Converse

Conversations are a truly amazing thing to me. I think for most pastors, we love the conversations that we get to have on a weekly basis with people in our church! We get to hear the stories of how God is working and moving in the lives of people as well as share the ways which God is working and moving in our lives! Conversations obviously don’t have to be just about God, and often times they are about a whole variety of topics!

Think about worship though and the posture that you have towards worship. When you think of worship what is your first thought? For most of us, it’s probably music and singing! That’s great! Music and singing are awesome. Now think a little more about worship. Beyond music and singing, what do you think of when you think of worship?

For me, when I deeply think about worship, my first thought is “response” in relation to what I’m supposed to do within worship. Whether it be through music and singing, or through other forms of worship, I tend to think about my role is simply to respond. That begs the question now of, “how are you supposed to respond?” and that’s where the conversation comes in and is so important.

As it pertains to worship in the form of music, one of the things that is heavily on my heart while I’m leading worship on stage is simply just having a conversation with God! At the core of my heart for worship is the ability to simply just converse with God while in worship!

There’s no formula to the conversation, I just have to listen to and for God, take a second to process what it means to and for me, and then respond and add to the conversation. It’s a two-way street

I think that in simply conversing with God through worship, I become less focused on, “what do I sound like?” or “how do others perceive me?” and I become far more focused on “what is God trying to tell me right now?” In our western culture of worship, it is so easy to become obsessed with the music and with the songs! It’s something I hear frequently in our church in the stories of what drew a lot of people to Covenant Grove! “I just loved the worship and the music” is usually the phrase I hear, and that’s great! I’m glad to hear it, but I think what I love more is after the fact of having conversations with people and it’s revealed to me that through worship God speaks to us.

My heart in worship is that through music we as a church could enter into a larger conversation with God and become so obsessed with God, that the music matters less.

Hebrews 4:16 reads this:

“So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.”

Be bold enough to come to the throne of our gracious God and have a conversation with Him in worship. Be willing to hear what He is saying to you, but also be willing to respond to how He is calling you to respond without fear judgement from others. Be willing to converse with God.