Preconceptions

I was reading the blog Enter the Rainbow. Andy was talking about Usain bolt, the Olympic runner. He says,

Not only is Bolt fast, and not only does he make it look easy, he has a really good time while he's doing it, and it shows...He's out there posing, mugging the camera, dancing, taking off his shoes, messing around with other runners - he's having fun. He's 22 years old, the fastest human on earth, and he's having fun.

Which, apparently, is not okay with the Olympic people. "That's not the way we perceive being a champion," said Jacques Rogge, the International Olympic Committee president, and confirmed stick in the mud. It seems Bolt's behavior might be perceived as disrespectful to the other runners, and not fitting for an Olympic champion.

I don't mean to make any statement about the attitude of track and field runners, but I wonder sometimes if our congregations are the same. Do the people in our worship services have the same kind of attitude? Do we have a link to "worship as it has always been" at the expense of worship as it could be? Do we get stuck in our preconceptions of what worship is so that we won't worship any other way? Are we so determined to "save our traditions" and our "sacred cow" of worship that we will put them ahead of actually worshipping?

And what can we do about it?