Thankfulness Does a Worshiper Good

What do you do when worship is not up to your expectations? Songs prove uninspiring, preaching lacks application for you, and maybe you just feel unwelcome for some reason. May I suggest a strong dose of thankfulness? You probably do not need to look very far to find it, and it can turn your spirit toward worship mighty quick. Happened to me the other night while checking email at home.

I almost never do this, but I clicked on one of those quizzes that you see on the internet. It came as a link in an email I received from WebMD so I figured it was ok, and besides, the title caught my attention so I thought, “What the heck? Give it a look.” It was called a Happiness Quiz. Once sucked in I started to answer the questions and then I got to the one that read something like this:

What does more to boost your own sense of happiness? Pleasure or Gratitude?

I knew my answer right off, but didn’t click the response just yet. Instead I just mused on the question. I will spare you the details of what all crossed my mind on the pleasure side of the equation, but as I contemplated gratitude it triggered a 30-minute reflection that morphed from remembrance to heart-filled worship. First thing I knew my eyes grew misty, and then the tears started to flow as I thought about people, places, and things that have meant so much over the course of my life. Gratitude fostered remembrance of so much grace. I started out thinking how grateful I am for family, immediate and extended. Then there was the spinoff considerations of how we have been blessed by church family when needs have so often been met in all sorts of circumstances. I thought of how much wise council I have gotten from pastors, deacons, and friends at just the right times. So many directions for this thinking to go, it is almost endless because everything for which I am thankful brings to mind people, places, things that unleash another flurry of reasons for unbridled gratitude. Even thoughts of times when finances were stark, or when health scares had us on our knees brought waves of thankfulness as I recalled all the ways God provided and faith was strengthened. Of course reflection of this nature brings to mind loved ones who have been so much a part of life’s journey who are now separated from us by death. Again, another wave of heart-stuffing thankfulness to know we will see them again. When I looked back at the computer screen to try and finish the quiz I went back to thinking about pleasures to remake my comparison. That brought to mind how every pleasure, from planning and enjoying our first ever cruise to the smell of bacon and coffee on a Saturday morning to the running embrace of a grandchild to the telling of funny stories at bedtime to those same grandkids and the sound of their incessant giggling. It struck me that even in recalling the pleasures I was basking in gratitude. My answer would be correct. My answer was Gratitude. Click. Yep! The screen said my answer was right. And so right it was and is.

In this month of November, when a day of thanksgiving is officially scheduled, for which I am grateful by the way, I am reminded that for Christian worshipers thanksgiving should be a basic condition of life. It is certainly a prerequisite spirit for worship. The Apostle Paul is especially instructive about this attitude which I believe to be foundational to a true worshiper’s heart condition. Paul reflects the attitude as he thinks of his brothers and sisters in Christ, as he considers all that God has done, and as he considers how he wants to lead those under his influence.

I thank my God every time I remember you. Philippians 1:3

How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you? 1 Thessalonians 3:9

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. Colossians 3:15-16

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe. Hebrews 12:28

Worshipers in the Old Testament were admonished toward a grateful disposition as well. Their worship songbook was loaded with exhortation to praise in a spirit of thankfulness, and the prophets kept them looking toward everlasting thanks.

Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. Psalm 95:2

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. Psalm 100:4

The Lord will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing. Isaiah 51:3

From them will come songs of thanksgiving and the sound of rejoicing. I will add to their numbers, and they will not be decreased; I will bring them honor, and they will not be disdained. Jeremiah 30:19

I may not be happy all the days of my life, but by God’s grace I pray to be ever thankful, and one day to enter heaven’s gates as a worshiper full of gratitude for His unmerited favor!

YOU DIDN’T BUILD THAT WORSHIP – OR DID YOU?

 In July of 2012, President and then also candidate Barak Obama began a political firestorm when he rather inartfully tried to make a point about all that goes together to help make a business, and more broadly the American economic system, successful. Taken out of context, but still on point he said, “look, if you’ve been successful you didn’t get there on your own.” And later in the same speech, “If you’ve got a business – you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.” Well, we Americans pride ourselves in being independent, self-made, pull yourself up by your bootstraps kind of folks. Obama’s adversaries made political hay out of the statements. Likewise, the candidate’s allies not to be outdone pointed their nanny-boo-boo fingers back at his adversaries and called them “one percenters” who were filthy rich and born with a silver spoon in their mouth. Don’t you just love politics?

Well, for goodness sake let’s get off politics, but there is a correlation when we think we can pull off “great worship” in our own power. We need a heart check in relation to our worship life and attitudes to see if a “we did it ourselves” spirit is not at the center of some of our worship environment issues. In his just released and much needed book, True Worshipers, Bob Kauflin writes of our inability on our own to worship God. There is perhaps no point so pertinent in our day in Christian worship than this central tenant. Through healthy biblical reflection Kauflin reminds us of the absolute dependency upon God’s own provision for our worship. Though created with perfect orientation toward our Creator, having no need for exhortation to worship since that was initially our very nature, the temptation to be little “g” gods ourselves was overwhelming, and thus the Fall and resultant sin nature that stands at the heart of every problem and issue we have to this day. God’s faithfulness, though, is never failing. He is Jehovah Jireh! He provides. From Cain’s unacceptable offering to the Tower of Babel to golden calves to glitzy light shows and American Idol-esque “worship leaders,” we tend to depend on our own designs in worship. It will never suffice. All the while, God has continued to provide. There is one provision for our access to the Father. He is THE WAY, THE TRUTH, and THE LIFE! It is Jesus! “Through Jesus we bring the sacrifice of praise.” (Hebrews 13:15) We have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, and spur one another on to love and good deeds in our faithful gatherings, all because of our high priest, Jesus. (Hebrews 10:19-25)

So why do we tend to pattern our worship after entertainment models? Why do worship planners tend to plan and pattern using an entertainment rubric for everything from scripting, to timing, to music. Consumerist lifestyles have become our means of interpreting what is taking place in church. We are certainly capable of assessing whether we enjoy the service, if we like the preacher, or if we agree with the style of music, etc., etc. But so what? The same can be said about a movie or a club. After all, those events are centered around pleasing us. But look to Colossians 3:12-17 and consider the ecclesial lifestyle encouraged. Here is a spirit pleasing to God, on Whom we say worship is focused and in Whom worship is centered.

¹² Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ¹³ Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. ¹⁴ And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

¹⁵ Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. ¹⁷ And whatever you do,whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

I am afraid I agree with Paul Tripp who says for many if not most church members, “church is a place that they attend thankfully but that constitutes no essential aspect of their living.”[1] God does not ask us to check in on worship now and then to see how we like it. Through the apostle He says offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God – this is your spiritual worship. (Romans 12:1)

[1] Paul David Tripp Awe: Why It Matters for Everything We Think, Say, and Do (Crossway Books 2015)

NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN? WHAT ABOUT WORSHIP?

There’s nothing new under the sun. If so then why do so many churches talk about their worship and worship leader using terms they seem to think will give onlookers the impression that what happens in their worship is all about new? Lots of churches promote their worship using words like fresh, innovative, creative, unique, trailblazing, and unconventional. When it comes to “youth worship” some push the atmosphere of their particular worship “experience” using words like edgy, slammin’, natty, and raw. And honestly, is it really all that unique? Kinda reminds me of the gag motivational poster I once saw displaying lots of snowflakes that says, “You’re unique! Just like everybody else.” All that newness gets a little tiring afterwhile. One might say, “It gets old.” (You see what I did there?)

Speaking of old, when considering our worship should we not think of all time, past, present, and future? Robert Webber, strongly emphasized worship “doing God’s story,” as the heart of the content of worship, which surely indicates that looking to the past would embrace not only biblical times, but give consideration to the faith community through all time. Seems to me it could serve us well to contemplate ways God has been at work in the worshiping church throughout history. What about in the Age of Enlightenment, when faith and reason first seemed at odds? Where did we see God at work in those days? How did His people respond? What can we say about times of great calamity like the plagues, wars, cultural and civil unrest, or periods of political oppression? What’s more, what about our own churches’ past? Could our own worship and mission be served by revisiting the early days of our congregation’s existence? A pastor friend recently decided to read church minutes to check out some of what his older deacon leadership kept trying to tell him. He found a proverbial goal mine in what he read as he realized the visionary passion of the church’s early leaders. He even began to intersperse quotes from these pages into his sermons to help the church find its way toward embracing a stronger missional presence in their community.

A few years ago I assisted a church celebrating its 100^th anniversary as a congregation. Old photos made into a digital display were used to backdrop the worship environment. People came to church dressed in the fashion of the early 1900’s. Hymns of the day were sung in a manner reminiscent of the period. Children and youth were purposefully included in worship participation. Pictures of former pastors were placed in prominent display and their tenure was reviewed in the morning service, recognizing a couple of them who were still living and present. Through the planning process I recall ongoing caution by some of the church leadership wanting to be sure the church did not slip back into “glorifying the past,” as they feared “getting stuck again” as they felt the church had become before the church’s current pastor had come to save the day. Certainly “getting stuck” can be a problem for any of us in our spiritual lives, and as a church. We all could probably give examples. It seems equally or I would say even more dysfunctional, however, to ignore or disconnect from our own past, and more importantly, disrupt God’s people from remembering how His Spirit has worked in the past to bring them where they are at present. Our need to remember is to see what the Lord has done, not to just become nostalgic. Some nostalgia can be positive if it is tempered by biblical truth and stirs true spiritual sentiment, but it can also be toxic if it fosters just staring at an older version of the root problem of all unworthy worship, which is self focus. In other words if we end up worshiping our past selves even as we are wont to do in our current culture to worship our “best selves, thinking that is our goal, then we are surely offending God with our worship. There is only One worthy of our worship, and He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Amen. His story, His truth, His hand at work in all times must be themed in our worship. One of the many reasons I am a strong proponent of the use of hymns from all periods is that it holds prospect to bring to remembrance those tensions present in past times. Even through outdated imagery and language, guided by prudent leaders, hymns help speak the past into our present and provide hope for future certainties. Consider the tyranny of being slave to what I will call “nowness.” Worship songs selected only from a radio playlist, or created only by living artists in present day risks ignoring 1400 years of hymnody, which means neglecting centuries of God’s work among His people. Thankfully some modern songwriters like David Crowder are finding ways to integrate ancient hymns into their writing, and modern hymnwriters like Keith & Kristyn Getty and Stuart Townend are carrying forward hymnwriting with great integrity and popular appeal.

Worship that truly does God’s story brings together past, present, and future. All time is under His Lordship. Remembering the past, anamnesis, and looking to the future, prolepsis are central to worshiping the Lord of all time and space. In so doing we offer our hearts, our “living bodies” (Rom 12:1) as our spiritual act of worship, and trust Him for eternal resolution. By His Spirit He is alive in and among us as we sing, pray, listen, read, partake, fellowship, and enact ministry and mission. The ancient church taught us lex orandi; lex credenda; est, Latin for “the rule of prayer is the rule of faith.” Another way Webber states it is “show me the way you worship and I’ll show you what you believe.”[1] Now is the time to rejoin the song that proclaims the “old, old story of Jesus and His love,” that hails the “Gladsome Light” (Phos Hilaron) and looks to a day “every knee will bow and every tongue confess Jesus Christ is Lord!” as we sing around the throne, “Worthy is the Lamb!”

[1] Robert Webber Ancient-Future Worship: Proclaiming and Enacting God’s Narrative (Baker Books 2008) 104.

WHAT’S GOING ON OUT THERE? WORSHIP VIEWED FROM THE PLATFORM

 I have spent many Sundays on the platform of a church sanctuary looking out over a congregation that has presumably gathered for worship. Some Sundays as the people sang, as love for one another was verbalized, as Word was preached and response was made openly I thought the ceiling would surely open and heaven’s glory itself would fill the room. Other Sundays I have wondered if attendees had undergone some kind of hypnosis that robbed them of all enthusiasm and just left body shells to stand in the pews. From the platform perspective I often think I have a sense of what is or is not happening in worship. Perhaps this is the case from a strictly performative, participative, or evident enthusiasm standpoint. In other words, sure, I can evaluate whether people appear to be singing, praying, listening, lifting hands, or responding to invited actions or not. The truth is, however, that such actions in themselves do not guarantee worship of the heart or engagement of the spirit. Nor do such actions necessarily indicate that the participant is acting in response to the presence of God. All the same, I personally prefer to see some evidence of enthusiasm in the open responses persons make in the worship environment.

I have spent many Sundays on the platform of a church sanctuary looking out over a congregation that has presumably gathered for worship. Some Sundays as the people sang, as love for one another was verbalized, as Word was preached and response was made openly I thought the ceiling would surely open and heaven’s glory itself would fill the room. Other Sundays I have wondered if attendees had undergone some kind of hypnosis that robbed them of all enthusiasm and just left body shells to stand in the pews. From the platform perspective I often think I have a sense of what is or is not happening in worship. Perhaps this is the case from a strictly performative, participative, or evident enthusiasm standpoint. In other words, sure, I can evaluate whether people appear to be singing, praying, listening, lifting hands, or responding to invited actions or not. The truth is, however, that such actions in themselves do not guarantee worship of the heart or engagement of the spirit. Nor do such actions necessarily indicate that the participant is acting in response to the presence of God. All the same, I personally prefer to see some evidence of enthusiasm in the open responses persons make in the worship environment.

Our subjective worship evaluations based on enthusiasm as we experience it fall woefully short of an encompassing sense of the Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise. Our long-relished glut of emphasis on intimacy without proper perspective has left us with little sense of the magnitude of Him with Whom we claim such intimacy. I fear such excesses, certainly including my own, have too often been simply based in a small view of God. What if it were otherwise? As Will Willimon points out,

When we come in contact with the Divine, we experience ambiguous feelings of wanting to face the mystery and also of wishing to flee from it……Even the incessant clearing of throats, whispering, coughing, rattling of gum wrapper, and aimless activity that usually goes on in a congregation on Sunday morning may be a direct, if unconscious, attempt to avoid getting too close to the mystery. Protestant clergy have been accused, somewhat ungraciously, of being infected with “diarrhea of the mouth” because of the constant chatter and irrelevant commentary with which they fill all empty spaces during Sunday morning worship. Perhaps their chatter shows their nervousness during times of quiet or unplanned breaks in the action of the service—times when the “numinous” has a way of intruding.[1]

Not that silence is the only means of encouraging contemplation of transcendence, but it does seem to imply “other worldly” to simply remain quiet in our fast-paced, fill every second with sound and stimulation world. Basking in the mystery of a transcendent sense of Holy Other might well prove uncomfortable, especially for those of us on the platform. We might be left looking at a room full of people wondering, “Why don’t they do something?” Indeed, this is our inclination. As one who has tried merely a moment’s silence inserted in a service of worship in a Baptist context before, I can testify the impulse to move is a heavy burden. Perhaps we need to think differently as to what worship looks like, as if we could really know for certain. What’s more, perhaps we need to more deeply and prayerfully consider our expectations in worship, and know that the true work of holy worship occurs in the hearts of those worshiping in spirit and truth.

The churches’ worship provides opportunities for us to enjoy God’s presence in corporate ways that takes us out of time and into the eternal purposes of God’s kingdom. As a result, we shall be changed – but not because of anything we do. God, on whom we are centered and to whom we submit, will transform us by his Revelation of himself.[2]

[1] Will Willimon Worship as Pastoral Care (Abingdon Press 1979) 79

[2] Marva Dawn A Royal Waste of Time (Eerdmans 1999) 1-2.

MANAGING WORSHIP

 This is not a “how to manage your worship” article. Rather, it is a “if you are controlling it then is it really Christian worship?” article. One of the most fundamental issues at stake in Christian worship is the question of control. Our problem is that we want to manage worship when our need and the need of the whole world is for the essence of worship to manage us, and by extension bring us to recognize that God the Creator has ultimate control of the world. I am afraid that we who offer guidance for worshipers in the church far too often lose sight of our role in the process. What’s worse we may cause confusion and distract from the intended purposes of worship, particularly the intention to see God for Who He is. A central tenant of Christian worship is the reordering of our lives to God’s designs. This is why we rehearse His story, remember His works, celebrate and praise His characteristics, and express our faith in His promises. Worship repositions us to what the Lord requires, as we read in Micah 6:8, “to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with our God.” Genuine worship reorders our reality to live in keeping with Jesus’ High Priestly prayer that we would be one (John 17), His Greatest Commandment that we love God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength and neighbor as self, and His Great Commission that we make and baptize disciples in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

So where have we strayed? How did we start managing worship rather than looking to worship to manage us? Did we lose our wonder by trying to create it? What is our only hope to come back to the heart of worship?

A Few Thoughts on How We May Have Strayed and How We Might Find the Way Back

Lost the wonder of worship. There is an appropriate tension in worship between the grandness of God and the intimacy of God. Seems to me we lose something of the awe and wonder of God when we begin to make it all manageable. The nature of awe in God’s presence is overpowering, overwhelming on its own. We do not have to manufacture anything, but rather seek to display God for Who He is. Biblical revelation, natural revelation, artistry that takes no credit save the true grace gift that comes from God in Christ – let our worship point with these along with a vibrant fellowship of believers who serve one another and the world to the Blessed Trinity. When our efforts in worship leadership become about engineering experience we are likely drifting. Strip away anything that clouds the reflection of the Lord Himself and the scandal of the Gospel. “Sir, we would see Jesus!” (John 12:21)

Made our songs too much about us. The tendency to sing too much about ourselves is not new. If you review hymns of the 19^th Century you see many songs in the same trajectory. In the case of any era it is not that these songs are all bad, except where poor theology abounds, but it becomes a matter of balance and health. Singing our salvation is a powerful part of worship, but most important is the God-focused singing of Father, Creator, Almighty, and lifting up Christ in a biblical view of His finished work, as well as the wonder-working power of the Holy Spirit. Singing worship develops us as worshipers to live out our worship in a world run amuck from God’s intentions with injustices, hunger, slavery, killing of the most innocent, and looking to false gods for answers. Prayerful song selection with counsel can help. Sing “that the light of Christ might be seen today” (Speak, O Lord)

Made worship into a performance that entertains or inspires worshipers rather than an engagement with God that repositions us to please Him and reflect His glory. In a lecture earlier this Summer at the Robert Webber Institute for Worship Studies pastor/author Mark Labberton noted that giving glory to God is not just standing with arms open saying, “glory, glory, glory, glory.” He likened such to pointing at the sky and saying, “blue, blue, blue, blue.” Giving God glory means reflecting His likeness that others see Him. I have often said that to know we have truly worshiped Jesus means we become more like Him.

Thinking of performance in the worship setting as the point of worship rather than how we “perform” as Christians living in the world as a result of worship. This is closely related to the previous point. Worship is not about the Sunday “show” but instead, Sunday worship points us to how we live for God’s glory. “If we are coming to worship the Lord of all creation, the Savior of the world, then while we are setting up and checking the sound system or pondering prayers or sermons, we have to hold on to a wider vision of God’s love, a set of very different circumstances and an outcome of our worship that is meant to land us in places of need.”[1]

Seizing our position as worship leaders and pastors as a position of power rather than understanding our role as servants to the bride of Christ. While no church leader would admit to wanting notoriety, fame, or favor rooted in status, our methods too often bely a different trend. Celebrity envy is far too obvious in far too many settings. The accouterments are far too exposed for false humility to be believable in so many cases, and the detriment of the attitudes of those who fashion themselves to have arrived at celebrity status within their own locale is far too costly, namely a deaf ear by many to the gospel. The arresting of power for personal benefit, whether financial, emotional, or social smacks of insincerity that is usually plain for all to see. “Faithful worship helps us clarify and limit human power in our hearts and minds.”[2]

We got too good at the wrong things like high powered speaking, high powered music and media rather than investing deeply in prayer, confessional relationship, and disciple-making. As the organized church compartmentalized ministry, specialization trumped holistic discipleship and efficiency supplanted depth. No surprise that mass marketing techniques, scaled down scheduling for convenience sake, and dumbed down worship for popular appeal were in the mix. Author Frances Chan among others warns us of the danger that the church can conduct business as usual without Holy Spirit power. That should strike fear in our hearts.

Our answer? Surrender. “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.” (Psalm 127:1) Coming back to the heart of worship is not just about making Sundays a great experience, it is about yielding our lives to Christ to live for His glory as we await His return. Singing, praying, preaching, hearing, confessing, communing, sending are all aspects of our joyful obedience.

[1] Mark Labberton The Dangerous Act of Worship: Living God’s Call to Justice (InterVarsity Press 2007) 33.

[2] Ibid. 36

LET’S BLOW UP WORSHIP

 Striving to give worship consumers what they want the American church has far too often continued down the pointless road of making worship more and more about us and less and less about God. Oh, no one would ever admit such a thing of course, but there are signs within the way we “do worship” and the materials we choose that I fear imply just that. Sensationalizing platform personalities is common and revealing. Careful assessment of many song lyrics reveals a telling tendency to circle the sentiment back to our self. Just because it is our worshiping self does not change the ethos that routinely wants the music that makes me feel the way I want to feel. So what do we need if not to draw attention to our selves? What is our proclamation if not to give people that which will make them feel great, find happiness, and just generally be better? Granted, some of these may be byproducts of regular worship, but they cannot overtake the primary point of Trinitarian worship. The desperate need in Christian worship is to see the Lord, high and lifted up. When we make worship about us we make it smaller. When we join the worship of heaven and pray “Thy Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven,” our worship is made bigger. The awe and wonder of the Holy Other is not always the ooh and ah of a beautiful blue sky with white puffy clouds that gives me goose bumps. It may well be the overwhelming, frightening storm that serves to display the power and character of God. And it is God that we need as revealed through His Word and illuminated by His Holy Spirit. We need the Triune God revealed in His splendor as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. May our songs, prayers, readings, and actions of worship reveal, praise, honor, and glorify Him. He is the essence of worship, the subject and the object of worship. By His provision we are able to come before Him, but it is not about us.

Let’s face it! Everything around us in popular culture tells us, “It’s all about you!” Have what you want. Do what you want. Make yourself happy. Let others serve you. Is there any stronger evidence that our self-obsession has slipped over the edge than the selfie? And now we even have the selfie stick to get a more flattering angle as if someone else is . We have perfected the ability for self promotion, and we can choose what self it is we want to present. This is what we do in current culture. It is who we have become. So, shall we just succumb? Shall we give in and just agree? Is it really all about me?

Masquerading as a means of reaching our culture we have become self obsessed in worship. Some have said we worship our worship. Boil it down and isn’t that really just another way of saying we are worshiping ourselves? If Ralph Waldo Emerson is right when he says “what we are worshiping we are becoming” then doesn’t it follow that if we are worshiping ourselves, we are just becoming ourselves? Resultant attitudes toward marriage, divorce, race, and other issues would indicate we are just becoming more of ourselves. One of our most pronounced tendencies in worship is to bring it down to our size. When our primary objective is to bring worship down to our level, even with the best of intentions such as to reach others, we are nevertheless shrinking worship to a place where we have control. Have we so used the Old Testament as proof text that we have missed the prophetic message of its overarching story? Almighty God is always in control. He is working out His plan. The story is His story and He has graciously allowed us to be a part, even calling us His children, sons of Light.

So how can those who facilitate worship help to present worship as larger than the “all about me” method would dictate? As worship music ministry leaders we have opportunity to select songs that place larger and deeper thoughts about God on the lips of the people. Singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs is a great place to start. Here we expose worshipers to historic praise in psalmnody (whatever the style), hymns that declare grand theological truth and reveal character of God, and spiritual songs that confess our need and His work in our lives in real time. What a challenge! Everything around us reinforces the lie that “it’s all about you.” Worship of the living God says instead, “love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matt 22:36-40) The Greatest Commandment leads to the Great Commission which reminds us that all power in heaven and on earth is given to Jesus, therefore we are to “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching them all things I have commanded you, and I am with you always.” (Matt 28:18-20)

The culture points us toward ourself, and worship points us outward. Genuine Christian worship results in us looking and acting more like Jesus. No wonder the whole creation groans in waiting as we see in Romans 8. Jesus said if we are silent the very rocks would cry out. Friend and composer/arranger, Mary McDonald recently noted regarding churches where the song seems to be muted, “I did not hear the rocks cry out, but I heard them clear their throats.”

Robert Webber summarized the act of worship as prayer in this way,

God, we are here to remember your story and to pray that the whole world, the entire cosmos, will be gathered in your Son and brought to the fulfillment of your purposes in Him!”[1]

[1] Robert Webber Ancient-Future Worship: Proclaiming and Enacting God’s Narrative (Baker Books 2008) 150.

SEVEN TRAITS OF WORSHIP SINGING IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH

 What a profound privilege it is to join in singing worship with fellow believers! After several events where congregational song and singing were the focus of discussions, teaching, sermons, research, and small group consideration, I am reminded of the simple and yet astounding miracle of joining mind and spirit with other Christians in singing worship! I think and write about these things often, but the proverbial “proof is in the pudding.” That is to say, the spiritual engagement with the living God in Three Persons shared in the fellowship of saints forgiven by His grace and gathered in His Name through singing is almost beyond description, much less definition. Consider with me some of the dynamics of what is happening during such singing when such worship is genuinely “in spirit and truth:”

• Walls of division are crumbled as the Gospel of Jesus Christ demonstrates its power to overcome divisions of race, gender, wealth, social status, intellect, talent, athleticism, or physical beauty. In genuine worship singing the church demonstrates an answer to Jesus’ High Priestly prayer in John 17 that we would be one, and is answering that prayer in real time and space.
• God’s story is retold, and worshipers are invited in to find their place in the story. Biblical songs root worshipers in the stream of God’s praise, His deliverance, and His character. Poetic inferences of scriptural truth “strum the slumbering chords again” to bring worshipers to recount the acts of God and respond in celebration, or confession, or prayer, renewed covenant. In worship we remember “great things He has done,” and respond with “Praise the Lord!”
• Mutual ministry is engaged as every singing worshiper edifies every other singing worshiper at the same time that the other worshiper edifies the first singer. That dynamic is multiplied across the room of singing worshipers exponentially as every one is ministering to every other one, and vice versa. Plus the composite ministry of the singing congregation ministers as a collective entity to every worshiper and to any outsiders who happen to hear.
• Moments of significance are embraced and embedded in a congregation’s memory. Whether times of deep sadness and longing sorrow, or the most joyous of joys in times of happiness, those moments are stamped through the attachment of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs that accompany and express the church’s response, whether praise, prayer, or sympathetic concern. Through these times a hymn or worship song becomes a signature of the congregation’s shared experience of faith, and when it is sung it serves not only in its intended meaning, but also as a reminder of its new significance. Often re-singing of the hymn or song will bring association with the emotions and ministry present in its previous singing. Indeed a hymn or worship song may become something of an Ebenezer (1 Samuel 7:12-13) reminding worshipers of the Lord’s help, provision, or other character trait. With such songs a congregation may find that each time it is sung the church reaches a more profound Alleluia!
• The body of Christ is formed and strengthened as individual worshipers give themselves over to the corporate fellowship of saints, and love one another with brotherly affection, and try to outdo one another in showing honor. (Romans 12:10) In singing the many members are one body joining to sing one song of praise, walking together by faith and not by sight.
• Faithful saints are sent out to make disciples, baptize believers, teaching and preaching the Word. The song and its singing inspire, encourage, and embolden the faithful to “take up their cross and follow Christ.” Empowerment may not occur in the singing itself, but certainly it is echoed and declared with fresh fire when sung invoking the Name of Jesus to Whom all authority in heaven and earth is given. It is in His Name we are sent because we have “a story to tell to the nations.”
• A triumphant tone is sounded and flavors all Christian worship in light of the truth of the Gospel that “hails a new creation” and harkens us to sing the sweet song of salvation in full assurance of faith, knowing Christ is ultimate Victor and that our singing accompanies our “marching to Zion” right up to the day we join the sacred throng in the very presence of Jesus and fall at His feet to “crown Him Lord of all” and join the song we have been singing all along,

Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!

We will join with every creature in heaven and on earth in singing,

To Him Who sits on the throne and to the Lamb Be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever! Amen  (Revelation 5:9-13)

Just in these past few days I have been part of singing that reveals these traits that are characteristic of worship in spirit and truth. It cannot help but fill the heart to overflowing. In familiar yet fresh ways it stirs the soul. Oh that we all might “join in a song with sweet accord.”

THE JOY OF SERVING IN HARMONY

 Last Friday I was meeting with a group of worship music ministers and pastors discussing the state of congregational singing in churches and more specifically its relation to revitalizing worship. Like all of us who are slave to the smartphone, at each breaktime through the day I would try to check my phone for messages. One that came through right at the end of the day was word of the passing of Nancy Roberts, wife of Roger Roberts, one of the former senior pastors with whom I served in Kansas. The news was sad and at once relief, as I knew Nancy’s mind and body had been riddled by Alzheimer’s disease. As I drove the 80 miles to my next stop I wept some, prayed some wordless prayers and sang prayers as well, and along the way my mind flooded with memories of the time our families served together in one of the most harmonious ministries of my years of service. Roger and Nancy and their children were like family. We loved spending time together with them. We benefited from watching Roger and Nancy parent, and loved the privilege of being in their home often, a place filled with love, laughter, and music. 

One of the dynamics that benefited our relationship with the Roberts was their love for music. We shared many common interests (theology, sports, humor, and family), but the appreciation for musical expression was high on the list. It did not hurt that Nancy had a master’s degree in piano performance and was often working on compositions herself. Plus Roger played some trombone and actually enjoyed going to the symphony.  Knowing their appreciation of music and observing their enthusiastic participation in the church’s worship through music gave me all the more inspiration to do my best work, to strive to encourage the best from others, and to find even richer joy in the making of music that I fervently prayed was serving the worship of our Lord and brought Him appropriate praise and thanksgiving. It was as though the love of the art, the love of all persons involved, from my pastor to the choirs and instrumentalists to congregation, all worked together to bring about a harmonious music that served the Kingdom. We did some good music, and were not afraid to attempt great things. The longer term benefit, however, was not in the music itself, except perhaps inasmuch as it lent meaningful expression to our moments of joining eternal praise, or as it attached melodious significance to ministering Gospel during times of proclamation or lament. I would also have to say, however, that a lasting value of our harmonious shared ministry in this church as in others is the depth of love which is brilliantly reflected and symbolized in the music itself. Lives lived together in common purpose, demonstrating deference to one another in order to serve the Kingdom above self, lending our part to the larger symphony of praise that Christian life is surely intended to be, can be richly symbolized in the rhythms, melodies, dynamics, and harmonies of music and music-making. I believe it is in these settings when we have allowed the Spirit to set aside the tyranny of our preferences, and have embraced fully the larger joy to “join in a song with sweet accord and thus surround the throne” that we will begin to hear the voice of Jesus singing “in the great congregation.” (Hebrews 2:12)

Our brother and mentor, Reggie Kidd ends his inspiring book quoting the text of Edmund P. Clowney, and credits Clowney “for the way he pointed many of us to Christ who sings his love to his bride.”[1] Here are the last stanzas of Clowney’s lyric:

Then sing, ascending King of kings; lift up your heads, you gates;

The King of Glory triumph sings, the Lord that heav’n awaits.

O sing, you Son of God’s right hand, our Prophet, Priest, and King;

The saints that on Mount Zion stand, with tongues once dumb, now sing

 

O sing, Lord Christ, among the choir in robes with blood made white,

And satisfy your heart’s desire to lead the sons of light.

O Chief Musician, Lord of praise, from you our song is found;

O Ancient of eternal days, to you the trumpets sound.

 

Rejoicing Savior, sing today within our upper room;

Among your brothers lift the lay of triumph from the tomb.

Sing now, O Lamb, that we may sing the glory of your shame,

The anthem of your suffering, to sanctify your Name![2]

[1] Reggie Kidd, With One Voice: Discovering Christ’s Song in Our Worship (Baker Books 2005) 182.

[2] Edmund P Clowney, The Singing Servant in With One Voice pg.183.

WORSHIP IN AN AGE OF CONFUSION

 Christian worship is suppose to be about Word and Table, engaging the faithful in singing, proclaiming, praying, fellowshipping, and sending out to baptize and make disciples. The pattern is ancient and contemporary, practiced in churches of different faith traditions, and of varying ethos through the years. Just think about all the surrounding circumstances of all those years; war, pestilence, death, birth, decline and renewal, dismay and elation. The steady repetition of worship and the accompanying song has been sung through seasons of greatest jubilation as well as deepest lament. In our own country we have experienced seasons of cultural acceptance and even meshing of church and culture whereby “going to church” was the right thing to do – the accepted norm. Then again there have been times when those who sought to worship faithfully have been culturally suspicioned either as “holy rollers” or as “cold ritualists.” Viewed as such, the faithful are dismissed as irrelevant. The wrestling match with cultural acceptance, rejection, or adaptation has always confronted the Church. In present day America churches are reacting to recent civil and cultural events in varying ways. Plenty has been and is being said about the SCOTUS decision in their redefinition of legal marriage, and the fallout as it effects various faith traditions. My address here is not about that decision or fallout directly, but rather regarding our direction in worship gatherings, and the need of the Church as it worships with fissures in the convictions of the faithful, either spoken or silent. How do we worship in an environment of confusion? Some of you may say, “What confusion?” as you are convinced beyond a doubt that your convictions are right, and thus you might desire the spirit of singing to be somewhat militant in reflecting your convictions. Certainly, within my own Southern Baptist denomination, there is little dissent from the traditionalist position. Likewise, however, within the ranks of other faith traditions there is a libertarian position with equal force of sentiment. Both sides use biblical reference as proof of correctness. What are you singing, worship leaders?

Worship sentiment varies widely anyway among the churches, especially in evangelical communities where week to week liturgy is not prescribed, and sentiment may largely follow the reaction that leaders have to real time happenings. If Facebook is any indicator last Sunday’s worship in many churches was dominated by reaction to the SCOTUS ruling. As I read on church websites and Facebook pages, post after post announcing, “Come to hear Pastor ________’s response to the SCOTUS ruling,” I could not help but wonder, “What songs will worship leaders ask their people to sing in those settings?” “What will be the spirit of the singing?” Divisions in the faith family seem accentuated in light of such strong opinions and the feelings that drive them. So what is the spirit of our singing in these seasons? Militant? Defiant? Forgiving? Loving? Confessional? Priestly?

I continue to be convinced that worship music can serve as an effective instrument (pun intended) of expression amidst the tensions inherent to Christian worship. There are many such tensions; transcendence and immanence, humility and boldness, cerebral and emotional, vertical and horizontal, traditional and contextual, already and not yet, to name a few. There is just something about music that helps us rise above the human logic of the tensions to simply sing the tensions with proper embrace of either side of such tensions. In other words, we can sing Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise and sing I Am a Friend of God in the same service and fully embrace the truth of each as well as the tensions inherent. Likewise, in light of recent developments in our country, I might propose singing of bold reminders of God’s sovereignty, His unfailing mercy, His command to love one another. Our singing of timeless texts with boldness that reaches beyond ourselves can aid our escape from the entrapment of how I see something (or feel about something) to Who God is, what He has done, is doing, and will do. Worship’s song must surely ever include the tone of ultimate triumphant of Christus Victor! Meanwhile, living in the not yet we must also sing so as to spur one another on to love and good deeds that our light will shine before men and point them to the Father. We are far too often given to stray from loving neighbor as self, building walls around us and our children instead. Let us be renewed as the faithful

My faith is built on nothing less

Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness

I dare not trust the sweetest frame

But wholly lean on Jesus’ Name

 

On Christ the solid rock I stand

All other ground is sinking sand

All other ground is sinking sand

                        –Edward Mote (1834)

WHAT WE CALL WORSHIP LEADERS IS NEVER AS IMPORTANT AS BY WHOM AND TO WHAT THE LEADER IS CALLED

 After leading music for a Sunday morning church service in a neighboring county a young man came up to me to tell me he was a worship leader. He then boldly asked, “can you get me a church?” He knew that in my position I helped churches in worship and music ministry. One of his friends was serving in a church and it was helping pay his way through school. I didn’t want to discourage his enthusiasm or confidence, but obviously needed a bit more information before I could begin to think about how to help this young man. I gave my contact information and encouraged him to email me so I could get to know more about him. He continued to tell me about leading at a youth event, and let me know he was now thinking about writing his own songs. I never heard from him again, and a few weeks later heard from his church’s pastor that the young man had moved on to other things and had lost interest in “getting a church.”

Terminology is sure not everything, but neither is it nothing. Words definitely matter. Titles are never as important as attitude, spirit, and root motivation, but what we call the ones who guide in gathered worship does say something, and communicates a message about what we are doing in worship. A title may well say something as well about how the person leading views himself or herself, and contributes to the overall environment in which we worship. So what do we call the one who is leading us to sing songs of worship and praise, and who participates in the planning of worship? Worship Leader? Lead Worshiper? Minister of Music? Worship Pastor? Associate Pastor for Worship? Assistant Pastor for Music? Music Pastor? Pastoral Musician? Minister of Magnification? Music Director? Song Leader? I have heard every one of these titles used at some point for the one leading music for worship. Some of the monikers seem more healthy than others, but I imagine anyone attending gathered worship would have a sense of what to expect from whoever is called by one of these names.

As important as what we call those guiding the gathered worship experience might be, it could never be as important as Who calls them to plan and to lead. Being called a worship leader is never as important as a clear sense that fulfilling the role is a response to a calling by God deeply rooted in the Gospel of Jesus Christ itself. Being known as a lead-worshiper is never as important as grasping the fact that genuine worship can only occur by the work of the Holy Spirit among worshipers, and that the role of the leader is one of servanthood. I have noticed that, to a large extent, talk about calling has disappeared from contemporary church speak. In some circles it is non-existent. Perhaps calling is a term not used for music leaders because the New Testament does not identify that role as a church office as such. In fact, there are no specific examples of a music leader at all in the New Testament church. Perhaps it is not used due to the weightiness of such an inference – that I am called by God.

So what is the big deal about calling in relation to worship leadership? Not to play word police, but I see written, and hear spoken often about somebody who is “looking for a worship leader gig,” or who will be at such-and-such event to “lead some worship.” I think I know what is intended by these expressions, but can we admit that the spirit expressed hardly indicates a sense that we are handling the holy? I was having coffee with a young man recently who was considering a path toward worship leadership, and I asked him if he had any sense of calling toward ministry. That gave him pause and together we determined this was something for both of us to pray about. As we unpacked the notion of God’s unique call to Gospel ministry we both shed some tears in light of the awe-some nature of saying, “yes” to such a call. Likewise, looking into holy scripture casts light on the severity of seeking to guide the Bride of Christ in expressions of love and devotion, worship and praise, whether in word or in song. At once we were reminded of the joy of fostering the sounds of praise from many generations, and the peace of knowing and doing God’s will.

The call to Gospel ministry fleshed out in using gifts in music leadership and engaged in pastoral direction of congregational worship and developmental discipleship using the arts is humbling as it is inspiring. Prayerful response to the call should lead us toward what Jamie Brown identifies as “Three C’s of Worship Leading: Christ-centeredness, Congregational accessibility, and Consistency.” Jamie is Director of Worship and Arts (there’s a title I missed before) for an Anglican church in Virginia. Read his insightful and encouraging blogpost at www.churchleaders.com