If you would've asked me a couple years ago if Middle School students "got it" when it came to worship, I would've told you absolutely not. And I would have been confident of that; after all, worship is complicated, abstract, and I don't even know if I can fully grasp what it means to be a worshipper. But over the past several months as I've spent more time worshipping with our students, I have completely changed my mind. In fact, I think that when it comes to worship we could learn a lot from the middle school students.
In 2 Samuel 6:22 David says, "I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor." David's attitude in this section of scripture is what I see when I see our students worship. Not only do the students absolutely love the song Undignified, but it is incredibly powerful to see students worshipping without being concerned what others think. On our recent trip (which I'll post more about soon), I got the chance to see students dance around, raise their hands, and sing loudly without caring what everyone else thinks about them.
I have been in a lot of different environments where worship through song is a key element and there is nothing in the world like worshipping with a room full of middle school students. And being a part of that inspires me to do what my students do so well, to worship like David did. Only in middle school ministry can you see a student not care what others think and respond by walking around half the day with pants up to his neck and then later on the same day not caring what others think and respond by worshipping his Savior.
Photo Credit: Chris Moncus