etc

Heard on All Things Considered:

"... tumble down a rabbit trail of rhythmic sound..."

Isn't that just an awesome-sounding line?

I just watched Fountains of Wayne on Austin City Limits last Saturday, then went out and borrowed their newest CD, Welcome Interstate Managers, from the library. It so completely rocks!

I really like their songwriting - I think I'm gonna learn something from them. I can't wait!

I realized something yesterday. Worship teams have been given a powerful job - that job, though powerful, sounds quite simple. The job is holding the door open for God.

1st Service Coolness
During my church's 1st service yesterday, the worship team was really focused on worshipping God. During the worship time, our pastor had two words for the church, and one of them turned into a corporate ministry time - it was pretty cool to see God move! Why did God choose to move like that? Well, ultimately I have no idea - I certainly can't speak for God! But I did get a small "huh" moment that I'm going to share.

Rewind to Thursday's Practice
Thursday night at worship practice, our worship leader shared something God put on her heart. She thought we should not have a normal practice, but instead thought we should take one of our songs and really worship while playing it. Rather than playing what we might for a Sunday morning, instead we should use our unique musical talents and offer those up to God in worship. We did, and it was an extremely cool worship time! The Spirit flowed through our worship, we played freely, the singers were singing in the Spirit, and our worship leader prayed over some of us in song. Wow.

So later on that evening, I shared that I felt we should play more like that, even on Sunday mornings. Because it was so very different and refreshing than our normal way of doing things, and because God was there with us in a big way.

Fast Forward to Sunday
Sunday morning, during our morning prayer time, our worship leader shared that our worship time had been on her mind since Thursday, and we prayed that we play with more of that "Thursday night worship attitude," too. And we did. Not maybe quite as dynamically as Thursday, and not for as long (we went a long time on one song Thursday). But still, we had the same attitude of worship.

And God came in a big way.

Did God come because we played "with feeling?" No. God can show up whenever He chooses, whether or not the band sounds hot. But I'll also answer this way - our worship leader honored God with obedience in sharing her heart on Thursday. The worship team honored God with obedience in practice and on Sunday morning. And God honored us with a little more of His presence than usual!

Holding the Door
As the worship team, we have a choice. We can:

1. Play the song the "normal way," not do that extra chorus (even though we felt like we should have), not hang onto some chords and "see what happens," and not listen to what the Spirit is telling us. And effectively shut the door on God. Sure - if God wants to come in, he'll find another door to enter... But we can make it a lot harder for God, and our door - that of worship - is a rather large main entrance.

2. Or we can open the door wide open for God. My prayer is that we hold the door open for God, and see what happens!