Leading Worship without Drawing Attention...
This Sunday morning, Mother's Day, I'm leading the morning worship service at North Park Community Church here in Eugene, OR. (10:45 am). Now I've done evening worship services before, and I've even lead worship on a regular basis during a morning service. But this Sunday, the service has been entirely put into my hands. Wow.
There's something about a Sunday morning worship service that feels different than any other service - it's the big kahuna of worship services, at least here in the U.S. And so, being put in the main leadership role as I have, I feel a huge sense of responsibility.
It's a tough thing for me, because how do I "perform" at a morning worship service without drawing attention to myself? Since the purpose of the meeting (and the church sanctuary) is worship, the last thing I want to do is to be "entertaining." 100% of the glory should be given to God. None of it belongs to me.
I've always struggled with playing concerts in a church setting because there is that sense that the church is dedicated and set apart for God's work. So doing my thing musically is always a bit of a spiritual concern for me. And selling CDs at a church service almost seems irreverent. I feel a bit like I'm "buying and selling in the temple" as it were.
But then there's a part of me that knows that playing the piano is the ministry God has given me. So that being the case, shouldn't I feel free to be myself and "do my thing" on the piano, with worship being my goal? If I'm entertaining people in the pews while in the process of leading worship, is that wrong? Somehow misconstrued? Is it "strange fire" as Moses put it (Lev. 10:1-2)?
I don't know.
Part of me feels weird about it. Another part of me tells myself to just rest in the Lord and to trust that God made me who I am for a reason - and that I just need to BE the person He created me to be. When I "perform" in a church setting, I'm not doing it to show off, but to just express the gift of music.
And so I do so, just trusting that if it wasn't what God wanted me to do, I wouldn't be given the opportunity to do it. And so I enter each situation prayerfully and humbly, trusting that the spotlight won't be on me, but on Jesus where it belongs. It's about all I can do.
Thank goodness for grace,
David Nevue
There's something about a Sunday morning worship service that feels different than any other service - it's the big kahuna of worship services, at least here in the U.S. And so, being put in the main leadership role as I have, I feel a huge sense of responsibility.
It's a tough thing for me, because how do I "perform" at a morning worship service without drawing attention to myself? Since the purpose of the meeting (and the church sanctuary) is worship, the last thing I want to do is to be "entertaining." 100% of the glory should be given to God. None of it belongs to me.
I've always struggled with playing concerts in a church setting because there is that sense that the church is dedicated and set apart for God's work. So doing my thing musically is always a bit of a spiritual concern for me. And selling CDs at a church service almost seems irreverent. I feel a bit like I'm "buying and selling in the temple" as it were.
But then there's a part of me that knows that playing the piano is the ministry God has given me. So that being the case, shouldn't I feel free to be myself and "do my thing" on the piano, with worship being my goal? If I'm entertaining people in the pews while in the process of leading worship, is that wrong? Somehow misconstrued? Is it "strange fire" as Moses put it (Lev. 10:1-2)?
I don't know.
Part of me feels weird about it. Another part of me tells myself to just rest in the Lord and to trust that God made me who I am for a reason - and that I just need to BE the person He created me to be. When I "perform" in a church setting, I'm not doing it to show off, but to just express the gift of music.
And so I do so, just trusting that if it wasn't what God wanted me to do, I wouldn't be given the opportunity to do it. And so I enter each situation prayerfully and humbly, trusting that the spotlight won't be on me, but on Jesus where it belongs. It's about all I can do.
Thank goodness for grace,
David Nevue
posted by David Nevue at 2:10 AM
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