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What To Sing This Sunday?
If ministry has taught my anything at all, it is this: I cannot do it on my own! On my own, I have nothing to give, nothing to offer, that would change this world or the lives who cross my path everyday. Ministry and the Christian life continually teach me that I am utterly dependent upon God and His Holy Spirit if there is to be any fruit at all borne from my feeble efforts. Thus, when it comes to something - that on the surface may seem simple but it is far from it - worship leading and developing a liturgy that breathes with the breath of God, it requires, for me at least, the following steps that I hope may be of some service to you.
1. What Is God Saying To Us? Before I start plowing through my song libraries, or past worship set lists, I need some perspective. In order to gain that perspective I have to step back in order to take in the bigger picture, the grander plan, the main focus and that is the Lord. Our worship is not about ourselves, it's not for us, it's for Him. We are or should be responding to what He is saying to us corporately. The Word admonishes us to have ears that hear what the Spirit is saying.
For a worship leader or minister, many times this begins with the Lord revealing something to you personally in your own worship time with Him. Where is He drawing your heart, to what Scriptures, to what themes, etc.? What is God communicating through the sermon series or teaching series? Where are you at in the flow of the liturgical calendar - is it Advent, Lent, Easter, Pentecost? What is God doing in the midst of the congregation - has there been a season of great repentance, many getting saved perhaps, maybe even a terrible tragedy in which the church is in mourning? All these things feed into the heart of worship planning for God speaks to us in these ways and more. Learn to discern His voice in each so that what is being offered is in response to His tender Voice.
2. What Do We Need To Say To God? If I have listened intently at what God has said and is saying, if I have observed the times and what He is doing in our midst and seen the places He calls us to, then it becomes clearer what our response should be. So I then ask myself, on behalf of the congregation I serve, what is it that we need to say, need to sing, need to express as one voice?
Obviously, I begin with a song of praise - a song that expresses the vastness, largeness, otherness of God and the grandeur of His holiness - we are still called to enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. But then I begin to hone in on songs that are the collective responses to what He is saying. So, maybe it's songs of lament, asking for God's forgiveness, calling our hearts to repentance. Maybe it is about commitment, keeping covenant with God, remaining faithful when we are tempted to stray. Or they are seasonal offerings celebrating Christ's birth or resurrection - don't ignore the church calendar.
3. What Would Please The Lord? Hopefully, most of us have moved beyond making set lists out of the top CCLI songs while eschewing hymns, or simply picking three fast songs and two slow song and don't forget to modulate for effect. God's Holy Spirit within is the ultimate creative force Who wants to partner with us in creating worship that glorifies and magnifies God, and points the way to Jesus. His leadership and partnership will help to keep your worship creativity fresh and vibrant.
It is too easy to become content doing the same things over and over, week after week, until finally you say to yourself - after others have already figured it out - this is boring. How many services have you been in but the service wasn't in you? Thus, when you go to your music library or work with your team to create the liturgy of worship for that week or that month or that year, do it through the lens of "What would please the Lord?" And don't be afraid to look back - just this past Sunday I used a song from 1975 - people thought it was brand new, and it was!
For me, when picking songs to use in a worship service, I have a criteria that I've developed over the years that has served me well in choosing and writing music for worship services of all kinds:
5 THINGS THAT MAKE A GREAT PRAISE & WORSHIP SONG GREAT! A. Content
Exalts, glorifies, and magnifies God
Is in agreement with God's Word & character
Comes with a sense of the Holy
B. Lyrics
Effortless - ease - unbroken
Continuity in thought & subject matter
Imagery
C. Music
Melody line accompanies the lyric easily
Identifiable "hooks"
Memorable
D. Ministry
To God
To Us
To Not Yet Believers
E. Touches
Takes you somewhere beyond yourself
Transcends the natural and helps open the door to the supernatural
Prepares the heart to receive from God
Whatever songs you choose, they need to be authentic and not shallow. Like hymns, worship songs have the ability to educate people about the Lord, His Word, His grace, His mercy, His love, His judgment, His righteousness, His holiness, etc. Too many times our modern worship songs are more about us and less about God. Whatever we are communicating, He is the Center. That's not to say that we ignore our responses to Him, as stated above, we need to, but the focus of such songs, indeed their weight must be on God and His grace and mercy. Feelings fade, but God is the constant in our lives. Worship is not for us, it is for Him. Choose songs that would please His heart.
So, what will you sing this Sunday?
The song "Awesome God" by David M. Edwards
is available as a free download on songdiscovery.com. David Edwards' worship music has been recorded by many artists including Margaret Becker, Natalie Grant, Kathy Troccoli and Regi Stone. He currently serves as Adjunct Professor of Worship, Regent University, School of Divinity. His new CD Here With You
is available now at
davidmedwards.com.
This is an excerpt from Worship Leader magazine. To read more articles like this - click here to subscribe.
