The physical side of worship

When we hear or think about worship, usually the first thing that comes to mind is singing. This isn’t surprising and isn’t necessarily even wrong, because in the Bible and throughout history the people of God have gathered for the purpose of singing God’s praises. However, if our understanding of worship stops there, it is incomplete.

I think a lot of times when we begin to speak of physical expression in worship, instantly a lot of us shoot up red flags of hesitation pretty quickly. Whether it be our upbringing that church should tilt more towards the reverent than the expressive, or simply our insecurities of what others around us may think, I think the tendency is to simply err on the side of little or no physical involvement when it comes to our worship. We say “well, that’s not my personality, and besides, God just looks at the heart anyway” and are content to leave it at that.

Yet when we look at Scripture we see that over and over again God expects His people to express themselves physically in worship. Far from our faith and worship being simply an intellectual engagement with biblical truth, we are told to “honor God with our bodies” (1 Corinthians 6:20), indicating that God cares very much about what we do with ourselves physically. In fact, the biblical words that we most often translate today as “worship” contained physical expressions of bowing or bending embedded in their original meaning. Throughout the Bible we see models of praise including singing (Psalm 33:1, Ephesians 5:19), shouting (Ezra 3:11), bowing (Exodus 12:27, Psalm 95:6), clapping (Psalm 47:1), falling prostrate (Job 1:20), lifting hands (Psalm 134:2), dancing (Psalm 149:3, 2 Samuel 6:14), and standing in awe (Habakkuk 3:2).

If we find ourselves second-guessing acts of physical expression in worship due to what others around us may think, then it becomes a simple question of “how proud am I of Jesus?” I would venture to suggest that none of us, when our favorite team scores the winning touchdown, would be afraid to jump up, yelling and pumping our fists in the air because of what others in the room might think about us. Yet if we’re that uninhibited when it comes to something as insignificant as a sports team, how much more should we be able to get excited about our Savior – the One who has literally brought us from death to life?

So what does this mean for us practically? Should we be clapping, dancing and lifting our hands to each song, every Sunday? Maybe! But perhaps a better question might be, is my worship accurately expressing what is in my heart? I would challenge each of us with two things: 1) First, to honestly examine ourselves and ask the question – “if I find myself NEVER clapping, singing loud, raising my hands, etc…what does that say about the condition of my heart towards God?” All too often I think we use the phrase “I’m just not really feeling into it today”, or something similar to excuse what is simply spiritual apathy. Men, how would it go over with your wife if you told her that you couldn’t wash the dishes or help out with the kids today because you weren’t “feeling it”? God doesn’t command us to praise Him when we feel like it – He commands us to praise Him. And as we looked at above, this includes the full spectrum of praise. 2) We need to realize that growth in physical expressions of worship is a process. Just as we were spiritual infants when we first came to Christ, yet are constantly increasing in maturity, so learning how to engage in meaningful physical expressions of worship is something that we mature in over the course of time. But it has to start somewhere. Maybe for you, this week it will be as simple as raising a hand in praise during an anthem. Or maybe it will be singing loud enough for your kids to hear you. Whatever it is, it will likely feel awkward, undignified, and maybe a bit foolish, but in all of it may our cry resonate with David’s in Psalm 145: “Great is the LORD! He is most worthy of praise!”

August 8, 2011 0

Sloppy wet kisses

Although John Mark McMillan’s song “How He Loves” has become pretty standard fare in churches over the past couple of years, I haven’t introduced it into our church’s lineup yet. Until now. I’ve been listening to that song a lot over the past couple weeks and I think it’s become one of my current favorite worship texts, and will probably be rolling it out before long for our congregation.

The main reason for my sudden connection with it? My daughter has started giving me sloppy wet kisses.

For those that aren’t familiar with it, there’s a line in the song that talks about heaven meeting earth “like a sloppy wet kiss”. Now apparently there has been some controversy regarding this line. While most churches I know of wouldn’t even blink about a line like that, some have re-written it to be “safer”, and some churches have even banned the song altogether (Stuff Christians Like has a brilliantly hilarious piece about this very subject here).

But I love it. Because I can relate to it. As a daddy, there are few things more exhilarating than getting home from work and having my almost two-year-old daughter run up and plant a big wet one on me as I scoop her up. It’s kind of messy. It’s undignified. But it’s beautiful, and that sloppy wet kiss is a pure expression of love. And experiencing the type of love she has for me in that way has given me new perspective on the extravagant love our Heavenly Father has for each of us. The line in the song exquisitely describes what happens when humanity and divinity collide. In JMM’s own words, “The idea behind the lyric is that the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of earth converge in a way that is both beautiful and awkwardly messy.” The idea that the God who created heaven and earth would have passionate love for me is almost absurd in its silliness. Yet that’s at the center of our faith – God loved us SO MUCH that he became flesh, dwelt among us and died a messy death all so that he could rise again and share His resurrection life with us. Sloppy, yes – but a purer expression of love has never existed.

Besides the song’s unique poetry and creative lyrics, I love how simple yet profound the chorus is. The hook is God-centered, anthemic and singable – all things I love in a corporate worship song. But perhaps most importantly, we as the Church and as individuals simply need to be reminded over and over again “how great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” (1 John 3:1)

June 29, 2011 1

Worship from the place of brokenness

At its heart, worship is a response – one in which we respond with everything we are to everything God is and has done. The logical challenge with that understanding of worship is that at our core, we are sinful and broken beings, so it would seem that all we have to offer God is tainted by the ugliness of sin. Yet scripture is clear that God loves it when we praise Him from the place of our brokenness.

In Isaiah God says,

I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.
Isaiah 57:15

David is probably the favorite example of an undone, broken worshiper. In Psalm 51 he laments his sin and cries out to God for repentance after his murderous affair with Bathsheba has been exposed. In this heartfelt psalm David reveals several things that I find comforting and helpful as we seek to worship God out of our brokenness.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
Psalm 51:17

David recognizes that what God desires more than wont obedience is a genuinely honest heart. In verse 6 he confesses that God desires “truth in the inner parts” which naturally leads to him to ask God to cleanse him, wash him, and give him a pure heart. When we are truly honest with ourselves and God we can’t help but realize the stark contrast between our humanity and His divine holiness – and become undone. But then, David says something which blows me away in its insightfulness.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Psalm 51:12

“Restore to me the joy of your salvation” – this is perhaps one of the most profound requests we could make to God! If you really think about it, why do we sin? We sin when we choose ourselves over God, essentially bowing to the prideful idol of self. I share Paul’s frustration in Romans 7 over the very fact that we would ever continue to sin once we have truly experienced the power of God’s love and Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice, yet it is when we have lost the joy of our salvation – the joy of realizing that we don’t have to experience God’s wrath for our sin, the joy of being freed from the guilt of condemnation, the joy of fullness of life in Jesus – that we choose the idol of self. When we begin to drift from the childlike wonder and humble, awestruck joy of our salvation and begin to take advantage of or take for granted God’s grace – it’s then that we sin. That’s why I love this prayer of the man after God’s heart. He is in the midst of utter shame, yet he knows exactly what he needs in order to get back on track. He asks for God to restore an awareness of how he felt when he first experienced God’s radical forgiveness. Once we find ourselves in that place of awareness, it’s then that we will want to live in obedience through the Spirit.

Getting to that point requires us to begin in the place of utter honesty with God, and in our worship this is exactly the place where God wants us.

June 22, 2011 0

Getting men to sing, pt. 2

This is a continuation of a post I began a few weeks back. I’ve continued to process this and here are a few more things that I have found to be true. Again, these are generalizations and some of them certainly apply to women just as much as they do to men, but I think that we will do well to focus on these things as worship leaders, specifically as we are trying to reach the men in our churches.

4. Men like to feel like they have accomplished something

Are there ways we can structure our gatherings in such a way as to inform our congregation what we’re going to do, tell them when we’re doing it, and then let them know what we’ve just done? There’s something about the feeling of accomplishment that I think really resonates with guys.

5. Style matters – but excellence is the trump card

I’ve heard people claim that in order to get guys to sing you have to use a certain style, tempo, or volume. I’m not convinced that this is true. Going back to my first point, the reality is that men can sing, and trying to say that men can only sing or enjoy a certain style seems a bit short-sighted. Generally speaking, if you were to browse the music library of a typical guy you would likely find a pretty wide range of styles musically. Sure, occasionally you will have your niche crowd that only gets excited about a certain type of music, but in general when it comes to church music style is important – but it isn’t the end-all factor (see John 4). However, what we should worry about is that whatever style we create is as well-executed as it can possibly be. For better or for worse, I know my own tendency is to “check out” as soon as I sense something being “off” with the music, but I think I’m like most guys in that I can at least appreciate a variety of music if it is done well. Now, with that said, this certainly doesn’t minimize the need for the worship pastor to act as a cultural “concierge” of sorts – he needs to know his congregation, understand what’s relevant, and be able to discern what seems to work and what doesn’t. For the past five years at the church where I lead worship, our musical style has been constantly evolving to the point where, I feel, we are just now starting to click with where our congregation is at. It is a combination of factors – the style I am comfortable with, the style the musicians at my church are capable of executing well, the style that my congregation gets…it’s certainly a process. So style is absolutely important and is intrinsically connected to the “vibe” of each individual congregation, but here’s the bottom line – be stylistically sensitive and know your congregation, but don’t feel like you have to limit yourself as a worship leader simply in an effort to get guys to sing. Rather, find the style that works in your context and make sure you are doing it to the absolute best that you can. The men in your church will have a greater appreciation for authenticity coupled with excellence than they will with music that is simply fast or loud.

6. Be real

I think men tend to be particularly turned off to inauthenticity – and sadly, worship leaders are notorious for this. I think too often we feel like it’s our job to be “cheerleaders for God”, and while we are in fact called to set the tone of joyful, exuberant praise, a lot of times the “let’s sing that again, this time like you mean it!” sentiment can come off a bit fake-ish. Paul Baloche has wisely pointed out that “people don’t like being yelled at, manipulated, or artificially hyped up” and that worship leaders should strive for a more “conversational” tone in their leading, and I think he’s right on (see his full article here). The challenge for those of us with personalities that are maybe a bit quieter, is to find the balance between potentially losing the excitement that must accompany passionate praise to the Creator of the universe with an overhyped style that can be received as inauthentic. Simply put – men will respect and respond to leaders who challenge them, who inspire them, but perhaps most of all, who are clearly real.

June 14, 2011 0