Holla if Ya Hear Me!!
Let's get right to it.Everyone who is not in a coma or hooked to breathing apparatus or iron lung is called to Praise. My husband preached a message about how praise is all inclusive - a requirement for all mankind - but worship is intimacy with God and requires change, a move into His Holiness.
Pa-lease, Apostolics know this the best and yet are the worst perpetrators.
I was leading at a conference recently and on the first song I immediately made an enemy. The lady in the pink shirt. Her hair was probably a city block long. Her covenant dress was the only worship she was planning on giving God and He just better well be glad for it. I'm an agressive worship leader. I don't yell or berate. But passive praise just 'aint happenin' under my watch. This song, however, was one of my favorites that requires - GASP! - movement. CLAP YOUR HANDS! STOMP YOUR FEET! WAVE YOUR HAND! LEAP FOR JOY! LEAP FOR JOY! LEAP FOR JOY! (it tricks you into leaping... I LOVE it....).
Pink shirt proceeded to give an exaggerated eye roll and a smug shake of the head. There will be no leaping. Today or in this lifetime. How can one sing songs like "To Worship You I Live" (with the appropriate but not too gregarious "head-level" hand raise) and think they have it goin' with God? Can Pink Shirt make it in Heaven, cause it might just be exhausting for her!!
I Take My Beef Medium Rare
So I got beef with distracted saints. No really, I'm being serious here. Is that kinda praise gonna cut it? Do you think God really wants a bunch of deflated balloons giving Him pathetic praise amidst the celestial glory that is Heaven? I mean, maybe it will be kicked up a notch. But we who are so blessed with Salvation, healing, miracles, finances, health...c'mon people WE ARE THE ISRAELITES! Chosen, but bored. Delivered yet unsatisfied. Set apart and whining about it.
So...holla if ya hear me fellow worship leaders! You who lead with passion, fervence, abandon. Do you get as frustrated as I, soaked in sweat and drenched with discouragement? I don't ever want to feel like I can't give more. I want to walk away and say "Surely the presence of the Lord was in this place."
Psalms 138:1 "I will praise thee with my whole heart: before the gods will I sing praise unto thee." KJV
P.S. Sorry Kent, I found my "Voice" and it's loud.
posted by courtney ballestero at
Monday, July 09, 2007
10 Comments:
Well I must say that I certainly feel your passion on this one! Not sure what "pink shirt's" issue is - I wasn't there, so I can't speak to that. On some old CD I had the guy (I think it was Carlton Pierson) said this: "You can get emotional without worshiping God, but you can't worship God without getting emotional." Or it was something like that. I DO agree that our emotions are involved in worship, like you said, we who have been blessed with salvation, healing, miracles, etc.... SHOULD at least have the attitude of thankfulness which is often followed by an emotional response. I just always think we should be careful not to judge those who don't have a Holyghost fit during a fast barnburner of a song, like you mentioned. I have a dear friend - acutally more like a mentor - who I've know for 15+ years and she is the quietest, most reserved person I know. But, sister, she's deep. And her relationship with God is rock solid. But I've never seen or even HEARD her offer an outburst of emotional praise. She raises her hands, to be sure, but never anything you could hear, even if you stood next to her. Yet, I have NEVER doubted her relationship.
So, don't misunderstand me - I TOTALLY get where you're coming from. I don't know you, but it sounds like you're the kind of worship leader I LOVE! I've just learned - the hard way, I might add - not to question someone's relationship by their outward response.
Really, really enjoying what you have to say!
Ann
For me, you have yet to substantiate that "praise" necessarily or even exclusively equals hand clapping, foot stomping, leaping, etc. I might just as passionately argue that not enough people are ripping their clothes off, right?
I'm not talking apopletic seizure. But study what God likes and if He is to be our Lover, we do our utmost for His highest.
Wow. This is to hot to handle!
But just for kicks I'll touch it...
I seriously doubt God slows down his laser vision to view a worshiper's hands en-route to his heart.
God is Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth.
God is seeking those who worship with the inner man and without pretension. This may or may not include a physical demonstration.
Certainly I understand if one thinks he cannot worship without being demonstrative, then he will always be demonstrative when he worships. It is simply not true for everyone, and if we mandate it we will simply make more room for hypocrisy.
Steve Hoover
Lively discussion guys! Thanks for commenting! Wish we could all get together for a latte someday.
Steve, let me address this one line: "...and if we mandate it we will simply make more room for hypocrisy." God implanted free will in us but does give us a mandate that everything with breath should praise him. "But the hour cometh and now is when the true worshipers shall worship Him...for the Father seeketh such to worship Him." My point is only this: that we should be so enraptured by Him that we become the true worshipers so that HE will seek US out.
Oh, I forgot to mention that the clothes ripping would take place while we were singing: "I will dance like David danced." Apparently, his utmost was divesting himself of garments. And when are we bringing back the communal dances they engaged in? I think I could really get into that. Most of what I'm saying/have said is simply in good humor and jokey manner, but the following is a serious query. Do you mean to say that we become true worshipers so that He will seek Us out? If I'm the lost coin, runaway son, or lost sheep will He not come seeking me anyway?
Courtney, I agree that a heart truely connected to God will likely evoke an audible praise from the mouth.
I do fear though, that placing a high premium on exorbitant decibil levels might be counter productive and deter from the focus of the heart.
I understand "spirit and truth" as "inner man and without pretension" in this passage.
I might represent the "lady in pink" here (or the guy in black) but I promise I won't roll my eyes or walk out!
I am enjoying this.
Steve H
Check this out: http://www.ninetyandnine.com/Archives/20050905/cover.htm
It's an article I wrote in '05 that will give insight into this lively discussion. Cheers!
Hey - in heaven I will have a glorified body that can handle that noise! :)
Seriously, I am not an outwardly demonstrative person in any other part of my life, so I am not an outwardly demonstrative worshipper - in fact, when I am really touched, I usually cry - no matter if I am happy or sad.
I agree that we shouldn't judge the "quieter" worshippers. As I heard one minister say recently, is there any place in the Bible that records Jesus yelling and screaming (except maybe when he drove the moneychangers out of the temple)? Let's not confuse worship with decibel level.
Courtney,
You know how to get a discussion going, don't you? :)
My intital thoughts go to something I happen to see--understandibly--in multi-generational Pentecost.
The people who managed to make it into one of the Titanic's few lifeboats had an immediate and haunting contrast to the lines that separate the saved from the unsaved. Those whos stepped off those lifeboats--along with those who managed to see their loved ones step off those lifeboats--most likely had no problems with Jubilee issues.
But their great grandchildren, though understanding that they would have presumably never existed had there been a different outcome, probably don't get up and cut a rug about it.
My analogy is weak, because each soul must encounter its own lifeboat through the Blood, Water, and Spirit. I'm just saying that perhaps a combination of American opulence and the comfort of multi-generational Pentecost may be contributing factors to that which you've addressed.
We're blessed, for sure.
-R
Post a Comment
<< Home