Worship & Death (Singing Through The Tears)

 

When I decided to go into worship ministry there were a lot of reasons swirling around. However, leading worship at funerals was no where even on my radar. In this past year though I have had to face the reality of what it means to worship in the face of death. I personally have lost two grandparents, one of which was my spiritual hero. Additionally I have lead worship for two funerals of our church family.

Before I illustrate some of the truths I learned about how to both worship and lead others in worship in these difficult times I’d like to set the stage a little.

Can You Hear Them? (10 Tips for Unleashing a Singing Congregation)

 

This past I week I had the chance to be part of the congregation while one of our teams lead worship without me on stage. (It’s one of the great joys of leadership when you get to watch the team you have trained and cared for lead with as much excellence and power as if you were on stage with them.) I had been standing in the back row worshipping until it was time for me to come forward to do the communion meditation and prayer when I got to the front row it hit me. The congregation was singing out LOUDLY! There are few things on earth that I love more than that sound.

Backing up a bit, I was having a conversation with an elder at another church recently and he mentioned that he has noticed a growing trend of people standing and watching the band and vocalists during worship instead of singing along. He then asked me if I thought that was okay? I told him it was not only NOT okay, but that there were some simple ways to make it easier to help and encourage them to do so with joy.

Beyond Songs and Themes: Part 1 (Responding to The Story Together Every Sunday)

I was sitting in a Thai food restaurant discussing the various things that people expect out of a worship service like songs, volume, scripture readings and other things with a friend of mine when he asked the question that brought on the last couple of years of clarifying the “why and how” of worship design.

He simply asked, “what are you trying to accomplish when you plan worship services?”

Creativity: Finding The Right Ideas (Scratching 201)

So in my post about killing bad creative team meetings one of the major parts of designing worship services is about gathering various elements that will be pieces in the puzzle called scratching. Scratching is the process of intentionally looking through any resources and compiling elements for a worship service. One of the hardest things about scratching is knowing where to start. Creativity is not about finding ideas, it’s about finding the right ones.