I led music this past Sunday at a friend’s church while she was away on vacation. Another fellow seminarian preached – and I think we both did pretty well and we had a good time leading worship. It was at a pretty small church, and I was leading them in a few hymns and some praise choruses on guitar. After I had played two songs, and we were “passing the peace” a woman came up to me and said, “Adam! You – are – amazing. I just know someday you’re going to be up on stage and the lights will be shining down on you and people will be screaming your name!”
Talk about awkward. How does one respond to that? I think I said, “Thanks” – but walked away saying to myself, “What the hell? That’s not why I am doing this…”
Or, is it.
I really do enjoy leading music in worship. I played guitar at camps all throughout college, and then led music in Idaho for two years, and I loved it. Sometimes I’d ask myself why I liked it so much: was it because of having the chance to play guitar, was it some “power issue” with leading people in worship? Did I really want to be like Chris Tomlin (pictured above) – a pop/worship/Christian/boy-band icon? Or did I really get into leading music in worship for the right reasons? Is leading music a gift I have that I should use – or does the act itself just really help inflate my ego…?
I don’t really have the answers to these questions – I hope that the act of preparing for, and leading people in worship can be worship itself – that God can work through my own issues and faults – and that leading people in worship is something that becomes a joy and a contributor to my spiritual life – not a deterrent.
