What is worship? I believe worship is different for each person. I attended the church where our kids go to school today. We were there for both services, and I was drawn to both. Same sermon, different songs, a group of different people. I found myself listening, intently, not just to the sermon but also to the space and the music and the people.

I noticed a quiet. A calm. A focus. It wasn’t on who was beside who, or what color socks went with a some guys pants. It was about God, about presence. And God was present.

I have been to many a church, and seen different styles of worship. Corporate, as in 1,000 people in one place doing the same thing, to 12 people in a trailer together, intimate, as well as those in between. I have also witnessed a single person sitting on a rock by a lake listening, reading and breathing God in. They are all different and unique.

There are times when being taken out of the “normalness” of the worship you attend can bring you closer and more in tune with God and His people. We are not members of the church we visited, yet that was not an issue. Worship is God touching us and us reaching to Him. We were part, mixed in and mixed up with His people.

Stepping out of the normalcy can make you appreciate the church body you belong to. It can also make you aware of aspects that may be missing. To experience worship in other settings can reveal to you how best it is that you meet God and how He meets you. It can be exceedingly insightful.

Raising hands in Praise, closing our eyes, or even stuffing our hands in our pockets. How is it you worship? How does God move you? How do you open your heart and mind to Him, letting Him fill you and use you in His world?

With hands raised, and arms wide open!

Amen