Listen to this post: http://www.turtleboxstories.com/audio/letitngmynaked.mp3

Yesterday's message in worship centered on giving rather than receiving. Giving in worship, not just other aspects of life. Praising and opening, not just basking in the alluring silence.

I had a message open in me, but it did not seem right then. Perhaps, now.

I don't come to worship to give or receive. Mostly I attempt to come without expectation, except to wait – which is the entire purpose of Quaker worship: waiting for God.

I do come to be. To be with God, to be with others being with God, to be myself, to be myself with others being themselves with God. I seem to live inside out, yet still manage a protective coating most places. In worship, I unwrap myself into God's loving embrace. It is one of the few corporate places I let my naked soul out.

Of course, I have safe places, such as my studio, where my soul dances naked with Spirit and, sometimes, even with trusted friends.

My buddy Caleb, really my other child (he and Lily were due at the same time), though he chose to be born earlier), at age six said it was his purpose in life to "help people's souls find their dance and dance it."

That's also what I hope worship could be: collective souls dancing joyfully in God's presence: naked, stripped of the identities, filters, fears, expectations and wounds we so often can't leave behind, even temporarily.

• What is worship for me?

• With what do I arrive?

• With what do I leave?

• What happens in the midst?

• What dimension does the corporate aspect of worship offer me?

rushing to get there

on time

never quite making it

early

dumping the kids

in their class

heaving a heavy sigh

and entering

letting the space

choose me

I like a different

perspective

settling in

sinking deep

feeling the

edges fade

finding that wonderful

space between

between wakefulness

and sleep

between consciousness

and dreaming

between hardness

and softness

and truly

being

with God

http://salonforthesoul.blogspot.com/2011/12/letting-my-naked-soul-o...