I love musical worship. I love the strum of the guitar; the beat of a drum; the runs of the keyboard; and the clear voice of worshipers pouring out their hearts to Jesus.

And I love being physical in worship – jumping up and down, swaying side to side, falling to my knees, laying on my face and basically just moving with the music and being enveloped in the presence of God.

As my church family knows, I will even jump and down while playing the bass guitar during worship (my band members have asked me to jump on beat so they won’t get off!!!).

Sometimes I sing.

That may sound odd to folks as most people start with the singing and then move into the physical worship (yes, sitting down is physical as it requires you to NOT to move!).

I don’t know how it happened – maybe this was the result of all my trips throughout Latin America sitting through and worshiping in a foreign language…or maybe it is the result of years of pursuing God.

Either way, there is within me something powerful that simply connects with the presence of God no matter what the worship service looks like or what songs are sung.

This is not to say that words of a worship song are not important – for they are!!

No, what I’m questioning is the need for people to know the words to every worship song sung during worship. I can’t count the times I have watched people stare blankly at the worship band trying to figure out the words…or the times after worship when someone comes up and says that they had a bad worship experience because they didn’t know the songs.

Perhaps we all should stop trying to know all the words and simply allow ourselves to be carried away into the presence of God.

That statement most likely scares some people (I can see the comments about cults and being brainwashed!) as they hate – no, they are afraid of losing control. Yet if you are in a church where you trust the leadership, than you should be able to let go and let God’s presence over you every once in a while (notice that I’m not saying “all” the time). If you don’t trust the leadership with their selection of worship songs, well it’s time to find another church.

Come on Church (i.e. brothers and sisters in Jesus throughout the world) – let us stop allowing our minds and our brains stops us from worship God with everything within us. Let us stop worrying about knowing all the words to a song and simply start looking for the presence of God because He is not boxed into any one method or style of worship.

Let us pursue Jesus through the strangeness.