Raising My Hands at a Rock Concert

"Do you feel like you are at church?"

"Girl, I've been been saved twice tonight"

I overheard the above exchange last night. At a rock concert. And to be honest, it did feel like Jesus was there, in the Beacon Theater, amongst thousands of people enjoying rock and roll. It was church.

Now before all of you stone me and never read this blog again, I hope that you will read along and follow me to the end. Last night as I was hearing one of my all-time favorite bands Needtobreathe, I looked around the crowd. I saw people lifting their hands, closing their eyes, dancing unabashedly, raising their voices higher and higher without a care as to who was watching. Simply put: I witnessed worship. And even I dare say worship we as Christians could take notes from. Now granted, I am sure some of these people were worshiping the band, the moment, the feeling (ie sin). But, I dare say that people were brought before the face of God in those moments.

As far as Needtobreathe goes, their music is saturated with truths of the Gospel but in subtle ways. They talk about real-life things from a Christian perspective without sometimes ever once mentioning God.  Some lyrics more overtly mention Christ

Give me your heart
Give me your song
Sing it with all your might
Come to the fountain and
You can be satisfied
There is a peace, there is a love
You can get lost inside
Come to the fountain and
Let me hear you testify

where some seem to give advice on how to live life

 Be the light in the cracks

Be the one that's mending the camel's back
Slow to anger and quick to laugh
Be more heart and less attack

Be the wheels not the track
Be the wanderer that's coming back
Leave the past right where it's at
Be more heart and less attack

Of course knowing that Needtobreathe is made up of Christians validates that these lyrics are written for God. When they take the stage every night, I pray that they are singing every night for an audience of one. And with that mentality, Matthew 18:20 rings out "For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them." God shows up when Needtobreathe gives their all for him. I can feel and therefore worship freely at a rock concert knowing this.

But what about when the lyrics are messy? When they are coming from someone who isn't singing for that audience of one? The actual definition of worship is "the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity". For Christians, the deity is God. I think for me it comes down to sometimes I can't find the words in modern worship for how I feel about God. My relationship isn't a cookie-cutter, put-together little thing. Its messy. Its ugly. Its full of struggle. And when that struggle is overcome, the immense joy I feel often times is underrated when trying to fit it into a 3 verse, repeating-chorus-with-bridge layout. I remember reading this article by Relevant Magazine about Mumford and Sons which stated my sentiments much more eloquently. Sometimes its outside of "Christian" music that I find someone who has truly worshiped something and felt what I felt. Not that I am justifying their idolatry but sometimes people just get it and can express it so well. When I hear these descriptions, I worship. Not the person. Not the place from which they were written. But as an expression of reverence and adoration for God to God.

The questions asked at the very beginning of the post give me great hope and great grief about the Church. In the example of Needtobreathe, God was so overtly infused in their lyrics that there wasn't a soul in there that could question who they were singing for. And even those who didn't know Christ in a personal way had no choice but to raise their hands. Worship was the only response. You could just feel it. I can't describe it and I don't know if you can truly understand unless you've been in a similar situation. I think that when someone truly experiences being in the presence of God, you can't help but not care who's watching and just let go and worship. And for this to be ushered by a band who is not a "Christian" band, who has found great success in the secular world, playing in New York City to a sold-out crowd, that's saying a lot. For you artists out there, I think they are some men to emulate.

The great grief came as a I looked around and witnessed this type of worship and really had to think about the last time this had happened in the context of Christians overtly doing it for God. When was the last time you remember people in your church dancing, throwing their arms up, singing at the top of their lungs, crying, and offering literally all of themselves in a worship set at church? Why is this? It may be the music, it may be the environment but to be honest its probably not. Its probably you. Its probably you caring WAY too much about what the person next to you thinks and not enough about what God deserves. To sound cliche, God wants the best of us, not the rest of us. From the moment I bought the ticket to the concert, I was so excited. Since I had seen them before in concert, I knew how amazing their show was and knew I wouldn't be disappointed. I listened to their music on repeat as to be able to sing along, I took off work so I didn't have to have that in the back of my mind, I painted my nails, I wore my favorite "concert outfit". I prepared for this concert for months and it paid off. Do I do that for my Sunday mornings? Do I prepare and even look forward to that time? And not to say that worship has to happen only on Sunday morning with an 8 member band. It can happen in the privacy of your own kitchen with just you. The point is, do you treat your encounters with God with the reverence it deserves?

Worship can happen at unexpected times, in unexpected ways. I pray this post has at least made you more aware of the moments that may present themselves throughout your day. I also hope this post has encouraged you to approach your times of worship with reverence and expectation. You are not worshiping to impress your friends, to look cool, to fill some quota. You are worshiping to express adoration and reverence for your God. So do it unashamedly and with all you have.