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| Ok, so I've been very very bad at keeping up with this blog. But I'm hoping to improve that and post at least once a month. I'll start with some easy stuff before I get to some of the great questions people raised in a previous post.
How do you define excellence in worship?
What it does NOT mean to me is some standard I have preconceived in my mind. For example: "I want my band to sound just like Tomlin's on the CD!" Or more commonly for us control freaks, "I want everything to be perfect."
This is not going to sound very deep, but hear me out... excellence means simply "making the best, out of what we've got." My whole reoccuring theme in these posts is about how to approach the job of a worship leader/coordinator from a more pastoral perspective. And it's no surprise that this often contrasts with the way things are often done in a secular context. The issue of excellence is a good example of this. First, let me try to explain why defining excellence as a standard (i.e. being really, really good and free from mess ups) can be problematic.
There's a real temptation for a person who is responsible over something such as worship to get into a God complex mentality. Meaning, we want to be in control. We want to be the master of the universe. Essentially, we want to be God. I'm sure many of us have been there. We start with a really great vision for how a worship service or song set should go. We plan well, we coordinate all the pieces, rehearse the band, etc. but ultimately things don't go exactly as planned. Somebody shows up late. Somebody misses a cue. Somebody sings too sharp or flat (maybe that person is you). And the kicker is, it drives us absolutely bonkers.
Why? Isn't worship for God, to God, and about God? Is God so upset? Probably not. Are people's responses to God dependent on whether we executed everything perfectly? Most probably not. The Holy Spirit has more to do with that than us.
Then why does it eat us up so? I think the reason is stated above. It has to do with our God complex. Somewhere along the line, we've replaced worship with our own need for control, and excellence has become the new goal. Somehow, we've crossed a fuzzy line and made an idol out of excellence and are serving a standard instead of a living God and his people. We serve our pride instead of making a humble offering to God.
The biggest problem when we're deep in the "excellence is a standard" mentality is that it often causes us to overlook God. It makes us overly concerned with the presentational aspects of our worship. It makes our capabilities and competence play the prominent role in worship, not God. And secondly, it causes us to overlook people. It makes our own vision for worship the end goal and the people around us merely means to the end. It gives us very little patience for process and growth in people. It makes us into masters, rather than servants. It gets in the way of worship being a relational event between God and His people. Rather, it causes worship to become a performance.
The pursuit of excellence then becomes a curse to everyone; a harsh slavemaster. People become imprisoned in
either the discouragement of "It's not good enough" or the eliticism of "We're pretty darn good." This idea of excellence is more corporate America, than Body of Christ. I don't mean this to sound judgmental. I'm actually describing myself. I'm a major control freak and perfectionist when it comes to certain things. I guess that's my qualification for talking about this at all.
So what then does excellence look like in the Church? How can somebody shepherd a congregation pastorally into excellence? How can we see excellence not as a standard, but part of a process?
I'll continue in Excellence part 2.
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| Thanks! A lot of great thoughts and questions. I'm gonna work on an entry soon, I promise.
In the meantime, let me ask a question. Why are Macs so darn beautiful?
Advent begins Sunday. 
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| Hi,
So I've got a bunch of things I could write on, but I wanted to see if there was any particular topic my readers (all 5 of you) wanted me to attempt to tackle. If so, just leave a comment. And if nobody says anything, I'll take that to mean you trust my wisdom and think pretty much anything and everything I write is awesome. heh heh
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| Here's our church!! Scroll to bottom. | | |
| So now let's talk about how all this impacts the way one leads worship practically. If you're just joining us, read the previous post. Heck, read all of 'em.
Just a couple thoughts:
First, it's clear that God created us with emotions, so paying close
attention to them would make sense as we plan the flow of a worship
service or praise set. Ever been in a worship setting, and the leader
brings you into a very deep, intimate place with God, then *BAM* ruins
it with a lame joke (I've done this on several occasions), or *BAM*
they turn on all the lights and expect you to high five your neighbor.
Or, you've just walked into service chatting with a friend, and *BAM*
the leader hits you with a really solemn song about repentance.
The reason all these situations are awkward is because emotions take
time and leading to move from feeling to feeling. We don't easily go
from happy to sad, or serious to light without some transition time and
the right touch. Whenever our emotions get jerked around, we feel
forced. But when our emotions are respected and time and attention are
given to them, we feel led.
A good worship experience takes us through a range of feelings and
moods, gently and respectfully. That means placing elements (or songs)
thoughtfully in context of one another and in the right order, and
planning transitions smoothly. We wouldn't want only one mood
throughout the entire service (that would be exhausting). But a
thoughtfully mapped out journey, from light greeting, to focusing
silence, to deeper reflection, to reverent awe, to adoring praise, to
joyful celebration, to light dismissal again (just as an example).
There's an order not just to the content of worship, but to the "feel" as
well.
Music, in particular, is the language of emotions. So skillfully
selecting music and arranging songs in appropriate styles can really
help people connect their whole being to what's going on. In music,
you have the power to cue people's emotions like no other tool.
Playing a minor chord elicits an immediate response and a major chord a
completely different one. It might be strange to think of it this way,
but when you're leading worship, you are in effect "controlling"
people's emotions. By controlling the lighting, the sounds, the
images, the timbre of your voice, the expression on your face, you are
cueing people to feel and respond in certain ways. That's a big
responsibility.
So again, respecting people's emotions is crucial to helping people
worship authentically and not just with empty feelings. What do I mean
by empty feelings?
Here's the second part. Marva Dawn (whom I respect but don't always
see eye to eye on, but agree with her entirely about this), once spoke
about the distinction between objective and subjective worship.
Objective, meaning having to do with the object of our worship, namely
the Triune God. And subjective, dealing with the subject, which is
usually us. A great mentor of mine (Dr. Gary Parrett) often defines
worship as Revelation & Response, which is a similar framework of
understanding worship. Worship is basically, our response to God's
revelation. And this is important: Revelation always comes first. God
reveals, we respond, that's the rhythm of worship. So where do
emotions fit in? Emotions are part of our subjective response to God's
objective revelation. The error is in putting the proverbial cart
before the horse.
God designed us with emotions so that we can respond more fully to
Him. But so often, we are satisfied with just the emotions without the
God part. Or we mistake our emotions for God. Or we let our response
take priority. It's very possible to sing many songs that simply
celebrate our own emotions and wills, without ever touching on why
those emotions exist in the first place. "I love you Lord, I want you,
I desire more of you, I hunger and thirst for you, I will serve you, I
will worship, I can feel you, see you, touch you, and on and on."
These words have said nothing about God yet. Try this: take the name
of Jesus or God out of the song, and insert the name of your
boy/girlfriend or significant other. If it still makes sense, chances
are that's a pretty fluffy song. It's response, without revelation. And in theological terms, it qualifies as idolatry.
The challenge is to lead people in both revelation and response,
objective and subjective worship. We communicate something about God,
his character and deeds, and we lead the way in responding to that
objective revelation appropriately. When we lead with just subjective
response, with no sense of why or how God is deserving of such
feelings, we run the risk of emotional manipulation. The same is true
when we lead with emotions that are extreme or inappropriate to the
context and setting. The goal of leading worship is not to make people
cry. That's not what makes it real. The goal is to reveal the true
God, so that people can be led to authentic subjective response, which
includes feelings. Everybody wants an intense emotional experience
when they go into worship. Yeah, that's cool, but it's not the point.
Sometimes, that happens, but just as often, it doesn't and doesn't have to.
I don't want to make it sound so binary, that every experience is
either revelation or response, one or the other. More often, there's
considerable overlap and simultaneous things going on. But being
intentional is better than just being haphazard about it.
Unfortunately, maintaining a balance is hard sometimes, due to our limited
repertoire. It's sometimes near impossible to hit the right balance
every single Sunday. I guess I shoot for balance over the long haul.
Over months and years, I hope worship at Highrock is substantial and
not just leading people with empty feelings. Sometimes, a feely
shmeely I love you song, is just right for where it is in the service.
But I'm gonna do everything I can to justify the use of that song, by
surrounding it with good content. That way, we're responding genuinely
to God's truth and grace, not just being swept up in sound, lights and
somebody crying into the mic. :)
Addendum:
Wanted to add, another worship leading faux pas is what I'll call the "misread." The misread is when the room is at a certain temperature or mood, and then the leader comes up and behaves with an emotion completely out of touch with what everybody else is feeling. For example, a congregation is feeling normal, not serious, but not excited either, and the worship leader comes up and says (with a bright smile and in the cheeriest voice you can imagine): "Ha ha, it's great to be here! Are you ready to praise the Lord?" (*silence*, followed by a few weak yeah's) That worship leader committed a misread of the congregation and where they were at. Perhaps that might have worked in a packed stadium full of excited and energized people, but not in most regular churches on a typical Sunday.
A leader has to meet the crowd where they are as an act of servanthood. If you don't, and you misread them, people will have a harder time trusting you as a leader. The first task of a worship leader is to read the congregation and connect with them. Once connection is established, then you may invite them to follow you on a journey.
Another type of worship leader is what I'll call the "screamer." It's the worship leader that believes it's his or her job to make people as excited about worshipping as they are. So what do they do? They yell at you. "COME ON!! SING IT LOUDER!!! I CAN'T HEAR YOOOOUUUUUUU!!!" Or the "coaxer," they try to guilt you into feeling things. "Don't you just want more of him? Can't you feel his presence here with us now?" Of course, there are elements of these that might be a perfectly fine expression of a person's style. But in general, I believe there is a better and more pastoral way to lead a congregation into worship than trying to force emotions. | | |
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