Have you ever been standing in a church service and thought, "I wonder what others think of us? I mean, are we crazy radicals or just middle-of-the-road baptists? And, are we OK with that?" Isn't it crazy that we get caught up in those types of thoughts? I mean, if we were standing there and Jesus walked up to the front of the stage and stood before us, would we have the same thought? Would we be worrying about our worship style?
Last night, as I was leading the singing, I got to a worship-leader-turns-pastor moment, in which I intended to give a mini-sermon while playing guitar. Sometimes, however, when I try to do too many things at the same time, my fingers and brain stop communicating. So, in the instance last night, I was talking and the fingers stopped playing - right in the middle of a chord change! I mean, nothing says that you haven't practiced enough more than just stopping in the middle of a song. While this would have normally left me mortally wounded, surprisingly I didn't care. I was ready to meet Jesus last night, and I don't really think He was concerned with the number of chords I played wrong or the number of times I lost my breath, because I was playing too fast. I just wanted to see Him.
I often think back to the disciples sitting around, having a convo with Jesus. They were with Him all of the time - literally! In fact, in Mark, Jesus left to go and spend some alone time in prayer. The disciples went out to look for Him and exclaimed, "Everyone is looking for you!" ...as if He didn't already know that. They were together so much that Jesus could hardly get away. But, the thing that impresses me the most about this, is that Jesus wanted to spend time with them. He wanted them to be in His presence, because He wanted to be close to them. He wanted them to intimately know Him.
In fact, if we were sitting down with Jesus, and I was playing the guitar to lead some songs, He would probably just laugh and smile when I played some "off notes." I used to think that everything had to be absolutely perfect. As a musician, I strive for good musicianship (playing the best that I can, whenever I play), because I think that quality music is important. But, I think that must also be tempered with the desire to be drawn into His presence.
When we think of worship styles, I think that we should think in terms of "draws me closer to" or "pushes me farther away from" Jesus in a corporate worship setting. My dad folds his arms across his chest, while I close my eyes to sing. We both have the same desire for God.
I encourage you to daily worship the Lord. Be in His presence. If you sing at the top of your lungs while driving in the car, then sing out for Jesus. If you worship Him in silence, then let that silence speak volumes. In whatever you do, honor and glorify the Lord this week, and He will be praised.
God's blessings on your life this week,
Bryan
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