Worship Together Blog

Worship Spectators

The quality of worship music has advanced tremendously in the last ten years. We have better sound, lighting, video and room acoustics than ever in history. Worship conferences and the internet have allowed worship leaders to access unlimited songs, teachings on worship and training for worship musicians.

But another trend has risen up along side our advancements. It seems that we've gotten so good and slick in our musical presentation that we (the congregation) find ourselves spectating at times instead of worshipping.

Recently, I overheard an interesting conversation betweentwo of the students at my church. They were discussing the use of motion backgrounds behind the lyrics. The conversation when something like this, "The motion backgrounds distract me when I'm trying to worship." The other replied, "You're not suppose to pay attention to the background."

"So why use them if I'm not supposed to pay attention to them?" The other replied "Well you can't just having nothing in the background."

I think this conversation says much about how we use technology in worship and the danger it poses to create spectators instead of worshippers. Just because we can doesn't mean we should.

There seems to be a move away from the busy screens and worship bands lit up with $100,000 lighting packages. I'm seeing more black backgrounds behind lyrics and worship bands even set up on the side to avoid becoming a distraction to the congregation.

I'm not a technology hater. There's no doubt that worship presentation software has eliminated a ton of distraction caused by searching for the next lyric in PowerPoint or swapping out an overhead slide. 

But as worship leaders, we must keep one finger on the worship pulse of our congregations and one hand on the heart of God. If ever these two become disconnected, then our worship leading is no better than a decent karaoke performance.  

Holy Discontent

God will never settle for anything but the best for us. Our human nature is to latch on to something good and predictable and ride it as long as we can: a great worship experience, an intimate small group, a safe and easy Christian life.

But God is on the move and if we want to ride with him, we must move as well. As C.S. Lewis wrote, "He is no tame lion". In the story The Last Battle, King Tirian makes the statement, "Let us push ahead and see what adventure awaits us." That should be every Christian's attitude!

I really believe that God sometimes gives us a "holy discontent" with our current situation in order to lift our eyes to the next adventure in His kingdom. My wife and I recently became unenthused with our church. It had grown from 500 to almost 2,000 in a few years. We had always been enthusiastic about church and all its activities. But somewhere along the way, it lost something. Or maybe we changed.

A few days ago I was praying about what to do about it. I'm not the type to church hop and it would be hard on my kids if we choose to make a change. But as I was praying and listening, God gave me the Scripture in James 1 that says "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

In other words, God was telling me "it's not so much about your Sunday morning experience as your Monday to Saturday experience serving others and living holy." God will not allow our hearts to be filled with anything but Himself. And if we try, he loves us enough to send us a "holy discontent" until he get us where he wants us.

Where is there discontentment in your life or ministry? Could God be trying to get you to lift up your head to see the next adventure?  

One Thing

King David wrote, "One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple." Psalm 27:4

What "one thing" are you asking the Lord for this year?

The Word Made Flesh

This devotional comes from Miles McKee who is a good friend of WorshipTogether and a pastor to many Christian artists. If you want to subscribe to Miles' weekly devotional, you can email him at miles@milesmckee.com.

John 1:14, "And the word was made (became) flesh, and dwelt among us."

 

This verse is the shortest description of the Christmas story found in the 4 Gospels!  It’s the Christmas story yet Bethlehem isn’t mentioned and neither is the manger!  Mary and Joseph aren’t listed as spectators.  There are no adoring shepherds; the angels and the Wise Men are absent, yet this is the story, the real story. This is, if you like, the story behind the story.

 

The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.

The infinite One became finite.

The invisible One became visible.

The incomprehensible One became comprehensible.

When the Word became flesh, God un-veiled Himself.  What astonishing truths to meditate upon this Christmas season.

 

 

Which Word was it that became flesh? It was the same Word that already was in the beginning. We read in John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word! ----- This phrase is rich with truth! It means that if we were to roll back the curtain of time we would find the Word. He was already there before the beginning.  When was the beginning?  We don’t know, but if ever we got back there we would discover that the Word was already in attendance. And this same Word became flesh; this Word became one of us, not to damn us, but to rescue us. Is this not a good reason for thankfulness this Christmas?  Is this not cause for praise and adoration?   God and man in one glorious person!  God in flesh appearing, mighty to save! What rich and heart-warming truths to meditate upon.

 

Look at the manger and behold your God! It is staggering! Here is incontestable proof that God is not angry with His people; God is not frowning at us; God is not against us. He’s for us.  He loves us passionately! Look and listen, there are no threats being issued from the manger. God has become one of us! Through Christ, His favor is resting upon us! Well may we sing “O come let us adore Him!”

 

God became a human, a real human, yet a sinless and perfect one and as a man He was, "holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners" (Hebrews 7:26). And this is the way it had to be because only a sinless sacrifice could rescue sinners like us from the wrath which is to come.

 

And so it is that here in the manger we see the arrival of our representative, made human so that He could become our substitute. This Child of Bethlehem is the unfolding of the eternal purposes of God. In this child, God’s passion for us is fully displayed.

 

When we consider that this little one would go on to pour out His blood for our sins and would redeem and reconcile us unto God then perhaps, as we meditate on Him, our song will not only be “Joy to the World” but also “Hallelujah, what a Savior!”

 

And that’s the Gospel Truth

 

Blessings

Miles

Miles McKee Ministries

Who's Your Dan?

Every church has a guy or girl that is always helping out when no one else will. They are at church events before anyone else arrives and they leave after everyone else has gone.

Dan is that guy at our church. Dan has been running sound for our church for the last 10 years. We have been to numerous youth camps and on many youth trips together. Dan is dependable and always willing to give his time, energy and money to help.

If Jesus were born today, Dan would be the "shepherd kind of guy" that would be the first to worship him. Who is the Dan in your church?

The Good and the Best

I am reading "Revolution in World Missions" by KP Yohannan, who is the founder of the missions organization Gospel for Asia. In his book, he makes the comment that "the good is the enemy of the best".

I find this an interesting and challenging truth. How many times do we get sidetracked individually and as a church from our real calling by "good" stuff. We constantly need to remind ourselves of what our purpose is and check our direction often.

The Scripture should keep us centered. But we have a way as humans of placing our on spin on things to get what we want.

So then, how do we live?

One of the pastors at my church gave a message called "When Doing Church Won't Do" based on the message to the church at Ephesus in Revelation Chapter 2. It really rocked my world.

I was already wrestling with questions about how we should live as Christians. If you are the typical Christian in America, you attend a worship service once a week (a couple of times if you are super-spiritual!), you give some money to the church and other ministry causes, you try and live a Godly life by being a good friend, spouse, and parent, and ever so often you do something to help someone in need.

These are all good things that God expects from us. However, it's hard to match this idea of the Christian life with the words of Jesus in the Gospels: "Take up your cross and follow me", "Sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, then follow me", "No one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields--and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life."

There seems to me to be a disconnect between the American Christian life and the Bible. To live the life that Jesus describes would mean radical decisions. And it seems there are so few people willing to take this road.

Every time I make peace with my posh Christian life, I go on a mission trip or encounter a serious need and it all blows up again. If anyone has reconciled this, please share your thoughts for the rest of us!

Steven Curtis Chapman on Good Morning America & Larry King

An interview with Steven Curtis Chapman and wife Mary Beth aired this morning on Good Morning America http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=5524419.

The Chapman's spoke openly about the tragic accident that took the life of their 5 yr old daughter, Maria Sue. The interview was very emotional as they shared about their faith, unanswered questions, and hope in God. The interview ends with a clip from the song Cinderella, which Steven Curtis wrote for all his daughters.

Steven has recorded an additional verse to the song Yours, dealing with the hurt their family has experienced. All proceeds from the sale of this version of the song are being donated to a special fund set up called Maria's Miracle Fund, which aids families who wish to adopt internationally.

The Chapman family is scheduled to be interviewed live on Larry King at 9:00 PM EST this Thursday on CNN.

Passion World Tour

The Passion World Tour is underway. Follow all the amazing things that are happening at the Passion blog. www.268blog.blogspot.com

Faithful in the small things...

I was chatting with a friend who is a worship leader the other day and he was telling me about a guy at his church that approached him about helping out in worship. My friend informed him that there was a pretty big rotation of musicians for Sunday morning, but that the church could really use some help at a small recovery ministry that met on Friday evenings.

After spending a day "praying about it", the guy told my friend that he would not be able to do the Friday ministry and emphasized that he really wanted to play on Sunday morning.

You've probably had similar experiences. There's the musician in your church that is certain that if he/she could only play with the band, their playing would certainly take worship to a whole new level!

We have to be careful of those who are unwilling to serve in small ways. Even after you've "paid your dues" doing the not-so-glamorous worship gigs, we should never assume that we've arrived and therefore not consider helping out when there's a need.

I believe it's those "I really don't want to do this" things that makes God smile. We are most like Jesus when we are giving, knowing that we are getting nothing in return. No money, no warm fuzzies, no important people saying "you're great".   

It's important to keep a balanced diet of service. Sure, sometimes we will get the opportunity to do great things. Praise God for them! But let's not give up serving the least with our gifts.