musicianship

Worship

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

“As long as you notice, and have to count, the steps, you are not yet dancing, but only learning to dance. A good shoe is a shoe you don’t notice. Good reading becomes possible when you need not consciously think about eyes, or light, or print, or spelling. The perfect church service would be one we were almost unaware of; our attention would have been on God” (C S Lewis).

Back in the day, the battle was between hymns and praise choruses or traditional versus contemporary worship styles. After much deliberation, I’ve decided that the answer to the question is yes. I like both. Both can lead us to the throne room of God and both can become a hindrance if we focus on them instead of the God we’re supposed to be singing about.

These days, the production value and musicianship in a lot of churches is top notch, rivaling just about anything you’d see in a concert venue. The only problem with that is that if the Holy Spirit is absent, would anyone notice? Would anyone care?

I’m not saying that artistry is bad in worship music. I’m not against fog machines or stage lights or guitar solos. But that’s not what true worship is. Singing songs is a part of worship but not all of it. It begins with a surrendered heart and a captivated mind. Worship is essentially declaring the great worth of God no matter where you are or what you’re doing. Cleaning toilets can be as worshipful as singing about Jesus in a room of thousands.

I think it comes down to dependence. I think the best way to prepare for worship is to show up hungry for God. Musical worship is the overflow of a life of continual praying without ceasing and giving thanks in all circumstances. It comes from a Romans 12:1 mentality of presenting our very bodies and selves as living sacrifices for God to do whatever He wants with.

The best worship services aren’t the ones where all the songs are first rate or where every singer and musician sings and plays flawlessly. It’s one where God shows up in a way where we couldn’t focus on anything else but seeing Him and hearing from Him and committing to obey Him no matter what. That’s true worship.

Worship Revisited

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

“Worship is to honour with extravagant love and extreme submission” (Webster’s Dictionary, 1828).

Tonight at Kairos, Michael Boggs talked about worship. If anybody knows about worship, you’d think it’d be someone who makes his living as a worship leader. Yes, he’s really, really good at leading others into the presence of God through worship music.

Yet he himself would say that worship isn’t restricted solely to singing of songs. Worship is more than music, more than a song.

Worship is a lifestyle that starts where we live, work, and play. Worship is an attitude that informs everything we do. Worship is a state of mind that turns even the most menial of tasks into acts of adoration to God.

I’m guilty of expecting the most up-to-date songs when I go to a worship event. I expect professional-caliber musicianship (I suppose I’m a bit spoiled from living in Nashville where practically everyone plays guitar and writes songs and sings).

True worship starts before I walk through the church doors. If I am truly worshipping in spirit and in truth like Jesus told me I should, then I can worship to the latest Hillsong offering with a full band or a 500-year old hymn accompanied by a pipe organ and piano.

I’ve been to a tiny church where the pastor spoke with a thick African accent that was difficult for me to understand. The girl who led worship was about a half-step off-key the entire time. Yet I can’t think of a more worshipful experience.

A good musician with a good band can manipulate a crowd into an excited frenzy. Big speakers, colorful lights, and the right atmosphere can heighten the emotional rush. But there is still no true worship without the Holy Spirit, even with the most talented musicians and sound/light techs in the world.

My prayer is that my worship won’t just be on Sundays at 9:30 am and on Tuesdays at 7 pm, but 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I pray that my worship won’t just be lyrics but a radical and extravagant love, not just songs but a total and extreme submission, and not just music but a way of life that speaks louder than any songs ever could.

 

An Awesome Definition for Worship

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 1 Comment

worship111ma

“Worship is extravagant love and extreme submission.”

I love that definition.

Too often, worship is all about singing songs. It’s all too easy to sit back and critique the song choices and musical styles and whether or not those around me are worshiping the “right” way.

In Nashville, it’s easy to let worship become all about the level of musicianship and charasmatic personality. It’s easy to manipulate a crowd into a frenzy if you’re talented enough, but that’s not worship.

Worship is extravagant love. I can’t help but thinking about the woman who poured the expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet and then wiped those feet with her hair. That was more than inconvenient. That was extremely costly and humiliating. That’s worship.

It’s also extreme submission. It’s surrendering my own illusion of self-control and admitting that I have a desperate need for God. And it starts long before you enter the sanctuary and the church service and doesn’t end when you pass the exit doors on your way out into the parking lot.

Worship is not an event, but a lifestyle of saying, “Not my will, but Thine.”

I don’t normally do this, but I posted a link to a fantastic blog about the nature of worship that I ran across today.

http://allsonsanddaughters.com/2012/03/26/art-in-worship-join-the-conversation/

I challenge to you read it and let it soak into your very being.

If I’m truly worshipping in Romans 12:1-2 fashion and being transformed by the renewing of my mind and offering my body as a living sacrifice, then it won’t matter whether I’m singing the most current and trendy modern worship songs or the old, old hymns.

It won’t matter if there’s a rockin’ worship band, or a guy with a guitar, or an orchestra and choir, or just a piano and organ.

It will be worship. It will declare the great worth of God to the world.

After all, like the song says, it’s not about me. It’s all about You, Jesus.