A pastor friend of mine coined this phrase, “raped worship”, so I can’t take credit for it.
Why did it make enough of an impact on me to share it with all of you?
Because he was exactly right!
My friend told a story of leading worship in a contemporary worship service for the youth group one night. He typically would encourage the teenagers in various forms of worship, such as, “stand with me” or “put your hands together” or “praise the Lord with me” or “raise your hands”…
But one night, it was different. He felt as if he heard the voice of God saying…
“Stop raping my children!”
“What, God?! What on earth do You mean?!”, he responded.
“Stop telling them how to worship Me. Forced love is rape.”
Have you ever been in a worship service like that, where the worship leader would strongly encourage (or almost command) you to do a certain thing during the praise and worship time? I must confess: I’m a rebel. If someone tells me what I should be doing, I will refuse all-the-more.
Abba knows my heart.
Your Heavenly Father knows your heart.
Man looks at the outward appearance, but God is only concerned with your level of intimacy with Him on a personal level, no matter what that looks like.
So don’t stress yourself over feeling like your worship has to look a certain way.
God knows your heart.
Matthew 11:28-30 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
–Steve
So true! It’s distracting and frustrating when you’re told what to do in worship. I’m really grateful that my worship leader doesn’t..she might suggest something but it always feels/sounds like a suggestion and encourages us to find our OWN expression for worship and allow everyone to do that. I mean, even the person who’s sitting down, hunched over and looking like they’re sleeping could be smack dab in the middle of the throne…you can’t assume and judging is lame. Everyone’s at a different spot: somedays that means I’m going to be painting or dancing or raising my hands, other times that’ll mean sitting and taking it all in.
Everyone’s at a different spot. Amen. Love u, sister!
I like your blog……… and it reminds me to be careful about my words. :)
Thanks for stopping by! This word really made me “selah” too!
I was helping Ans with some homework- reading midieval history. During that time, people were FORCED to be “Christians”. Raped worship has been happening a long, long time. :-/ No wonder Christians have such a bad reputation.
So sad.