using paper "ballots" with a list of all our songs, and a few questions at the bottom, we had them submit their favorite worship songs over the past few weeks. we then took a whole sunday morning service to play only the songs they picked. no sermon, just their songs. before each song, we either had the individuals come up and introduce the songs, or we had their comments projected so the congregation could read them.
here were my observations:
- no one chose any slow, worshipful songs! we had to take 1 1/2 songs that weren't really 'worship ballads' and slow them down so that we could have some prayer and communion time.
- some people's comments were enough to open up the rest of us to start liking a few songs we wouldn't have necessarily called our favorites.
- people were surprisingly concise. no verbose drivel. not even from our pastor!
- when I asked myself, "have I seen Flo (flow) today?" the answer was a resounding yes.
- there's a rich history of worship songs that Daniel (our former worship pastor, now youth pastor) used to do regularly, to which our community still attaches themselves. props to Daniel for being such a big part of their Christian memory. and shame on the rest of us for neglecting it.
- the single most requested song by anyone in our church was matt redman's "blessed be your name." although I don't particularly attach myself to the song, I should consider using it more - it's become an undeniably important song for the Church.
i'm learning that worship songs are really just... songs. they aren't very much on their own without the healing, joyful, hope-inspiring power of the Spirit.
No comments:
Post a Comment