What are We Waiting For

Performance – surrender – lifting my hands – dancing in the Spirit -- standing in the front row – cowering in the back row. We’ve heard these and similar words over and over and over again, if we lead worship at church.  What outward signs and inward feelings are good, bad, right, wrong, or does it matter?

The thing that distinguishes Christianity from a man-made religion is the truth that God EXPERIENCED what it meant to be a man  - joy, fulfillment, deep pain, disappointment, hatred, rejection.  I suspect, even though God is perfect and completely self-sufficient, He walks with us and KNOWS what we are going through – each one of us.

Are emotions a valid part of who we are?  Do we hide our feelings and emotions from those closest to us?  Is it wrong to shout for joy and jump up and down when we are truly joyful?  What about when we’re deeply disappointed – are there those we can trust that will wrap their arms around us?

There are moments in worship we all experience the SAME thing at the same time.  There are other moments when we all experience DIFFERENT things – when God’s truths deal with individual experience.

So what are we waiting for, for heaven’s sake, when it comes to expressing ourselves in worship?  Don’t hold back – for the sake of those around you!  Be real, and it will be contagious.

As One

Who’s on your praise team? Take a moment to name them individually to yourself – try not to forget a single person.   When we are part of a team, we rejoice together, and we suffer together.  We pray together and we care for one another.  We function together as one.   Not one of us, including the leader, is more important than any other member.  The soundman and the lead singer, the drummer and MediaShout person -- all are equally important.  Coming to grips with that fact should help keep us in our place as individuals.  The congregation, whether they realize it or not, depends upon each and every one of us to do our part. 

There should be an opportunity to communicate individual opinions – a good leader will listen to all of them and make a good musical choice.  It’s the bringing together of individuals, with all of our idiosyncrasies, that gives the team its collective personality.  God has brought us together.

Are we, each of us, offering the team our very best, in terms of preparation and developing our skills?  Do we bring our best to rehearsals?  Do we pray for the team, and rejoice in the opportunity before us to serve the church with our music?

As I’ve told members of my teams, music is living and breathing.  If we want the song to have absolutely no variation each time we do it, we might as well put on a CD.  The very fact that God is present, and WE are changed,  means the song WILL change.   So we maintain focus as a team as we move and flow together – as one.  As individuals we bring our own set of experiences and talents – as a team we overflow with passionate love for the One Who made us. 

None of us are perfect – we have our ups and downs on Sunday mornings.  If any of us consistently fails to bring our whole heart, soul, mind and strength to the song, our worship as a team is lacking.  We can’t hide that lack from the congregation, from the Lord, or from ourselves.   The moment we consider it a ‘chore’ to bring our best to worship is the moment we should step down and let someone else do it.  

A Grateful Heart

Ephesians 5:15-20:  “So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. ¹⁶ Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. ¹⁷ Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. ¹⁸ Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, ¹⁹ singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. ²⁰ And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

My Pastor once said, if you are living in a state of thankfulness, it’s harder to sin.  I’ve found that to be true – it’s when I covet something someone else has, or crave someone else’s approval,  that things begin to look askew.  Those of us in the arts can definitely relate to these weaknesses.  We live for recognition, and when we don’t hear it we think either we are doing something wrong, or that those around us just don’t ‘get it.’

The above passage tells us ‘don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.’  The music we offer in worship pours forth from a heart focused on thanking God, resulting in a heartfelt sharing of God’s goodness with others.

I really like the part that says ‘Don’t be drunk with wine … instead be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.’  I live for those moments in worship when I feel everything that’s weighing me down (worries, concerns) just lifts off.  I can never explain exactly how or when it will happen, and I love that sense of the ‘unexpected’ and unpredictability about God.   We get caught up in the moment and we know that nothing is impossible with God.  That’s what He wants us to do.   When we abandon everything else He meets us there in our praises – and when we release our burdens and jump into His lap, we are truly made free.

I pray you experience that holy freedom in worship this weekend!

Taking Wing

10/8/10

Ahhh, October and November – if you live in St. Louis, they are the two choice months of the year.  The nip in the air calls to you to get away from your work and come out and play!  What a treat to put a log on the fire again, and do some baking in the kitchen.

Missouri is well-known for its many wineries, and after church Sunday my husband and I set our sights for a long drive into wine country.  The one we chose was high on top of a bluff with a great view.  After eating and basking in the glow, we took a little walk and happened upon a pond with mallards and swans.  We noticed they were having a rather heated territorial conversation.  For a moment I felt sorry for them.  I thought, poor things – they are all stuck here together in this pond, whether they like it or not.

Then I remembered – birds are some of the freest creatures on earth.  They are not stuck anywhere.  They fly in and they fly out – they come and go according to the climate changes.  Once I even saw some geese fly down into a swimming pool belonging to my piano students.  To the kids’ delight, the geese touched down and then, as quickly as they arrived, they were gone.  What a sense of awe and wonder – the freedom birds have.

Is it really any different for us?  There’s a spot in Isaiah 11 which speaks of a time when God pours forth the blessing of peace throughout the world – the wolf and lamb lie down together.  Isaiah says that in that day we all live in freedom and in peace with another. Psalm 31:8 says, “And You have not given me over into the hand of the enemy; You have set my feet in a large place.” Our little ‘pond’ will surely seem a much larger place when we stop arguing with one another, when the peace of God reigns everywhere, and when we see the endless capacity God places within us.

Freedom from condemnation – even the condemnation of God – that’s what God’s Son has brought to us.  Why should any of us feel trapped?  Why should our heart feel crowded or pressured with limitations we place upon ourselves, and upon others?   Even if someone you know, perhaps in your congregation, has physical llimitations – if they have God’s gift of eternal life inside, those limitations are only temporary, and cannot confine or define them as a child of God. 

We, as worship leaders, can offer our best worship when we bask in the depth of His presence, and lift our songs from the depth of our heart and soul.

Let’s bask in Him, and soar to new heights!

Jumping Off the Diving Board

10/1/10:

I attended the AACC (American Association of Christian Counselors) National meeting in Branson, MO.  Friday morning, well-read author Larry Crabb said something I’ll probably never forget:  “Christianity in the United States is 3,000 miles wide and about an inch thick.” 

Wow – what a way to put it.  Is it true?  Do most Christians in the United States not take the opportunity to go deep into God?  Counselors at the conference know the value of ‘going deep’ into the lives of their clients, helping them turn over the rocks and see what’s beneath the surface.  Pastors knows a person can’t really be ‘a new creation in Christ’ if it only seems to happen on Sunday mornings in the pew. 

Are many Christians resistive to ‘going deep?’  Are we afraid to find what lies below the surface in their hearts?  Later in the conference, John Townsend said, ‘nature abhors the vacuum.’  What if we go deep and find something we hate?  Heaven forbid, something anti-Christian?  Maybe it’s better to leave the rocks alone and continue to sing our happy songs.

Happy songs – after all, we’re supposed to ‘be joyful in the Lord.’  What about the Lamentations we read in the Old Testament?  What about Isaiah?

What about the cross?  ‘For the joy before Him, [Jesus] endured the cross’ (Hebrews 12:2).  But did He ever cry?  The shortest verse in the Bible tells us He did (John 11:35).

This is the way most non-believers look at believers – painfully shallow.  And when they accidentally tune in their radios to the Christian station they hear us singing our happy songs to God. 

Joy is deep, and joy is very real in the life of a Christian – we hold the hope of the world in our hearts – the One who has transformed our own hearts and lives.  The God who has gone with us through our tragedies and our triumphs inspires us to sing and write songs --  songs that reflect our deep joy, and our sorrows.

So let’s remove the façade by going deep into God. Let’s lift our hearts to Him in true worship and in the process, let Him change us.