15-5

Head and Heart

When we lead others in worship, there is so much more than singing going on. There is a battle for truth that is raging. That is why we must be careful in choosing the songs that we sing. There needs to be a healthy tension between our minds and our emotions as we worship. God calls us in Colossians 3:2 to 'set our minds on things above.' We are doing so much more than helping people escape from their lives for an hour, therefore the things that we say and sing about God must be intelligent and informed. This is the reason that we select songs based on lyrical content, not style. However, as we do this, we also must be careful that we do not worship God in a way that makes Him appear dull, because He is anything but dull! It is not our creativity that that brings excitement about the Father, it is helping people understand the truth of who He is that will do that. The danger in focusing too much on our minds is that we can end up leading a theologically sound but emotionally dead church. That does not bring glory to God.

We do want to stir the emotions of those we lead in worship. However we aren't trying to get them excited just for the sake of getting them excited. We aren't aiming for emotions that are shallow and fading. We are trying to stir in them deep affection for God that will last a lifetime. These emotions come from focusing on who God is and what He has done and is doing in our lives. When we really see God, it moves our hearts. We feel awe, sorrow for sin, gratefulness for mercy, and peace knowing that He is in control. When we fail to show that we delight in God, we are disobeying Him! We have more reason to celebrate than anyone on the planet!

That being said, emotional engagement can be misplaced. Our goal is to have people's emotions moving as a result of God's power in their lives, not just because they like the song we sang. Experience alone is not the goal, experiencing God is the goal.

This is much more than a debate on hymns vs. choruses. Each group has songs that fall into both of these categories. It is our job as worship leaders to make sure that we keep a healthy tension between our heads and our hearts, to anything less would not be glorifying to God. "We have to remember that neither biblical truth or deep emotion is out of place when we worship God; they're meant to go together. Let's keep the healthy tension strong."

Enjoy the Journey