The Eyes of a Worship Leader

i've been reading a lot lately...a variety of stuff really - blogs, newspaper, magazine articles, books on a variety of topics, my kids' homework, science fair stuff, cereal boxes, amazon.com, etc...

side note: i just looked back through my history in firefox...i think you can tell so much about what is going on in someone's heart by viewing their history in their web browser...hmmm

today i was just researching what others think about what it means to be a worshipper and how that relates to leading worship in a house church setting...there are many views out there, many of which involve music - yet again...i love music! don't get me wrong. i also believe it is a God-given medium by which worship can take place. music can move our hearts and emotions like no other medium...plus, it's also biblical, so how can your argue with that? but we have pushed music to dangerous heights, such that i really believe most church attenders (or even believers in general) think they cannot worship without musical accompanyment...is that right?

but, isn't transformation necessary in worship? shouldn't worship involve a certain amount of awe?

i read a quote last sunday morning (i have no idea where i read it - sorry if you wrote it) that said

"many are those who know all the words and sing all the notes, and yet never quite learned the song."

the latest article i've been affected by was one that claims that a worshiper sees things through different eyes...worshippers notice things that others don't...worshippers are in awe over the simplest to most complex things in creation, because He created them.

for example, the author writes:

"...you are always looking for the things that magnify and glorify God. You look at somebody’s hair and you contemplate the fact that a strand of hair is a string of proteins, and by some bizarre process, the hair on their head can grow a long way, but fortunately the hair on their arm doesn’t. How does that work exactly? How does that dead protein string know that it’s in your arm instead of in your head? How does it know how long it is, since it’s dead? How does it know when to stop growing? If you pull that strand of hair out, it will grow back to about the same length. How does it know when to stop, when it is dead anyway?"

i love this! and the great thing is anyone can learn to do this - without musical accompanyment! the key is slowing down enough to notice - refocusing in the everyday.

i am a worshipper! how many times have i noticed the moon and wondered how it hangs perfectly in space? the stars and how they could possible exist in their numbers virtually unchanged from my perspective, since i was born? my kids and how amazingly they were put together - even despite having half of my genetic code?

taking this farther, not only can everyone do this, but it is so easy to lead others in worship with this understanding.

with music? ok - let's look at what this song is really saying before we sing it...

no music? ok, here is a painting/photograph/piece of poetry/object in nature/personal experience or story, etc...where can we see/appreciate/experience awe/wonder for God's creativity through this and express our worship to Him?

how about seeing people differently - as those made in His image, those He is working on, in and through...putting yourself in someone else's place for a change and experiencing life through their eyes...we can't do this without humility...


AAAAAAH! there it is again - SEE WHAT I MEAN? it always comes back to this...

how can we truly worship without being completely humble...it's said that "humility isn't thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less!" read that again...

i cannot notice things and express my love for and to God for who He is and what He's done in all these things if i am consumed with me. i must be consumed with Him!

a life lived in worship of Him is amazingly simple, yet so complex...

c