The Audience Of One

I watched him at church.
I caught his movements out of the corner of my eye.
He was way off to the right in the front of the sanctuary.
I noticed his exuberance.

An upbeat worship song was being sung by all of us.
I watched as his hands orchestrated.
I watched as his arms kept the beat of the drums.
I watched as he punctuated the sky with a, pow, on the last drumbeat.

He was young, probably middle school age.
Nothing he was doing was for show or to be a spectacle.
The music moved him.
He couldn’t keep still.

The youth pastor was playing the drums expertly.
I sensed that this young man sat close to the front by choice.
Where he was sitting, he could only be seen by those directly near him.
His movements were not for us.

I assumed his sister was next to him.
She looked at him every once in a while and smiled.
She looked behind her, at people she obviously knew.
There was no hint of shame or embarrassment.

I watched him point.
I watched him keep perfect rhythm.
I saw the joy on his face, even though I was at least ten rows behind him.
It made me smile as I sang along.

He was moving as any conductor may move with a baton in his hand.
This young man was not trying to call attention to himself.
I had a sense that, for him, there was no one else in the room.
I remember thinking, this is how it should be.

What if someone captured us as we sang in the shower?
What if someone recorded us as we drove in the car and sang at the top of our lungs?
What if someone caught us playing air guitar in front of the mirror?
What if we truly danced and sang like no one was watching?

The beauty of worship is that God is watching.
God hears.
God is the audience who sees our exuberance.
God is the One who listens to every note, even if it is off key.

God is the audience of One.

This young man was not showing off.
This young man was not mocking those on the worship team.
This young man, tucked off in the corner, didn’t seem to care about who was watching him.
For him, we weren’t even in the room.

Any parent of small children knows this to be true.
You will catch your child in a moment of sheer abandon during their play.
You will grab your phone to film what you are seeing so you can capture the moment.
But just like that, the moment is gone as soon as the child sees the camera.

You intruded on their imagination.
You listened to something not meant for you.
You look at their face and a shyness comes over it.
The moment is gone and you regret that you ever entered into it.

As the ark of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart. They brought the ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the Lord. After he had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord Almighty. Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins to each person in the whole crowd of Israelites, both men and women. And all the people went to their homes. When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, going around half-naked in full view of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!” David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord’s people Israel—I will celebrate before the Lord. 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.” (2 Samuel 6:16-22)

David danced as the Ark of the Covenant was being brought back to Jerusalem.
David was not leaping and dancing to make a spectacle of himself.
David was overcome with rejoicing.
David was celebrating before the audience of One.

David’s wife was embarrassed at what she saw and despised David in her heart.
In her opinion, David shouldn’t act this way.
David was not showing the propriety she thought he should show, considering his position.
David gave her a wonderful response:

I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes.

I watched this young man and smiled at the joy I saw in his actions and countenance.
I may be wrong in my assessment, but it doesn’t matter.
God is the One to whom we give our worship.
No other audience matters.