Worship correctly... or else!

Dear Joel,

I used to do volunteer-type work for a church we attended a few years ago, except it was part of my job so I got paid for it. I didn't like it.

I liked getting paid, of course, I just didn't think it was the kind of work that the church needed to be paying someone to do. Expecting members to contribute to the service of the church body is not just a way to save money. It's an important way to teach servant leadership like that which Jesus himself exhibited. The work I spent around 10 hours per week doing myself could have been done in less than one hour (total) by asking members of the groups who used the facility to set up and tear down their own equipment. Those members would be more invested in setting things up correctly, since they would be the ones using them. They would also immediately see the benefit and contribution of their work, and would be more likely to feel valued.

When I saw the title of your post on Monday I thought you were going for something more along the lines of the Tim Hawkins video.

I don't often raise my hands in church, because it's way outside my comfort zone. I was once worshiping in a congregation and the worship leader told us all that if we sang this particular song (it had lyrics about "we lift up our hands" or something similar) without raising our hands, we were being dishonest with God. Either out of obedience to the worship leader, to God, or out of guilt, everyone raised their hands as we continued singing that song. I puzzled about that, though. I'm a rule follower, so if the worship leader was correct, I was going to obey. But I'm not sure it's that absolute.
If the song says, "I lift my hands to you," for example, I don't know where exactly I need to lift my hands in order to be compliant. I don't think God is any more present 18 inches above my head than he is in my pockets. But maybe I should at least "lift" my hands from their current position. So hands on my hips might keep me within the rules.

But I continued puzzling because it seems like this logic would need to be applied across the board. I join with Casting Crowns when they sing, "I lift my eyes up to the hills." But I live in Iowa. We do have some hills, but they're not visible from everywhere. Or what if I sing that song in the shower? There are no hills to which I can "lift my eyes up." Is Jesus angry with my singing? If I sing, "I run to you," do I have to physically take off running? And where, exactly, is our non corporeal God to whom I should be running? I fear that I'm breaking a lot of rules when I try to worship through song. Perhaps I should stop.

As Tim Hawkins says in that video, there are all kinds of churches with different practices regarding raising their hands in worship. What, if anything, do you think hand-raising (or lack thereof) says about a church body's identity?