![\"Awkward](\"https:\/\/jonathanbrooker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Awkward-Worship1-700x461.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIn the last 6 months I\u2019ve taken on the task of leading the musical part of our worship services for our church\u2019s contemporary service. It\u2019s been quite the adventure with all the other things I\u2019ve been doing. And if you\u2019ve ever worked with musicians then you know it\u2019s something to do carefully. I should know, I\u2019m one! But my greatest challenges haven\u2019t been with team members, it\u2019s been with the \u201caudience.\u201d<\/p>\n
I intentionally used that loaded word there because I think it leads well into the challenge I want to bring up. There is a very tricky balance that the worship leader needs to strike if they\u2019re going to use music and the arts to lead people into awe and wonder of God.<\/p>\n
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You need to be meeting the need for depth for those seasoned saints. But you also need to make sure it\u2019s easily accessible and relatable to the unbeliever. You need to make sure that you keep the style such that it connects with a variety of different ethnicities and musical preferences. You remember the stylistic battles we\u2019ve historically had about contemporary worship choruses verses those old hymns, right?<\/p>\n
Then there is ordering the service to avoid those awkward pauses or moments. See, that\u2019s what it seems so many of us church leaders want. We want to make sure that people feel comfortable in our worship services. We want awkward-proof worship services. We want to make sure that we make it an enjoyable experience for everyone.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s for this reason that I know some church leaders have even argued that it\u2019s best to only do maybe 2 songs, 3 at the most, in a service where unbelievers may be in attendance. \u201cThey\u2019ll feel out of the loop and feel awkward otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n
Do we not remember the worship service on the Day of Pentecost where unbelievers were brought to believe en masse because of a very awkward moment where everybody\u2019s speaking in different languages? Do we not remember the man God said was a \u201cman after my own heart\u201d embarrassing his wife one time when he got to dancing in worship of God? Do we not remember the woman who with tears and her own hair wiped the feet of Jesus in worship?<\/p>\n
Maybe it\u2019s my young pastor angst, but I\u2019m really wrestling with the church\u2019s desire to create awkward-proof worship services. For one, I think it\u2019s nearly impossible to do anyway. Secondly, I\u2019m not sure it\u2019s even a goal worth striving for. I can\u2019t imagine the first church looking to make that part of their agenda. I can\u2019t imagine that polls were being handed out at any other time in church history to plan for the most optimal music selection (not saying I know of anyone who\u2019s actually doing that).<\/p>\n
I\u2019m just saying that I purposefully do things as a worship leader that I\u2019m not entirely comfortable with. We do songs I don\u2019t necessarily care for or in ways I don\u2019t care for. There are parts of our church\u2019s services that I kind of want to tidy up. But maybe our greatest aim shouldn\u2019t be somehow perfectly crafting a worship service that everyone likes. (Not sure that\u2019s even possible!) But maybe our goal should be to continue to teach ourselves and our congregations that worship and life are not products here for our own personal pleasure. We live and we worship for the glory of God. Or at least we should. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"