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RE: [Worship] Being a worshipper

Ruth related the following:
> This past Sunday we had a wonderfully anointed time of worship (from
> my 
> perspective).  I was leading and found it easy to 'enter in' to His 
> presence in worship. Later on in the service we had a special guest - 
> evangelist, singer, songwriter - who began by singing some of his
> songs 
> and encouraged us to enter into worship with him.  The strange thing
> was 
> I was having a really hard time to 'enter in'...
> It concerns me because I want to FIRST be a true worshipper and after
> that 
> a worship leader.  If I find it difficult to worship under someone
> elses 
> leadership... something seems to be wrong.  I'm also questioning if 
> others feel like I'm 'leaving them behind' when I lead...
> 
I can relate to this, also.  I think that there are a lot of factors
that can be at work simultaneously.  These are things that I sometimes
struggle with, but I don't mean to imply that they're necessarily yours
also:

- There can be a little bit of a pride issue, especially when it's an
outsider taking "your" place, and ESPECIALLY if it was the pastor's idea
and not yours!

- There's a natural tendency for us WL-types to "critique" others, and
that can distract us from worship.  I don't just mean "criticize" (see
pride issue above!)  It might be benign - trying to learn new things by
observing - but it can still be a distraction.  And by the way, that's
not necessarily a bad thing!  You do have a responsibility to learn and
grow, and observing others when you have the opportunity is a great way
to do that; it becomes an act of service to your church which is a
*different* form of worship.

- It's possible that others had a hard time releasing themselves in
worship just as you did.  Sometimes the novelty of a special guest, or
his/her unfamiliar leadership style, or the use of a bunch of unfamiliar
songs can make it difficult for the congregation.

- It's a Good Thing to consider our own leadership style, and whether we
might be "leaving others behind."  It's important for us to be actually
worshiping as an act of leadership, but it's equally important to keep
in mind that our role is as a servant to the congregation.  It's
possible that we need to actively pay attention to details like clearly
leading people in starts/stops/repeats, observing the congregation's
response, etc.  That may result in a diminished "worship experience" for
us personally, but we can experience that on our own at another time.

- While I affirm the value of "releasing" or "losing" ourselves in
worship, we also need to be careful about evaluating worship services
based on our feelings, or on our perceptions of the congregation's
feelings or their apparent response.  On one extreme, if the services
are almost always "dry" then there might be a lack of honest worship; on
the other extreme, if they're almost always exciting then maybe we're
not experiencing the full range of authentic response to God's presence
(i.e., repentance & humility.)  If we're somewhere in between, genuinely
seeking fellowship with God, then we'll always have our highs and our
lows.

I hope that at least some of this is helpful!

Grace & Peace...

- Paul
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