Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Questions to ponder for the Worship Team.

Seeing the condition of the Worship team in my church nowadays (which could sound familiar to some other churches as well), the lack of motivation, passion, commitment and discipline, the 'here we go again with the routine' attitude, I began to think (whether or not God inspired my thoughts on this matter is above me). These questions I ponder and address not only to you but also to myself.

Question 1, why are you here? By here, I mean, being in the Worship Team. And please do not give me the cliche answer of 'To serve God' if you don't actually mean it. Many times, we're probably here cos our parents asked us to. Many times, we've gone in when we're HOT for God but now, we're stuck here cos we don't want church members to know how rotten we are and we can't get out without facing the judgmental glances. So, let's ask ourselves again, WHY ARE WE HERE? Are we here to serve God or to serve ourselves? If it's the latter, then, HOW CAN WE GET TO THE POINT WHERE WE'RE HERE TO ACTUALLY SERVE GOD?

Next, do you actually enjoy worshiping or has it become a responsibility? A chore? A routine every month just because you have to skills? Do you enjoy being in the presence of God? Do you enjoy worshiping God? Do you enjoy the Blesser himself rather than just His blessings? I have to admit that I myself at time feel burnt out and worship becomes a chore. But at times, I felt worship being so refreshing, just to sit at His feet, knowing He is near. If you do not enjoy worship, then, why are you doing it? How can you get to a place where you'll enjoy worshiping?

Question 3, why do you worship? For me, worship is a place where I can bare my all to God, to let God see how broken I am and to ask Him if He could still take me. Worship is a place I see my heart mending, strand by strand, vein by vein. Sometimes, when I worship, I could see God applying plasters to my heart, holding it together. That's one reason I worship. Another reason for worship is just the simple fact that God deserves all our worship. I believe worship is a place where I get to proclaim Hid goodness, an opportunity to publicly thank Him for His goodness in my life without having to look for anyone to listen. Worship is a place where I can let the bubbling joy burst forth without anyone giving me a weird look.

And after all this, if you think you are unworthy of being in the worship team, you can see it this way: you are just an instrument that God can use as long as you're willing and the more you worship, the more you are "forced" to worship, the more you need to draw near to God. Take this opportunity to draw near to Him and make worship something in your life again. Also, worship is for ministry, not for your own self fulfillment. As long as you let God use you, He can minister to others through you and in turn, get yourself ministered to. In fact, I would think that if you have those thoughts that you're not worthy to worship and still strive to serve and draw closer to God, that is better than thinking you have it all together and you're good with God that you no longer bother letting God work through you.

Now, let's move on to a more technical aspect.
Do you enjoy playing your instruments?
Do you look forward to touching your instrument?
Do you anticipate anxiously for the time you get to play with your instruments?

I see it this way, when you enjoy playing your instruments, you can do so much more. Also, when you love playing your instruments, your worship could be so much more deep, or in another way, so automatic that you don't have to bother about the technicalities and could focus solely on worshiping. I would think that if you enjoy playing your instrument(s) and worshiping, you're like bringing what you enjoy most and bringing it to God to bless His heart. I would picture a little child running to his parent(s), wanting to show them what he loves doing so much. It's so much more genuine.

Also, do you enjoy playing with your team?
Do you think you could support and spur each other on?
It's not called a Worship TEAM for nothing. A team works as one, in sync with one another. There are times for you to shine, there are times for your teammate(s) to shine but in the end, we need to let God shine most. If we keep on competing to outshine each other, then, not only do you lose the essence of worship, where you disappear and God appears, you also crash your own train by infighting. We are not performing to bring glory to ourselves (and yes, this also refers to Worship Leaders) but to glorify and magnify God Himself.

With that being said, I have to repeat that these questions apply to me as well but I would just want to share it to let use all ponder.

(picture taken from http://livingwordspring.com/)