Some thoughts on worship

Hello loved ones:)

OK, so tonight I started my online worship class for Greenville.

One of the things I just wrote a response on, was different worship styles. I had to watch a number of videos of worship songs at different churches, observing the "effectiveness" and "genuineness" of the different worship "situations." Wow that was a lot of quotations... anyway, I could go on and on but the bottom line I always get to is this: worship is worship, no matter how in the world it is carried out. I highly doubt anyone in the states would feel completely at home around a bonfire in Africa with half clothed people dancing and wailing. But hey... that can just as easily be worship to those people as sitting in wooden pews was for my dad's parents.

Worship is highly influenced by culture. It is highly influenced by standard comfort zones of the people that make up a specific church. Each church's culture is a little bit different. For example, today in my church, there was a woman behind me who was dancing and taking up the space behind the last row of the overflow section. That would be ridiculous in a Baptist church in my area where it's much quieter and more conservative. Does that mean that the woman's dancing was not a fragrant and pleasing offering to the Lord? Heck no! The culture is different in different churches. Different denominations stress and emphasize different aspects of doctrine and teachings. Those things are boldly evident in certain worship styles. I know some churches who are quite selective in the songs they use for worship. Some churches do not use the word "I" or any first person pronouns in their worship. They seek to draw as little attention to "self" as possible. That reflects some of their doctrine.

I honestly don't have one specific point that I'm seeking to bring home... I'm just thinking and going over a bundle of thoughts as they come. I learned so much from my Intro to Worship class last semester I can hardly contain it all. It overflows and bubbles out of me. I have answers for so many questions I used to ask. I know what I'd say when questioned about people being "showy" in worship. I know how to respond better in situations where I'm the one who's rather uncomfortable in an unfamiliar worship setting.

It's so good to be knowledgeable about the history of worship. I love that I can draw conclusions now about worship because I know where the ideas evolved from.

Dr. Hartley taught my Intro class, and he is honestly one of my absolute favorite professors I've ever had. He's so intelligent, and still entirely open and receptive to our lowly states as college kids;) He had use memorize hundreds of terms I had never heard before from all of the different denominations and ways of worship. We read a number of books on the history of worship. I simply love being a music major. While I was taking Intro, I was learning a lot of old songs that were in the church in the Middle Ages and such, that were long ago banned from the church. The church used to prohibit music within the walls of the church. Crazy, right?

Well, worship has taken several different shapes and forms. And what a blessing and incredible gift to have been given the opportunity to even worship the God of all. I love using music to praise Him.

Anyway, I'm going to go to bed now I think. many thanks to anyone who read this... I've been doing a lot of journal-like entries lately... good night world:)