Songlist 2.20.2011

Sing To The King
Rejoice The Lord Is King
All Creatures
Saviour King
Our Father with This Kingdom


We don't always adhere to a theme, but this one just worked out really well for this weekend.  Great set focussing on the Kingship of Christ.

The Power of Music and Memory

The power of community has been on my mind especially since CORE Groups began again this week.  Being in a small group is refreshing to my soul, challenges my preconceptions and my spiritual lethargy, and journeying with other young couples uplifts my own marriage.  I've come to expect this and look forward to meeting together each week.

One thing I wasn't expecting was spontaneous breaking out into song during our small group meeting.  This wasn't exactly a "Glee" moment, but it did remind me of the power of music.  As we were reading through a passage in the Psalms we came across Psalm 95:6-7,

"Come, let us worship and bow down, Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.  For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand..."

As we read (and probably as you just read it too), people couldn't help humming the melody to the Maranatha chorus from the early '80s.  It was a special moment, a moment when time seemed to stop and our hearts and minds were connected.  We didn't need to communicate verbally, because we were each instantly taken back to a moment in the past when we had sung this song, reminding us of God's care and guidance in our lives.  I love when I come across scripture that I already know by memory because it's in a song.  I love how God uses music that comes from scripture to uplift me in times of trouble.

How has God used music to touch you?  What songs/scripture get sparked in your memory at random times?

Pirates Then and Pirates Now

Above are pictures of a pirate ship we did back in 2007, when the pastor asked for many different kinds of boats to be placed on stage. The other boats didn't really pan out, but the pirate ship was very realistic. The cost of materials was about $250. This pic must have been taken right before demolition since we already had a christmas tree ready to go in the background.


Below are pictures from this last weekend when we debuted our latest Pirate theme, "Where yer treasure be...so there be yer heart."   

We found manila rope for rigging and tarps for the sails for a good price at Harbor Freight.   We also used red gels in the corners and an orange one in the center.   For the skulls on the sails we used stock jolly roger gobos from goboman.com. 

For the treasure chest we accented an old chest we had with maroon satin fabric and an awesome skull one of our coworkers got from a decorative sword shop at the mall.  

There are about 800 plastic gold coins from a party store that we hot glued to some floral styrofoam that we layered to get a nice mound of coins.  This cost for everything from this latest project was about the same as the 2007 pirate theme.  Playing with lighting and colors and focussing on smaller projects that tie together a main theme really worked better than doing one big project and neglecting the accents. 

Songlist 2.13.11

We Need You - by Dave Lubben
All We Need - by Charlie Hall
I'd Rather Have Jesus
Enough
The Stand


We Need You is a new song for us.  The key line is, "We don't need a world of treasures for Heaven is our home."  It goes really well with our theme of "Pirates: Where yer treasure be...so there be yer heart."

What Not to Wear

What's right and what's wrong to wear on stage?  I've been in various church choirs and college choirs.  There were always some rules that people felt were too strict.  In my college choirs we had a number of these rules; no tattoos, no earrings on guys, no facial hair.    Why should we get reprimanded for expressing ourselves?  Granted, I don't have tattoos or earrings, and still can't grow a full beard, but I'm sure I was reprimanded for something.

How do we establish what is appropriate dress and how to act while we're on stage?  

1 Corinthians 8:9 gives us a worship philosophy of being sensitive to the perceptions and even misperceptions that fellow believers may have.  As long as we're talking about gray issues, not doctrinal truths, yielding to the weaker brother may be the right choice.  

Many Christian brothers and sisters would have had a major cow if we had broken their dress code.  It was no skin off our noses to defer to their rules which had no bearing on our own morality. 

One of the greatest lessons I learned in choir was that Worship was not about me.  Leading Worship is about setting aside my need for self-expression, my validation, my personal agenda, my recognition.  Worship is about praising God, telling His story and glorifying Him.  If your hat is causing people to grumble, take it off.  If your tattoo is drawing people’s attention away from God, cover it up.   Minimize distractions whenever possible and give the glory to God.

Do you agree?  Disagree?

Heart or Mind? What role does emotion play in Worship?

"The affects (emotions, emotional responses) are the feet that either lead us closer to God or carry us further from Him; but without them, we cannot travel the way at all" - Augustine of Hippo.

Faith or feeling? Rational or irrational? Objective or Subjective? Intellectual or Emotional? What would it be like if we removed emotion from Worship? Can we truly worship if we have a faith that is purely rational, intellectual?
We've been taught to be extremely guarded about our emotions because we think that we cannot trust emotion as much as our intellect. We're worried about appearing overly emotional. But can you really remove emotions from yourself? We can perhaps cut off a part of our physical body, but think of the harm it would cause us. Imagine what happens when we try to separate our emotions from our intellect, our heart from our mind. It's not meant to be done and it causes problems.
Two scriptures to think about: 1 Cor. 14:27-28 shows us that what takes place during worship should be able to be understood by everyone participating. There is some study involved, and it should benefit the believers mutually. 2 Sam. 6:14-22 contrasts the previous picture of worship with one that appears to be overly emotional and irrational (the king dancing in an undignified manner). David was not dressed or acting as the people thought the king should act, but he did not care about being embarrassed because he knew who his real audience was.

How do you juggle the way your mind thinks and the way your heart feels during worship?

Songs 2.6.11

Friend of God 

How He Loves

What A Friend (Medley)

Befriended

Heavenly Touch

The What A Friend Medley was from the 3:16 Numbers of Hope Musical by Travis Cottrell.  We performed this 2 years ago at Easter.  It is an extremely powerful medley of Jesus What a Friend for Sinners, I Stand Amazed and Man of Sorrows.

first post of the year

I just began the M.A.P.S. program (concentration in Worship Leadership) at Azusa Pacific University this last semester and am overflowing with information. This blog is a place to help me process this info. and I hope to benefit you, the reader, as well.  We will deconstruct and reconstruct our views of what it is to worship God.   Leave no stone unturned and challenge your preconceptions about worship.  What's right about how we worship?  What's wrong about how we worship?  What can we learn from others, other denominations, other traditions?  How can we find the true purpose of worship?  What does God's word say about worship?  What does church tradition teach us about worship?  As we seek to honor God and glorify his name, may God give us a proper understanding of what it means to worship and transform our perceptions and ourselves.