Worship, part 2

plans. sure – it’s ok to have one; it might even be a really good plan. i like to think that i walked into worship with a very good plan. my key changes were slick – i had no real breaks in the music – i gave God a couple of places to take over with some free praise. i had a good plan. God had other ideas.

what i want out of worship
i am trying to come to the place where i care less about the music (and the performance aspects of leading worship) and more about both the people i am leading and the God that i am leading them to. i am learning that both are equally important; failing to lead the people is as much of a failure as failing to find God. however – finding God is a function of Holy Spirit … leading the people is also a function of Holy Spirit. really – I am just here to be worked through.

“performance” worship … it’s hard to think of worship like that, but, at times, necessary. the truth is that there are some members of your body that want (and maybe need) a show. they don’t regularly go into the Throne Room; worship doesn’t come easily to them. these are exactly the people that God wants so desperately to become intimate with. for the sake of these people, performing worship (appearing to be filled with the joy that you are sing about; playing and singing with some skill, even giving them songs that they like and can sing back to you) needs to be done. please don’t think that i’m looking down on these people. i am not - i used to be one of these people. These are the people that you (worship leaders) need to be leading most carefully into the Throne Room.

i am not talking about compromising here – i am talking about trying to do both. just something to think about.

the apostle’s creed
all week – i have been feeling that we (my church body) needed to make a confession about who God is and what He has done for us. i found such a confession in the form of the apostle’s creed – ancient: yes; traditional: yes; on-the-money: yes.

i asked my body to say the creed with me – and God worked through it (despite my fumbling some of the words (there are subtle differences in different versions of the creed and this threw me a little). my church is not the “canned prayer” kind of body – so this was a bit “high church” for everyone (including me). we hear teachings on the dangers of tradition – and so we often avoid things like this.

we are a modern (or even post-modern) church of an ancient faith – distancing ourselves from the previous moves of God is distancing ourselves from God. we should not be bound up in these moves – but we should be firmly standing on them. if the revelation was of God “back in the day” then it has some relevance to our lives now.

the creed is foundational to my faith; my body’s faith; and to the work of God in the world today.

song service
things went well – much of the credit for this goes to my rhythm section. they were rock solid and followed me (and led me) well. we followed the plan until God stepped in and began to impress Himself onto the service. from where i was standing, i think that Holy Spirit got everyone who was willing to go. He gave several people spiritual songs (and i was happy to be among those). i didn’t sing in the Spirit any today – or rather – i didn’t sing in tongues today. is there a difference between singing inspired songs in english and singing in your prayer language? i have no idea and will have to ask p.j. (p.j. is my pastor; he is also the regular worship leader) to answer that for me.

ending fast
if you read the last bit, you know that i had planned on ending the song service on a fast song – rather than a slow one. well, i didn’t. part of that was b/c of good points against that by j.c. (who was preaching today). part of it was that when we got to that moment – it didn’t feel right. it felt like i was trying to pull attention off of God and onto me.

i will keep that in mind for the next time i lead … i am still interested in the idea of ending in celebration of God’s goodness.

conclusions
any worship service where God shows up is a good worship service even if everything else went horribly. God showed up – the service was great. God honors His people when they press towards Him. kim jong-il could lead worship and if the people he’s leading really want God – God will find them. (note: I have better hair and dress better than kim jong-il … and i don’t have any nukes pointed at anyone (pity))

surprise
because i enjoy doing everything possible on one day (rather than splitting things up over multiple days), i threw (with the help of some wonderful party-elves) my wife a surprise birthday party today after church. we enjoyed the fellowship of several friends and had lunch (burgers, fruit, tater-tots, home-made cheesecake … hmmm). to those of you who came (and have enough time to read this), a hardy thanks! to my friends the part-time, party-elves … i say super thanks! to my beautiful wife – who’s birthday is really tuesday … i love you.

i’m done – finally. next time, a break from all this heavy discussion ... tune in for a review of justice league seasons one and two (both now out on dvd). and the father-son bonding that goes along with knowing who's-who and what's-what. i know – i know – i’m a geek.

pax - andy