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I stood singing aloud during our worship service, and I smiled as I heard our 18 year old daughter’s beautiful voice on one side and my husband’s (almost professional sounding, in my personal opinion) voice on the other. Praise God He gave our daughter her daddy’s singing abilities.

I gently held onto the seat in front of me, and I felt a vibration keeping beat with the music. My 21 year old son kept the beat with his fingers, sending the drumming vibration down the whole row. I remember trying to make him be still when he was a teenager, thinking he was being a distraction to others, and I wished I could go back to my younger mama self and open my eyes to the absolute beauty of feeling him worship.

I heard my dad’s quiet voice barely resonate, only when he happened to hold the note out a little longer or start a little earlier than my daughter. He usually keeps his worship limited to his own ears, offering the words as only a gift to God. I heard my mother’s beautiful soprano voice just barely from where she stood. It took me back to the days of my childhood, when I would stand next to my parents during worship and find such comfort in those lyrics being offered up next to me.

Mom silently put her hand out. Dad pulled a cough drop out of his pocket and placed it in her hand. She popped it in, able to resume her serenade to Jesus, placed the wrapper in Dad’s still outstretched hand, and he pocketed the wrapper.

I caught a glimpse of our youngest son holding my husband’s hand as he silently watched the words.

The sweet vibrato of the grandmotherly woman behind us swelled, and the young couple ahead of us held hands as they worshiped, their little child sneaking peeks at them as she attempted to follow the words on the screen with them. I felt like the little girl, embracing the church’s joined worship around me, enjoying being a part of the joined effort to show our adoration to our Savior.

I was overwhelmed with the movement of the Holy Spirit among the people and couldn’t seem to get the words to come out of my mouth- so I sang the words in my heart, closed my teary eyes, and I let the lyrics and the beautiful sounds, sights, and feel of those around me move my heart to worship even more deeply.

I don’t think I had ever resonated with God’s call for us to worship together like I had read about in the passage in Ephesians more than I did in that moment. I silently worshiped God more genuinely in that moment, and it changed my perspective in future worship experiences. Ephesians 5 pulsed through my heart, and I was reminded that worship is a gift whether I am alone or joining with others, but there is a unique gift in corporal worship I should never forget to embrace.

Ephesians 5:19-21 19 (Amplified Bible)

19Speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, [offering praise by] singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;
20 always giving thanks to God the Father for all things, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; 21 being subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Colossians 3:16 (New King James Version)

16 Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom,
teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

What a beautiful gift it is to worship with other believers, not only to God, but to those who are joining together in that, as well!