Friday, January 19, 2007

Worship Notes 19 January

Following are some of the controlling principles with regard to the leading of worship that should be helpful from the congregational perspective as well:

• Worship is not performance
• The role of leading and facilitating worship is for the purpose of encouraging the congregation in worship, not to worship “at” them
• Arrangements and songs should be chosen that are ecclesiastically appropriate—what is appropriate in other venues may not be appropriate for corporate worship
• The criteria for what is ecclesiastically appropriate refers to text, music, the combination text and music, arrangements, and execution
• Worship should be accessible yet excellent
• As musicians, we should be growing in skill and depth—musically and theologically
• Craftsmanship is a biblical concept; originality is a humanist concept
• How we play and lead should be different than how we play and sing at a recital, coffeehouse, or concert
• God is the standard of beauty and excellence—our worship should seek after biblical excellence and objective beauty, goodness, and truth

1 comment:

AJ Harbison said...

Thanks for your continued posts about worship--I'm disappointed that you don't get more comments! I appreciate your willingness to critique both traditional and modern styles; I feel like many traditionalists tend to blast modern "track lighting" worship without taking the time to evaluate their own shortcomings.

I also appreciate your insistence upon musical excellence. I've found far too often people from the contemporary worship "tradition" who let subpar or even bad musicianship slide because they're "doing it for Jesus," when in fact this should spur us on to the highest standards. Thanks again--keep it up.

AJ Harbison
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