Worship Leaders Don't Always Make For Vibrant Congregants

A few minutes into Christmas midnight Mass at St. Aloysius and I realized what a wimpy congregational singer I can be. I'm sure that the people seated two rows ahead of me could not hear me sing. I guess my only excuse, as lame as it may be, is that the assembly as a whole was rather timid. I'm not going to go into the whole "Why Catholics Can't Sing" litany that Thomas Day laid out so well in his book by that name. But surely one of the reasons I don't always sing full throttle is the fear that I will stick out. And fear is a great Spirit-quencher and joy-robber.

"Set my spirit free that I might worship Thee!"

Praise Him On Purpose

Our wills are a precious gift from Father. They are employed best when, under the prompting of the Holy Spirit, we are intentional about worship -- when we praise Him on purpose. It is not unusual to find myself halfway through the second song in a praise medley and realize that I'm just singing and playing. "Oh yeah ... I need to address my voice, these words, and this music to the Lord."

When I prompt the congregation to "sing this to God" it's because I've just remembered why we are there. I wonder if any of the faithful worshippers ask, "Well, who does he think we're singing to?" Praising intentionally by focussing all of our attention on the Lord is one the things that differentiates congregational worship from feel-good group singing (i.e., "Hail To The Bus Driver")

Passionate Worship as Evidence of Our Love For God

This week a friend told me that she could tell that I love the Lord by the way I conduct myself in corporate worship. Hearing an affirmation about personal piety is tricky business. I simply responded, "Well, I *do* love Him." But now that I've had a chance to think about it, I'd say that the assembly of worshippers is the easiest place in the world to express (and thus display) love for God. Where it gets a little testier is outside of those walls, out here where I'm rubbing flesh with the jackals and hyenas of this life.

Jesus commands us to love our neighbor in the same breath that we are commanded to love God. St. John goes as far as to say that "If any one says 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen." (I Jn 4:20)

Yes, I love the Lord. And I don't want to temper my expression of that love when I gather to worship with the family of God simply because I fall ... over and over again. But I have this hope: that as I gaze at Him and proclaim His goodness, I am being transformed into His image ... that His holinness is gradually displacing my selfishness in the life-long process we call conversion.

Jesus As Our Model for Spirit & Truth Worship

Today's Gospel reading is astounding. (Lk 10:21)

"Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, 'I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike."

God the Son rejoices in God the Spirit while giving praise to God the Father. Here is a mindblowing picture of the Persons of the Holy Trinity enjoying one another and loving one another. When we enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise, this is where we land: in God who is love and who loves Himself and us.

Jesus goes on to say, "No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him." Jesus so wants to reveal the Father to us. When we come as children to Jesus, He reveals the face of God to us. He is the image of the invisible God.

"He who has seen me has seen the Father."

Why Cynics Can't Dance

It's embarrassing to admit how much I amuse myself sometimes. I utilize a few pet sayings ... absurdities that I am fond of repeating. One of which is to tell congregants at church that I am preparing a sacred dance for an upcoming worship service. "Wait 'til you see my outfit." The desired response can always be counted on: laughter. And the cackles don't come only because I'm not a dancer. It is because the reference to sacred dance is spun with sarcasm, the subtlety of which has taken years to perfect.

I was recently asked to write a paper and speak on music in worship to a
group of charismatic leaders. It was part of a symposium on prayer that
would also include presentations on contemplation, intercession and ...
sacred dance. I thought to myself, "Well, spiritual growth comes through
suffering. I'll just offer it up to the Lord as a sacrifice." I was in for
a humbling surprise.

Robbin Simons began her segment "Freeing the Spirit Within: Worshiping the
Lord in Dance" by having the symposium group stand in the middle of the
conference room with the chairs pulled back to the wall. After our nervous
laughter died down she taught us a simple Israeli-style folk dance that we
picked up quickly. The liberating joy that this simple movement generated
was a bit of an epiphany to me. "Hey, this really worked well to unite us in
a way that may be peculiar to dance." But there would be more.

Robbin then ministered to us with a dance "solo" that was a vivid picture of
abandon and guilelessness. The choreography made the song come alive in a
way that could never be accomplished by listening alone. But, beyond the
aesthetic value, I also found it spiritually jarring because of the light
shed on my cynicism and lack of generosity.

I was busted. The unbounded enthusiasm I witnessed convicted me of the
stinginess that has marked the manner in which I express love to my family
and my Lord. The childlike purity in praise spoke to me of the continual
conversion that needs to take place in my heart -- a heart that has been
foolishly willing to succumb to jaded negativity. It was a call to
repentance.

"Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work
with his hands, so that he may be able to give to those in need." (Eph 4:28)
Stop doing the bad thing and do the good thing and add to that the excellent
thing. For the sake of this story, I offer a paraphrase of this commandment
in Ephesians:
"Let the cynic no longer sneer,
but rather let him surrender to joy,
reveling in a dance before Abba Father,
so that he may be able to reflect
the Light of the Child
to those lost in the darkness of contempt."

Like other forms of popular Christian devotion, Holy Spirit-soaked dance as
worship breaks up the hardened soil of our souls and prepares us to receive
the seed which is the Word. This Word is Jesus Who, like the children in the
market places calling to their playmates, cries out, "I piped to you and you
did not dance." (c.f. Mt 11:17)

So when seeking an effective antidote for cynicism, aloofness, and love grown cold, take a chance and dance before the Lord with the complete abandon of a child.

Putting On The Christ

Today I heard a man connect the idea of bearing the name "Christian" with the command to "put on Christ". When we identify with/are immersed in Christ through baptism, we take up the ministy of Jesus: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He has annointed me ..." Interesting.

Along the same lines, just a few days ago I read *Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger's take on liturgical vestments being a symbol of putting on Christ. It helps to know what the symbols mean -- it enriches the experience of worship. The vestments become a sermon without words.



*Now Pope Benedict XVI

Preparing Music.

Selecting and preparing music for worship can be a Spirit-filling experience in itself. A double blessing that can be missed if I just go through the motions.

Roy's spontaneity.

So I was on my way to Baton Rouge, LA to speak about & lead worship. I had a rough morning. I won't bore you with the details but it involved changing a flat tire at 5:55 AM and getting lost in Queens after mistakenly exiting LaGuardia Airport.

On my flight, I ended up sitting next to Roy, a man who was also attending the worship symposium. He is a worship leader who has been in the charismatic renewal for 30+ years. All during the flight, he asked me if I knew this song or that song. Often I did not. When that was the case he would break into the song, not singing loud but certainly loud enough that our neighbors could hear. What I found ironic about Roy and his moving seamlessly from conversation to praise, is that I was to speak on "worship as a lifestyle". Roy is the embodiment of that. For Roy, praise was continuous ... unceasing. "Amen" is not a period at the end of prayer, but a comma ... a pause to reflect.

This is the liberty that is present where the spirit of the Lord is. I want this.

Go through the motions.

You can go through the motions and not mean it from your heart.
But can you mean it from your heart and not go through the motions?

Discovering Worship

As a musician involved in contemporary Christian music in general and, more recently, praise & worship music in particular, I have a great interest in knowing the heart of God regarding worship. This BLOG will be devoted to journalling that pursuit.