What should we feel when serving in worship?

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Permalink Reply by Aaron Amico on October 12, 2010 at 6:46am

i can put a scripture to it for you...........psalm 33:3

play skillfully before the Lord.

which entails doing your best, and if youre doing your best, youre focused, and if youre focused, your thinking about a zillion things while on stage.

so to answer your question......you should feel the same as you do when you worship when not on stage. sometimes youre totally "feeling it" and sometimes youre not. thats just how we are. but we still give our reasonable sacrifice despite our fickle hearts.

and some songs you know so well, you can play them with your eyes closed and truly worship.

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Permalink Reply by Kelvin Mutize on October 12, 2010 at 11:07am

After a long time, the biggest thing i look up to God and focus on Him alone, you know sometimes we become more focused on techinical issues that we loose the chance to meet with God when he appears because we are focused on technical issues.

Look to God more and more, its better to meet God than let him touch every one in the place and leave you out. in such times were its been long is to just come in and take time practisisng before ou ctually start to be a prt of the worship team or you can shadow the worship leaders for a time until you get it

Hope it works out for you

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Permalink Reply by Samuel Smith on October 13, 2010 at 5:08am

(new guy) :)
What should we feel when serving in worship? Interesting question. Do you mean the Romans 12:1 serving in worship where we offer our bodies (lives) as living sacrifices every moment of every day? That would be a silly question, wouldn't it? I know what you mean. Your question just illustrates how our definition of "worship" has a real disconnect from the scriptural definition of worship as how we live our life. But to answer your question, how we feel when serving is practically irrelevent. It's even worse to presume to think we know how the congregation should feel at any certain time of the service, as if they have to feel any particular emotion.

Usually the response is, "When you're praising the Lord you should be happy, joyful, etc." Question: How happy did you feel the Sunday after 9/11/2001, or the Sunday after that? Did you try to make the congregation smile? Did you want the singers to put on a happy face so as not to distract the congregation?

Some of the responses by Greg Moore, Stevo and Rick Cogbill have addressed this pretty well. You're not the first one to ask this question, but I believe the premise of the question is seriously flawed. And Jeff Rossman's post about "getting into the presence of God" is right on.

So much more to say but I'll stop here. For now. :)

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Permalink Reply by Greg Moore on October 13, 2010 at 6:46am

When I first took a staff position in a church, I was called a Minister of Music, as were my comrades, unless they were in modern churches, which called them "Chief Musicians" (a la David's psalm headings), or in liturgical churches, which called them "Choir Director" or "Organist." Basically, the term described what the person did, and left it up to their relationship to God whether or not the person was an aid or detriment to worship.

Then somewhere in the 90's we began to get all pietistic and renamed the position to indicate that we were hopefully more devout than hireling musicians, that we were not just note-hounds, but actual Christians, with Christ as our main love, and music subsidiary. We all became, within about 5 years, Pastors of Worship (for "Minister", though a perfectly good Biblical word, had taken on the dingy aura of a sallow cleric imprisoned in an office full of books but empty of spirit; and thus had lost its relevance to this millenial age).

The fact of the matter is that everyone in the whole church is called to be a minister of worship, and to have (dare I say it) a type of pastoral role towards at least someone (bear each other's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ). There are many times that I wish I could be called "Chief Musician" again, and let the Lord do His work through the music without getting my brain all tangled up about how to "get worship to happen."

As to smiling --
After 9/11, I felt just about the same need to encourage the people through God's music as before, just as when I play for a funeral, I will play at least some of the music with sunshine and fresh air and hope and future in it. Yes, I will weep with those who weep, and mourn with those who mourn -- I often think we could do with more weeping music in church. Sensitivity isn't just something for new agers. Would I lead "I'll Fly Away" in New York on 9/16/2001, or any year? No way!

The person, whether musician, actor, salesman or business CEO, who pretends to monkey with people's emotions to get some sort of result, is despised in every country of the world as a false, untrustable creature. People ought to be able to find real people at a church, and have the freedom to be real themselves. When human beings recognize that faith in Christ is something that is real, and that He brings life, not just a goofy grin and a rule book, then they will have something to smile about that no one can take away.

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