Special Time of Worship

Tonight I got to go to worship with my favorite worship leader, Travis Cottrell. He was at Sevier Heights Baptist Church, only about an hour from where I live. I met my sister there, she lives an hour away in the opposite direction, and we had a wonderful time together. I grew up in a traditional church and I attend a church that is also pretty traditional. I love my church and we now have started a contemporary worship service. I sing in the choir so I go to both services and enjoy them both. I didn't use to understand why anyone would like "praise and worship" music and reading the words from a large screen without a hymnal; and with a lot of people in a big auditorium. However I have come to love the freedom of this kind of worship. It is so wonderful to have your hands free and looking up. I love watching people who you can tell are so focused on God. I have come to love it so much that I even go to churches where I don't know anyone, like tonight. I think it may be a little like heaven. We will be completely comfortable worshipping with people we don't know, simply because we know they love the Lord. Tonight I loved watching the choir as they sang. I loved watching the gray-haired couple suddenly stand to their feet when we sang the Hallelujah line of "Man of Sorrows" and hold their hands up in worship. I loved watching the young teenage girls in front of me sing with such joy. I pray that they will always stay so close to you. I loved watching the middle school age boy go to the front with his father during the invitation. I don't know any of those people, but God used them to minister to me. I love the way that Travis leads us to worship, he welcomes you to sing with him. It isn't a concert, although he is an amazing pianist and singer. He just invites you to praise God. He makes old hymns have new meaning.

Travis said something tonight that made me think about why I have come to enjoy worship in this way. He asked us if our senses had become dull. If, after being hurt, we begin to protect little pieces of our heart until gradually we had kept our heart so protected that our senses were dull. If we were keeping little pieces of our heart away from God. I think that is what I have done over these last very difficult years. Worship like this, for some reason, helps me open the doors to the wall of protection that I have built. I am coming to understand what it means to have a sacrifice of praise.