Undignified

I hate that I missed last Sunday. Marilyn told me about Diane's call to worship and it got me thinking about my own personal experience. I grew up Presbyterian, but my parents were exposed to the Charismatic movement when I was about 10. My teen years were spent in churches that were much more expressive... speaking in tongues, dancing, raising hands, etc. I remember being very self-conscious about doing any of that sort of stuff. When I was 17, I had the opportunity to attend Urbana '89, a missions conference in Urbana, IL. It was many thousands of college students worshipping. So there I was, in a stadium filled with 10,000+ college students. I thought, "I'm going to raise my hands." I closed my eyes, raised them about shoulder height, and then glanced around. No one was looking at me! I realized that everyone there was focused on God and really didn't care what I was doing. It was a freeing moment for me!

The Old Testament reading for this coming Sunday is from 2 Samuel 6. A portion of it says this:

¹² Then King David was told, “The Lord has blessed Obed-edom’s household and everything he has because of the Ark of God.” So David went there and brought the Ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to the City of David with a great celebration. ¹³ After the men who were carrying the Ark of the Lord had gone six steps, David sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. ¹⁴ And David danced before the Lord with all his might, wearing a priestly garment. ¹⁵ So David and all the people of Israel brought up the Ark of the Lord with shouts of joy and the blowing of rams’ horns.

¹⁶ But as the Ark of the Lord entered the City of David, Michal, the daughter of Saul, looked down from her window. When she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she was filled with contempt for him.

David's wife was upset because David was doing something very "unkingly." He should have had more gravitas. Later,  David says, "Yes, and I am willing to look even more foolish than this, even to be humiliated in my own eyes!" He was unconcerned about how he looked to others, including his wife. He was going to express his jubilation at the Ark of the Covenant's return to Jerusalem. 

Now, I want to be clear that this doesn't mean that anything goes. Paul gives us some boundaries in Corinthians. My own personal worship should not disrupt the worship of the congregation. When I participate in worship at other types of congregations, I try to honor their traditions. But now, I don't care if someone gives me a sideways glance because I, like David, will become even more undignified than this!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hp7B5V-qpTQ

SONGS FOR SUNDAY

Trading My Sorrows

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbUlzXTKIKU

It Is Well

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_EE1dnr0DA

Run to the Father

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcpeLDp0Foo

Yet Not I But Christ In Me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwc2d1Xt8gM