Music for Worship

I'm a complete and utter music addict. If I had a million bucks I'd probably go blow it on CDs and a big soundsystem - oh, and one for the car too!

I'm particularly a worship music addict - in the expansive sense of the word. I love live recordings, it almost feels like you're there.

It's amazing how big music is when it comes to worship. Music can divide a church or unite it. Music can be used to whip up a crowd into an ecstatic frenzy, or transfix them in silence. It can be used for good - or evil. It's one of the most hotly-debated subjects around.

But for me music is the best way I worship.

Very often you'll find me on a Friday night at the piano, with a CD playing loudly enough for me to play along with - yes, I do play by ear, not terribly good at reading music, but getting better slowly. I just sit and play and "let my fingers do the worshipping". I get lost in it. (Hope the neighbours don't mind...)

My mother is a conservative lady, and moving to a lively church in Australia was a culture shock. It's taken her 2 years there to lift her hands in praise to waist-level... :) And yet in her private time with God she uses music and movement in a "dance of adoration", expressing her thoughts and prayers to God through her physical movements. She would never do this in public! She's just not comfortable with it.

As a church worship musician, we practice 3 hours for every 1-hour worship at the service. One can get completely caught up in technicalities, in getting it right, and completely miss worshipping through the music. But when you leave out all presumptions of how good you are, how well the team is performing, (or not), it's amazing what happens.

A few weeks ago it was just me on piano, the drums and an acoustic guitar. In the middle of the worship it happened - the entire team felt it. We lost a sense of what we were doing, what came next. We were suddenly worshipping completely! We could feel God's presence so close, so real. And it wasn't only us - many folk in the congregation came up to us afterwards and said they felt it too.

Sometimes we get in the way of worship - we block what God's trying to do. Often we need to be more "broken", to realize fingers and voices can fail, to understand that we need to lean on God for direction in worship, let Him work through the gifts and talents He's given.

I've found that the times we seem to have not practiced enough, the times when I go onstage not entirely sure of what we're going to do when, THOSE are the times that God takes over, takes control and comes near.

Oh Lord, break me this weekend - let me be completely dependent on you. Let me not focus on the "famous musician" who will take our service sitting in the front row, let me not worry about how good or bad I am, the flow, the notes - let it be ALL ABOUT YOU!