thechurchblog

Fair warning — this is a very cynical post. It doesn’t mean to assert that every experience is or will be this way, but the sad truth is that more likely are than are not. I used to be a worship leader. That is, I used to lead a band standing on a stage in front of hundreds of people singing spiritual songs. It was a tremendous experience, and one which I cherish to this day. It’s a great feeling to feel the Spirit move in worship. But it’s also a great feeling to know that I helped the Spirit to move…or maybe that I caused the Spirit to move. Looking back on that time (now that some years have passed), I find myself questioning what it was that I actually accomplished. Did I really do anything that God wasn’t already planning on doing in that service? Was anybody really touched by God’s presence — or were they simply impressed with our musical ability? Did anybody’s life change as a result of our worship? Or, just as a can of cheap room freshener can temporarily remove the smell of rotting garbage from a room, did we only manage to cover up people’s real problems for a short time with music and singing, just to have them return as soon as the service was over (and the “fragrance” dissipated)?

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Today is the first Sunday of Advent. What is a Southern Baptist/Independent church blogger doing writing about Advent, you ask? Well, I’ll tell you if you want to keep reading…
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Justin writes:

“Here is something from one of my ethnomusicology clases. It’s is a model (by a man named Ian Collinge) is from a discussion board from one of my classes. We were discussing ‘heart music’ and whether it was a good idea for people in Africa to learn Chinese or Brazilian worship songs, as some are doing. Ian bleieves that it is important for a local body of believers to develop a collection of worship music based on four elements of a group’s identity.”

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After dinner a couple of nights ago, we played five-hand Hearts together with the family. I decided to be nice to my mother-in-law and not pass her the Queen of Spades (which is 13 points against whoever gets it at the end of the hand, for those non-Heart players). Her response was classic – “Thanks! You have my eternal praise and gratitude – for awhile, at least.” I followed up with, “Great. Now I know how God feels!”
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Of all the promises in the Bible, I think Psalm 37:4-6 is my favorite.

Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.
Psalm 37:4-6 (NIV)

As a worship leader, I want my “cause” to flourish. That is, I want to be able to lead people to worship the Lord in the services I help with – every time we meet. I want them to experience a personal encounter with Jesus as if He were in the room with us. However, I sometimes get too caught up in that aspect of worship – and I end up focusing on the crowd rather than the Lord. Worse than that, I want to be the one to do this. I want to be the one people come to after the service and say, “That worship REALLY moved me. You are SO awesome, Dave. Wow – how do you do it every week?” Even as I type it, I know how ridiculous that sounds.
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