The Free Spirit of Worship

The subject of the “freedom to worship” in our community has come to mind a few times since Winterfest and I’ve been pondering it since then, especially in light of the debacle that CredoTV caused when they edited Friday Night Winterfest livestream after the conference to remove “Praise” from the video.

My team and I got the call that we’d been invited to lead worship Friday night at Winterfest in early January, just five weeks before the event. I remember texting the coordinator to ask if we could please do the altar call set for that night, because I had one song on my heart that I really really wanted to do, and that was “Praise” by Elevation Worship. We had done it at the 1|ONE conference in the fall, and there was such a joy when singing it that I knew it had to be done again.

But this is where I confess that I genuinely wouldn’t have had the courage to put it as part of the main altar call set because I knew there would be backlash…I would have done it as an exit song. Praise God he knows his vessels and their weaknesses, because that slot was already taken up by a young and bright-eyed worship group from North Carolina.

What’s wonderful is that as I prayed on it, I began to see what the Lord’s purpose was in putting our team first, and then Friday night of the conference when those young anointed worshippers went on stage, the purpose that they would end up playing was this—freedom in worship! It was so palpable, you could taste it.

Over and over the feedback I got from Friday was people saying they just felt such a freedom to worship and glorify the Lord that night, and I’m humbled that the Lord allowed our teams to play even a small role in facilitating that. I am also so deeply grateful to Fr. Bora for standing firm even in the face of strong opposition and allowing Winterfest to be a conference where the youth are able to come before the King and worship him in the way that they desire to—unrestricted and unfettered.

A Burning Desire

I was talking to two dear friends of mine recently. They’re a married couple with a heart for the young people. They had a group of young Romanian men over for dinner and they asked them, “what do you want to see in our churches?” And they genuinely didn’t have a very long list. Just three desires, one of them being this: “We want the freedom to worship in our churches”.

And when I hear that my heart was struck with sorrow.

Because I’ve felt that many times too, although I’ve learned to put aside my fear of what people would think if I raise my hands too high or move too much. My own conscience and fear of the Lord compels me to offer full worship when he asks me to, fully aware that to others I may look like a fool. It is what it is.

I was at a conference in OKC last October and I remember when the worship stopped, I had a bittersweet twinge of sadness come over me because I remember thinking, “gosh I wonder when the next time I get to freely worship in church like this will be.” No judgement, no self-consciousness, no fear of backlash because you decided in that moment to get to your knees and weep or to jump up and down in joy—just unfettered and holy worship.

But the Lord answered that prayer more quickly than I thought that Friday night at Winterfest.

The Plea

My plea to Romanian leaders, parents, shepherds at this moment in time is this: just let them worship!

Generation Z is by now two/three generations removed from the hard Soviet times that you lived through. I understand that under Ceausescu you couldn’t raise your hands out of fear that Securitate had their moles inside your churches who would whisper every detail of your worship to the authorities. I understand that to have a passion and zeal in those days meant trouble for you and your families, and that over the decades this became ingrained into our church culture as “the proper way to do things”.

I understand that our Romanian church fathers wanted to distinguish and separate themselves from anything that looked worldly, so to move one’s hands and body in worship became a no-no, just like so many things became “no-no’s” in those early days—coffee, perfume, jewelry, ties, pants, makeup, hair dye, and the list goes on.

I also understand that when the Romanian church moved stateside, we were faced with a large American culture that threatened our ethnic identity and therefore we held even tighter to how things were done “back then” out of fear that to give an inch in that direction would annihilate our Romanian identity.

But I have news for us. We are disciples of Jesus Christ first, everything else is second. And although our cultures will color the way we worship, we have a pretty clear template of it in the Scriptures that supersedes ethnic identity. If anything, I believe there is something to learn in how other cultures offer up praises to the Lord that we can benefit from. Especially cultures who had (or have) similar persecution but somehow did not fall into the same traps. The Chinese church comes to mind, and you can read about this in “The Insanity of God” by Nik Ripken. How do they have the courage to still exult the Lord with their hands and feet in face of even worse persecution?

I am reminded of the words that Moses spoke to Pharaoh in the book of Exodus. Some translations say the word “to serve” but the NLT translates it thus, and I think it is apt at this moment in time for all of us too:

“Then the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh. Tell him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go, so they can worship me.” Ex 9:13, NLT.

“But where is the reverence?” you may ask. Yes, it’s possible that in the enthusiasm of youth, reverence might be lost—but those are shepherding and discipleship opportunities for you as leaders and parents. Not something to be tamped down in the moment, but rather talked through and stewarded. Be mindful of the lesson learned in 2 Samuel 6:14-19, of the planks that sometimes cloud our own eyes when we seek to remove the toothpicks in the eyes of others.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ. Let’s create spaces for our young people to freely worship, let’s encourage them in their zeal and passion instead of insisting on cultural practices that have no merit or grounds in Scripture. In humility let’s admit that we as a church have dropped the ball on this for too long. Let’s teach them what true proper worship looks like as outlined in the Scriptures, and with boldness and courage demonstrate this ourselves when the Spirit of the Lord moves upon us!

So give them freedom.

Let His people go, so they can worship Him.

Amen.

“And David danced before the Lord with all his might. And David was wearing a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the horn. As the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart. And they brought in the ark of the Lord and set it in its place, inside the tent that David had pitched for it. And David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. And when David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts and distributed among all the people, the whole multitude of Israel, both men and women, a cake of bread, a portion of meat, and a cake of raisins to each one. Then all the people departed, each to his house.” 2 Sa 6:14–19.

“Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.” Ps 63:3–4.

“Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, who stand by night in the house of the Lord! Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the Lord!” Ps 134:1–2.

“Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the assembly of the godly! Let Israel be glad in his Maker; let the children of Zion rejoice in their King! Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre! For the Lord takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation.” Ps 149:1–4.

“Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!” Ps 150:1–6.