The Worship Artist

Who would have thought a forward in a book would stand out to me so much. Here’s Sally Morgenthaler in the forward to Dan Kimball’s book, “Emerging Worship:”

When it comes to irony, worship in late twentieth century evangelicalism takes the prize. Just as the world was reenchanting the universe (think Deepak Chopra, The X-Files, candle-and-teddy-bear grief vigils, Final Fantasy video games, and Lord of the Rings), user-friendly Christianity was practicing religious reductionism: shrinking the divine to the size of a three-point outline and four songs in the key of perpetual happy.

“One of the dilemmas I find among spiritual leaders is a propensity to downplay positive feedback and focus on negative feedback. This is a recipe for continued mediocrity because it pegs your productivity to problems and demoralizes you to boot. Remember, it is okay for you not to be good at everything. That qualifies you for being human. Being human is what qualifies you for spiritual leadership, not being perfect. The need to be good at everything is idolatrous. Besides, not getting all the talent is one more way God builds into us our need for community. We need other people’s talent to fully experience what God has in mind for our lives.”
-Practicing Greatness: 7 disciplines of extraordinary spiritual leaders by Reggie McNeal

How do you take compliments? Can you take them? I honestly really struggle with this.

Choosing a song for a congregational worship gathering should be more than finding a catchy and unique tune. Today, there is an overwhelming number of songs to choose from. The congregation wants to offer the very best to their God, thus the plethora of resources allows the gathering planner to be picky. Numerous questions should be asked in considering music, but we will explore two primary questions.
1. What does the text say? Before listening to the melody, it is imperative that the text is evaluated. Music is influential; reading the text before hearing the music will guard against perceiving poor lyrics more highly than one ought. The text must be able to stand on its own, it is the only part that actually says something. Text should also be supported by Scripture either by quoting, paraphrasing, or at least reflecting Biblical concepts. The planner should be able to articulate, to any member of the congregation, as to how the song aligns with scripture.
2. Will the song be used for congregational singing? If so, can people sing it? Corporate worship is to be just that–corporate. Thus, one should attempt to include everyone as best as possible. A good rule of thumb is to make sure the melody mostly fits between Bb (below middle C) and D (13 whole steps above middle C).
The previous two questions will narrow down song options greatly, but one should also consider the context of the church and community (does the song stylistically fit within the demographics of the church and community) and the variety of songs (do they reflect the various attributes of God). Bottom line, we can and should be picky with the songs we choose.

Alright… let me hear you. Those of you who lead a band/team… or are maybe under a leader who leads a band/team. How do you keep the rehearsals moving forward and give direction for the songs, yet keep your team from feeling like they can’t creatively express themselves?

“is there a problem when we are so devoted to an icon that it becomes a “distraction” when we cannot see it?”

We had a recent situation at our church where a group of people in our church could not see the cross during a special event. They felt like it was a distraction to them because they could not see it. This concerned me greatly because I feel that we (and this is possibly true in most churches) are so stuck on the symbol of the cross that we’re walking a fine line between remembering what was done on the cross and idol worship. Do not misunderstand. I love the cross as a symbol because of what Christ did for us… however, is there a problem when we are so devoted to an icon that it becomes a “distraction” when we cannot see it?

This last Sunday we sang a song called “You Are My King” and I took a few minutes to attempt to refine the church’s understanding of worship. I am concerned with the modern day church because songs tend to be birthed that imply, “Our [the church's] salvation is the central purpose of salvation.” While I believe that salvation is the reason why Jesus had to die on the cross, we cannot say that it’s at the heart.

“Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” (John 12:27-28, ESV)

Above all, Christ died so that the Father would be glorified. Now, Christ did still die for us. Christ died because he loves us. None of these thoughts change. The only difference is that when you view it as “Christ died for us above all,” you then are worshiping self. When you say, “Christ died for us… but above all so that God would be glorified,” we then celebrate salvation but it is directed on God.

There’s another song that talks about what Christ did for us, and it says, “that’s why we praise Him and that’s why we sing.” This implies that salvation is the reason we worship, so if Christ did not die for us, we wouldn’t worship Him. However, if man never sinned and all was perfect… would we still worship God? The answer is a resounding “YES!” You see, our worship should NOT be conditional. The central purpose that we worship God is because God is God. Perhaps that song in reference was trying to say, “that’s why we can worship God.” This would be correct (but I still won’t use it in church because that’s not what the song says). There is a subtle difference that is basically the difference between worshiping the One True God, and idol worship. That’s why we can worship God, but it is not why we worship God.

With all that said I told the church that I really struggled with singing “You Are My King” for a while, and even took it off of song list because I hadn’t made up my mind about it. The song focuses very strongly on salvation, but I decided that it’s scriptural because we should celebrate. The song is actually a good example of a song that says, “that’s why we can worship You.”