Of Worship and Hockey

Recently while attending church, something that the pastor said really got me thinking. He compared the act of worship to being at a hockey game, and the more I thought about it, the more sense it made. He said that at a hockey game, you cheer when your team scores because it is the most natural thing in the world. Nobody cheers because they feel that there is some rule or regulation that commands it, but simply because they are unable to hold in their joy and excitement. This, I believe, is how we should worship; a raw outpouring of praise because of who God is, what He has done, what He is currently doing, and what He will do in the future. Worship should not be fueled by the desire to conform to the expectations of the church, but fueled by our great love for God, no more, no less.

At a hockey game, or any other sports event,there will doubtless be some crazy diehard fans in attendance. You know the guys I'm talking about. They're the guys with the large bellies who seem to have lost their shirts, and in the process become covered in paint sporting the team's colors. By the middle of the first period, the paint has become smeared as it mixes with the streams of sweat running down his body (just thought I'd share that nice mental image with you). When the home team scores, they yell the loadest and have the craziest victory dances. Why am I writing about this? Simply because it parallels King David's celebration of praise and worship after God helped him achieve victory over his enemies. David, the most powerful king in the world at the time. stripped down and went dancing through the streets of the city. He did not care what others thought of him, including his horrified wife. His only concern was that God knew how grateful and thankful he was. I am not saying that we should all dance naked through the aisles of the sanctuary during the next worship service, but I still think that we can learn something from David. When we worship, it should be with a kind of reckless abandon, caring nothing for what others might think of us. I think that Starfield very effectively captures this desire loose the chains that prevent us from entering into this kind of worship, and at the same time our fear of doing so, in the song "All For You". One of the verses reads:

What is it in me

That hangs on for so long

Why do I fight the tears that come?

I work so hard to

Keep in control when

All that I want is to let go

I think that it is only when we let go of all these fears and worries of what others will think of us that we can finally enter into true worship. Well, those are my deep thoughts for the day, and, in keeping with the theme, GO OILERS!!!