Ed Stetzer of LifeWay Research had an interesting post on his blog last week about worship wars that are all too common in today's church. You can read it here.
Recently in Worship Talk on the Web Category
(originally posted on A Worshiper's Heart). John Mark McMillan posted a recent entry to his blog concerning his song, "How He Loves." With the right audience, this is a really powerful song regarding the passionate love of God. But, some people get hung up on the second verse, specifically the phrase "sloppy wet kiss" in the line "So Heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss." They find it to be too graphic and/or sensual. Others say the image gives them the "willies" or is just plain distracting to their worship.
The song will likely become even more popular now that the David Crowder Band recorded it for the new CD Church Music. Crowder changed the lyric to "unforeseen kiss," which is admittedly less jarring. I fault neither Crowder for changing the lyric nor McMillan for allowing him to do so. After all, the song is not really about sloppy, wet kisses and the metaphor is not essential to the message of the lyric. Crowder's lyric will, in the end, be the one the song will be known by.
But personally, I like the original lyric and I'm glad Kim Walker recorded it. It speaks of both the passion of God and the mess of humanity. It's both divine and gritty, much like the Incarnation itself. And if it makes people stop and think about what they're singing in church, so much the better.
iTunes has both Walker's recording and Crowder's. What about you and your church? Are you singing this song? What lyric do you use? Should this song be on our site?
THANK YOU for the overwhelming response to Worship: Reverence v. Relevance featuring Ed Stetzer and Mike Harland! Over 1300 of you pre-registered for the event, and we're aware that some of you had problems viewing the live stream.
Because we know some of you may have had trouble, we decided to archive the event and let you know that the entire broadcast is available for on-demand streaming here. Feel free to share it with your staff, friends and congregations!
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Attention church leaders and church members. Do you ever find yourself struggling with how worship is "done" in your church? Organ or guitars? Praise team or choir? Traditional or contemporary? Bulletins or Projectors? If so, be sure and tune into our FREE online event happening TODAY at 2:00 pm (central time), Worship: Reverence vs. Relevance. Register before it starts to receive 5 FREE downloads from LifeWayWorship.com.
At my church, worship is led by volunteers who rotate from week to week. This past weekend, I had the privilege of co-leading with another volunteer. We had a funny mishap during communion, which I wrote about on my personal blog. The experience has led me to consider how oftentimes real lessons are learned from awkward, funny, or embarrassing moments in ministry. So, I thought that I would pose the question here: What ministry lessons have you learned through an embarrassing moment? Leave your comment below.
Some people think that their worship service is something to attend - kind of like a football game. They come as spectators wondering if they are going to like the music or not and some even with the attitude of folding their arms and saying, "Bless me if you can!"
I think it's easy for a lot of us to have a touch of this attitude at times. Let's face it, most churches out there are built with a stage facing a bunch of chairs like a concert or a seminar. It's not done like this to intentionally throw us off. I think we would agree that for the most part it's like this for logistic reasons. But we can't let that get in the way of what we know to be true about what corporate worship really is.
I read a blog by TheDeeZone just a few days ago who wrote . . .
It seems that sometimes in church we get in a routine where we come in sit down and wait for those on the stage to sing, teach, pray etc, while we sit in our comfy little pew and observe. This really frustrates me because I think we have a misunderstanding of worship. Matt Redman is right (in the song Heart of Worship) that at its very core worship is all about Jesus or at least it should be. Worship is not just a corporate service that we attend once a week to please God.
I guess the question we need to ask ourselves is who is this about? Me . . . or Him? Is all this really for an audience of one? Don't get me wrong - we benefit greatly from true worship, but that's a by-product. The true product of worship is God getting His rightful place in our hearts and minds. One definition of worship is to bow low. If my spirit is bowing low then I am declaring that He is God and I am not.
So next time you find yourself just sitting back and "taking it all in" check in that moment to make sure you are still a participant and not slipping into spectator mode.
I've always heard that if we don't like singing and praising God through song that we aren't going to like heaven because that's what we'll be doing there. In thinking about being in a constant state of praising God it's hard to imagine it staying fresh . . . from our earthly perspective it can be hard to imagine singing for eternity. I mean, we only know so many songs. Will we have to just start repeating the same ones over and over? I'm being a little silly, but it does seem like one of those mysteries, doesn't it? Probably one of those that is very difficult to completely understand this side of heaven. We just don't get it.
Erika W. had an interesting perspective about this very thing . . .
. . . someone said that if Heaven is simply worshipping and praising God all the time, that just didn't sound appealing. And I think that I agreed with this statement. I thought they had a point, I mean worship and praise is great fun, it's fantastic to spend time praising God, but to do it all the time? I seem to think that we reached the conclusion that praising God was just not something we would want to do all the time.
Click here to read her entire post
If I just think about standing and singing forever it does seem a bit daunting. But if I think about the times when I've felt the undeniable presents of God moving in my life it has been hard to contain myself. My only response is praising him. I guess I can start to understand a response of perpetual praise by being in the presents of God without any distractions . . . without me or my world getting in the way at all.
I better learn some new songs!
Do you think the non-Christian world out there believes the church has anything to offer in the way of arts? Are we seen as music leaders in our community? Interesting question.
I know some would say that we shouldn't care what the secular world thinks of the talents that God's given us because they aren't for them. That's partly true. But I also know that Psalm 40 says that the world will see and hear the new song of praise that God has put in our mouths and many will trust in the Lord. Sounds like God intends for the world to hear our song of praise.
Prodigal Jon had an interesting post on this subject. He said ...
At the heart of it, the reason the church is not known as being a global leader in creativity and excellence is pretty simple. We missed God's love letter to artists.I agree with John. I think God deserves the best we have and dare I say even more. We, as artists, should strive to be better...
Continue reading What's That Noise?.
Does God care as much as we do about the style of music that we use to worship and sing praises to Him? Is the style of music the filter in which He puts our worship through to decide if He will accept it or not? I don't think so.
skreyola says this about our preferences in style ...
Individual preferences are important, as well as individual giftings and location. They are secondary in importance, but they exist for several reasons. So, it is legitimate for people to want to find a worship service where their preferences are respected and, to some small degree, kept in mind during planning and decision making.
I am not, however, talking about mere whims or caprices. Neither of these should direct the path of a congregation one step. The caprices of the day, the fashions and fads, and the base desires of the natural man do not approach the importance of sound doctrine and the Holy Spirit's leading. But what I am saying is that God has given the Body of Christ not only various functions but also various preferences.
I agree. I'm so thankful for all the variety and differences in the people around me. We aren't all the same. But what ever style of music we prefer to get to God in our hearts we have to get there the same way... on His terms, not ours. John 4:24 says, "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth."
We all have particular tastes and preferences, but at the end of the day worship is not about us and all about Him.
When I see the slogan "Got Milk?" it makes me think of a lifestyle of drinking milk for my health. Probably drinking it every day for strong bones and a healthy body.
What do you think about worship every day? I'm sure you'd agree that we should worship every day, but what exactly does that mean. Should we work in singing a song to God on the days we aren't at church? Maybe, but that can't be all there is to worship. I'm not going to try to totally "unpack" that bag in this post, but I would like to throw a thought at you.
Ps 19: 1&2 tells us this:
1 The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky proclaims the work of His hands.
2 Day after day they pour out speech;
night after night they communicate knowledge.
Continue reading Got Worship?.
Paul Burkhart tells us that seminary students may have a hard time relaxing if hymns or praise songs are playing. Who knew listening to music could be such a workout? Apparently it can be for some students.
Words, words, words. If you're in seminary, then your world is based wholly on words. Deep words. Big words. In seminary you will hear many words, you will read many words, you will write many words, and you will speak many words. This being the case, I have a very simple suggestion I have found very helpful. When you need to relax and unwind, don't listen to music with words - or at least big, deep words. This seems sort of simple, I know, but I have found it enormously helpful. I'm not saying that one should never listen to "lyriced" songs, just not when you're really trying to clear your mind and relax.
Travis Penn says that there is a line between real worship and a show.
Welcome to the Worship Circus. We have the greatest show on earth, or at least a better one than the church down the road.How does this make you feel?
The problem with this statement is that if you are part of a well programmed, highly visionary, talented church you take offense when someone criticizes all of the effort you have put into doing something well/excellent for your Lord.
And when you are a small church with a lousy praise team (if you have one at all), and Sunday after Sunday of slightly controlled chaos, you're offended by the shallowness of people who leave your congregation for what you call the greatest show in town. After all, you're doing the best you can with what you have. How will you ever get better if everyone keeps leaving for something else?
Isn't it good to do things well? And yet, isn't it superficial to leave one church and go to another because the music is better on Sunday morning?
Nick and Rosemary have a pet peeve... singing worship songs that include actions that no one is doing. I'm sure some pop to mind immediately ("We stand and lift up our hands...")
The lyric that is currently vexing them is Paul Baloche's "I Will Not Forget You.".
Anyone got a scripture reference for "a huge bell?"
Ben Davis says...
True worship is standing, kneeling, or being face down in front of God because He rocked your world.
When's the last time your worship flowed out of "world-rocking?"
Chip Stam, Director of the Institute for Christian Worship at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary publishes a weekly Worship Quote. You can get on his list at wqotw.org. Here it is for this week:
Today's WORSHIP QUOTE presents three brief passages from the Gospel of Matthew. We know that all of Jesus' teachings are true and good and perfect; but these three have somehow been referred to as great--the Great Confession, the Great Commandment, and the Great Commission. What do these familiar texts tell us about Christian worship?
CHRISTIAN WORSHIP: THE GREAT CONFESSION
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"
Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.CHRSITIAN WORSHIP: THE GREAT COMMANDMENT
Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
CHRISTIAN WORSHIP: THE GREAT COMMISSION
Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
