Worship. I've always been drawn in to "worship in spirit and in truth." When I first committed my life to God when I was 19, the easiest part of church was to worship God. I had no qualms about just giving it everything I had to worship Jesus and not hold any of myself back.

 

However, on one Sunday night, as I was being my usual exuberant self, one of the ladies of the church, a faithful, spirit filled, prayer warrior in the church tapped me on the shoulder and with a serious look on her face asked me, "Are you part black?"

 

Now I won't get into serious racial sensitivity issues in a small town church; I'll save that for another forum. The fact of the matter is, because I was dancing and worshipping, I was asked a completely inappropriate question (in any forum). This caused my heart to fall, and it resulted in a passion for worship being sucked out of me.

 

As the years have passed I have not found the liberty to freely worship like I did when I was a new Christian. It seems as though when I finally get to a place where I can let go and worship, I get another comment. Most recently was a few weeks ago when some of my daughter's friends asked her why I was dancing so much during worship. As a father I never want to be an embarrassment to my children, but I also want them to know that they can freely worship and not to worry about what other people think.

 

It is a conundrum to say the least. As I was relaying this story to some friends earlier this month, a song came to my head. Oddly enough the song is from 1996, just a couple years after the first incident. I thought of Fred Hammond's "When The Spirit Of The Lord" from his album, Spirit of David. The song is easy sing and easier to dance to to, and if you want to get really wild and crazy, you can check out Salvador's version as well which adds a little Latin flair.

 

The lyrics are simply, "When the Spirit of the Lord comes upon my heart / I will dance like David danced / When the Spirit of the Lord comes upon my heart / I will dance like David danced." 

 

This of course is in reference to 2 Samuel 6 when "David, ceremonially dressed in priest's linen, danced with great abandon before God." (MSG) This is where I want to be again, I want to dance like David danced (except keeping my clothes on). If I can't have freedom to worship Christ, it will be hard to have freedom with anything else.