Last night John and I went to the Hillsong United concern at the First Baptist Church Orlando. It was amazing! If you don’t know the band, they are an offshoot of the Hillsong church in Australia that was made famous by Darlene Szcheck (sp?). They write their own songs, and it’s a more rock version of the traditional Hillsong stuff. We went with a bunch of other people who are also on the worship team at my church. One thing I noticed was their passion. It was really hard to miss it. And it wasn’t just because they were on stage with lights and screaming, worshiping crowds around them. They worshiped on stage, too. It made me wonder why they seem so passionate about God and worship in Australia, seemingly more so than here in the US. I thought about why I am not always as excited as I want to be when I lead worship. I came to this conclusion: we fear man’s opinion. When I lead worship at some place, I know the “mood” of the church and pastor and know that if I get all excited and bounce around the stage it makes them really uncomfortable and they get a little like deer in headlights. And I thought about when I’m leading worship at my church or worshiping from the congregation. There are a lot of people who don’t “get into” worship… In the US we get complacent and used to having the ability to worship freely. We are so afraid of looking foolish for God’s glory that we stifle the passion we have for Christ. We forget to focus on God, not caring what others think if we raise our hands or fall on our knees or cry a little, or get on our faces in awe and reverence. Instead we stand there holding out hand or crossing our arms to forcably keep our unruly hands from raising, keeping our eyes open lest some one, heaven forbid, think we’re weird for praying the song back to God. We fear man, not God. Man’s opinion, not God’s opinion. Think about David. The man danced naked in front of thousands of people, reveling in God’s love, passionately displaying His love for his God. Ok, so I don’t think that dancing naked is the answer (at least not in public). But if there is a passion bubbling up inside, who cares if you look foolish to the people around you. If you’re being obedient in worship, looking like a fool is nothing. I’d rather look foolish in my worship of God than look like a fool to God for refusing to show my gratefulness, love, adoration, amazement, and thankfulness to Him. So, you can count on me to be there, hands raised, eyes closed, tears leaking, bouncing in my shoes, loving on my God. Not always, but when the Spirit moves, I hope I always go there. Foolish or not. Will you be a fool for God?