Worshipping with joy

Worship God joyfully.

It's one of the phrases of our church's new mission statements. What does it mean? I know I've written about joyful worship before, but I keep thinking about it. If we can agree that joyful when paired with worship doesn't mean happy, or loud, or exciting, then what does joyful mean?

I found a quote by Leslie Weatherhead today:

The opposite of joy is not sorrow. It is disobedience.

If that is true, then to worship God joyfully, means to worship him obediently. Could it be that to worship God joyfully -- to worship him obediently -- means to recognize that he is God. It sounds obvious, but I think that to approach God in obedience means that we recognize his authority -- we worship God in the knowledge that he IS God.

Simone Weil says

We know then that joy is the sweetness of contact with the love of God that affliction is the wound of this same contact when it is painful and that only the contact matters, not the manner of it

I don't pretend to understand what all of this quote means, but I really like the beginning of it. According to Weil, joy is the "sweetness of contact" with the love of God. We experience joy when we come close to God -- to the sweetness of contact.

So, joyful worship is worship that is obedient, recognizing that God is God. Joyful worship is worship which is spent in contact with God's love.

To worship God j0yfully is a big order. It doesn't mean that we bring happiness to our worship. It means that we approach worship in a way which allows God to create joy within us.