God welcomes those into his presence who want him. I had been in pastoral leadership for nearly 15 years when my thinking about corporate worship was transformed. Rather than tightly regimented gatherings, concerned over aesthetics, mechanics, and academic theology, we began to provide an unpressured portion of the service for free-flowing songs of praise and adoration. Within two years, our church began to experience God's glory and grace in new and more profound ways, an experience that continues still. Few things challenge our pride more than the simplest summons to expressiveness.
True worship humbles the heart.
Isaiah, a member of the cultural, educated elite of Judah, demonstrates a childlike humility and teachability. His cry, without a vestige of style-consciousness, reveals an unreserved availability to God. Because of the importance of humility, years ago I began encouraging people to become more expressive, both vocally and physically, in worship. Few things challenge our pride more than the simplest summons to expressiveness. I carry no brief for orchestrated calisthenics in church, as though a set of exercises made for superior liturgy.