Regional Worship Night @ River
I had forgotten my notepad, but had my cell phone as a readied backup for catching quotes and one-liners. I was ready to soak up the knowledge and then spill it out on this blog. But…April had to tell me that there wasn’t going to be a sermon. Or a speaker, really. And she told me this halfway through the night. It was gonna be all singing.
Obviously, that’s not bad, but for a writer, I thought, “Okay, I guess I’ll just hang out and enjoy this then. What could I possibly write about? I mean the music is awesome, I’m learning the songs which is greatness and there were some very annointed original jams, but that’ll take two seconds to explain. I’m just gonna live in this moment.” (That’s pretty much a Cliff’s Notes version of my thought process that night.)
So, I put the phone on the ground next to my flip-flops and started worshipping. (Side note: Jason Ellis once saw me barefoot during one of the services and asked if this was a hippy church. It was funny.) So, for me, the only real singing I do is via shower solos, Band Hero moments or in the car with the fam. I’m not well-versed in the whole “sing and dance at church” thing yet. Come on, I was raised a Methodist. You just didn’t do those things in your Sunday best. Maybe they’re cool with it now. Who knows? But, wow, this has become a tangent. Okay…
Like I said, singing and dancing at church makes me a tad nervous. I usually sing just loud enough so that April knows I’m singing and is happy about it. My hands are usually in my pockets or pretending I know how to play the drums on the back of the chair in front of me. I don’t dance and I rarely shuffle my feet. But…
Three rows back from the front does something to a man. I would say it also does something to a woman, but I’m not a woman. I think April said she felt it, too…so there. And “it” was something. Not quite tangible like an orange, but easier to get a handle on than cotton candy. It made you want to get in the groove. I mean, I was dancing a bit. I had Eli up and bouncing to the rythm. It was cool. Oh yea, I think I was singing loudly at points. Hey, my wife says I sing good…
This all to say what I have been wanting to delve into the mystery of: “does worship – and church in general – get more interesting the closer up you sit to the action?” The answer is: yep.
I usually do the back row thing wherever I go. It’s easier to see everything. You got the whole room covered. You can Houdini if you have to without shaking a million hands. It’s just easier. But, now I see it is way less fun to do at church. To our credit, April and I have been slowly moving up rows. This night April wanted to sit even closer. Was I worried? At first. But, add “excited” in there, too. I would finally get to do that field research.
I can’t speak on Row 1 and Row 2. I see the activity up there. Laughing, dancing, running, playing, screaming, hollering…all that. Looks fun. One day. One day. But, Row 3 isn’t chopped liver. The music hits you in the face and and you don’t even care. Especially this night. What, with all the jams and the original songs and whatnot!
So, I guess this post turned into a post with a sub-post underneath. The big picture is the worship night and the healing that probably took place – physically and spiritually. The picture within a picture was the getting to see how the other half worships towards the front…and it is good.
Three churches came together to form one awesome cry out to God for our community and ourselves. A big night to thank Jesus for being Him and for fellowship with each other. And this is just the first of what looks to be a bunch of regional worship nights that hop around to different churches letting the Holy Spirit drench a multitude of people. River just got to be the first.
Summit’s Pastor Randy Hill gave a few words at the end and had everyone from his church stand up and go over to people from River and do a little laying on of the hands to speak empowerment over people. It turned into a prophesy session…as do most events at River. Hey, if we got the power in us to do so…
So, yea. The worship was awesome and the closer you sit to the front, the more your spirit starts to elbow your mind outta the way.
And here’s a picture of our Pastor Randy…
