The First Song
During my freshman year of college (at Towson, before transferring to JMU) I took Mime 101. The class had a reputation as an easy way to fulfill the required fine arts credit, so it was comprised of serious drama students and jocks. The athletes felt extremely awkward every single class as the “professor” asked us to participate in some wacky physical movement to become more comfortable in our bodies. Once we got into it, getting over our inhibitions and getting used to the movement, it was actually a lot of fun. But the first five minutes was dreaded, as you felt the whole class was looking at you and laughing.
It’s similar with a worship service. As we begin singing each week, that same awkward feeling is in people’s faces. Once we get into the second song a noticeable change takes place; people relax, close their eyes, some smile, and the volume of voices increases. While many factors contribute to this change – familiarity with the song, warming up the vocal cords, belief and faith – the main issue is one of response. There is an aspect of response to our worship: “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Response is lacking in the first song, because the vast majority of people enter a worship service “cold.” An athlete is said to be cold before warming up- if a person goes full speed without warming up, they’ll pull a muscle. We are cold when our hearts and minds are not ready to respond. What ends up happening is this: people come in distracted by the sights, sounds and people around them, as well as the thoughts of life in general. As the music begins they sing, while simultaneously trying to put themselves in a ‘”mode of worship.” As the song progresses, they are singing of God, feeling the Holy Spirit prompt them, and turning their hearts and minds towards him, and mere singing transitions to worship. It’s almost as if they respond to what they were just singing about God, instead of the words being an avenue that allows them to respond to God from thankful hearts. Which is scary when you think about some of the poor theology in worship songs- people end up responding to fuzzy or weak portrayals of God’s character. While this may seem natural or the norm, this is not okay. As followers of Christ, our lives are to be living sacrifices (Romans 12:1). Our response to God is more than several songs sung to him; consider the audacity! His word should dwell in our hearts (Col. 3:16), and each moment our worship should be directed towards God.
We’ve tried many different song approaches in that opening slot: songs of questions that stir our brains (Your Love by Vintage21), songs of declaration about why we’e gathered (Wood and String by Taylor Roberts, Seeing You by Matt Redman), songs that seek to establish a firm foundation (How Firm a Foundation by K., My Hope Is Built by Edward Mote). One worship pastor I look up to said they usually do a proclamation song as the first tune, but shared the frustration of feeling like it’s a throwaway song. As time has gone on, the issue is clearly one of the heart, and not the song choice. Here’s the question:
What would happen if people woke up on Sunday, prayed and spent time meditating on God’s word, repented, and thanked God before attending a church service??
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.” Philippians 4:4
Also, read Hebrews 12:18-29.
September 4th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
[...] loud or how soft, they are never a distraction to the real object of our devotion. He has a great post on his blog that I think all worship leaders should read. It ends with a question we should all [...]