The River vs The Song List
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The River
There is something very interesting about a river .....it is self generating. A river can easily go from a trickle to a flood in a little over a mile. A river always flows but it never flows straight, it follows unpredictable paths of turns and changes. Life is found in and around rivers. Sadly....if a river can no longer flow it dries up or it become stagnant. The river dies, and everything in it.
It has become the cry of my heart to see this type of "river flow" in corporate worship. A flow so deep, so compelling that it sweeps everyone in the room off their feet. My heart breaks every Sunday watching seekers and sinners passing through the river of our worship service and coming up dry and untouched, or leaving damp saying "that was a nice service" or " they have good music at that church" They have just experienced far less than what Jesus died to provide for us. We should stop being afraid of swift currents of God's glorious river, the Holy Spirit is very capable of guiding us threw the river of corporate worship.
The Song List
I am all about preparation, practice, and doing things with a spirit of excellence...no doubt....but true worship must transcend all of our preparation .....if it does not... all we have is a song service. A song service is a list of songs, sung one after the other in a linear fashion, until times runs out. A song list is like having a boat on the river along with a safety net. When are we going to jump out of the boat and trust the Holy Spirit''s leading during services???Jumping out of the river is scary and uncomfortable at times but, well worth it!!. I promise you one thing....your worship service will never be the same again. For a song service to become a worship service, a personal shift must happen at a spiritual level, we must have a strong desire to encounter the living God.
Sparrow
There is something very interesting about a river .....it is self generating. A river can easily go from a trickle to a flood in a little over a mile. A river always flows but it never flows straight, it follows unpredictable paths of turns and changes. Life is found in and around rivers. Sadly....if a river can no longer flow it dries up or it become stagnant. The river dies, and everything in it.
It has become the cry of my heart to see this type of "river flow" in corporate worship. A flow so deep, so compelling that it sweeps everyone in the room off their feet. My heart breaks every Sunday watching seekers and sinners passing through the river of our worship service and coming up dry and untouched, or leaving damp saying "that was a nice service" or " they have good music at that church" They have just experienced far less than what Jesus died to provide for us. We should stop being afraid of swift currents of God's glorious river, the Holy Spirit is very capable of guiding us threw the river of corporate worship.
The Song List
I am all about preparation, practice, and doing things with a spirit of excellence...no doubt....but true worship must transcend all of our preparation .....if it does not... all we have is a song service. A song service is a list of songs, sung one after the other in a linear fashion, until times runs out. A song list is like having a boat on the river along with a safety net. When are we going to jump out of the boat and trust the Holy Spirit''s leading during services???Jumping out of the river is scary and uncomfortable at times but, well worth it!!. I promise you one thing....your worship service will never be the same again. For a song service to become a worship service, a personal shift must happen at a spiritual level, we must have a strong desire to encounter the living God.
Sparrow
