31 Days of Worship - How Do You Worship?

Yesterday I talked about coming together in corporate worship...something Scripture tells us to do. But I'm not here to tell you how to corporately worship because as far as I'm concerned, as long as your heart's right, there's no wrong way to worship. Now, in a few weeks I'll share how we prepare for services, but I totally understand that not every church has the same worship style we do. A lot do, though.

Being in church my entire life...including in the womb...I've seen a lot of worship styles. Well, I didn't see it from the womb, but you get my point! I grew up in Southern Baptist churches where you did NOT raise your hand, or clap, or show any signs of drawing attention to yourself. You hardly said "Amen."

Did we worship in those churches? I'm inclined to believe we did. I can't say I did because I was too busy worrying about whether Joey Dixon thought I looked cute that day, or if we were going out to eat after church. I'm sure my grandparents did, when they were able to be there.

But Momma bent the rules. There were just some times that she had to raise her hand to express her gratitude the Lord. And embarrass the snot out of me. One time we were on our way to a Steve Green concert and I asked her point blank, just so I could find some way to hide under the pew, "Are you going to raise your hand tonight?" She laughed and said she probably was. Bless her heart. I'm so ashamed of that now. But I laugh more than anything because of where I am in life now.

Fast forward to today. I'm still in a Southern Baptist Church, but we're on the contemporary side of worship services (one pastor said Wednesday that people call us "Bapticostals." *snort*), and not only do we say "Amen" and clap, we also...

wait for it...

raise our hands!

Momma thought that was the most hilarious thing when she first saw me in church with my hand raised high in the air in worship. What goes around comes around.
But does that mean it's the right way to worship?

My sister made me laugh at Easter this year when she left this comment:

"Sister,

I watched this video with tears in my eyes - but you'll have to see the video I posted on Facebook this morning. It's at the completely other end of the "worship spectrum" and it makes me wonder....Are we SURE we have the same Mother? :)

Love You So MUCH and have a blessed Good Friday,

Sister"

I had posted this video that day. If you haven't heard "O the Blood" stop now and go watch the video. I mean it. Go. Now.

Okay, now that you've got mascara running down your face (unless of course you are a dude and I truly, truly hope you do NOT have mascara anywhere near your face), now I want you to watch the video my sister was talking about on her facebook page...

Now do you understand Carlyn's question? :)

Okay, so, I don't "get" that style of worship, but she does. She doesn't "get" my style of worship, either. So, who's right?

Both of us. Because it's not the style, it's the heart.