We went to a different church on Sunday. We attended a Vineyard church in Augusta and thought we'd probably want something different here in Jackson, but the familiar is easy and comfortable. We tried the Jackson Vineyard this past week and, boy was it a great week to go! I'm so, so happy we visited. This may not become our new church, but we were really blessed by this Sunday's service.
They had a guest speaker, but even before he spoke, I was impressed by the pastor's (I'm assuming he was the pastor) opening prayer. He prayed that we would show Jesus to the people we saw through the week and that we would seek boldness from the Holy Spirit to share Jesus with those whose paths crossed ours. Boldness... good stuff.
Worship was very lively. There were lots of people, men and women, raising their hands. There were also a couple ladies dancing on one side in the front and a young girl with some flags on the other side. I like to see that, of course. The "skit," as the pastor called it, was a duet of the two dancers I had noticed earlier in worship.
Everyone was dressed VERY casually. There was a whole troop of bikers and the congregation seemed generally to be lower to middle class... just judging from the cars in the parking lot... um... and by the haircuts and fashion choices.
I have to be totally honest here and say that I felt like I really didn't fit in. I had to confront my snootiness (snootiness I didn't even know I had!) and realize that it would probably be really good for me to get out of my own "class" and mingle with people that aren't exactly like me. Huh, imagine that.
Now I'd like to share the main thing I took from what the speaker said. He was a former member of a band called Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section aka The Swampers. He had a radical conversion experience and now plays his guitar for Christ and speaks. He used to pastor a church as well. The first thing that struck me was how he could play guitar, and play well, and I felt drawn to worship, directed to worship. I grew up with parents that were uncomfortable with guitar solos during worship. Something about guitar and it's relation to rock music, which they don't care for... They were just always distracted by a guitar solo. The felt like it detracted from worship and brought focus to the musician. I, by default, have had the same discomfort in the past.
I think I posted here about the minister who came to Christ Life a couple of times and ministered with singing before he preached. I was just uncomfortable with that, but then I had to ask myself why it would be different to dance to direct the congregation toward worship. I didn't have an answer, but all I knew is that I felt like his singing performance did, in fact, detract from worship and make me focus more on him.
So, same question here. Why was it any different for him to play his guitar for us (for God really) than for me or others to dance a performance? Well, in this case, I didn't feel it was any different at all. I wasn't made uncomfortable by his playing. It brought me toward God and I was able to appreciate the talent God had given him and be inspired by the fact that he was using his abilities to honor the One Who had provided them.
He said, in between songs, that he used to play only mediocre guitar in church settings when he first got saved because he was afraid of just what I've been talking about my parents and I feeling. But then he thought "Why should I play worse for Jesus than I did for the Devil!?" I thought that was a really great "aha" moment. That's just so true. He went on to say that to waste or diminish his talent didn't make sense, ESPECIALLY in a setting of worshiping his Creator. That clicked for me.
All that being said, I think that there is a very present temptation and danger of slipping into self-promoting performance. But I totally think that if your heart is fully towards worship that using your talents with excellence and sharing them in the corporate worship setting is completely acceptable. It's all about your heart.
He said a lot of other really great things, so many nuggets that were worthy of an audible "That's right!" from me.
God is so good. We were both so glad to have the chance to be blessed by Him and that guest speaker.
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