Worshipping God is like being in a playground!

Playing in a playground can be viewed in different ways from a child’s perspective.

If you’re alone it may be intimidating if you don’t know anyone.  You step onto the playground and you slowly turn your head to take a panoramic view and while doing this you may get bumped a couple of times from someone running past you.

You see those swinging on the swings so very high that it seems like they may touch the sky!  You ask yourself if you would be afraid to go so fast and so high. You turn and watch those on the see-saw (teeter-totter) wondering if you’d hurt your bottom if you hit the ground too hard or fall off while it rose up.

There are some children in the distance on the slide and it is a huge slide.  How many steps are there to the top?  It’s so high!  “Will I be scared?” you ask yourself.

Then there are the monkey bars and the catwalk.  Oh, you ask yourself— “will I be able to do those too?”

Now you can either be afraid or intimidated by the number of children on all these apparatuses or be filled with excitement to try new and different ways of having fun.  Is this playground filled with chaos or just different ways of having fun?

To the newcomer entering the area, it may seem chaotic if they have never been to a playground before. But from an aerial view, it’s very much decent and in order.  There are some on the swings, some on the see-saw, the slide, monkey bars, catwalk and those running.

Worshipping God in a church setting is very much the same thing.  There are those singing with their hands high in the air, reaching for God. It’s kind of like when you are a kid and you put your arms up for your Daddy to pick you up and hold you.  So, you put your arms up to be held by God’s love.

Then there are some who might get down on their knees and bow down to worship.  Some may even lay down on their stomachs with their arms stretched out praising God.  Some may be using flags to move to the beat of the music and singing loud for all to hear. And others singing may have their heads bowed with tears streaming down their faces because their heart aches and longs to know God more.

To a newcomer entering the church, this may be intimidating, uncomfortable, yet once you start singing praise to God—in time this all changes.

This is not a chaotic worship, which many of us from our backgrounds may judge it to be; but instead, have the perspective of looking down from above onto the people. We’re like the kids in the playground.  Everyone is enjoying their own personal way of worship—like playing in the playground of church.

Perhaps God’s perspective is, as He is looking down upon us, it is decent and in order.  We are His kids having fun and enjoying Him as our Father! Loving and praising our Father! He may even be winking His eye and saying, “that’s the way, kids—go for it and have fun!”

 

[Written by Susan R Behlen]