Thoughts on Dancing in Worship . . .

In the 6th chapter of 2 Samuel is a scene right out of a Shakespeare drama: David has been successful beyond his dreams; God has blessed him. He goes to the house of Obed-Edom with proper preparation and brings the Ark of the Covenant to the center of the capital city as a symbol of the fact that Israel shall be centered in God.
As the ark moves toward the city David is overcome with joyous emotion and begins to dance before the ark with all his might. He gets right down with the slave girls and the street people in a genuine expression of his delight.
But in an upper window, standing half-hidden behind the curtains, stands David's wife, Michal, Saul's daughter, intently watching. She is a princess, and not used to seeing the king mingle with the help. She is disgusted in her heart, and when David finally comes in she tells him as much. "You really distinguished yourself today, King David! It wasn't your finest hour!" David's reply was, "It wasn't for your benefit! It was before the Lord! And I will give to God whatever I believe I should give to Him!"
And the account goes on: (v 23) And Michal, the daughter of Saul, had no child to the day of her death. She was barren from that time forward!
When we read that scripture about dancing and shouting as a form of worship we may think about the ‘worship wars’ that have dogged churches across the whole spectrum, from Pentecostal to Catholic, and thinking—thank God it hasn’t come to that in our church yet!
But to tell the truth, the way you and I are apply scriptural accounts of worship and me more about ourselves than we want to know: No doubt you are vindicating the way YOU love to worship, or the way that YOU believe is true worship. We are made that way-- truth at first seems to reinforce our own position.
However ideal you consider the way you worship- good for you- yet there are those who truly worship in Spirit and in truth who on the surface of it would be uncomfortable with your style; and there are those who know God and worship in truth whose ways of approaching God would not be comfortable to you.
The most unattractive attitudes I know about have been (1) religious fundamentalists; and to a lesser extent, because I have had lesser exposure, (2) snobbish "High Church"-types, which I have usually written off as "liberals."
Please see that each one of us can be both the discriminator and the discriminated against; and it is imperative that we do not go the route of barrenness and despise those who are worshiping God in truth, even though in their humanness they may seem culturally out of it.
Please pray that the expression of your worship and mine, and of those where you and I congregate will be the sincere expression of who we are in total love and obedience before the great God we love.
Pray that the evolution of our worship will enable the tasks of the church,
EVANGELISM and
EDUCATION and
FELLOWSHIP and
SERVICE to flourish in powerful ways, for
WORSHIP IS THE HEART OF THE LIFE
THE LIFE OF CHRIST'S BODY, THECHURCH!