Respect Vs. Shame ~ Reflect

my best friend and i were talking tonight over Applebees (spinach dip! Gotta love it!) He was catching me up on what has been going on at church ~ I haven't been in a while becuase I work every sunday. Apparently my pastor has been talking about traditionalism in our faith and the importance of being spirit led rather than tradition led. My pastor went on to say that when traditional people attack your worship you have the right tell them the truth very adamantly about what the Bible says about how you worship. This struck a cord with me and started a whole different discussion.

   Basically that did not sit well with me. I grew up in a very radical and liberal church. We had very spirit led worship and did not play by many of the rules of most churches. I firmly believe in that style of worship. What came along with that though, was a sense of haughtiness. I remember actually feeling superior to other believers because we had tapped into the power of God and other denominations with things like church programs and church membership didn't. After i went to college i was exposed to a lot more and i realized that although other people had what felt like a very rigid way of worshiping to me it was worship to them. So thats when I decided that there isn't always one right way to have church and worship God. I never wanted to go back to that place of superiority, and internalized the mantra that if it works for you then good.

  I adopted this in many different aspects of my life and I think that it has helped to be more openminded when speaking to people of other faiths and ways of thinking. My friend said that we should be able to share what we believe to help others understand what we believe and maybe change their minds about some things. When he said that all i could think was... is what I have to say really going to change what they believe. I immediately felt a pang and realized that by excepting the mantra of "if it works for you then good" that I was really giving up on sharing what I believe. I am talking spiritually but this applies on all levels. So I'm stuck. I always say who am I to say that I know better, that my way of doing is better than theirs. I firmly believe that we all have to do whats in our hearts to do and we all do it in different ways. If we did it all the same way wouldn't that be a boring world. But where is the middleground. Do i express my beliefs without expecting results? If so why express them at all? Or do I tell it all like I have all the answers? I know there is somewhere in between....  What do you do?

  I think it is very easy for our respect for others beliefs to become a sort of shame for our own. So I'm at a stand-still ~ help me out Yall!

P.S. the picture i my confused look!