The Divine Crash

On Saturday my son and I went to a neighboring local church.  I was not in charge, I had no leadership and most people there did not know me.  Only the pastor and the special guest preacher knew who I was.  It was quite refreshing to simply relax and worship.

In the middle of the service there was an opportunity to silently pray for those we love, in the midst of this silent time my two-year son looks at me and yells “Daddy!” and begins laughing, giggling, and trying to run around the pew area.  After this my son spent the rest of the service, including the sermon, going “lalalalalala” and making as much noise as possible.

At first I was horribly embarrassed.  He was distracting and I could tell he was getting on the nerves of the people around us.  As a result, I took those first minutes and tried to shush my son and shove snacks in his face so that he would be quiet.  None of it was working and now the pew was full of cracker crumbs.

Then it struck me, what if what my son was doing was real worship.  He was being himself in a sacred place before God.

What if that was real prayer, to be silent before God and look at God and scream “Daddy!” from the bottom of our heart?

What if pure worship is not simply showing up once a week and being quiet when someone talks but letting our inner-self out and singing whatever is on our heart, even if it come out as gibberish and annoying to those around us?

What if it is true discipleship because no one can stop us no matter how many snacks get shoved in our face or toys get put in front of us?

After realizing all of this I stopped trying to quiet my son and began to listen to what he was saying because maybe he was connecting to the divine more than anyone else in the room.

So then, if my son was worshipping better than anyone else in that room perhaps that is the way to worship.

• To call God “Daddy” when we pray
• To sing out and make noise to God, whether it makes sense or not.
• To never stop no matter what other people think.

Maybe? Or maybe real worship is just sitting in a pew once a week for an hour and doing it quietly and ignorantly sucking in all the words and then leaving without ever experiencing the risen Jesus.

Filed under:
Family by RevBT