i wish i could give you all a worship high five

This Sunday the youth group was with us during worship.
Will decided he would come stand next to me to sing.
I love that even though his buddies were there he wanted to be with me.
At 12, he is gaining on me. I can't believe how quickly he is changing.
Pretty soon I will be looking up to him.
I will take every moment I can with him.

We were singing. I could hear his strong voice next to mine.
I was raising my hands, thanking God for his redeeming love.
And WHAP!

My first worship high five.

I turned to Will, "What in the world?"
"I wanted to give you high five."
I immediately was not worshiping and was whispering to Will.
"Will, we don't high five during worship."
"Why not?"
"....because it distracting...and it scares people when they have their eyes closed."

He was grinning.
So much joy at the addition he had brought to the service.
I was having a hard time not laughing...mostly because I was embarrassed
and wasn't sure who witnessed the event.
(My friend, Tatum, who was sitting next to me told me later
that she thought she saw something go down out of the corner of her eye .)
I could tell he enjoyed the worship high five.
And that he might want to do it again.
So I kept my hands down.

Until the last song when I thought, "I am not letting a 12 year old dictate how I worship."
So I semi-raised my hands....but with palms kept very low near the waist.

The song concluded and Will turned to go to Youth Group with the rest of the kids.
He grinned and said, "I didn't high five you again, Mom....but I really wanted, too."

I shouldn't have been surprised.
Will is the same child who said "Cheers" and clinked his tiny cup with mine
the first time he took communion.
I think he looks at worship differently than I do.
1 part holiness - 3 parts joy.

I have started pondering the worship high five since....
Maybe it should be a thing.

Why don't we high five during worship?
Is there anything more high five worthy than Jesus and what he has done for us?
This could be a new way to embrace the joy of our salvation.

High fives all around for his mercy and grace and forgiveness.
Double high fives for his faithfulness.
Special high fives for his miraculous provision and healing power.

Could you imagine the laughter that would break forth in your church this Sunday
if your pastor said,
"And now, we are going to give each other worship high fives
for all the good things God has done for us."

You can be sure of one thing, kids would be all over it.
They get celebrating life.

There is definitely time for reverence and gravity in worship.
But I will tell you that I cannot stop smiling every time I think about that high five.
I think Will might be on to something.