On Friday afternoon I found myself deep in conversation with a couple of PCC friends about the nature of worship. Specifically we were wondering about the differences and similarities between worshiping God and honoring God. Like many conversations with these two friends I walked away with more questions than answers! One of the questions our conversation kept returning to was, Where can worship happen? Is it only corporate or can it take place individually? Is music necessary? Must the setting necessarily be intentionally Christian? Turns out our conversation was a perfect set-up for the next afternoon.

On Saturday Maggie and I drove into the city for the Chicago Gospel Music Festival in Millennium Park. As an aside- I love that we live so close to a city that offers so many free events. Anyway, we got to the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in time to lay out our blanket and dig into our picnic dinner. As we were sitting there eating our cheese and crackers and listening to the amazing choirs I started to feel just a little uncomfortable. I began to notice that the people around me seemed to be worshiping. Hands were raised. The woman to our left occasionally called out, “Hallelujah” and “Praise Jesus.” The man to our right stood much of the time with his eyes closed in quiet devotion. They were worshiping and I was eating cheese.

After a while I walked around to get a better look at the festival. As I looked back at the pavilion I was struck by the nature of this festival. Undoubtedly there were some, like myself, who showed up for the show. But from a distance it became clear that the majority came expecting to worship. And what a rocking worship service it was!

Since then I’ve been thinking some more about worship and the conversation on Friday afternoon. I think much of the time I expect worship to happen at specific times and places. I expect it to look and sound and feel certain ways. But at the festival on Saturday I was reminded that God will receive the praise of his people all the time everywhere. I’m not sure my expectations about what worship should look like matters very much to God. I’m guessing what does matters is that worship is happening. That glory and honor are given to God. That as the church we confess our place before the Lord of the universe.

I’ve still got questions about worship, but this week I’m going to try to keep my eyes open a bit wider. Maybe I’ll stumble onto another unexpected worship service.

Have a good Monday.