Been thinking a bit about corporate worship in church gatherings. I joined the worship team last year as a singer and have been on a pretty crazy and exciting journey exploring the dynamics of ministering to God and encountering Him through music in a corporate setting. I've noticed a few things and so I'll try to share them.
I LOVE worshipping God and I love worshipping God with other people! I think there's something very powerful about worshipping God with others that goes way beyond the power of mass hysteria! (I've been in very small gatherings that were far more powerful than larger ones!) I think that there's real significance in the fact that we're doing it together. We could all just worship God at home by ourselves but instead we come together sometimes. I reckon we should all be more mindful of this as there must be a reason behind it beyond vain tradition. While I fully believe corporate worship is about God, I do think there is a factor of "us" in there as well. We are there after all! It just seems a bit odd to me sometimes when a load of people gather together but don't engage each other at all. We sing songs about Jesus and how great He is and what He's done for us but often we never even look at each other! Not all of our worship songs are directed towards God and so maybe sometimes it wouldn't be so weird to look at each other... Some might not like songs that aren't about God but I think that rejoicing in what He's done for us and who He is together as a family is just as much worship as telling Him how great He is!
A lot of people follow the idea and practice that the worship team and worship leader are supposed to be in control of everything. We kinda come in and the band plugs us in to Jesus. Sorted right? NOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Our gathered worship times are supposed to be an overflow of our personal ones. It's a time for us to come together having walked with God and explode with praise and adoration for Him together and expect Him to show us more of just how flippin great He is! It's a journey that we go on and we have to travel together. God has graciously given us people to lead in the journey (i.e. the worship team) but it's a journey we're all supposed to go on. Imagine setting out on a walk with a group and some people stand at the start and allow the leaders to do the entire walk without them. They cannot claim that they've been on the walk. I think that's why a lot of people sit bored through worship meetings and then leave uninterested and unchanged. We don't really understand what's required of us. This is the point in the blog where I realise I've just opened a pocket in my brain that will make this blog huge so I'm going to stop here for now and do a short one for once!
Thanks for reading :-)
I LOVE worshipping God and I love worshipping God with other people! I think there's something very powerful about worshipping God with others that goes way beyond the power of mass hysteria! (I've been in very small gatherings that were far more powerful than larger ones!) I think that there's real significance in the fact that we're doing it together. We could all just worship God at home by ourselves but instead we come together sometimes. I reckon we should all be more mindful of this as there must be a reason behind it beyond vain tradition. While I fully believe corporate worship is about God, I do think there is a factor of "us" in there as well. We are there after all! It just seems a bit odd to me sometimes when a load of people gather together but don't engage each other at all. We sing songs about Jesus and how great He is and what He's done for us but often we never even look at each other! Not all of our worship songs are directed towards God and so maybe sometimes it wouldn't be so weird to look at each other... Some might not like songs that aren't about God but I think that rejoicing in what He's done for us and who He is together as a family is just as much worship as telling Him how great He is!
A lot of people follow the idea and practice that the worship team and worship leader are supposed to be in control of everything. We kinda come in and the band plugs us in to Jesus. Sorted right? NOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Our gathered worship times are supposed to be an overflow of our personal ones. It's a time for us to come together having walked with God and explode with praise and adoration for Him together and expect Him to show us more of just how flippin great He is! It's a journey that we go on and we have to travel together. God has graciously given us people to lead in the journey (i.e. the worship team) but it's a journey we're all supposed to go on. Imagine setting out on a walk with a group and some people stand at the start and allow the leaders to do the entire walk without them. They cannot claim that they've been on the walk. I think that's why a lot of people sit bored through worship meetings and then leave uninterested and unchanged. We don't really understand what's required of us. This is the point in the blog where I realise I've just opened a pocket in my brain that will make this blog huge so I'm going to stop here for now and do a short one for once!
Thanks for reading :-)
joining our voices together is corporate and is interacting in a way. creating a beautiful offering all together. sometimes we might forget that because we are so used to it, but that is interacting with each other too. we are just more comfortable with it so we don't think bout it so much.
ReplyDeletei enjoy reading your thoughts :)