Worship & Priorities

This afternoon I was driving my forklift at work (yes, I have a forklift license) and while I would normally drive the lift with two hands, ten-and-two, I was also sipping from my Tim Hortons’ coffee. When I went to take a sip from my cup, I (unconsciously) swapped my coffee from my left hand to right hand because it made the coffee easier to drink. Don’t ask me why, but I immediately asked myself (not out loud, that would be crazy) why I had made the coffee more important than driving a 3500 pound machine through the narrow halls of my warehouse. Without even thinking about it, I made drinking my coffee a priority over the safety of myself and the individuals running around the warehouse.

Since I also had been thinking about my future in ministry (I do my best thinking on forklifts) it was the insignificant thought of my coffee priority that made me think about priorities in my own worship experiences. Often my weekly worship habits can seem stale so I began to think of ways I can change my worship from driving left-handed to right-handed. Maybe I should do what Carrie Underwood does and just let Jesus Take the Wheel, but I digress…
These were just a few of the thoughts I had about my own experiences. maybe they won't ring a bell with anybody and maybe they'll ring very loud for others but these are simple things that I've been trying to teach myself as I try to sculpt and follow my own journey into full-time minstry.

Spiritual Connection over Musical Perfection: although I play a few different roles/instruments in my church’s worship ministry, when I’m acting as worship leader for a particular week I’m known as the “long practice” guy. In rehearsals, I’m the leader (there are three of us who volunteer to lead) who likes to make sure things sound good, transitions well, and the music is as tight as it can be. This often makes for a longer rehearsal time. I know the music will never be ‘perfect’ but I want it to sound its best. That, however, shouldn’t be my priority in rehearsal. The message, truth, and spirit behind the words of our worship should be what is most prominent in our songs. As a worship leader, if I’m so pre-occupied with thinking how sloppy my drummer is playing (or how sloppy I'm playing the drums), I’m probably not worrying too much about connecting to my God or directing the congregation toward giving any glory to their Creator.

I'm certainly not saying that musical integrity isn't important because it is. In the OT, even David & Solomon sent forth musicians ahead of their armies (1 Chronicles 25, 9:33) and had them present for some of the most important duties and events (2 Chronicles 5). I imagine those musicians took some time to work on their chops to play before their earthly kings. Playing excellently for the Lord doesn’t denote excellence in trade. It simply means giving over our gifts to the Lord with the best of our ability. That is what truly pleases God.

Christ-Centered not Listener Supported: Sometimes playing the same old songs can get a bit dull. Sometimes it’s nice to try and breathe new life into a tune that you’ve played a million times or rearrange a song you’ve only ever played once. Sometimes changing the cadence, feel, or groove of a particular song works really well; sometimes not. Either way, when you’re breathing new life into the musicality of a song make sure that you’re not sucking the life out of it. I’ve caught myself multiple times hoping to impress someone in the congregation by trying too hard to make a song sound cool, trying to over-arrange a song, or contemporize an older song to appease the grey-hairs in the pews. I sometimes need to remind myself that making folks in the congregation happy with the style/genre/volume of a song does not take priority over the depth of its message. The song isn’t about what I think people want to hear. Rather, the sweet sound it makes in God’s ear.
“In writing or leading worship songs, we should never sacrifice clarity on the altar of creativity.” – Bob Kauflin (@bkauflin)


Meaning not Weaning: I think it’s almost essential to have at least one hymn in every set. Just because the song is found in a dusty old book in the pew doesn’t mean it’s outdated. In fact, most hymns have more meaning to our culture now than they ever have! At my own church, it sometimes seems the older songs (particularly a lot of hymns) need a Red Bull or two to sound applicable to the rest of the set. For example, I once heard a (very poor) reggae version of "Tis So Sweet" right after a slow worship song. So, while adding some energy or creativity to an old chorus or hymn is useful at times, it’s important not to take away from the true, pure theology that the songs contain and the heart-felt worship it stirs.

I never want to try and wean the church off the tradition found in the Church’s hymns. Their meaning is so vital to our history, both spiritually and musically, that we need to remember it’s not the sound of the song that takes the priority… it’s the profound statement it makes.


Written Word over Verbal Turd: As a worship leader, I’ve often tried to fill the gaps between songs with verbal tidbits and pieces of self-taught wisdom. At times, this has become more a case of verbal diarrhea more than anything of spiritual relevance. I read another tweet by Bob Kaughlin once saying “The word of God evokes the worship of God”. I took that one to heart and made it a priority to read from God’s Word over anything (un)interesting I have to say; God's words are much better than our own. Make it an important part of your worship ministry to encourage and strengthen worshippers from the mouth of the One they’re singing to.


Count the Cost not the Number of Raised Hands: I often make a judgement of my own abilities of leading worship by the number of raised hands in the congregation. That's not a good thing to do. Whatever instrument/role I have on Sunday morning, I'm most downward to my instrument or upward to the posted lyrics on the back wall. While I don't entirely depends on doing this to play competently, I sometimes also look for the reactions of the worshippers below. Are they clapping? Are they raising their hands? Are they playing their Nintendo DS? In a previous post froma few months ago I drew attention to the sacrifices we need to make in order for our worship to be honest. we're probably not being honest with ourseleves and to God if we're preoccupied to the worship of others.


I realize there are more issues out there but am I missing anything obvious? Are their other priority changes worship we, as leaders, need to make?