I have been thinking a lot about worship recently. Well - actually, I think about it almost every Sunday and lots of times in between [especially if I am due to be out lay preaching]
In the past month I have experienced almost every style of worship under the sun - quiet contemplative Celtic or Taize stuff, traditional Wesley/Watts hymn-prayer sandwiches, giggling school children praising with 'Out Of The Ark' songs, huge gatherings with multimedia gizmos and contemporary bands, singing along with Radio 2's "Sunday Half Hour" and BBC 1 "Songs of Praise", struggling along tunelessly in the Care Home with a dozen old ladies at different levels of attentiveness, the smorgasbord of music that we often enjoy at KMFC, just two of us quietly at the dining table after a meal...
I do not know if I have a 'favourite' style - much depends on my location, and my mood.
But this trailer which Catriona mentioned made me smile - and is a challenge to all of us involved in leading worship to ensure we are coming with the right heart. We aren't there to 'perform' - we are there to make a worthy offering of praise to the Lord [the word worship derives from worth-ship, after all]
When the music fades, and all is stripped away
And I simply come longing just to bring
Something that's of worth that will bless your heart
I'll bring You more than a song
For a song in itself is not what You have required
You search much deeper within
Through the ways things appear You're looking into my heart
I'm coming back to the heart of worship
And it's all about You, all about You, Jesus
I'm sorry Lord for the thing I've made it
When it's all about You, it's all about You, Jesus
King of endless worth no one could express
How much You deserve
Though I'm weak and poor all I have is Yours
Every single breath
I'm sorry Lord for the thing I've made it
When it's all about You, it's all about You, Jesus
Its all about you
Jesus
[thanks, Matt Redman, for the song]
We have experienced many different types of worship, and they do seem to be the 'right thing at the right time'. Sometimes one feels contemplative, sometimes one needs to be in the middle of a Praise meeting, and sometimes a formal service feels right. I love the different glimpses that we are given on Songs of Praise.
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