If you had asked me what worship looks like prior to coming on this trip, my response would have been quite different from what it is today.
I grew up in church and I have been a Christian for years, so this would seem to be a simple question with a simple response. Worship, to me, was simply singing songs, usually led by a “worship leader” or “worship team” at the beginning of a corporate church service or event. I might have even expanded that a little bit to include singing along to “worship/praise music” by myself, but likely not. I had a very NARROW view of what worship really is and therefore had unknowingly created a barrier for myself to experience it fully.
Over these past 3 months, the Lord has shown me through the scriptures, my squadmates, and those I have worshipped with in the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Romania that worship can look much different from what I had previously thought.
First of all, worship can be seen in many forms . . . not just singing. (This was exciting for me because my singing voice is not an area where I was blessed!) Worship can exhibit itself through praying, dancing, journaling, meditating, and in ANY in any other form where an individual is expressing praise and glory to the Lord. It may not look the same for any 2 people and it may not look the same for me every time. This realization was huge for me!
Secondly, worship is not limited by context. It can happen in a crowd or when I am all alone, at a church gathering or in a park, in the morning or late at night . . . there are no limits!
Finally, the Lord challenged me to be aware of true “barriers” to worship that may prevent me from fully experiencing it. Prior to this trip, I would have considered language to be a barrier to worship, but not anymore. Over these few months I have experienced some of the most powerful moments of worship in my life and during these times the people around me were singing and praying in a minimum of 2 languages at once, most of which I did not understand. I have learned that it is about the “heart condition” of the individual to desire to praise and glorify the Lord. Thus, the barriers that I have to be aware of are those that will affect my heart condition, such as envy, dishonesty, greed, selfishness, or any other thought or feeling that will distract me from focusing on the Lord and His blessings.
My challenge to myself in the coming months is to “change-up” my approach to worship by 1) honestly examining my heart as I go before Him and 2) trying different forms of worship. I would like to extend this challenge to each of you as well. Let’s see what worship can look like!
