A photo from Monday Morning worship here at the YWAM base.
I've been wanting to write a series of blog posts on worship for a while now. I think this is as good of a starting point as any…
My friend Phil Cunningham the other day tweeted this:
"Thank you for leading me in worship but please don't tell me what posture I need to take while worshipping Jesus"
I asked him to expound on what he meant, so he blogged about it.
You can read his explanation and the comments here --> Lead me in worship, not where to put my hands.
I don't have a strong opinion on what he wrote at all. Phil is expressing how he feels and probably expressing how a lot of people feel.
I'm both a worship leader and someone that struggles to engage in corporate worship. The struggle is sad, and it's no one else's fault, but worship times used to be the one time that I felt most connected with God.
I can relate to what Phil is saying. On a recent sunday, I got quite annoyed with the worship leaders rock concert-esque questions. "Are you guys ready to worship?!" He was a "younger" guy and it made me thankful for all of the people who have been gracious to me when I was leading anything when I was his age. I probably did similar things. It's tempting to want feedback when you're on stage. My dad always reminded me that I can't judge what is going on inside of someone by their outward expression.
From a worship leader perspective: I've sat in meetings where I've been berated (literally brought to tears) because of my worship style not being what others expected or were used to. It was too dark, too heavy, not happy enough. I think it hurt a lot because it was my personal expression of worship to God. It's how I connected most intimately with God. I've also been challenged on my use of pronouns in the songs I've selected. Too much "I" and not enough "we."
When we come together corporately, your worship leader can't please everyone. So please, be gracious. :)
From a worshipper's perspective: No matter what annoyance, discomfort, stylistic preference, distraction, lack of atmosphere, sloppy powerpoint slides, poor musicianship, bad sound mix, it's still my responsibility to use that time to give God worship.
That DOESN'T mean that worship leaders shouldn't be careful to serve the people they are leading and be sensitive to what God is saying and doing, and sensitive to the needs of the people. But at the end of the day it's not the worship leaders complete responsibility for how YOU engage in worship.
We're going through Leviticus right now in our SBS. Chad Lewis' teaching is amazing, its really opened up the book to me, things that I would have never understood or picked up on my own.
We're learning that tabernacle worship always COST something. The 5 animals that were sacrificed were the currency of the day.
What is worship going to cost you? Don't let your personal preference get in the way of your worship to the King of Kings.
Enage: Weigh in on this conversation. What are your thoughts as worshippers and worship leaders? List your pet peeves and favorite worship times in the comments.
