righteous head-banging

i thought nick was a quiet guy, until i realized he would talk to anyone who cared to talk to him. at the middle school mission camp i attended a few weeks back with 12 of our middle schoolers, nick was alone a great deal of the time. other students from his church did their own thing, leaving him plenty of time to sit by himself. as you may know, my long hair and beard give the appearance of Jesus (at least the euro-centric/movie version) and many people freely remark about this. nick said he could see the resemblance, but he felt i looked alot more like Chad Kroeger, the lead singer for the band, Nickleback. Being the rockstar-wannabe I am, I thanked him for his compliment. We chatted off and on throughout the rest of the week. If you have ever been on a weeklong experience with teenagers, you will know that something interesting happens on the last night there, whether on a mission trip, or a camp. Whether the Spirit knows that hearts are more vulnerable, or teenagers know their time together is ending, I don't know, but it seems more magical than all the other nights. the last night of MAP (metro atlanta project) was no exception. couple this with the awareness that this group had just finished re-roofing 16 homes, bringing the all-time MAP tally to 100 and beyond, and you have cause for some holy moments. if you talk to me for a period of time you will know that I sometimes have concerns about the way we experience/communicate worship. i see dangers in always equating it with group-singing. I definitely believe group-singing can be an act of worship, but I think we have too narrowly defined it, and I think too often it becomes more about us liking to sing than us expressing a life bent God-ward. I can say this truly because I often find a void between how well I sing, and how poorly I live. All this to say, it was worship time at MAP. The band was playing and kids were embracing. It was pretty neat to see. Rows of kids were swaying, attached in a line of arms-over-shoulders. And there was Nick. He was by himself. And who could blame us. he was not playing by the rules. When songs about God are sung, you are supposed to stand, raise your arms, close your eyes, maybe clap...but you should definitely not be head-banging...and nick was head-banging. he had not gotten the memo about worship-singing etiquette. he had missed the meeting. he was standing close to the front, enough so that I could see some students in the back pointing and laughing at his inappropriate display. i would see one tap another on the shoulder, mimic a head-bang and then both crack up laughing, shaking their heads. then it happened. it's the kind of thing you can miss so easily. some of the people who had dared to talk to nick during the week saw him head-banging, ...by himself. and they did what no one else would. they acted. they went over to nick and threw their arms over his shoulders and begin to head-bang together. while others swayed, they jerked their heads around on their thin necks. at that moment I had the feeling that God was saying "now that's something". i have often felt (and scripture seems to echo this) that most acts of worship are acts of service, and inclusion, and acceptance. it seems that God hears most clearly our proclamation of God's worth, when we are most loudly proclaiming the worth of creation...of each other. in this simple act of disallowing exclusion and loneliness these worshippers were declaring the goodness of the artist, through the act of valuing the art. this is my hope for me and the community in which i serve. i fear we too often say things in melody together on sunday, which stand in stark contrast to the story we live out on monday. i pray for harmony,...for the beautiful blending of the two. song and story in the same key. may it be so.