Wait? You raise your hands when you sing in church?

At my church, we don't raise our hands during the worship time Sunday mornings. No one's ever written it down as a rule, and I really don't think that anyone would keel over if someone were to raise their hands. But we just don't. Yet there are churches not even ten minutes away from our church that do raise their hands when they worship. We use an organ and piano, while other churches use guitars and drums, the works. So who's right? Or, maybe a better question, who's wrong?

Well, I'm still reading through the Bible so I don't know everything that's in there, but I can say with a lot of confidence that there isn't a "thou shalt not worship with a worship band" or "thou shalt only use hymnals and organs" verse. You can look for it, but I'm pretty sure you're not going to find it. With this lack of solid answers on this particular situation, there are a lot of conflicts in churches about what way is the right way to worship? Should we be worried about whether or not the newer worship times are just an emotional energy drink, giving us enough of a jolt to last through the service until next week? Is the old way of worshiping the "meat and potatoes" kind of worship, and the newer rock and roll type the McDonalds of the Christian world? Are the old timer's just being obstinate and stubborn?
I would agree with the older generation (let's face it, that's pretty much the majority of the population that wants to keep worship as a time for hymnals and organs) when they say that it's easy to get caught up in emotions and rock star attitude that can come from being in front of a lively and electric audience. But it's also very easy to stay away from that with the mindset that there's only one way to worship: mine. If I worship with hymnals and it works for me and my whole heart is in it, then it ought to work for everyone and if they don't like it then they're going against the will of God, because we've been doing that our whole lives so it's GOT to be the only way. It can also get to the point where we have no answer except to say "well, that's the way it's always been done, so we're going to keep it this way." While I have much respect for traditions, there needs to come a time where we are willing to branch out perhaps.

I think that these conflicting questions and thoughts can be solved with yet another question: What is the motive behind the worship? Am I truly worshipping God with my hands in the air, eyes closed? Or am I perhaps caught up in the hype, letting my emotions drive me. And emotions change all the time; we can't trust them. We need to remember that it's not the worship style that we're using, rather what's in our hearts as we worship. We also need to remember that the people who worship God differently than us aren't necessarily wrong. (Oh, and please misunderstand. I'm not saying that all people who worship something are worshiping God, or that all roads lead to God so take whichever one you like. Jesus is the only one that can save us. No exceptions!)

I know that next time I'm in church or chapel, I will be thinking about my motives behind what I'm doing. If I raise my hands, am I raising them as if I am a sacrifice for the Lord, or am I raising them because I see others doing it and it fits with the music? It's easy to get hyper over something as trivial as worship.