Praiseship???

So it's definately summer again because here I am, typing away 20-30 minutes of my time, trying to keep my intellectual capacity up for the next four months that don't include some sort of studying or mandatory reading. Yes, I'm one of those strange guys who really ENJOYS learning.

We just played at an incredible event called Soul'd Out this past weekend, a show that we played at last year and an experience that we can never get enough of. Now before that, about 6 months actually, we recorded a live CD at another event. We were really looking forward to bringing them to the Rally with us, but only got them about three days beforehand. So we burnt them as quickly as possible and brought them out to Hampton with us.

After listening to it, Brian (guitarist) really remembered the nerves he had playing at the show. We talked about how we didn't want to mess up the CDs and how it was a really big deal. Well, like everything else that any normal person would just discuss and then let go, it got me thinking...that was a praise and worship event just like any other, so what could have caused him to tense up?

A couple of stories involving David really came into my mind strongly. In 2 Samuel 6 David was celebrating the coming of the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem. He showed his joy and praise to the Lord by dancing in front of it in nothing but his underwear. His wife Michal confronted him about it and he simply stated, "I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes." He was willing to lay down his own pride for the glory of the Lord in his praise, and most importantly, his worship.

In Psalms, David says to praise the Lord with stringed instruments and lyres, to lift a song of praise to Him. Brian told me that he had been nervous and so I began to ponder this. It hit me incredibly strongly a couple of days before Soul'd Out: WE are these people. Every time we worship we get to lift a song with stringed instruments and with our voices. In a sense, we are leading Modern Day Psalms.

So why is this titled Praiseship?? Well, because earlier I said that David danced almost naked in praise and in worship. The musical "genre" called Praise and Worship is seperated for a reason--they are two seperate things. At the Soul'd Out Youth Rally everyone lifted a song of praise. We all jumped around and sang to God on high. But I am sad to say that the odds are that someone was merely having a good time. Anyone can come up to the stage and sing praise and have a good time, but the concept of WORSHIP is one that is completely different. Worship is a lifestyle--it's not only the single event of David dancing through the streets, but the condition of his heart when doing it, the recorded events of his humble life, and the most likely recurrent dances that happened later in praise of his Heavenly Father.

Anyone can "praise" or sing it, but only when you combine the lifestyle of worship that you lead with those songs of praise and those psalms of stringed instruments can you make something holy and pleasing to the Lord. I encourage you--dance like an idiot, sing as loud as you have to to go out of key, smile constantly for the mercy you've received, and never, NEVER be ashamed of the praise that you are about to bring to the Father. The humility in your praise is a true sign of your worship lifestyle.

I'm sure anyone who was at Soul'd Out can attest to the extent of humility that Brian brought to that event. I can truly say that he was never more susceptible before the Lord, and the passion with which our music and praise came let it resignate. God bless everyone at that event and may you continue to live worship lifestyles worthy of the King. We hope to hear from and see all of our friends in Christ soon.