WORSHIP REQUIRES EXPRESSION | Pastor Mary Johnson

"Worship is an overflow of what is in our hearts." — Pastor Mary Johnson

Does it matter how we physically worship?

That is the question Pastor Mary Johnson brought to The Tree Church as she continued the church's ongoing series on worship. It is a question that surfaces a range of responses. Some people are unsure. Others have quietly decided that physical expression in worship is simply not their style. And still others have made a firm internal determination that reserved worship is just who they are.

Pastor Mary did not come to the message to reprimand anyone. Her aim was something else entirely. She wanted to teach in a way that would open a door toward a deeper friendship with God.

Pastor Mary opened by anchoring the message in Romans 12:1, where the Apostle Paul writes that believers are to present their bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. She pointed out that Paul does not say to present emotions or thoughts. He says bodies.

From there she moved through a wide range of scriptures, each one showing a different dimension of physical worship. Psalm 95:6 calls people to bow down and kneel before the Lord. Psalm 134:2 instructs worshipers to lift their hands in the sanctuary. Psalm 96:1 calls for singing. Psalm 47:1 calls for clapping. Psalm 66:1 calls for shouting. Psalm 149:3 calls for dancing. Philippians 2:10 speaks of every knee bowing at the name of Jesus.

The picture the Bible paints, Pastor Mary noted, is consistent. Worship has always involved the body.

To make the point land, Pastor Mary drew from everyday life. When someone loves a sports team, they clap, cheer, stand, and shout. At concerts, people sing with emotion every word of every song. Parents hug and kiss their children to express what they feel on the inside. People stand for national anthems and place their hand over their heart. At funerals, grief comes out through tears. At weddings, joy comes out through laughter and embraces.
None of that has to be taught. It is natural.

The challenge Pastor Mary placed before the congregation was simple. That same natural impulse to physically express what is felt internally does not always carry over into worship. And she wanted to know why.

She pointed to a few common reasons. Some people feel reserved by nature. Others prefer to worship privately. Some have convinced themselves that as long as worship is in the heart, the physical dimension does not matter. And for others, there is real discomfort about what the people around them might think.

Pastor Mary named all of it honestly and then offered this: that reserved posture in worship is a learned behavior, not a natural one.

To go deeper, Pastor Mary turned to one of the most important worshippers in all of scripture. King David.

She gave the congregation context before reading from 2 Samuel 6. David was bringing the ark of the covenant back into Jerusalem. The ark was where the presence of God dwelled. It had been mistreated over the years, used as a good luck charm, taken as a trophy by enemy nations, and at times simply neglected. David wanted to restore it to its rightful place.

And when those carrying the ark had gone just six steps, David stopped everything and made a sacrifice. Then he danced before the Lord with all his might. He wore a linen ephod rather than his royal garments, choosing humility over status. There was shouting. There was the sound of the horn. The whole procession was marked by physical, wholehearted worship.

Pastor Mary drew out the reason behind it. David had a history with God that ran deep. As a shepherd boy, he had been anointed as the next king of Israel. But between that anointing and actually taking the throne, roughly 22 years passed. During those years, he fled for his life repeatedly from King Saul. He hid in caves. He did not always know where his next meal would come from. And through all of it, God provided. God sustained him. God protected him.

David knew what God had done. And his dancing was the overflow of that knowing.

Pastor Mary paused there and asked the congregation whether the truths David recognized are also true for each person sitting in the room.

God loves every person. God created every person. God has a purpose for every person's life. And God, rather than turning away from sin, took on human form, came to this earth, and died so that people could be in right standing with him. That is who is being worshiped every Sunday morning.

She pressed the point with a series of everyday scenarios. If a lifeguard pulled someone from drowning water and brought them to shore, there would be a response. If someone donated an organ to save the life of a loved one, there would be an embrace, tears, a heart full of thanks. If someone paid off a debt that was about to leave a family without a home, no one would walk away without saying something.

Then she made the connection. That is exactly what Jesus has done. And if it would produce a physical response in those everyday situations, it should produce one in worship.

Pastor Mary then shared a story that stopped the room.

She has a friend who began attending The Tree Church in January after years of distance from God. Over the months, she joined a women's connect group, began learning the teachings of Jesus, and started putting them into practice. About a month before the message was preached, this friend told Pastor Mary that she had gotten down on the floor of her living room, bowed before God, and submitted her life completely to Christ.

But there was another moment she wanted Pastor Mary to hear. She had been out on her farm, mowing her pasture on a tractor. The tractor was kicking up insects, and swallows and swifts were diving all around her to catch them. In her own words:

"I was in this darting cloud of beautiful, gorgeous birds with glistening blue wings and perfectly designed bodies all dancing around me. The sun was shining on my face, and I had to stop the tractor, raise my hands, cry, and thank God."

Pastor Mary noted that this woman did not keep driving. She did not think, "This is cool," and move on. She stopped. She responded. She worshiped physically because what she recognized about God required a response.

Pastor Matthew Johnson, after hearing the story, said it read like a modern-day psalm. And Pastor Mary agreed. That is what David was expressing in the Psalms, and that is what every believer has the opportunity to do.

Back in 2 Samuel 6, the story takes a turn. As David danced before the Lord, his wife Michal, the daughter of King Saul, watched from a window. And she despised him in her heart.

When David returned home, she confronted him. She mocked him for uncovering himself and acting in a way she considered beneath his position as king.

David did not soften his response. He told her that it was before the Lord, who had chosen him above her father, and that he would be even more undignified than this if it meant honoring God. Another translation of that passage uses the word undignified. David was telling her plainly that no amount of social judgment would change how he worshiped the God who had called him and sustained him.

Pastor Mary named the dynamic clearly. A lot of people do not respond physically in worship because they are worried about looking silly. Others hold back because they feel like a hypocrite, aware of their own sin and not wanting others to notice. She met both concerns with honesty. True worship is not about what the people around someone are thinking. And the invitation to worship is not extended only to perfect people. God forgives and draws near those who come to him honestly.

She also shared a personal story from college. She had grown up in a family where physical worship was a normal rhythm. But when she joined a campus ministry, physical worship was not part of the culture. She felt the tension of wanting to raise her hands in a room where no one else was. She did it anyway, even though it felt awkward. Over time, the worship culture in that room began to shift.

What she carried out of that season was a clear realization. Worship is not about the worshiper, and it is not about the people nearby. Worship is about God and for God.

Pastor Mary closed with something that softened the challenge into an invitation. Physical worship is not only an expression of what is already in the heart. Sometimes it becomes the doorway through which God meets someone.

She described a season in her own life when she felt spiritually dry. She was doing the right things but not feeling God's presence. One morning, driving her children to school and then heading to work along a road she described as one of the most beautiful in Fairfield County, she was worshiping with one hand on the wheel and one hand in the air. She told God she was inviting his presence and asking him to meet her there.

And he did.

She offered that same possibility to everyone in the room. Even when worship does not feel natural, even when someone walks through the doors on a Sunday morning not feeling like engaging, choosing to physically worship is an act of invitation. It creates space for God to meet someone exactly where they are.

Her closing challenge was straightforward. Take one step this week toward physically expressing worship with greater intentionality and surrender. Not just on Sunday morning, but at home, in the car, on a lunch break, wherever there is a moment to recognize who God is and respond to him.

Pastor Mary closed the sermon in prayer, asking God to help the congregation be bold, to process the truth of scripture, and to set aside pride and the opinions of others in order to engage with God in a fresh way.

The service moved into a time of congregational worship immediately following, giving everyone in the room the opportunity to put into practice exactly what had just been taught.

The Tree Church exists to help people know God and find their place in his family. With two campuses in central Ohio, the church gathers every Sunday at 9:00 AM and 11:00 AM and is home to a growing community of people at every stage of faith.

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If you are looking for a church in Lancaster or a church in Logan where you can connect, grow, and belong, The Tree Church would love to have you. Come as you are.