That's not my responsibility...is it?

Every Sunday morning, many Christians get up, eat breakfast, get their families ready and head off to church for a worship service.  In that time of gathering, they plan to worship together, pray together, hear from God's Word, bring their gifts, and maybe hear a testimony or participate in an ordinance.   An entire church staff focuses on planning and preparing for this service, trying to make sure that they think of every transition, every minute of the service, praying over it...hoping that it will be something God can use to touch and challenge His people.

In a conversation this morning with a friend, an interesting question was posed that I felt was worth taking some time to think and talk through...

"...in what way does a worship leader need to lead in the various ways his people worship?  Is it his/her responsibility to do that - or is it the people's responsibility to follow the leader in whatever way he/she goes?"

 As I've pondered this question, I've come to the conclusion that I believe it is both...

When I am leading worship, I have to anticipate that there are people there to worship with us who either don't know Christ, are new in their relationship with Christ, or who may have fallen away; these people are the people that I should be striving to reach more than anything when putting a service together.   Of course, as a worship leader, we are always praying that God will use us to move in the hearts of anyone and everyone that He wants to touch; but in planning, I believe that the style, environment, etc. has to be planned for those who need help learning how to draw close to the feet of God in worship.

As a growing follower of Christ, I know that when I walk into a worship service, it is MY responsibility to prepare myself for a time of worship with the body of Christ.  If I take time to prepare myself for this time, it won't matter what songs are sung and what style they are; worship is an act of giving - it is me bringing all that I am and pouring my love and adoration out to my Creator.   If I am giving, then I am setting my own personal wants aside and I am able to worship to old time hymns, liturgy, Hillsong, Chris Tomlin, Leeland Band....whatever...I should simply prepare myself and trust that God has prepared the leader and been a part of the service planning.

Also - as someone who is passionately pursuing our Lord & Savior, I am worshipping throughout the week on my own and I know what things bring me to that worshipful mindset more easily than others.  For me, music is by far the easiest way for me to get lost in the greatness of God; I think second is watching my husband and girls after I have spent time praying for them and being able to see God in them; another way is when I read testimonies of how other people are pursuing Him...that always makes my heart burst with love & adoration for Him.  Those are some of my most basic ways to worship.

As a worship leader, I like to use scripture within the service & I remember when a church member emailed me once to thank me for doing so because they do not worship as easily by music, but really worship by getting lost in the Word of God.   That was a real "Aha!" moment for me in realizing how I could help people within my church find that place of worship easier.   As church members, maybe we need to be sure we do communicate with our leaders more when there is something that really helps us - I think that can be another responsibility we can pick up as members to help the staff in planning a service.

Conclusion - if you're taking the time to read this, you're probably someone who does passionately pursue God, so once again my challenge to you is to look and ask yourself if you prepare you for corporate worship on Sunday.   If enough of us take the time to do so, it will begin to change the atmosphere on Sundays...you will begin to see an overall change in the participation (more hands raised, more excitement, more kneeling at the altar), hear more singing, and I believe that will eventually bring a change to our churches in seeing our families live life together, go deeper in study, serving together, etc.  

It all starts in the heart and it takes time to prepare ourselves to go before a holy Lord.   I mean...think about it...we are bringing ourselves before the Creator of the universe of an unknown number of galaxies; and despite how amazingly grand He is, He still cares enough about you & me to know how many hairs are on our heads, to know when we wake up and when we sleep, and to know our inmost thoughts.  I think we must ask ourselves, "have I taken the He deserves to prepare to be in His presence?"

Funny how life changes...

I have to admit I have really been struggling lately.   I've been allowing things in life to overwhelm me and have let my disciplines slip.   It's funny how much that can change things in daily life; funny how much your perspective changes when your focus shifts.

My view of God hasn't changed and my love for Him hasn't changed.   I could still go to church on Sunday and worship Him; however, it is different.   Because I have allowed my disciplines to slip and haven't been setting aside every day to adore Him and worship Him; I haven't set aside time to allow Him to pour Himself into me...something would be missing if I didn't set it right.  

John 4:23-24 says, "Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”  In order to truly worship Him in spirit and truth, we must be sure we truly understand truth and claim in.  In John 15, Christ says "Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.  I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.  By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.  As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full."

In order to truly worship Him in spirit and in truth, I must be abiding in Him...allowing Him to overwhelm me daily in such a way that it is obvious to those around me.   Crazy how easily the things of this world get a foothold in us...it doesn't take much in our humanity to get lost in daily schedules, athletic rehearsals, cleaning, budgets, jobs, school work...yet we were created to know our Creator.  We were created to abide with Him...why does that so easily become the last thing on our list - the thing we don't have time for?  How can we honestly call ourselves followers of Christ when we follow other things all week long?

Praise God that salvation is a gift & doesn't require our faithfulness; but sanctification is a process that requires us to constantly remind ourselves of this amazing gift from our Creator and His forgiveness every time we fall off the path and lose our perspective.

Take a few minutes today to thank Him for His grace and His process of sanctification.   Look around today in this beautiful weather and take a few minutes to be in awe of our Creator and this incredibly gorgeous world He has given us...then set your perspective straight and be sure the rest of your day shows your awe and adoration of Him.

Are you wading or diving in?

In a discussion today, someone challenged a group of us and asked why we want "all of this media" in a worship service and said we shouldn't need it.   I'll leave that discussion for another day, but I have to admit it got me thinking about worship at church and how it affects our daily worship as individual followers of Christ.  Of course, as a worship leader, the goal is always to enter corporate worship and openly lay myself at the feet of Christ, inviting & encouraging others to join me.   The hope in this is 2 fold; 1) that other followers of Christ will have the same opportunity to pour themselves out before God & be lost in the presence of the all consuming Sovereign Lord; and 2) that those who don't know Him or walk closely with Him will see the pure love & adoration pouring out and get a glimpse of the Great I Am.

So...here's the question...do we become dependent on these things (i.e. lighting, music, media) to enhance our worship to the point that we have handicapped ourselves and others and made it more difficult to worship as individuals in a daily lifestyle where these "enhancements" are not surrounding us and we have to put forth the effort to pursue Him on our own?  In doing so, what are we missing out on?

A friend of mine posted this on her facebook wall this week:  

"If what He shows me today gets anymore beautiful I will fall on my face and cry like a baby. Until now I have only experienced God knee deep. I just fell in head first and am drowning in his love and grace."   

What a beautiful expression of who God is..when I read this, it truly made me stop and think...even though I am pursuing Him, I still get caught up in stuff and forget the pure beauty of who He is.  When we choose to live "drowning in His love and grace", worship is a natural part of our lives...but it does take time and discipline to live this way - it takes a life of pursuit.

I'm sure you've already figured out that I like challenges - challenges make us reach higher and grow.  James 1:2-4 tells us that, " when you meet trials produces steadfastness. Count it all joy, my brothers, of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faithAnd let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."

So, my challenge for this week is to find a way to worship your Lord & Savior this week that does not include music, church, or media; but find a way that will be a result of be lost in who He is and all that He is.  Go a little deeper this week...just enough to get that glimpse that does make you want to fall on your face & cry in utter and complete awe.   If you do, I bet you find yourself worshipping Him by simply loving someone in your life who may be difficult to love, or treating your spouse differently simply because God commands you to do so, or giving to someone in need because you are filled with a compassion from above - remember that these can all be acts of worship...the quote from my friend is one of the best examples of worship I have ever seen...that's what it's all about.

Will you do something about it this week?   Will you go deeper or stay in the water at your ankles?