This morning has been amazing. I was making my kids some of my famous cornmeal pancakes this morning, which are amazing in their own right, but not nearly as amazing as what happened while I was making the pancakes. I was talking to God and just kind of pondering our worship situation at church. If you don't know, I am the Worship Director at LCC now. I have been so blessed with an awesome team of people to work with who are growing and living out worship. Not only on Sunday morning, but everyday of the week. People are taking the songs we sing on Sunday in our congregation and are applying them- they are living them out. On the night of our first Summit worship event last month, we saw a fresh wave of God's glory sweep through our church. I have been in services in the past where people have worked hard to manufacture what happened in our church on March 6th without success. Emotional worship does not even come close to matching the power of Holy Spirit led worship, like what happened on March 6th. That day marked a massive transition in our church. It was also a giant wake up call for me. God is going to lead us on an amazing journey- I truly believe the best is yet to come. We've got to be prepared and we've got to begin taking very seriously our walk with God.
I've really started taking my responsibility as a worship leader seriously. Because what we worship leaders do is very serious. We are leading people to the throne of God. And if we aren't personally familiar with that throne, how can we expect to lead people to it? You can't give directions to someone with any great effectiveness if you've never been to the place you're trying to direct them to. So all of this is swirling around in my head on a daily basis and I'm constantly mindful of my relationship with God- asking Him to make me the leader He wants me to be and asking for a clean heart, a pure mind, and to expand my gifts and talents.
Since the Summit, it feels like people are just getting pummeled by life- myself included. My heart has been heavy and I just couldn't shake it. Sunday at church, our Lead Pastor, Matt Johnson acknowledged it too- so many people are so burdened by legitimately awful things. And God sees that and He cares about our lives. But I also feel like He cares about our response to Him and our response to events in our lives even more. He wants our unhindered worship- in good times and bad. So this morning, I specifically asked God, "How can we worship You better at LCC?" And I truly believe in my heart that God answered and said, "Worship needs to start with Me." And I thought...well, it already does start with Him. That's what we do week in and week out is sing about Him. He's the reason we're doing what we're doing. But then in like a milllisecond it all just hit me- it isn't entirely true. I think we, myself included, have the best of intentions in our worship, but really we're getting it all wrong. We're starting with ourselves. We're singing songs about me and how I feel and how God is changing me. And there's nothing wrong with singing songs that remind us of our relationship or our place in the Kingdom. Don't get me wrong. But starting with an attitude of "how is worship going to make me feel today? What is God going to do for me today? What can I gain today? How is God going to change me today?", I think is a faulty place to start. I have always considered this and believed it, but it's time to start living it. Worship is only going to take on meaning for us and bless the heart of God when it is all about Him. So after this realization hit, I asked God, "So, what kind of song would You have us sing to You?" And the melody started up in my brain and the words started forming:
Glory and honor
Now and forever
Be to You, God
You will reign forever
You will reign forever
You are forever our God
And I was thinking..."That's it? Really? It's that simple?" And it is that simple. We try to clutter our worship with our emotions and our desires and what we want. And I'm not saying there isn't a place for those kinds of songs- but I think in order to truly be the worshiping church God wants us to be, we have to start in a place of recognizing Him for His greatness and worth first- giving Him the first fruits of our worship. Our part and needs in the whole scheme of things will then make sense to us- after we've proclaimed His holiness with no strings attached, no bonus features, kickbacks, or "what's in it for me" mentality. Simply worshiping God for who He is will be where the power for living lies. And I think that's what is holding people back in many ways- worship is starting with them rather than God. No wonder our worship sometimes feels flat- starting with our problems, our rotten, prideful, arrogant selves is no way to approach worship. We are not worthy of lifted hands, voices crying out in praise and adoration, bodies bowing low to the floor...we're not worth worshiping at all. But God is. So this week, I would encourage all of us to think about our intentions and our point of view when it comes to worship. Is it about you and a time when God's going to fix or do something in your life? Or is it about simply acknowledging and praising our Holy God for who He is and surrendering every aspect of our lives to Him for His use? I think if we can all begin to make this mental shift and expand our idea of God, we'll start seeing power and freedom in our lives and an igniting of passion for God that will spread like a blazing wildfire throughout our families, our towns, our region, our world. God deserves honor. May we all make His honor our highest priority. Worship must start with God.
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