Simple Worship

Worship does not have to be complicated. Wait, scratch that.

Worship IS NOT complicated. There is no checklist. There is no formula. There is no worship guru and there are no worship police roaming about handing out citations. The “rules” (if you want to call them that) are neither hard to follow nor difficult to understand. And, while I’d never want to minimize the necessity and power of worship, I have no problems pointing out the trouble we cause by over-complicating it.

“How do we do that,” you ask? In a number of ways. First, by imposing our idea of worship on others when, in fact, our expressions of worship could be as varied as our personalities; Second, by setting our ideas about worship in stone and using them as some sort of divinely carved out road map to the Lord’s presence; Third, by seeing worship as laborious and ritualistic, rather than freeing and fluid; And, finally, by not focusing our idea of worship on the only thing that really matters—pursuing the heart of God.

“So, how do we keep it simple,” you ask? Keep your pursuit of God and your passion for Him at the center of it all. Make worship about your love for Him and your desire to be connected, and all that’s complex and rigorous will begin to fall away. Try to look at worship in terms of “be,” then “do.” Be committed, be intimate, be with, then the doing (for me: singing, lifting my hands, screaming “I love you” at the top of my lungs) is effortless and spontaneous. Really, what could be simpler than spending quality time with the One you love? Correct me if I’m wrong, but that’s not supposed to be complicated.

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