Monthly Archives: October 2011

Sometimes

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Sometimes I don’t like leading worship.

Sometimes I don’t like getting up early on Sunday.

Sometimes I wish I could have a normal weekend.

Sometimes I don’t like being the “yes” man.

Sometimes rehearsal can be frustrating.

Sometimes I feel like I’m singing at a brick wall.

And sometimes when I’m singing I’m just going through the motions.

Sometimes I wonder why I do this every week.

Sometimes I wish for something else.

But Jesus died.

And Jesus came back to life.

And sometimes I need to be reminded of that.

Like You Mean It

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I’ve talked a few times about how important it is for us to give all we’ve got to God when we proclaim His truth in our worship services.  If we believe the life changing truth in the words we’re singing I think our natural response should be passionate, all out worship.

In this case I’m speaking more to people who already don’t mind singing.  I understand singing is not everyone’s favourite thing.  But I’m pretty sure everyone has gotten excited at a sporting event, or giant shoe sale, or whatever else it is people get excited about.

So, we’ve been given this awesome, God given opportunity to communicate God’s truth through singing.

And singing stirs our emotions

Singing is something the Psalms encourage us to do…like, all of us!

So, why don’t we sing like we mean it?

What’s holding us back?  Let’s lose the awkward.  Lose the excuses.

Sing! …like you mean it

 

 

Mylo-the-what-now???

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If you’ve been reading my blog for a while you know I’m a huge Coldplay fan.  And last night was like Christmas at the Delamont house!  I got home from leading worship at our evening service feeling pretty wiped.  I went to bed fairly early but first checked to see if Coldplay’s new album Mylo Xyloto was available for download yet on iTunes.

YES!!!!!!!!

It most certainly was!  So instead of sleeping I decided to listen to the whole thing straight through.  It was fantastic!

I love Coldplay because like me, they are so obviously music fans.  They pull influences in to their music from all over the place.  There’s even a track featuring Rihanna on here.  It’s called “Princess of China” and it’s a great track.  Some of my other favourite tracks on the album are the instrumental opener “Mylo Xyloto”, “Charlie Brown”, and “Up With the Birds”.

Coldplay is inspiring to me because they are constantly evolving, constantly trying new things.  They may have gained or lost some fans along the way because of that.  I don’t know and I don’t care.  But they never stand still.  With every music video, every song, and every live show they are trying new things.

As a musician, pastor, and heck, even just as a human I really resonate with that.

Never. stand. still

So you’ve got a large group of people that are happy with what you’re doing now.  Great!  But don’t just stay there.  Never stand still.

You’re comfortable, you’ve found your “groove”.  Well, what’s next?  Are you just going to stay where it’s comfortable?  Never stand still.

You think you’ve got it figured out.  You’ve been doing this for a long time.  Think you’re done learning and growing?  Think there’s nothing left for you to learn?  Never stand still.

You may not be us much of a Coldplay fan as I am.  I’m not here to convert you to the fan club.  I’m just here to ask that if you’re someone who wants to make this world better, if you’re someone that wants to live a life full of purpose, and especially if you’re someone who wants to help people discover who Jesus is…if that’s you…then never stand still.

 

By the way, in case you were wondering where in the world the band got the idea for their album name “Mylo Xyloto” here’s what lead singer Chris Martin told The Sun (UK Newspaper) in September, 2011.

Quoting The Sun: It is pronounced My-low Zy-letoe… and even the lads admit the title doesn’t mean anything. Chris says: “At the moment it seems a bit ridiculous and I accept that. “Something about it feels quite fresh. The title doesn’t have any other meaning. I think we’re a band with a lot of history now so it’s nice to come up with something that doesn’t have any history at all. We’ve had that title for about two years on a board and any other potential titles had to be written next to it. Other ones made more sense but we just liked this one, that’s all we can defend it with.”

The Cloud

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“…and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple of God.” – 2 Chronicles 5:14

Have you ever been in a situation where you can identify with that passage?  Let’s put it in our context.  Imagine you’re leading worship and suddenly your voice just stops working, your hands start shaking, your band behind you stops in their tracks.

And everyone in the room can feel it.  They can sense it.

God.  Is.  Here.

Last week I was talking about a dream I have.  A dream to see what Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 14 become a reality in my church, every week.

This past Sunday I had a glimpse of one of those moments.  We were closing off our service with Christ Is Risen.  Our pastor had just challenged us to live fearlessly for Jesus.  Our church loves that song and they almost always sing it loud.  But this Sunday something was different.  I looked around and the people that usually aren’t singing were singing along.  We believed it.  We proclaimed it.  And God’s presence was there!  When we came to the first chorus I had to back away from the mic, because as I looked out at my church as they sang that song, I started to cry.

So this verse caught me today as I was just reading in 2 Chronicles.  I follow the 2 year reading plan found in Life Journals.  I had no idea that God was going to use a short verse in 2 Chronicles (of all places) to speak to me today.  God’s Word is so good.

Let’s keep dreaming together

Worship Trendiness

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John Mark McMillan

I don’t know if that’s a fair title for this post.  I don’t mean any disrespect to the artists and worship leaders in the videos below.  The fact is just that right now there’s a fair amount of attention around these artists and the direction they may or may not be taking popular worship music as we know it.

To be honest I like it.

I think the future is bright.  I think we might be seeing such big changes as smaller or no stages in our churches, trading hazers and motion lights for simple light bulbs.  Less sitting and watching and more standing and engaging.  We might see the congregation participating in new ways.

But I’d like to hear from YOU!

If this is the future, what do you think of it?  Tell me what you like.  Tell me what you don’t like.  Together we might be able to save ourselves from making some mistakes down the road as we figure out the future or worship music in our own contexts.

Watch and Discuss

(keep in mind lots of these are not actual “worship service” moments)

and something a little different

 

Discuss…GO!