I can’t tell you how blessed I have been as a pastor. My church is amazing, and everyone seems to really be mission-minded. The fact is like others; I take things for granted, and often end up being convicted by the Holy Spirit of such things. One example is the concept of our worship service at church. In our history, we have had worship leaders who led and who were beyond talented. Their ability to lead people to the throne was amazing and the music was professional quality.
As it stands today, we do not have an official main leader for our music. Since this became a reality, we have been filling in with extremely talented musicians from our congregation. A while back, someone had the idea of allowing our children to lead a worship service. “What?!?! Are you crazy?!?!”, I quietly thought. We were used to such great professional quality. This could possibly ruin what we are doing…I was afraid. We went ahead and allowed the children to lead that Sunday, and the Holy Spirit swept through the service like I have never seen before. In fact as I am writing this, I am trembling as a result of recounting the memory. Then, the first time our teens led…the same thing happened.
These services started a journey that all of us at our church are on together. Trust, believing and waiting for God to move have been actions we have learned more about in the process. God has been showing up in our services each week, and the quality has been great, but each week leading up to the service (behind the scenes) has had its struggles. Before, I took the music for granted because I never had to think about it…now; each Sunday is a process of labor that always goes well, and God is able to freely move. The music has always been great, but with the work that goes into it now; we are feeling the weight of worship. We are not perfect in everything, but God is revealing more truth about this as time goes by.
In the Old Testament, God had specific rules about how we are to handle the Ark of the Covenant. This Ark was the tangible symbol of God’s presence and if it was mishandled, then individuals would be cursed (or die). God thought worship was so important that it had to be protected and handled with reverence. Certainly, we all could use more thoughtfulness when approaching worship, but corporately as a church the buck stops with me.
The Holy Spirit has impressed on my heart that I was not feeling the full weight of worship like I should have been. I took everything for granted, and through this, I am growing into a new pastor. Never again will I take God’s presence for granted…
This post was written by Rev DeCrastos. For the original post, go to: http://other-words.net/2013/07/24/the-weight-of-worship/
As it stands today, we do not have an official main leader for our music. Since this became a reality, we have been filling in with extremely talented musicians from our congregation. A while back, someone had the idea of allowing our children to lead a worship service. “What?!?! Are you crazy?!?!”, I quietly thought. We were used to such great professional quality. This could possibly ruin what we are doing…I was afraid. We went ahead and allowed the children to lead that Sunday, and the Holy Spirit swept through the service like I have never seen before. In fact as I am writing this, I am trembling as a result of recounting the memory. Then, the first time our teens led…the same thing happened.
These services started a journey that all of us at our church are on together. Trust, believing and waiting for God to move have been actions we have learned more about in the process. God has been showing up in our services each week, and the quality has been great, but each week leading up to the service (behind the scenes) has had its struggles. Before, I took the music for granted because I never had to think about it…now; each Sunday is a process of labor that always goes well, and God is able to freely move. The music has always been great, but with the work that goes into it now; we are feeling the weight of worship. We are not perfect in everything, but God is revealing more truth about this as time goes by.
In the Old Testament, God had specific rules about how we are to handle the Ark of the Covenant. This Ark was the tangible symbol of God’s presence and if it was mishandled, then individuals would be cursed (or die). God thought worship was so important that it had to be protected and handled with reverence. Certainly, we all could use more thoughtfulness when approaching worship, but corporately as a church the buck stops with me.
The Holy Spirit has impressed on my heart that I was not feeling the full weight of worship like I should have been. I took everything for granted, and through this, I am growing into a new pastor. Never again will I take God’s presence for granted…
This post was written by Rev DeCrastos. For the original post, go to: http://other-words.net/2013/07/24/the-weight-of-worship/
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