Thanks to everyone for a stellar weekend again. I feel I must put in a quote from an Andy Park (Who wrote Unshakeable on the 2009 CD) interview that someone sent me before I begin. It changed my perception of worship experiences.
Q: What would you say is the most difficult aspect of being a worship leader? What can you do to overcome it or work through it?
Park: The most difficult aspect of being a worship leader is dealing with the reality of living "between the times." We live in the age in which Jesus has unleashed the authority of his kingdom on earth. We see the outworking of his power in many ways-broken lives are turned around and healed. In worship, the Holy Spirit brings peace, joy and a striking revelation of God's power and beauty. But we haven't arrived at the point in history when the blessings of the kingdom are with us in unlimited measure.
So here's the rub-the windows of heaven aren't always thrown open in our earthly worship times. In the best of worship times we see so clearly and drink so deeply of the wine of the Spirit! And many times we feel disconnected from God. When you've drunk deeply the sweet wine of heaven in worship, it's hard to be satisfied with a "grape juice" worship time.
To deal with this tension, I remind myself that worship is all about faithfulness-doing, praying and singing what I know is right-no matter how much of God I can feel at a given moment.
Wow. How easy it is for us to gauge a worship time by either how the congregation reacts or how we feel. Be encouraged by the fact that if you have worshipped in spirit and truth then you have done your job. Full stop. It is up to others and Holy Spirit to do the rest. If you didn't feel the rush of a good worship time, don't write it off.
Having said that, I think that both services were great to my ears this week. Personally the PM service's music worship was one of the greatest and most truthful sessions I have had in ages. Amazing.
AM service
Thanks first of all for all of those who filled in. And thanks to the data operator, first time at Yorkie, great job! Thoughful song choices. I think that it was a great sounding service (thanks to sound tech too!). What a challenging message from which to bring worship! I sensed that apart from the fact that the last song was a little less unknown to the congregation, that everyone had trouble singing the potent words. Good! Holy Spirit was stirring and making people feel uncomfortable.
In hindsight I think I would have played the last two songs in the practice first of all as they were the least known. And the middle two songs (Jesus Messiah and You Are My King) felt a little unsettled. The groove wasn't quite there. They both are songs that are at the cusp of the contemporary feel where the morning service sits. I am doing a lot of soul searching about how to resolve this recurrent issue.
I encourage you each to look back for a minute on your own part and check - did you worship in spirit and truth that morning?
PM service
What an inspired choice to lead from the piano. And no guitars??? And the team on the side of the platform??? Sounds a little like morning church!! But wow. What a sound. What I heard from this service was excellent musicianship being played for personal worship. You guys were obviously worshipping in the practice. Don't underestimate the power this has in the spirit realm. Keep it up.
Song choice was thoughtful also for this service. Thanks. A sensitive drummer, with sweet voices was a nice mix.
Thanks for a great Sunday. Love you all!
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I Liked the sound of the piano on short stick. Now we have the drum screen this is something that we should do more often. The only reason as sound techs that we like the lid closed is to stop it acting as a sound board for other instruments. The band in the corner worked well once you got over the visual shock. Also meant the drummer wasn't so off on their own physically not musically.
ReplyDeleteAM service - The tendency is to go down the list, rather than what's the weakest song. As for the middle two, I felt as if we weren't all playing the song in the same vein - perhaps coming out of how we react to the song. I played "You are My King" with another group some months ago and everything just clicked. We had a couple come up from the congregation and comment on the song. So we weren't quite there technically on the day, I guess.
ReplyDeleteJohn
Thanks for the comments :D Just wanted to say thanks heaps for the band for making it all so comfortable. It was great to have the time in practice to talk about the songs and analyse their purpose and meaning a bit. I think it gave the whole experience a bit more depth and commitment.
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