this:
Worship looks like praising God. Worship sounds like praising God. Worship smells like and feels like praising God. So sing, dance, play guitar, read the bible, pray, take a walk, help your neighbor, compliment someone, love people- especially the difficult ones, hug your mom, respect your dad. Just praise God.
