by Don Chapman
Have you ever spent hours creating the perfect
praise set, pulled it off flawlessly on a
Sunday morning and God's presence entered
the room, only to have the holy moment ruined
by a misguided elder/deacon hopping up on
stage and cracking a joke before the offering?
This happened to me quite frequently at one
church. I call it "worship sabotage."
It happens when people
don't "get"
worship. You know those
moments: when the
music connects, a holy
hush falls over the
room, people are in a prayerful
mood and
you can hear a pin drop.
An elder/deacon
(and unfortunately, sometimes,
a pastor)
doesn't understand what's
going on and nervously
cracks a joke to break
the "tension."
In some churches (like
the one I was in)
elders routinely take the
offering or make
announcements in a rotation
- the thinking
goes that this gives the
congregation an
opportunity to actually
see who's in leadership.
After talking with the
pastor, we agreed
to shift the elder in question
to another
spot in the service where
he could do the
least damage - like giving
announcements
at the very beginning or
end of the service.
In one worship conference
where I was talking
about this very topic,
someone wailed "but
what if the person doing
the sabotage is
the pastor!" Your
only hope is to help
your pastor understand
just what it is you're
trying to accomplish.
Joe Wood, our choir director,
tells an interesting
story. Once when he was
a music director,
he had lunch with a particular
elder. "Joe,
I think I've finally figured
out what you're
trying to do" the
elder said. "You
want me to talk to God
just like I'm talking
to you right now."
Joe agreed. But then
the elder said "I
don't think I'm comfortable
with that."
This confirms what I've
suspected for years
about the worship wars
- often the people
most opposed to contemporary
praise and worship
are simply wary, or downright
afraid, of
having a direct, intimate
relationship with
Jesus. For these people
it's much more comfortable
to sing ABOUT God like
most hymns do. The
hymn "He Hideth My
Soul" talks
ABOUT my relationship with
God, whereas we're
singing directly to God
in Paul Baloche's
song "Your Name."
All the trash
talk about contemporary
songs being shallow,
repetitious, etc. are merely
a smoke screen
for something bigger: are
they really that
afraid of having and expressing
a personal
relationship with God?
So that's just what we're trying to accomplish
with contemporary worship - giving people a vehicle to not be merely
entertained or mouth words, but to sing to
the Father. Praise songs are prayer songs. The good
news is a pastor or elder providing transitions
doesn't have to be artsy, musical or charismatic
to recognize the spirit's flow and run with
it. Don't try to control it - just acknowledge
the mood and add an exclamation point.
Take a look at the above video for a great example of a pastor running
with the flow. We did my new arrangement
of the hymn "He Hideth My Soul"
at Brookwood Church recently. Notice these
things:
1. How effective a hymn can be in contemporary
worship. "He Hideth" followed Paul Baloche's
"Your Name" in our praise set.
Watch the full service here. The two songs had a similar theme (Your name is a shelter like no other with He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock) - "Your Name" prepared people's
hearts and "He Hideth" followed
up on the idea.
2. Pastor Perry Duggar walks out immediately
after "He Hideth" and seals the
deal, with a short recap of the song that
leads into the offering. Perry emphasizes the thought of God's comfort
when we're broken and discouraged. After
his comments would also have been a good
time to prayerful repeat the chorus.
3. Music is the glue that ties it all together
- my cardinal rule of worship flow. I'm lightly playing the hymn on the piano
under Perry's speaking. Then, when he prays
for the offering, I subtly modulate to the
key of the next song so we can flow right
into it when he says "Amen."
4. The power of a tag. I created a repeating tag at the end of
"He Hideth" - "He covers me
with His hand." Worship leader Steve
Smith sings it a few times then is joined
by the choir. It adds a nice finality to
the song and gives people a moment to bask
in the message.
Bottom Line: Only allow people who are sensitive to worship
to provide transitions in your service. If
you must include non-sensitive people, put
them at the beginning or end of the service
where they can do the least amount of damage.
Worship is a sacred thing and we don't want
an off-handed comment to disrupt God's dealing
with someone's heart.
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