Raise your hands

Do you raise your hand during worship at church? I do! I love doing it. Let me share why...

For me, raising my hands means surrender...several different surrenders:...like when a police officer tells a suspect "hands up" surrender - I am guilty, please pardon me surrender......or "these burdens are too heavy for me..take it", surrender...or I don't know what else to do surrender....

For me, it also means adoration. I once watched the Beatles Anthology...I saw these girls screaming, crying, and raising their hands while they were listening to Beatles sing their song in a concert. They adored Beatles! And it struck me that we don't express our adoration to Jesus as much as we express our adoration to our favorite rock band! When i worship and I feel like expressing my adoration to God, I raise my hand freely.

I know I cannot be still during worship. I mean, I have to express my worship through my hands while I sing. I even dance (ok, sway) and cry....

I am not saying that I am more spiritual by raising my hands...no...that's not what it means. It just means that that's how express my love and adoration...to the one I love the most!

A Life Of Worship

The longer I lead worship, the more I realize just how much of an incomplete idea we have of what it means to worship God.

I don’t believe that worship occurs solely in a moment in time but is more of a lifelong pursuit of God and glorifying His name in all we do and say. It's not just singing songs on a Sunday morning but is moment by moment obedience to God. Jesus said that all the law and the prophets were summed up in two laws, one of which is to, “love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength.” This is at the very core of what it means to worship God. The Lord desires that I worship him not just at specific times in specific places, although it is important that I do this, but that my whole life would be devoted to him.

Here are some definitions that have helped me understand worship better:

To love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength is to completely devote our lives to Him and, in so doing, consider every thought and action to be to the glory of God, (cf. 1 Cor.10:31; Col. 3:23)

“Worship is a posture of life that takes as its primary purpose the understanding of what it really means to love and revere God.” (Ravi Zacharias, Jesus Among Other Gods, Pg.91)

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might.” (Deuteronomy 6v5)

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship” (Romans12v1)

“ The complete devotion of our lives to God while considering every thought and action, through submission to the Holy Spirit, to be done to the glory of God, (cf. 1 Cor.10: 31; Col. 3:23)

The way I think about worship will affect how I worship. Sometimes, I think Sunday morning is the only time we worship God. Why? The answer lies in what we think it means to worship God.

The greatest switch that ever took place in the history of the universe was when a holy God chose to make human beings His dwelling place. Since I am a ‘temple of the Holy Spirit’ (1 Corinthians 6:19), worship can and must move beyond time and place. Worship is grounded solidly in real life and begins and ends with my daily life where attitude is crucial (see Philippians 2vs5-11).

The degree to which I carry out my daily activities with a heart of gratitude (1 Cor. 10:31) and thankfulness towards God will determine the depth of my worship on a daily basis which will, in turn, greatly impact my weekly gathering with the body when I can offer my week – my life, to God in worship.

Which areas of your life could you consider as acts of worship?

Do you want Him enough?

As I look around and sense the season we are in I can’t help but wonder how people live without Jesus. How do they survive the pressure of this world and all its disappointments, temptations and empty promises? Even as a believer it is a challenge to keep my eyes focused on Jesus and His promises to me and not on what is going on in the world. Our eyes fool us at times. We see things as they appear and not as they really are. The perspective we have is limited by our humanity and our culture but God sees the end from the beginning. Scripture says that He will keep us, that even if our mothers abandon us He won’t let us go, that He will be with us in the fire and in the flood but He does not say that it will be easy. The vision of being a Christ follower in our western culture seems to be one of comfort and convenience. I wonder how long we would last in Eastern Europe or in China where life is hard and being a Christian means loosing your family, being imprisoned or giving up your life. How many American Christians would have made it through Nazi Germany or the arenas of Rome? I wonder how long I would last in a Muslim country where giving your heart to Jesus could cost you your head?

I remember leading worship at church one day and sensing God saying “ You don’t want me enough.” I thought He was talking about the congregation I was leading in song but weeks later I realized He was speaking to me directly. I wanted the things of Jesus, the healing the good feeling the protection but He wants me to want Him. I pray we will learn to want Him with everything in us for every moment and every thought for every day.

back to basics

It's good for us to go back to basics and question why we do what we do. One of my favourite Bible verses, Romans 12:1, says "...in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of
worship."

I don't think God necessarily wants or needs our worship. What we sing or do does nothing for God in the same way that the burning carcases in the Old Testament did nothing for God either (see Isaiah 1:11-17).

Worship to me is what we do naturally in response when we grasp God mercy, his grace, all that He is and all that He has done for us.

And how do we honour God and acknowledge His worth when He everything we could try to give him is already owned by him? I believe it is by honouring those who he made in his image (1 Tim 5:4, James 1:27).

Character Quality

I've never been one to make resolutions at the beginning of the year. I've always felt that if the Lord challenged or convicted me in an area, I should respond in obedience right then and there. Of course, setting goals and striving to attain those goals is a good thing whether it is renewing a spiritual discipline, getting in better shape, eating more healthily, etc.

What I like to do with a new year is take the opportunity to pause, listen to God, and hear what He is calling me to pursue. This is one that has been ongoing for me, and hopefully for you too. Character development should always be uppermost in our walk with God

Character Quality
Philippians 2:1-8 says,

If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yoursleves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross?

WOW! Paul begins by encouraging the Philippian church to be like-minded and selfless. He then moves us to put the interests of others above our own. Then he throws in the pinnacle of example - Jesus Christ.

He says that our attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. Obviously, I have a long way to go here. Christ sets the perfect example of humility and humbleness by becoming a servant and dying on a cross.

By God's grace and the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit, I seek to pursue in my life the character of humility and humbleness. I will seek to live it out personally with my family and friends, but also to demonstrate it with my neighbors and those out of my circle of relationship.

I have to admit that this last year has had a more than fair share of struggles, and a couple of the big ones we are still struggling with as a family, and inside of those struggles is the battle to do all things in love toward those that I feel are in the wrong. This is a perfect example of what this passage is telling me (us) to do.

This is about the funniest thing I have come accross in awhile. This is a facebook group. Enjoy

You play a worship leader of a big time Church in downtown Calgary. As with all worship teams, you must recruit a band (or two) composed entirely of Churched individuals who think they are skilled in their instrument, when really, they are mediocre at best.

You must develop a repetoire of worship songs. You will train your transposition and arranging skills as you must make sure that every song has no more than four chords (fewer is better). Also, every song must be in either E or G, because any other key is much too hard for guitarists.

The game takes you through an exciting journey of worship leading as you develop and promote your ministry.

Feel free to engage and allow your instrumentalists to experiment with solos, but take caution, because any excessive soloing will cause an uprise amongst the old ladies in your congregation.

You must make sure your guitarists do not turn their amp past a .5 volume level! This will result in dissension from the sound techs in the back of the Church!

All worship sets must include a minimum of one hymn. This does not include modern hymnal remakes. You must learn to balance contemporary and classical worship music. This is to keep all ages of your congregation happy.

Hymns are only accessible in higher levels, due to the faster chord changes.

The final level will be a song in the key of A. However, it is impossible to beat, because none of your guitarists can play an F#m

You must have a minimum of three guitarists on your team. One bass, one electric, and one acoustic. Also, your acoustic must always be out of tune.

Your electric guitarist must play 90% of what the acoustic player is playing. Any derivation should be dealt with by turning the amp down. Also, the amp must be run through a DI Box. Do not mic the amp. Heaven forbid you have good tone.

Every song, every time in between the pre-chorus and chorus, must include a random band member shouting 'Jesus', 'Lord' or other indistinguishable noises.

75% of your vocalists must sing the melody. A maximum of two harmonies are allowed. These harmonies must be at 50% the volume of the melody. They must also be dragged out longer than the melody, to allow the congregation to hear them.

All worship sets must include a minimum of one (1) Chris Tomlin song.

If you are playing for a youth or young adult audience, song selection is strictly limited to United, Starfield and/or Skillet. Do not introduce more than 2 songs that are not known, as this will confuse and drive out the youth.

Once a month, the head pastor must join your worship team with a tamborine.

Your head pastor will always join you on stage for the last song. At this point, you will step down and let him sing. No matter how badly this sounds, remember God is still pleased.

Every song, fast or slow, must have a keyboard pad as the background. They keyboardist must work hard to make it look like they are contributing. (This is usually achieved by dramatic facial expressions, swaying, or yelling in between prechoruses and choruses.)

Members cannot practice daily, nor have any understanding of modes, chord-scale relationship.

Even if is only going from soft to mind-blowingly loud in half a measure, your drummer requires only one skill: and that is to build.

Drummers must resort to "Hot Rods" and/or plastic sticks because wood sticks make too much noise, which is never a good thing.

As well, the drummer is strictly the only member of the team with a sense of style. This style must be along the lines of or some modification of "scruffy".

The bassist will always be the only member of the band with actual talent. To ensure that no one hears him, make sure he is turned down at all times except for simple, one-note intros.

As with all worship teams, you're arch-nemesis "satan" will randomly incorporate his evil into your worship team. This will inevitably include failing power supplies, vocal mishaps, instrument destruction, etc..

Occasionally, one of your guitarists will require a capo. This will result in utter chaos as you will now have two sets of chord sheets, which will inevitably be mixed up and now none of your band members will know which key to play in.

Hero mode will include a song which requires a key change. Naturally, this will result in a melody way too high for ANYONE in the congregation to sing.

One of the boss levels will require you to bring the whole band in at the same time following a song which the Pastor requires to be sung a capella.

You will have to master a few commonly used gestures between musicians - especially between leaders and the remaining band. These will be met with a confused look and a shrug. Points are awarded for getting your band-mates to properly execute the section, using any means necessary (not excluding, dirty looks, frantic arm waving and/or yelling).

Practice Mode. Practice mode will always be fantastic and include many elements foreign to Sunday morning. ie: drum fills, shots, accapellas, interludes, worship, and the Holy Spirit. Also, every song's tempo will be increased by 30bpm to increase anxiety levels.

Bonus points if everyone in your band (including vocalists) shows up on time. However, double MINUS those points because the sound techs are MIA.

Occasionally during practice or performance you will encounter a challenge entitled "How does this song go?" Your guitarist, or pianist, who is starting the intro for your next song is frantically mouthing words to you. Can you make sense of their mumblings and remind them how it goes?

All drum kits must be completely engulfed by plexi glass. No one will know or ever understand the reasoning for this.

Occasionally, all instruments must play the exact same lick as the bass for a portion of a song. This will be known as "bass repetition"

Any and all guitar solos MUST begin with the melody of the song's chorus. Derivation will be allowed (but not recommended) after 4 bars.

You, as the worship leader, must conduct the entire congregation. You will not keep tempo however. You must force the band to follow your seizure-like speed changes.

Metronome/click track use during practice is strictly prohibited as it may unnecessarily make the musician too regimented. Could also lead to interference with "Spirit-led" (aka, wildly varying tempo) worship.

The game will also include a Stage Design mode, in which you will be able to add your own personal and more realistic touches to your environment. ie. tacky plastic flowers, inspirational banners, etc.

There will be a Character Design mode where you can dress your player. Your choices for clothing will range from the "earthy" worship leader (ie: birkenstocks and fuzzy sweaters) to the wannabe rockstar style (ie: ripped up jeans, layered shirts, messy fauhawk-mullet) to the conservative (full suit or ankle lenght black skirt, turtleneck etc.). Any choice of "inappropriate" clothing will result in an uprising of old ladies and threatening elders.

Patience Mode.
Patience Mode will include various aspects of worship, such as a member of the congregation who believes that they have amazing talent in playing an unusual musical instrument (90% of the time, it will be a classical instrument.) They will also clearly lack any talent whatsoever. You will have to clear stages with people playing recorders, flutes, trumpets, and a xylophone. The final level will include a bagpipe player who feels that he must contribute to the Praise & Worship songs....good luck.

Bonus points if all acoustic players, especially the singer-songwriter-worship leader, break a G string as they adrelanize while singing. More bonus points if any under-30 members of the band keep their mouths shut once they find out what just happened.

If your worship team can make it big, you will encounter a level in which your worship ministry produces it's own album of all cover songs that have already been covered by multiple artists. Bonus points for including a massively over-produced version of "Heart of Worship." You gain points if you can succesfully justify not licensing the album with the logic "it's for the Lord's glory."

Choosing worship set lists will be required at each level. Remember, inconsistancy and indecision are key. You will rehearse your set and then change three songs on Sunday and then change two more between services. Bonus points for having team setup where worship leader, bassist, and drummer are such good friends they can read each others minds. Just don't give them a cue or they'll run with it.

Song arrangement is key in a successful worship team. You must be sure to always have a song selection of 2 fast, 1 and/or 2 mid-tempo and 2 slow songs, in this order. Failure to do so will cause disengagement from the congregation.
In addition, the final slow song must be dominated by an angelic synth sound. This activates the Holy Spirit.

Be sure not to leave more than 4 seconds of awkward silence while transitioning songs, as the Holy Spirit Level Indicator (HSLI) will take a sudden drop.
If the HSLI remains in the red for more than 15 seconds, your team will be asked to leave the stage, and you will be told gently that there are other teams who would like to use their gifts for God as well. You will not be invited back to lead.

Points will also be lost when you request "just the voices", and your drummer keeps playing. Or, when the vast majority of the congregation raises their hands and sings only during the chorus, while staring blankly at you or the projection screen during the verses.

It is possible (although difficult) to unlock a bonus level by successfully turning off the volume for "the bad singer"; leaving their voice only coming through their own monitor, yet convinced that everyone in the congregation can hear them.

Oh, and its: Verses, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Chorus, Bridge, Chorus, Verse...there is NO reason to change this, obvious, God-given order.

Lose points if you say "God is good", and nobody says "all the time".

At the end of a set (level), a middle-aged woman who knows your name but doesn't introduce herself will say, "You're SO anointed!"
Then the FHLI will blink, indicating the false humility you're about to use to respond. 5000 extra points and a free set of in-ears if you can figure out how to respond well.

Every so often you, as the leader, will take it upon yourself to do an acoustic set; which will face great and silent opposition from your electrics, keyboard and bass. No matter how boring this is, no one is allowed to or will ever complain because we all know that we do not come to church to be entertained. Proper completion of this level will contribute to a higher than normal FHLI, and a smaller turn out of youth the following Sunday.

and yes, it has to be played EXACTLY as Hillsong would play it.

Singing with the Angels

Today I read through Revelation 4 and 5 where John describes a little bit of the Throne Room he sees in heaven. It had to be an indescribable sight, but he does his best to give us a glimpse of what he sees.

Around the throne of God John sees the twenty four thrones on which sit twenty four elders wearing crowns. In front of the throne are the four creatures, each resembling a different animal, but all having six wings and being covered with eyes. A strange sight, to say the least. But these creatures sing a song that I'm sure you're familiar with. It goes like this:

"Holy, holy, holy,
Lord God Almighty,
Who was and is and is to come!"

They sing this song constantly, without ever taking a break. The scripture says, "They do not rest day or night." It goes on to say,"Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 'You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.'"

Can you imagine singing this same song over and over again without resting, forever?! How long would it take us to get bored? But these creatures are not human, and were created for this very purpose. I'm sure they have immense joy, if they feel joy, simply because they are doing the very thing they were created for!

So what about us? Could it be that we would find unfathomable joy if only we were doing what we were created for? So often we fight God when He requires something of us. Money, time, our families, our very lives… Yet, God knows us so intimately. He created us and knows exactly what we need. If only we would surrender ourselves completely. I looked up the word "surrender" in the dictionary. Here's what I found:

–verb
1. to yield (something) to the possession or power of another; deliver up possession of on demand or under duress: to surrender the fort to the enemy; to surrender the stolen goods to the police.
2. to give (oneself) up, as to the police.
3. to give (oneself) up to some influence, course, emotion, etc.: He surrendered himself to a life of hardship.
4. to give up, abandon, or relinquish (comfort, hope, etc.).
5. to yield or resign (an office, privilege, etc.) in favor of another.
6. to give oneself up, as into the power of another; submit or yield.

Think about how these definitions apply to our relationship with Christ. Have we really surrendered?

As a worship leader I find it discouraging to look out at a congregation and so often see very little participation in the praise of our loving Father. I want so badly to see God's people united in adoration and worship, but instead, I see people waiting, expecting God to move before they will engage. I don't know if anyone else is experiencing this, but it's something that started in our church long before I ever got here. And it's a struggle to get people to move beyond that point of waiting for God to do something before they worship. It's discouraging to see such a lack of participation in our worship services, but today God brought something to my attention that almost brought me to tears. On a personal level, I was deeply encouraged by this. Every time I praise God, I am joining the angels' roar of praise in heaven. Because of that, I know I am never alone in giving my praise and thanks to God.