On Worship
Anyone who participates in worship services on a regular basis knows that there are a lot of factors that go into the planning and the participation. First, there's the scheduling of players, singers and tec and sound people. Next comes the planning of the function-specific songs and scripture passages. What do I mean by that? Through being a Worship Apprentice (WA) last year, I learned that each song and each verse that is chosen for a service should not only be theologically sound and lyrically and musically appropriate, but they should all fulfill a specific function in the service (i.e. adoration, celebration, confession, redemption, lamentation, dedication, etc). Nothing should be chosen "just 'cuz it's cool" or because "we sang this song at my grandma's funeral." The songs, scripture, prayer and sermon should flow smoothly with a unified theme based on the sermon (if there is one). The service should be a dialogue with God and a dialogue with each other. An extremely helpful thing that I learned in a worship class is to pay attentions to the "arrows in worship." Upward arrow is us talking to God. Downward arrow is God speaking to us. Horizontal arrow is dialogue with our brothers and sisters in Christ - the community of believers. Next time you go to church, pay attention to the words you sing and pray...are you always speaking to God? Do you ever say a prayer or speak words of encouragement for the members of your congregation? Do you hear the words of hope, encouragement, rebuke, forgiveness and love from God?
The more I learn about worship, the more I believe that worship planners and leaders have a huge responsibility because they are helping supply the words that people pray - they are choosing songs, selecting portions of scripture, and praying prayers that can form how congregations understand and think about God throughout the week. Pastors have this same responsibility. If they are only choosing to preach sermons on the New Testament and rarely refer to the Old Testament, they can be sending a message to their congregation that the stories and promises of the OT are not as important or as relevant to our lives as the NT is. Going back to the worship planner, if all the chosen songs refer to a transcendent God, people may have a hard time talking to God about their struggles and joys because they don't really understand the personhood of Jesus Christ and his ability to relate to our humanness. If the focus is solely on Jesus Christ, we can fail to remember the power of the Holy Spirit who was there before the creation of the world and who is still living and moving among us today, in this very moment. Without the help of the Holy Spirit, how could we pray? How could we read the Bible?
Finally, there is the actual rehearsal and participation in the service itself. Being in a band is one thing, but being in a worship band - especially one who leads congregational singing - is different. At Calvin I am involved in a worship team called L.O.F.T. (Living Our Faith Together). It is a Sunday evening student-led service. All the musicians and singers are extremely skilled. We hold auditions every fall and every spring so we can incorporate new team members with a passion to serve the Lord with their musical talent all-the-while maintaining musical excellence. See, there's a tension here because we want to strive for musical excellence, but we strongly believe that music is not the goal - bringing praise and glory to our risen Savior is. At the same time, if the music is poorly put together through a last-minute rehearsal, chances are there will be many distractions for those in the congregation through either wrong notes, tempo issues, or wretched transitions. As musicians and leaders, it is our job to do our best with the help of the Holy Spirit to facilitate dialogue with God and with each other. To help people worship, pray and experience the Triune God in new and fresh ways without getting in the way.
Of course, even with hours of rehearsal under your belt, services can still have mistakes and unexpected "pleasantries." I could give many stories of personal experiences with this...boy, could I give you stories...one fun one was when, not 2 seconds before I was going to walk up on the chapel platform to begin the LOFT service, I was kindly informed that we had no projection screens - the system had shut down (keep in mind that the LOFT service is a 1hr 15 min service, only 18-23 minutes of that being the sermon)...and the first song we were going to sing (after the traditional opening song) was a brand new one that we were going to introduce. What fun! Deborah, one of my fellow WA's kindly made and handed out some copies of the new song with lightening speed so at least some could have the words in front of them, and for those who didn't have words, I did my best to speak the phrases well enough in advance for them to be able to sing them. While that was a fairly stressful situation for me as the leader, a number of people came up to me afterwards saying they loved the service - that it was really meaningful and worshipful for them. All I could say to that was: "Praise God!!!"
Those who know me know that I could talk for hours and hours about worship, the millions of things I've learned and the things I feel very strongly about. But maybe the one thing that I have learned over and over again - especially in this last year - is that Christ is the One who perfects our worship. Since being a WA, I have been granted "the curse" (former WA's - you understand what I'm talking about). "The curse" means that whatever worship service I attend, I always critique the service whether I realize it or not...I need to constantly remind myself that: (1) even with training, I do not know everything about worship, (2) a service does not have to be perfect to be worshipful - the Holy Spirit works through and despite our efforts and, (3) if we are so hung up on the "details" of a service, it is likely that we are missing the point of why we are doing what we do in the first place.
The more I learn about worship, the more I believe that worship planners and leaders have a huge responsibility because they are helping supply the words that people pray - they are choosing songs, selecting portions of scripture, and praying prayers that can form how congregations understand and think about God throughout the week. Pastors have this same responsibility. If they are only choosing to preach sermons on the New Testament and rarely refer to the Old Testament, they can be sending a message to their congregation that the stories and promises of the OT are not as important or as relevant to our lives as the NT is. Going back to the worship planner, if all the chosen songs refer to a transcendent God, people may have a hard time talking to God about their struggles and joys because they don't really understand the personhood of Jesus Christ and his ability to relate to our humanness. If the focus is solely on Jesus Christ, we can fail to remember the power of the Holy Spirit who was there before the creation of the world and who is still living and moving among us today, in this very moment. Without the help of the Holy Spirit, how could we pray? How could we read the Bible?
Finally, there is the actual rehearsal and participation in the service itself. Being in a band is one thing, but being in a worship band - especially one who leads congregational singing - is different. At Calvin I am involved in a worship team called L.O.F.T. (Living Our Faith Together). It is a Sunday evening student-led service. All the musicians and singers are extremely skilled. We hold auditions every fall and every spring so we can incorporate new team members with a passion to serve the Lord with their musical talent all-the-while maintaining musical excellence. See, there's a tension here because we want to strive for musical excellence, but we strongly believe that music is not the goal - bringing praise and glory to our risen Savior is. At the same time, if the music is poorly put together through a last-minute rehearsal, chances are there will be many distractions for those in the congregation through either wrong notes, tempo issues, or wretched transitions. As musicians and leaders, it is our job to do our best with the help of the Holy Spirit to facilitate dialogue with God and with each other. To help people worship, pray and experience the Triune God in new and fresh ways without getting in the way.
Of course, even with hours of rehearsal under your belt, services can still have mistakes and unexpected "pleasantries." I could give many stories of personal experiences with this...boy, could I give you stories...one fun one was when, not 2 seconds before I was going to walk up on the chapel platform to begin the LOFT service, I was kindly informed that we had no projection screens - the system had shut down (keep in mind that the LOFT service is a 1hr 15 min service, only 18-23 minutes of that being the sermon)...and the first song we were going to sing (after the traditional opening song) was a brand new one that we were going to introduce. What fun! Deborah, one of my fellow WA's kindly made and handed out some copies of the new song with lightening speed so at least some could have the words in front of them, and for those who didn't have words, I did my best to speak the phrases well enough in advance for them to be able to sing them. While that was a fairly stressful situation for me as the leader, a number of people came up to me afterwards saying they loved the service - that it was really meaningful and worshipful for them. All I could say to that was: "Praise God!!!"
Those who know me know that I could talk for hours and hours about worship, the millions of things I've learned and the things I feel very strongly about. But maybe the one thing that I have learned over and over again - especially in this last year - is that Christ is the One who perfects our worship. Since being a WA, I have been granted "the curse" (former WA's - you understand what I'm talking about). "The curse" means that whatever worship service I attend, I always critique the service whether I realize it or not...I need to constantly remind myself that: (1) even with training, I do not know everything about worship, (2) a service does not have to be perfect to be worshipful - the Holy Spirit works through and despite our efforts and, (3) if we are so hung up on the "details" of a service, it is likely that we are missing the point of why we are doing what we do in the first place.
"Who can discern his [her] errors? Forgive my hidden faults. Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgression. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer."
~from Psalm 19~
~from Psalm 19~
This entry was posted
on Friday, August 04, 2006 at 5:39 AM.
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"the curse" has a flip side though - no matter what kind of worship service I am at I am usually able to find something profound or beautiful or hear something from God through the way those people worship. I can "read" worship services more deeply than before, and that is often a blessing. (although if you hear me snark the sermon or the meaningless songs on the way home, you might not realize i had a blessed moment or two also...)
You are completely right, Bethany. Like I said in the post, I could talk for hours upon hours of what I have learned about worship in the last year...and "the curse" does have a positive element to it. I, too, "read" worship services more deeply and get it when they move from adoration to confession, for example, or when they are intentional about praying for the Global Church. I deeply appreciate it when I hear people intentionally avoid words such as "stage," "audience,"
and "perform(-ers/-ances)" when refering to the relationship between the worship leaders and the congregation.
Sometimes I still struggle between the positive and negative aspects of "the curse" - I suppose I will for the rest of my life...but I guess I just need to practice looking for the positive elements and not rest so much on the negative.
I will never regret being a WA, though. That apprenticeship has changed my life in so many positive ways that the negative aspects of it could never win out.
I feel the same way, Shelly. My WA experience was perhaps the single most formative part of my calvin experience.
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