My family and I attend a church where ear plugs are available at the entrance to our worship center. I’ve never used the earplugs at church but I probably should to preserve my long-term hearing. I know many of you, due to the previous two sentences, have already condemned the church I attend. Let me help by giving you some more ammunition. In addition to the high decibels, each worship song is usually accompanied by a surprisingly sophisticated light show keeping in movement to the vocals, guitars and drums. Occasionally the fog machine is working so hard you can’t see all the way across the worship center.
You might think anything would be acceptable in such a rocking environment. Recently, however, something happened during the worship service which clearly distracted a majority of the people. I will refer to this woman as the “crazy worship lady.” This middle-aged woman only stood about 5’ 4” but her worship packed a disproportionate punch. For unhindered movement she spent the worship time in the middle of the aisle. When the lyrics mentioned “falling before God” she would actually fall on the ground. When a lyric spoke of God being “our everything” she would intensely look around at everyone else making motions that seemed to convey, “you, yeah you, you with me?” Most people didn’t make eye contact hoping she would leave them alone.
When the lyrics moved toward Jesus being victorious she seemed to literally go crazy. She moved her head every which way making her hair look like it was caught in a pulsating blender. She surprised me by having pretty impressive air-time as she jumped up and down during the “Jesus victorious” song. I was surprised, furthermore, to hear her muster enough volume to yell words not on the big screen which I could hear over the loud vocals, guitars and drums. It sounded like she was trying to tell someone something in the middle of all the falling, jumping and hair shaking.
After about ten minutes of this behavior a couple of the burly ushers moved into position close to the crazy worship lady (they obviously don’t call them ushers at a church like this but you know what I’m talking about). The ushers didn’t do anything except keep an eye on her and we were soon seated for the sermon. I was waiting for her to doing something crazy during the sermon and even had a plan in my head how I would help out if she needed to be tackled. She sat calmly during the sermon.
The sermon ended, we gathered our kids from the lower decibel children’s area, and headed back home. En route my wife asked me the question we both knew was coming, “What did you think about that lady?” I knew what she was talking about but just for fun I verified by asking, “You mean the crazy worship lady?” She laughed a little and it was clear we were talking about the same person.
My response was already formed. While watching the crazy worship lady I knew instantly what I thought about her actions. I was able to answer my wife immediately. Before I give you my response, however, I want you to know a little bit of my background.
Some Background
I started my “religious” life going to a Roman Catholic church. My earliest memories of “worship” come from the mass and from a surprisingly skilled nun playing the guitar and singing while we joined along as best we could. From there my family attended a very traditional small town Methodist church. We typically sang through a collection of about 25 hymns. I don’t remember ever singing the 3rd stanza. We always sang 1, 2 and 4. If you are reading this and about to write a hymn don’t spend too much time on the 3rd stanza, everyone will skip it for some unknown reason.
I then went to college and God rescued me from my sins through my risen Savior. The first church I went to as a believer had a blended worship style. Sometimes we sang hymns traditionally, other times we sang hymns which had been “modernized”, but more and more we would sing the newest stuff from the Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) scene. A lot of those early songs I fell in love with would now be a cheesy embarrassment if sang in my church today.
I went from the large-gathering CCM’ish scene to my first church out of college consisting of 20 people. I was in Madison, WI and the pastor was a relative of the family so I felt obligated to check it out. The worship pastor, campus pastor, executive pastor and senior pastor were all the same guy. Many times our singing would be accompanied by a karaoke-style tape.
From there my job moved me to another state and another church. This church had a lot of great things going for it but had a background many people today would consider strange. The older people in the church, especially, still thought it was of the devil to watch a movie, listen to any kind of contemporary music and dance. When the church eventually added drums to the worship team many of the key families left the church.
The Lord then led me to Dallas Theological Seminary. I’ve overheard Chuck Swindoll say he feels the closest to heaven when singing, “It is Well with my Soul” in the Dallas Seminary chapel. Every chapel service consists of one and only one hymn usually sung a cappella by 400+ people. During my seven years of seminary (slow learner) our church had a symphony. Yes, you heard me correctly. Violins, oboes, trumpets, trombones, and timpani we had it all. In addition to the symphony stood the 100 member choir belting forth 1, 2 and 4 stanza hymns.
True Worship
Ok, stay with me. I’m getting very close to answering my wife’s question. What did I think about the crazy worship lady? I have one more experience I first need to get off my chest. I’ve been reading through the newest edition of Christianity Today. I came across an interview with T. David Gordon regarding his book Why Johnny Can’t Sing Hymns. Dr. Gordon makes the statement contemporary worship music should only be permissible if it will prevent a church from splitting. He then goes on to say the reason churches are not hymn-only is due to a lack of musical education. If a church wants to rediscover deep worship they need to re-educate their people away from pop-culture music to a deeper ability in joining the musical excellence found in hymns.
What about the Crazy Lady?
I would primarily concede Dr. Gordon’s arguments if we were gathering to worship music. We do not, however, gather to worship music. Let me say that again. When the local church gathers together for communal worship the object is not music. The local community gathers to collectively worship a living triune God.
My first response: annoyance. How could this lady be so selfish? She doesn’t even know she’s so distracting. The angry faces from people all around her made it clear I wasn’t the only person initially annoyed.
As I looked over again to the crazy worship lady I was convicted. Why am I not like her? Is my primary interest sounding good and looking normal? This lady had gathered together with a heart prepared to give right allegiance to her living God. She was ruined by a massive God. She couldn’t stand upright and sing about His greatness. It was as if Isaiah was falling on his face right before my eyes (Isaiah 6:5). When singing the “Jesus Victorious” song I was watching David dancing in the delight of the Lord (2 Samuel 6:14).
I had to ask myself, “If I was Jesus what would I think of the crazy worship lady?” I thought of the Moravian missionaries leaving their comfortable surroundings proclaiming, “May the lamb who was slain receive the reward of his suffering.” I was watching a woman give Jesus the reward of His suffering. She cared more about God than her surroundings.
I turned my gaze to heaven with tears running down my face and let Jesus know He’s victorious in my life as well. Years spent studying Greek, Hebrew, Church History and Systematic Theology continue to bless my soul. The Crazy Worship Lady, however, helped educate me toward the heart of worship.
My response to my wife, “In short, I thought she was great. We need her in this church.”
I hope your church has at least one crazy worship lady. Maybe you’re that lady? What do you think?
110 replies to "The Crazy Worship Lady"
I’ve worshiped in both reserved Congregationalist settings and wide-open charismatic settings. What always kind of sticks with me is that in the charismatic setting I frequently had folks say “Didn’t you just feel the Lord’s presence?” I was always polite in my response “Yes, I did.” But it bothers me when folks worship for effect–the effect on themselves. Shouldn’t we be worshiping for the effect that it has ON GOD? Besides, God tells us that He is always present. Where did we get the idea that we had to contort ourselves in order for Him to grace us with His presence?
While this lady may indeed have a mental illness, I couldn’t help but think of David dancing before the Lord as the ark was carried into Jerusalem. When his wife accused him she was barren the rest of her life.
Lisa and Curt,
I want you to know that it was obvious this lady wasn’t being selfish. If you were to talk with her afterward I imagine she would be embarrassed that you were disappointed by her behavior. Her response would probably be, “I’m sorry, I just got lost in God.” Should I tell her, “Apology accepted, just don’t let it happen again.” Of course there are scriptural boundaries but as I’ve worshiped with people in Developing countries I’ve come to realize I don’t think most churches in America come close to approaching those boundaries. But yes, within some charismatic waves things have been taken to extreme…I’m not talking about letting people bark in tongues.
In no way am I saying we should worship worship. Many times I’ve been in a worship service w/Chuck Swindoll and watched him sobbing in the middle of a hymn…he’s the loudest person in the room. I don’t condemn him…through seeing him I was encouraged to examine my worship of a living God…
Look at these crazy people …
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIrxjUijoV8
They need to take it down a notch.
I hear you, Tim. I think Paul’s approach in 1 Cor 12-14 of dealing with two opposing extremes is applicable to the church today. While there are many churches who seek extreme experiences to somehow validate their worship, there are also many churches that are frightened and even judgmental about anything outside of their box.
As a pastor, though, I need to—and have a scriptural responsibility to—provide atmosphere of freedom in worship while intentionally guarding against extremes that will distract others from worshiping God. When something or someone distracts others from their ability to share in the study of God’s Word, I have an obligation to deal—lovingly and gently—with that distraction. The same is true if someone is distracting others from worshiping God through music, etc.
We also need to be careful how much we base on the accunt of David dancing with all his might. Don’t forget that this is a narrative account, not a didactic passage. I don’t recall anything in the account affirming David’s exuberance as a pattern for us to follow. It’s clear that Michal was cursed for despising David in her heart. That’s a far cry from discussing the appropriateness or inappropriateness of a method of worship. Just because someone in a biblical narrative does something doesn’t establish it as a pattern for us to follow.
And one more thing, I’m sure that many of the Corinthians who were all speaking in tongues at once had the best of intentions. But having good intentions doesn’t necessarily mean that your actions will be appropriate. If I am the one observing, I shouldn’t condemn. But I myself should seek to worship in a way that will be most edifying to my brothers and sisters. And church pastors have the duty of facilitating this balance.
After being in all kinds of worship services, I see that worship often sets the tone for the sermon by either preparing people to receive the word of God or turning them off, a point often overlooked I fear.
Overly emotional responses to music do not necessarily indicate the true inner level of devotion to God, simply because a pretty secular song can also move us to tears or to dancing and clapping and stomping our feet, whether we’re believers or not.
Only God can gauge the true devotion of a heart turned toward Him, whether we clap, stand quietly or don’t sing at all, which I don’t sometimes simply because I love hearing all the other voices raised in harmony. It blesses me greatly to bow my head sometimes and just listen, and I hope it does God.
I have seen lots of ‘crazy worship ladies’ over the years. Their running the aisles can actually be as distracting to others as parents who let their children do the same. How many churches would permit that?
No, I’m not suggesting that the lady was being selfish or trying to draw attention to herself. But I am suggesting that we should be mindful of how our actions correlate to the corporate setting. I can’t speak to people’s motives. But I also realize I’m influenced by previous experience where body movements and noise level correlated to our level of worship. If somebody was uncomfortable with that, they were the ones that didn’t get it and needed to get with the worship program.
I also think its a matter of distraction not necessarily how one worships. A fellow classmate commented recently how when he spent 6 months in Africa, he had to adjust to a different style of corporate worship, otherwise he would have stood out.
My church is fairly subdued during worship although people raise their hands. But there is this one lady who sits up front, and even when no one else is standing, she will stand and lift her arms straight up to the sky. It deviates but its not…
distracting. In fact, I am always impressed with her expressions of worship. But I think it would be different if she were moving around or getting others to join in. At that point, it would be a distraction.
Good Post
…and LOL at singing versus 1,2, and 4 – who ever came up with this popular method? I used to go to a church full of crazy worship ladies – it had pitfalls for sure, but allowed me to freely worship God when he told me to (never needed to worry about attracting undo attention since others were always worshiping more visibly). I miss that freedom!
The music, the beat, the lights, the charged atmosphere…can all overwhelm the Word.
The Church ought be counter-cultural. Instead we give ourselves over to the culture, lock, stock and barrel,
well ,here is a true tale that happened last sunday, in my church, its normal in all ways, we do just hymns , with a keyboard player, in middle of the service, maybe a little near the end of it [ breaking the bread ] this old lady walked in the front door ,walked down the aisle ,and sat down, she did not make a sound, she never done any dancing, she just sat down, yet lots of eyes were fixed on old lady, WHY YOU ASK, well could it be the DOG, she had with her, yes no kidding, she this quiet old lady, had not understood, at all the worship of god, service, but after the service, we had the fun-time of our lifes, some of the jokes, were great, MAYBE people we are just too uptight, and its time for us to chill- out, we are all not the same, but none of us is without SIN, i was in a tongues type church for 6 years, and apart from the doctrine sometimes far from the bible truth , having the music set on the stage, like +the lighting we sometimes made it like a rock show, god bless
Carrie, lot’s of things can draw our “own attention towards God”, but none of them are things I wished occurred everyday…earthquakes, hurricanes, death, demonic activity, etc.
Having been involved in worship from different sides I think it is common for people on both sides to be judgmental and both sides to take things to extremes. The description 1 Corinthians 14:26-40 sounds fairly informal. But it is easy to read in our idea of worship. It is unfair to jump to the conclusion is self promoting, because they do not worship our way. Before it talks about the weaker brother (Who is the weaker brother here?), it tells us not to judge or look down on others (Romans 14:1-12).
Dr. Michael,
That’s a sound analogy.
Didn’t have the time to read all the responses but rather just a few here and there. Good article Tim, but I don’t think I could worship with the distractions. I’m not about to judge this Crazy lady’s heart or her intent in how she worships but it certainly wouldn’t be my approach to worship. I believe that is why we have different worship times ( contemporary/ traditional, etc.) where by christians of like mindedness can express their worship with those like minded. We’re all folks with different personalities and worship appetites. Birds of a feather flock together works for me.
In heaven, we will all be crazy worship ladies. I have always had this kind of heart of worship but could never fully unleash it because of a fear of man (all of the reactions to c.w.l. you noted in your article). I find that worship in my own living room is freer and fuller and more blessed than any I could have in a church. But God in His mercy understands and accepts and most importantly SEES what is in our hearts. That’s why it’s most important to have our heart right as we worship.
P.S. I did not like the way you opened and ran your article as if to criticize this woman and then flipped it at the end. It rang very false to me.
I mostly agree (of course I couldn’t attend any church that had a fog machine) but one thing always stands out to me. Most “Crazy Worship Ladies” never ever get excited about the sermon. I mean, come on, God is feeding his sheep through his messenger with the very words of God! Worship in Spirit AND Truth. We need to lift our hands toward heaven, praise the LORD, shout, holler “amen”, and have tears just as much when the bible is being applied to hearts as when the music is playing. Watch what it does for your Pastor. He’ll stop teaching and go to PREACHIN!
The “crazy” worship lady sounds much like David when he danced before the Lord.
That said, there are some that actually do worship the music. There is a forum on the topic about loud music (sorry, I don’t have the web address handy) and many speak only about the drums, the bass, the experience of the music (not worship) – like they are hypnotized – but sadly, they say nothing about the Savior. It’s good to hear there are those who stay focused on the message/lyrics.
“But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” Jn 4:23-24
“Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.” James 1:27
Sure – I’ve seen people with demonstrative worship styles, and wonder if I really can make a value judgement for those who are more physical or energetic? The quality of worship comes from my closeness to God and my delight in Him, whether you can see it or not.
Yet, in the Psalms, they tell us over and over again to make a loud noise, play music, raise hands, etc., so I think that God likes us to show sincere joy and enthusiasm when it is present!
Disruption can be dealt with discreetly and with the proper decorum – if someone consistently spoils another’s worship time, it must be addressed.
Wasn’t she just doing what people do to that kind of music generally? Why are you surprised that crazy worship lady goes crazy during crazy worship?
I agree that the music is not being worshipped and making a joyful noise to the Lord is something I do well. Perhaps it was a time that the Holy Spirit was working for the Crazy Lady. I would have prayed for her that the Holy Sprirt lead her to, or not do.
If it’s ok w/God it’s ok w/me.
Personally, I have a bigger issue with the visual trappings of lights and fog than I do with people being “overly” (quotation marks intended!) expressive in their worship time.
I don’t think real worship can only be expressed physically in one way, or even several ways, in order to count. I can’t judge a person’s quality of worship by the way it looks. Whether it is genuine or not, God knows, and he’s the one whose approval matters.
In my personal experience, when I am truly worshiping — whether with hands in the air or clasped in my lap or anything in between — I couldn’t care less what the people around me are doing. If our corporate eyes are fixed on the Lord, why should we be concerned about being distracted by our surroundings at all? Maybe if we are, we’ve got our eyes on the wrong things.
Madison Wisconsin, God is so Good. I wish God would have crossed our paths. My God always keep our hearts and minds open to understand worship is unto Him, it is about Him. Praise God that it is
I worship the God of order and a sound mind, not confusion.
Great things to discuss and think about. Rose, I agree with our need to worship God in Spirit and Truth. Yes, God is a God of order. But one of the challenges from my post is to wonder if we’ve used order, soundness and confusion to tame our worship experience. I’m not advocating chaos but our human experience reveals many times where we are corporately passionate (sporting events, concerts, etc…) but we would still consider the environment orderly. Even something as tame as a symphony performance will usually find someone “looking” more passionate than many people during a worship time of our living God.
I know man looks at the outside and God looks at the heart but any pastor who looks into the faces of his congregation can tell you after a while you do learn quite a bit about a person’s heart by looking at their facial expression and body posture.
-Tim
There are passages of scripture that have rarely been applied to our NT worship but should be. Matthew 6:1-18 persuades us to let our giving, prayer, and fasting be between God and us. It does so with a context of our public religious behavior. Second premise application to our public worship gives us a loud and clear admonition. Our focus should be on God. We have a duty to make ourselves as inconspicuous as possible. Other passages with first premise application define worship.
If a person does not wish to judge the ladies motives they still have a duty to judge her seen behavior and its effects on the worshippers.
Leaders in the church should seek out this “crazy lady” and seek to minister to her and discuss her behavior. Also, this lady may in reality be “crazy.” Perhaps she suffers from mental illness and needs help. We have a duty to lovingly but with discernment counsel this woman. We also have a duty to be able to recognize what is totally unacceptable behavior in true…
Awsome topic Tim! I was saved in a charismatic church and still attend that church while attending a “seeker sensitive” mega church and a small group part of a more missional church. So I have 3 totally different worship experiences each week. What i have found is the “quiet” contemplative worship has as “authentic” an “experience” as the “crazy worship lady” as the “crying people”. The problem occurs when types begin to devalue one another.
Me and my fiancee are more passionate worshippers and sit in the front row of the mega church to freely worship and not feel constrained by the fellow 3000 worshippers. I personally feel weird raising my hands or jumping alone, so we sit in front and imagine everyone else is doing the same! Lol. The Pastor has personally thanked us frequently for our worship and saves us seets in front each week! Lol
Love God with your being and the 2nd is like the previous love man. Then its obvious that our worship of God will complement others in the worship with us.
Looks like she did that for you Tim for her presence demanded of you honesty. I don’t know what it did to the “ushers” beside her.
I would also think, that since God loves variety – he surely loves the headbangers with the “uptight.” I’ve also noticed that headbangers appreciate insights from those of v1,2, and 4 and those of 1,2,& 4 are challenged by the headbangers.
What will heaven be like? I think of 1 Cor 2:9
No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.
I’m open to the shock of having missed it completely. But trusting the the Spirits leading… I worship
Hi Tim Kimberley,
What do you think of the perspective in this post: The Sacred Swoon?
I’m late here…just happened across this post… my thoughts?
If crazy worship lady is genuinely worshiping from her heart,, then good for her.
Better for her would be to operate in love and worship her God by loving His people around them.
I used to be part of a dance team. I’ve grown up in churches where arm raising and dancing is accepted.
I married a man who finds women dancing in worship…even if they’re fully clothed in long wide dresses that totally disguise their form…extremely distracting. He says that, by looking around the churches then, and seeing how many men were studiously NOT watching the dancer, that he wasn’t alone.
So now what is worshiping God? Worshiping Him “in freedom?” Or worshiping Him by laying down myself for the sake of my brothers in Christ?
Also… I’m beginning to think that, in many circles, the quieter worshipers are sometimes less judgmental than those of us who think we’re free. Because we can and do and enjoy worshiping with expression and emotion, we think that those who are standing quietly are holding back and not worshiping…when the truth is that there are just as many verses talking about standing and awe and quietness and stillness before God.
I think we ALL need to A) quit judging other people’s worship, for either good or bad, and B) quit feeling guilty about our own based on somebody else’s. (I know that God can sometimes speak to our own heart using someone else’s life, and I’m not discounting that. But I think most of our thoughts about other people’s worship are NOT Holy Spirit inspired.)
I like what the 93 year old woman said. “I just concentrate and Jesus and the words.” May we all do that and remember that the purpose of gathering together is to BUILD EACH OTHER UP.
I should also add that I think God leads different churches to worship in different ways, for exactly the reasons that so many here mention. What is distracting to one is not to others. What helps one to worship does not help another. It is a GOOD thing that African churches worship in the way that their people can more easily do so, and it is GOOD if a Baptist church worships in a way that makes it easy for their congregation members to do so. And it is GOOD when a contemporary church worships in a way that enables their members to meet God.
Why do we all sometimes talk as though, because we don’t all worship the same way, we’re not all worshiping the way God wants us to? I say that God wants millions of churches to worship in millions of different ways. Because only the variety of expression can come even close to giving Him what He’s worthy of.
I had come from a full gospel background, and started attending a church recently where I would be safe saying, we have many crazy worship people! After attending this church the first time God made it very clear to me, how I have put Him into a box. Sadly enough many of us have created our own ideas of what worship, or church should look like. But, if you seek God for truth on this, He will be faithful to show you exactly that. He wants every single part of our lives, and why shouldn’t our worship be ratical? We serve a ratical God, and in this day and age, because of hardend hearts, I believe crazy or ratical is exactly what it is going to take to shake the heart of this world!!!
Hi Tammy, I have an honest question for you. Let’s say there are two Christians in a worship service. One does not necessarily use body motions but his heart is wide open in submission to Christ and adoration of God. Because of that worship experience, he has a fruitful week in obedience to the gospel and maybe even repenting things that have hindered him.
Now let’s say you have someone in the same worship service who is engaged in radical praise and worship, to the extent that there is little reflection on submission to God only that they are not putting God in a box. As a consequence, that person leaves the worship service unchanged and bearing little fruit that week.
Which Christian has engaged in a greater level of worship and which Christian has put God in a box?
Perhaps we should be careful in ascribing a particular methodology to worship as what God wants.
I was raised Southern Baptist, only the men allowed to speak in church. We sang all the traditional hymns, which I love to this day. As I grew older, I attended Baptist churches from Texas to Oklahoma. I wound up converting to a non-denominational church in 1988. Praise and worship were a big thing, & I loved it. I live in Texas again, and attend First Freewill Baptist in Bowie TX. We do the old hymns, but we incorporate the new stuff. As long as the spirit is toward Jesus, & the worship there-of, I am all for it. I refuse to prohibit another persons type of worship toward Christ. Crazy lady or not, sounds to me like she loves Jesus. That’s what it’s all about. Raising hands, jumping, dancing, singing, lying prostate on the floor–if it’s worshipping our Creator & Savior, we would be CRAZY NOT TO.
I attend a charasmatic church that is very orderly, however occasionally we have a ‘crazy worship lady’. Unfortunately, my son-in-law attended when she was overly zealous and refuses to return to church. How tragic.
Many acts of ecstasy are similar in form and appearance to heathen practices of worship. The description of the “crazy woman” could as easily be described by someone observing a dervish whirling. The writer, I think, needs to connect this act or practice to Christianity and Biblical teaching.
1. What was Biblical or spiritual about the practice?
2. What is the Biblical basis or understanding of this behavior?
3. How is this different from pagan/heathen behavior that is similar in appearance.
4. How is this behavior the worship of God?
Someone has aptly observed, “What we call worship is often more about is pleasing to me rather than what is pleasing to God.”
Roland,
Thanks for voicing concerns and questions I have had running around in my mind to but hadn’t sat down here and expressed. I think your questions and concerns are very valid ones.
Greetings,
I enjoy reading about other believer’s experiences in our community of the ekklesia. As every believer makes the ekklesia of the New Testament, the body of Jesus, we must utilize every opportunity to reach out and share our stories for the edification and exhortation of every believer, the body.
I must also establish my own position in our community of faith. While I am not opposed to blended worship, I am opposed to constructed and organized (pre-planned) worship. Paul was specifically discussing the presentation and order of spiritual gifts being exercised when he stated there must be order in church. Scripture must be interpreted in context to avoid literary mistakes and missed meaning.
This woman was drunk with the blood of Jesus and this should serve as a lesson of conviction to every believer who reads the Bible. We must be careful to avoid judging another’s style of worship and instead ask God if we must change our own. http://www.theologyoftruth.com
drunk with the blood of Jesus
What??
95 comments and going…traffic competing with Calvinistic topis!
@ Richard: “drunk with the blood of Jesus?” This is kinda freaky!!!
@ Sharon C:“sounds to me like she loves Jesus” As it has been observed in the earlier comments, outward expression is no barometer for devotion. Have you considered the underground church in the former communist USSR who met & worshiped in secret for years? Women wearing head coverings (a cultural norm in the communist 80s) and all of them being quite reserved (some westerners may even find them ‘cold’). They endured persecution and displayed remarkable courage & boldness in the midst of adversity. Same goes for the underground Chinese church under Mao Tse Tung.
By your definition then, African Americans who are some of the most animated worshipers, must be the most devoted & spiritual Christians on the planet, and the rest of us have a lot of catching up to do!
I commented earlier and used the statement “drunk with the blood of Jesus” to describe the possible status of that woman. This is also known as “filled with the Spirit.” There seems to be some confusion regarding this statement and some are confused about the meaning. I hope I clarified my intention for this choice of wording.
I am disappointed at how many posts have appeared regarding someone elses’ worship style. Worship is in spirit and truth and music has become more important than the worship described in the New Terstament . We observe concerts and performers of professional grade when we should be all singing with our voices to God. God cannot enter into our worship of Him when we attempt to invoke Him using technology. He created man to relate to Him in spirit and truth. How is electric and manipulated sound spirit and truth.
http://www.theologyoftruth.com/http://www.facebook.com/pages/Theology-of-Truth/167009843348992
Richard, I think we figured what you were trying to say, but you chose quite an eccentric way to describe it.
Many of charismatic heritage and orientation, make the assumption that a vivacious and animated display during ‘worship time’ is a sure sign of spirit infilling. As someone pointed out earlier, many cults have similar types of experiences and so do people who win a car on Oprah or when the Lakers score a point!
Let’s imagine a congregation of 1000 who ‘feels inspired’ by the crazy worship lady’s experience and decides to join in. Would that look like ‘worship’ to a stranger who walked in or like a group of turrets syndrome sufferers?
Hi Richard,
Being filled with the Spirit is not being drunk with the blood of Jesus. In fact, I would challenge you to support that on Biblical grounds. Being filled with the Spirit is yielding control to the Spirit, which happens when we surrender to the Spirit. That may or may not result in bodily movements but will necessarily result in worship and bearing fruit. Just because a person is standing still does not mean they are not worshiping God and just because someone is moving about does not mean that they are worshiping Him.
Also Richard (and others who think Spirit-filled means lots of movement), please take a look at this
http://www.reclaimingthemind.org/blog/2010/11/full-gospel-christianity-a-theology-of-more-ii/
I’m definitely a quiet worshiper but people have different styles of worship. And though CWL may have been a little distracting I am sure she was pleasing to the Lord.
This story so reminds me of David and Michal in 2 Sam 6. Michal didn’t approve of the way David danced before the Lord publicly … she ended up being set aside.
[…] third installment kind of touches on Tim’s post, The Crazy Worship Lady. But it is not to discuss what is or is not appropriate in a worship setting. As in A Theology […]
I’ve been in services where I would have appreciated airplugs for the way my ears were ringing by the end of the worship. I personally prefer quieter, more contemplative worship, but I can appreciate all styles and personalities.
I was just in a service in which a guy a few seats down was clapping his hands to the music – but his clapping was so loud that it hurt my ears. I didn’t have the wherewithal to ask him to clap quieter, becaus I labor under this idea that if his worship is sincere, he should have that freedom. Maybe I’m wrong?