Worship Text-fessional – August 26, 2007

I’m going to be away for the next couple of days with our ministry staff so I’m taking some time on what is normally my day off to recap our Sunday morning. This weekend was a little different in that I had no official role to play in our service. My family was involved in a wedding on Saturday so we left all of the worship leading up to volunteers. I’ll give a recap of the service and then some thoughts from my perspective as a participant in the worship rather than as a leader.

 Sunday, August 26, 2007 – “After God’s Own Heart”
1 Samuel 24-26
All The Earth – Paul Baloche
Your Love Is Amazing – Brenton Brown & Brian Doerksen
How Great Is Our God – Chris Tomlin
How Great Thou Art – Stuart Hine
Announcements & Prayer
Shout To The Lord – Darlene Zschech
Psalm 46 Responsive Reading
Blessed Be Your Name – Matt & Beth Redman
Message
I Give You My Heart – Reuben Morgan

Good service, over all. I am still loving this series because the content is so deep and there are several layers of meaning to everything that is happening. This week we looked at the two opportunities that David had to kill Saul and his change in attitude from ch. 24 to ch. 26. Right in between is the story of Nabal (the fool) and his wife, Abigail. David learns something in that moment which causes a drastic change in his heart and re-commits him to the belief that God and no other (not David, not his men, not Saul’s men) will make him king.

As I’ve said before, I’ve got three other really solid worship leaders on my team as well as a host of other great musicians. I had no concerns at all with leaving the rehearsing and the actual service up to them - they are fantastic! It was a nice change for me to be able to sit in the congregation and not have to worry about transitions, timing, flow, etc. I could just worship!

Here are some quick thoughts -

• Really “musical” does not always equal really “worshipful”. Here’s what I mean: I caught myself a couple times during some of the songs wishing that there had been an extra bar, an extra phrase, an extra instrumental section in places to give me time to reflect on what I had just sung. While it wouldn’t have been the best musical decision it would have allowed some more time for worship.
• When we lead worship, we have to lead worship. We are more than songleaders. Songs are our tools -they are not the goal. I am reading a book right now that talks about the church turning songs into mediators – making our worship times the transcendant moments  when we draw near to God. Of course, this is heresy – it is only because of CHRIST and his blood shed on the cross that we can – with confidence!! – come near to the throne of God to bow before Him and proclaim His goodness. We simply use songs as a way to encourage people to express their praise and their worship – the songs are not the vehicle which take us to the throne room.
• It’s way too easy to make it about me when I’m leading. I often want to do the songs that the band can play best, that I’m most confident with, that are built on my theological understanding of who God is. This isn’t an easy thing to admit but sometimes the most effective tools to lead people in worship during a particular service will look very different from the effective tools to lead me in worship.

Thoughts? Comments? Reactions?