Set List:
Everlasting God (B)
Beautiful Jesus (C)
How He Loves (C)
Amazing Grace (C)
Give me Jesus (C)
Every so often, as a worship leader I find myself in a battle. There is a part of me on a given morning that truly is wanting to glorify God, and to be used by Him for His kingdom come on earth. The other part of me often chases “camp high” experiences.
Let me explain: As Christians, many of us have had some incredible worship experiences in our lifetimes. We have had moments where it seemed as though, for whatever reason, the heavens just opened up, and God decided to pour His power and presence over the gathering. Those times where you literally felt as though you were in God’s presence. It felt tangible, eternal, true. Many of us have experienced these mountain top worship experiences at summer camps, or rallies, or conferences… or just at a regular Sunday or midweek gathering. These times truly are amazing, and we need to be thankful any time God gifts us with His presence like that.
Problems arise, however, when we begin to chase these mountain top, or camp high kinds of experiences. When we approach worshipping God for OUR benefit, for OUR blessing, it no longer is genuine worship. Genuinely worshipping God means glorifying Him because He is worthy, and not expecting anything in return. As a worship leader, and as a worshipper, I often find myself battling between chasing blessing God, and God’s blessing.
If I were to reflect on this past Sunday, I could see it one of two ways, depending on what framework I am basing my worship on. If my true motivation was to experience a God high, then this past Sunday, for me anyway (not for everyone as I know God meets us all in different ways and doses) would have been disappointing. Although it was amazing to be able to come in to a building and sing freely with other believers to our God, I never had one of those “camp high” moments where I was just blown away by His presence.
But, if my framework was to simply bless God with the gifts, talents and freedoms I have been given, then this past Sunday was all that it was supposed to be. I would be lying if I left this blog post without confessing that I battled, and have been battling between worship for blessing God VS worship for being blessed. I choose, though, to believe that worship is a good thing as long as our hearts are truly seeking to honor and glorify God, no matter what His response, or our perceived response from HIm is.
I might not be able to say that this past Sunday was a mountain top experience for me, but I can say that God was honoured by HIs people. Which is the point. So, in the pre-mature words of George W. Bush,”Mission accomplished.”
God is good, and worthy of our worship, and He is awesome enough to bless us with mountain top experiences time and again. But, let’s not let the mountain top be the object of our worship, but the one who created the mountain.
Grace and Peace
Brent
