Hommage to Laura, and a rabbit trail.....

Last week I received the email that I dread from the music director at my church, Laura Tracy: “I will be out of town this weekend, would you be willing to play keyboard for the AM service?” Oh no! I’d rather lie down and take a beating! Now, I admit that I wonder why I feel this way – what’s the big deal? I used to do this all the time, every service when I served as a full-time music minister! Guess I’m just out of practice or to tell the truth, a bit lazy. You see it’s pretty easy to set over there on the organ while the keyboardist does all the work leading. Cueing in the praise team, choosing the correct keys, watching the person at the pulpit as they give signals and then making sure everyone else follows. Have all the ushers made it to the back row yet? Or do we sing the chorus one more time until they finish? Following the mood of the service as we journey with God and follow his direction from start to finish. Would a slow song or fast song fit better here? Ask me for a specific kind of chorus for a specific part of the service and try as I might, I’m a blank page.

So the list just goes on and on and on. I admit I stand back with great respect and not a little humility when I observe people (like Laura) who seem to have this beautiful ability to flow, to make it seem as if none of my above list even crosses their mind. Is this a special gifting? Is it a special dimension of relationship with God that I haven’t reached? Or is it just a product of experience, preparedness and hard work? Or maybe all of the above.

And then there’s the part that unnerves me the most: the altar service. My greatest concern is singing the wrong song that would in any way interrupt the direction of the service. Several years ago, I learned a great lesson from Tom Trimble that I have used ever since. As soon as the sermon starts get a song/chorus list and start scanning it and listing any that would fit with any part of the sermon. Believe me, this has saved my skin more than once!

So here’s the scenario from last Sunday AM: Pastor Tracy preaches a great sermon titled “The Significance of the Name.” When I saw that title, I’ll admit I thought, “Thank you pastor – piece of cake! This one’s going to be easy to find a good list of songs for!” As I scanned the list I realized that if I were to find a chorus/song with the name of Jesus in it, I would have to hark back to some older songs/choruses as none of the new ones had any mention of the Name. Now, THAT was a wake up call. I prayed the praise team would know these songs, and thankfully they did. No, this isn’t a rant on the chorus/hymns issue. Frankly, I’m tired of fighting that battle and if you’ve read this blog you know how I feel about all that anyway. It’s just my statement of concern. I don’t ever want to grow casual and complacent in including the name of Jesus.

So I guess I’ve done what frustrates musicians when trying to pick altar music – at the last minute I’ve changed my topic from what you thought I was talking about! Those of you who have been blessed with the gift of songwriting, I encourage you to be conscious of including Jesus’ name in your songs. Don’t forget “The Signifcance of the Name” (thank you, Pastor).