Worship Team Christmas Resolution
While listening to music at the Harp the other night, a guy that used to be in the music scene of LA was talking about his respect for Gary, a worship leader at Fellowship Bible Church. All though this guy had played in front of plenty of people, he said he could never do what Gary does at Fellowship. Even though he was as far from the idea of “high church” as one could be, he had a deep reverence for what happens as the Bride meets on Sunday mornings. He took very seriously the role of leading a group of people to respond in worship to God.
Yesterday it was a “crazy” Sunday as we had a lot of technical and programming things to work out — when do the kids come up and do their song, how will they be dismissed, should all the kids be dismissed, etc. — but for me it was easily forgotten as we played the first song and I could hear men, women and children singing different parts (melodies, harmonies, echoes, everything) making beautiful music and praising God together.
As someone involved Sunday in/Sunday out at our church, it’s easy to lose focus of why you are doing what you do. I can remind myself of the pat answers every Sunday but do I REALLY feel it? Every Sunday is an opportunity for followers of Christ to come together and respond to God in worship together. This season I will focus my crafts in offering to the Lord. I pray that I don’t try to get things right just to get them right, but as a responsibility to encourage the Bride of Christ to both give worship to and receive blessings from the Lord.
December 4th, 2006 at 2:10 pm
I identify with what you are saying. I have been meaning to draw the band together to discuss exactly our role as musicians on Sunday mornings, but our technical issues have eaten up that time lately. Go figure.
As much as it has been said that we should practice so we don’t have to think about mechanics on Sunday so we can focus our thoughts on God, I find I can’t do that. Personally, Sunday morning is not my time to sing praises to God and dwell on His grace and mercy. I have to do that some other time. Sunday morning I am thinking about mechanics: what chords, what inversions of chords, transposing against capo’ed songs, what effect pedal, trying to eliminate grungy tones, giving facial cues to the drummer (unsuccessfully), trying to match the kick drum, trying to match the kick drum, trying to match the kick drum…
I hope my efforts are not just my use of a talent and gift, but others are blessed through them. I think God is glorified when I play with all my might to His glory, maybe in a different way then dwelling on Him and responding to His relevation. I think it’s important to do both.
December 4th, 2006 at 2:20 pm
Heck, I can’t even match the kick drum.
December 4th, 2006 at 2:38 pm
At least you have control of it!
December 4th, 2006 at 3:26 pm
You know… we practice and plan - all to do our best. But when it comes to the time we worship together in assembly - it’s just all good. When there’s a glitch - we learn. Maybe it takes 100 glitches before the glitch is worked out. But that’s okay.
I heard that yesterday, our end of service outro was half solo vocals
and half full band! That’s different!!
December 4th, 2006 at 3:30 pm
Me too (though I would say that every ministry team is a “worship team”
)
I just read this in the introduction to Desiring God: “I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation.”
… which reminded me of this quote from Augustine: “He loves Thee too little who loves anything together with Thee, which he loves not for Thy sake.”
I love playing the bass with you guys (even though I feel like a home ec student interning with a bunch of 5-star executive chefs). I also love thinking deeply about deep things, I love writing software, I love tickling my kids ’til they just about wet their pants. I love lots of stuff. But I love things best when they are echoes or expressions or exercises of God’s blessings and grace… and I think that is where true worship resides. It’s almost like stopping to pronounce activity X as “worship” instead of just enjoying God in the thing you’re about kills the worship in it.
The thing is, I don’t usually track with the “big picture” in the heat of the moment for any of those things I love doing. I think there’s a grace in being forgetful like that. If we try to muster up “worshipful feelings” while we’re supposed to be hitting our cues, it’s like taking our eyes off the ball…
December 4th, 2006 at 9:22 pm
it is even worse when you are a minister at a church. sometimes i don’t feel i am at worship but i am at work. i have had to learn to put all that aside and focus on the singing, prayer and bible study, it is not easy and i fail at it alot but i think it is a struggle all ministers and volunteers who “work” at church services regularly.
i love to visit other churches for a me there is nothing like worshiping at a church where i am not a minister.
December 6th, 2006 at 3:24 pm
Maybe you’re just not practicing enough.
I believe the original thought was to have enough practice/skill so you aren’t thinking about how to do something or wondering what to do next but making enough mental room for creativity in the process. Thinking about what you are doing will always happen but is your processor running at 99%?
Practice so there is enough room to put some things in RAM and then use the CPU power to evalute what other band members are doing, what you are doing, and generally enjoy the music and the moments.
This week Wonderful Maker was one of those times when everything just flowed. On the other end of the spectrum, everyone hates playing In Christ Alone because everyone’s CPU is pegged — or crashed.
Can we get a vocalist’s opinion?
December 8th, 2006 at 9:38 am
Piper just posted a relevent blog on Worship.com called The Curse of Careless Worship. I wonder if Dawgy is gonna touch on some of this in his upcoming sermon.
December 13th, 2006 at 10:03 am
[...] What I’m wondering about is this: How does this relate to worship? The subject of worship seems to be coming up a lot lately: David has weighed in on some of the tensions inherent to orchestrating Sunday morning worship services on the production end of things; John preached on worship in spirit and in truth and in all different forms — but absent from his teaching was any suggestion that our worship ought to be “perfect” — whatever that means. (Any ideas?) [...]