No Pressure

I have been a worship leader for the better part of 15 years.  In that time, I have come to appreciate “No Pressure” worship leading opportunities.  When you regularly lead or are employed by a church as a worship leader, people tend to put their two cents in every chance they get:  The music was too loud.  I couldn’t hear Jessica.  Can you play more hymns?  Why can’t I sing more?  Why did you have a keyboard AND a piano?  You play too much Chris Tomlin.  You don’t play enough Chris Tomlin.  The list goes on and on.

That being the case, I really enjoy opportunities where the circumstances don’t allow me to have to “live with” the results.  For example, last week I led worship at my college alma matter.  Was it loud?  Yes.  Was it polished? When you have guys coming from all over the Midwest and practice for an hour ahead of time, no it wasn’t.  Was it honest? You bet.  Was it worshipful?  Absolutely.

I’m sure there were older alums that couldn’t stand the volume, but you know what?  I don’t care!  There may have been people that didn’t like my song choice.  To them, I say, “I don’t care.”  What people saw up front was worship leaders from different denominations, different churches, and different regions gathered together to worship the same Lord and Savior.  The music that was played came from the heart.  It was filled with a passion and freedom that wasn’t restrained by church politics or a congregation member’s personal preference.  So often, our worship is bogged down with these things. 

“Praise the LORD! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!”  Psalm 150

Those verses left out things like personal preference, decibel level, and hymn to modern song proportion. 

I encourage you to read 2 Samuel 6.  Why don’t we worship more like David?  Why don’t we dance with unbridled joy in the streets?  A better question may be do we act like Michal?  Do we look down on those who worship differently or not to our personal preference? 

Something to ponder this week…