CHURCH 101: Ecclesiological Anatomy and Physiology
I stole the title of this entry from a good friend of mine named J.J. Bjordahl. He taught a seminar a couple of weeks ago at the Middle School camp where I was leading worship. A few days after we got back from camp, he and I and several other friends were lighting off bottle rockets on the banks of the Columbia when a policeman with a large flashlight decided to have a conversation with us. This relates to worship… somehow. Maybe because I worship God and give him thanks because the cop decided NOT to give me a ticket for $500. Amen.
So, I’ve been thinking about relationships between instrumentalists, singers, and techies. In the years that I’ve been involved with worship, I’ve seen myriad types of relationships happen. There was the band that I was in where there was the band, and then there was the sound tech. In those days, the sound tech was the first to show up, and the last to lead. She was also in charge of pulling overheads (does anybody else remember when we used those?), stage cleanup, and often was responsible for bringing dinner to the band. Although I commend this lady for her amazing servant’s heart, I also want to point out that at a certain point being a servant CAN turn into slavery.
I also remember a situation where the sound man had more years experience with worship than any of the rest of us, and at times would remind us of the fact. Also not recommended.
I was on a worship team once that had a major divide between the singers and the band. We had our rehearsals at the same time, but in different rooms. Some nights, we would go to our respective rooms and complain about one another. This was not very healthy for our worship leading.
These days, I’ve had the privilege of being a part of several worship teams that are doing great. In both of these teams, I’ve had the pleasure of filling the role of lead worshipper. That means I get to pick the songs and plan most of the orchestrations. On each of these teams we’ve had people who sing, people who turn dials, people who punch buttons, people who play guitar, people who pluck basses, and people who hit stuff (that would be the drummer). And in each of these teams, there has been an atmosphere of love and respect for each other. That doesn’t mean we don’t tease each other (most of the time we tease the bassist…thanks Miles and Ryan), but it does mean we love each other and we listen to each other. It means we allow each other to operate in our giftedness.
It kind of reminds me of a thing I read in my Bible awhile back.
“The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ… Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.” (from 1st Corinthians 12)
So it seems to me that we have a great opportunity being involved in worship leading: we get to be a demonstration of Christ’s body in action. May we continually be a positive example and love one another even as Christ has loved us.
Have a great week!
I stole the title of this entry from a good friend of mine named J.J. Bjordahl. He taught a seminar a couple of weeks ago at the Middle School camp where I was leading worship. A few days after we got back from camp, he and I and several other friends were lighting off bottle rockets on the banks of the Columbia when a policeman with a large flashlight decided to have a conversation with us. This relates to worship… somehow. Maybe because I worship God and give him thanks because the cop decided NOT to give me a ticket for $500. Amen.
So, I’ve been thinking about relationships between instrumentalists, singers, and techies. In the years that I’ve been involved with worship, I’ve seen myriad types of relationships happen. There was the band that I was in where there was the band, and then there was the sound tech. In those days, the sound tech was the first to show up, and the last to lead. She was also in charge of pulling overheads (does anybody else remember when we used those?), stage cleanup, and often was responsible for bringing dinner to the band. Although I commend this lady for her amazing servant’s heart, I also want to point out that at a certain point being a servant CAN turn into slavery.
I also remember a situation where the sound man had more years experience with worship than any of the rest of us, and at times would remind us of the fact. Also not recommended.
I was on a worship team once that had a major divide between the singers and the band. We had our rehearsals at the same time, but in different rooms. Some nights, we would go to our respective rooms and complain about one another. This was not very healthy for our worship leading.
These days, I’ve had the privilege of being a part of several worship teams that are doing great. In both of these teams, I’ve had the pleasure of filling the role of lead worshipper. That means I get to pick the songs and plan most of the orchestrations. On each of these teams we’ve had people who sing, people who turn dials, people who punch buttons, people who play guitar, people who pluck basses, and people who hit stuff (that would be the drummer). And in each of these teams, there has been an atmosphere of love and respect for each other. That doesn’t mean we don’t tease each other (most of the time we tease the bassist…thanks Miles and Ryan), but it does mean we love each other and we listen to each other. It means we allow each other to operate in our giftedness.
It kind of reminds me of a thing I read in my Bible awhile back.
“The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ… Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.” (from 1st Corinthians 12)
So it seems to me that we have a great opportunity being involved in worship leading: we get to be a demonstration of Christ’s body in action. May we continually be a positive example and love one another even as Christ has loved us.
Have a great week!
posted by Joe P. @ 2:32 PM
3 comments
