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September 15, 2005

Worship and Performance

A small church contacted me a few weeks ago about leading worship for a Sunday morning service. I told them I would be happy to help and asked the Senior Pastor what kinds of songs I should do? He told me the church was used to more contemporary songs and it was okay for me to lead those. Then, I guess realizing what kind of style I had, he added as an immediate afterthought, "Just remember to lead them in worship, you're not 'performing'."

It sounded almost like an insult the way he said that. I remembered hearing those words before. Several years ago, I had signed onto this small church in Florida as a youth pastor, and part of my job (The Senior Pastor and I were the only two pastors on staff) was leading worship on Sunday mornings. Having been a worship leader for years, I love this. I absolutely love playing and singing to God, and inviting others to join me in that experience. I was getting the music together that first Sunday in this small church, practicing with the band, and the Senior Pastor stopped the practice, saying, "It sounds like you're performing. You need to lead the church in worship." Even then, that didn't quite register.

After years...and weeks, I've finally realized that I absolutely one-hundred percent disagree with those two pastors. It's taken me five years to realize it with the one church, and only a couple of weeks with the latest one.

On one point, and I think it is the one they were actually trying to make, I do agree with them - leading worship is certainly not about "being recognized" by other people. It's not about looking good and sounding like rock stars to woo humanity. But, I think the word "performance" is a strong word and should not be used in this context.

And while leading worship certainly involves inviting others to join with you in offering God our praise and honor, the concept of worship really has nothing to do with that. While it is beautiful (and sacred, I might add) when two or more come together to sing praise to God, the concept of worship is simply this: offering all that we have to the infinite God. Giving God our best (and not just in song, but in life) as we honor God.

As we think about that loosely defined word, I think this makes the word "performance" so much more important. When those pastors told me they didn't want me to perform, they were essentially saying, "We don't want you to concentrate on making this sound good. We just want you to be annointed."

And that brings me to this: What is annointing? I believe it roughly means to have God's infinite presence in the midst of finite humanity. The immortal amongst the mortal. The extraordinary among the ordinary. The perfect among the flawed. Think about that image for a moment. Just think about that.

The infinite, immortal, extraordinary, perfect presence of God dwelling with finite, mortal, ordinary, and flawed people. When we see God in this light, I think it brings a whole new meaning to the word "performance." Suddenly, now more than ever, I want to give my absolute best performance (although my best is still unbelievably flawed) to this beautiful God because he simply chooses to dwell with me. And although my job is not to simply entertain people (although there is a missional calling to be relevant and enticing to those in the world - I'll deal with this subject later) - and people are often entertained in worship - it becomes a burning sensation to give it my best shot so that I do entertain the One I've come to see.  

That is the power of worship. That is the absolute importance of performance. Yes, it's not about others, but it is about quality. It is about the perfect quality of our words and our songs and our lives coming together and hearts beating as one as we worship the God of the Cosmos.

What is worship and performance? How do those two worlds collide? And what is the beauty that shines when they do? These are the questions of life. And that is why I will always perform. 

13:56 Posted in Worship | Permalink | Comments (7) | Email this

Comments

kudos, bryan. awesome post. I agree. I think we have yet to figure out God and the moment we think we do is the moment we stop inviting God into our lives. He is so creative that I don't think he ever stops.

Posted by: Kristin | September 17, 2005

We should strive to give God our best. Our best is to be enjoyed by God, others and yourself because it is generally good. If some feel it is a performance they may be judging you. Performance implies you are acting and therefore not really worshipping God but yourself.

Posted by: Lynn | September 17, 2005

Hey there, sorry I've not been able to leave and blog much lately. Rushing some papers. Anyways, your blog layout looks very cool! I like all the additional panels on the sides... and of course pictures of your beautiful wife and girl. TATA!

Posted by: Issac Lim | September 17, 2005

Hi Bryan. Good article. My discomfort with a "performance style" of worship leading comes when a worship leader takes away the voice of worship from the worshippers. When you sing for them and voice the things the people should be voicing, it loses the proper focus. Humans have a need to worship, to give expression to their trust, their hope, their fear, their lament, their joy. When a person or a group takes that expression away, it takes away from worship. Worship leaders should enable the worshippers to worship and then get out of the way. To perform that task is a joy for any worship leader.

Posted by: Tom Bomhof | September 19, 2005

Good post! I love worship.

I think that true worship always gives expression to truth and to spirituality. If your worshipping was not perceived as worship, but rather as performing, maybe the ones making the comments weren't that spiritually tuned (yes, often laymen are more tuned than pastors). Or even culturally estranged, that too can cloud the spiritual part of a deeply spiritual worship.

Anyway, sounds good that you love worshipping the Awesome Lord, Creator of everything. He is truly amazing!

Posted by: Mathias | September 22, 2005

i suppose the question really is not one of worship vs. performance, but rather for whom are you "performing?" human glory or God's glory?

blessings!

Posted by: melissa | October 03, 2005

I don't know how the pastor said what he said to you, but in terms of the actual text of what you quoted, I would agree with him. As somebody who leads worship, I often cringe when I see other people who lead and don't understand that there is a difference between leading worship and doing a concert. There are things that you would do in one setting and would not do in another. It's a different approach with a different emphasis. For example, in a concert setting, you would want the performers to be front and center stage. In a worship setting, (if possible) I never have the worship team center stage. I always want them on the side so as not to be a distraction from worshipping God. Also, at a concert, the lead singer will often try to work on building a rapport with the audience. While worshipping, you should primarily be trying to build a rapport with God. And of course at the end of the singing, at a concert the applause is for the performers. If there is applause at the end of worship, it should be a clap offering to the Lord. These are just some examples.

Posted by: JQ | October 04, 2005