Yesterday was a definite day of contrast:

I realise that worship, as they would say at OASIS is "all of life and not just the singing", and that in everything we do we can worship God, but yesterday was very interesting reflection on worship. I spent most of the day on a retreat day, with other local youthworkers seeking God's face and will on a joined up project we are working on, and planning some of the work. The thing that really struck me was the use of silence as a way to worship, being that I was there with two Anglicans; we had a long period of silence to worship God. It was a communal, but yet very solitary space and time of worship, to be honest I felt that it focused more on me and God than it did the group seeking God's face about the project. We were four individuals worshiping God rather than a community standing together, worshipping him.

Then last night I went with a group from church to YFriday's Universal Tour gig in Maidenhead. It was billed as a gig, yet taking a step back and although performance focused, those attending still seemed to be worshipping God (you can worship God in everything and therefore even when others are performing - or so I came to realise). However the thing that struck me most, was that although they were standing together, singing together, their worship still seemed to be an isolated individual thing. People had their eyes closed, hands in the air, and shouting loudly, but yet it again had that 'me and God' feel.

so i was thinking; how can we enable true community in worship whether loud or quite? How when standing with others do we stop interacting with God on a one to one level and start interacting as one worshipping body?