So over the past week I have felt like lately I have had to define more my thoughts on leading worship through music. Specifically on how it relates to when you are in front of the group/church/2 people.
I have found over the years, and by no means is this the authority on the subject at all but my own thoughts on it, you have to almost remove yourself from it and let the Spirit move through you. If you have a bad day and you don’t center/pray/focus on God, that crappy day will show through and effect your worship. Something that I really really have to work on is praying before playing. We have to remember it is not about ourselves but about praising the God that created us. I will say that I have found plenty of times that if I am feeling stressed or have had a bad day that those 3 or 4 minuets if I try my best to focus on praising God and not what had been going on during my day that there is some relief. This will also show through to the group you are leading.
Basically what I am trying to say is anyone can go up and play the chords and sing the music perfectly but if there is no focus on God it just does not show through. It becomes a performance and not a corporate worship session. I feel that we sometimes can actually hit that but a lot of times I feel that we fall short, either from leading or being led. All aspects really you have to center it on God, why do you think churches lead a call to worship before you start singing. What I would love to see happen in a church is that concert atmosphere take over the music portion, not just when the song style is to our liking or because it is David Crowder so we just sing a bit more. As a Christian you have to ask do I really believe these lyrics? If you really truly do believe them your reservations about singing out fully should just fall to the wayside. You should be able to let go just like people let go singing a song that touches them at a Kenny Chesney/Eagles/Lady GaGa concert. I am going to end with a quote from David Crowder that he stated in an interview that is on his bands album A Collision. The cover has what is us as humans depiction of an atom. “The atom is a symbol, you see that and thing atom, electrons moving in an elliptical pattern around a nucleus. We know this is not how an atom works or what an atom looks like for that matter, that is why it is appropriate for the cover. What we mean to say is that the elements of worship are inadequate much like the atom depiction but this is what we have and it helps us carry the idea.”
