Jamie Brown

How Wrong (with audio)

The bad thing about this blog is that it makes me feel compelled to share all of my worship leading bloopers with the whole world wide web. So, without further ado, here’s my most recent mess-up from this past Sunday.

For our offertory, we were going to sing Stuart Townend’s “How Long? (We Have Sung Our Songs of Victory)“. I would sing the verses, joined by the vocalists on the chorus, and then at the very end we’d have the congregation stand and sing a chorus. This is a great song for Advent (which is why I picked it), and was even more poignant following the horrific events in Newtown, Connecticut last week.

So I started the song off on piano, and then began the first verse with no problem.

We have sung our songs of victory, we have prayed to you for rain / We have cried for your compassion to renew the land again…”

But then, instead of continuing with verse 1, my brain decided it would be a good idea to sing the second half of verse 2:

But the land is still in darkness and we’ve fled from what is right / We have failed the silent children who will never see the light.”

The obvious problem is that it’s the wrong half of the verse. The second problem is that I’m the only person singing, so there’s no covering this mistake up. Yikes.

I was so confused and lost that I had no option other than to just stop and start over again. Here’s how it all went down. Enjoy.

My congregation responded to my little blooper with laughter, encouragement, and applause. How encouraging! This was another reminder to me that people in the room are quite happy to see that the people on the stage are just normal people. There’s no need to pretend that you’re amazing. Just be you.

I received an email that evening from a man I really respect who’s a member of our church and he thanked me for this little blooper and said it helps affirm that we’re not trying to draw attention to ourselves on stage.

So, I hope my bloopers are an encouragement to you that perfection and flawless performance are not our goals. Yes, excellence is, and this was a reminder to me that I need to do a better job of memorizing the words. But when you mess up (and you will), just get over yourself and move on.

You Don’t Have to (And Can’t) Know Everything

There has been an encouraging trend recently in many circles in the worship world to emphasize the pastoral role of the worship leader (the Doxology and Theology conference is just one example) and challenge worship leaders to think more deeply and theologically about how they’re serving their congregations.

This is all very good.

But, if there is any downside to this much needed emphasis, it could potentially be that worship leaders who already struggle with feeling like there’s so much they have to keep up with, who are already scraping by with relatively little musical training, who don’t have an awful lot of spare time to study anything except all the dirty dishes in their kitchen, and who don’t think reading 18^th century German theologians is their idea of a good time, could end up feeling unqualified and unable to measure up.

That would be very bad.

You don’t have to know everything. You don’t have to be really smart. You don’t have to have a seminary degree and be able to notate string parts in your sleep while reading Luther in your sleep while reharmonizing 300 year-old hymns.

Having said that, if you’re a worship leader, you are a theologian. By virtue of the fact that on a Sunday morning, you are responsible for what words people are singing and praying to God, you are therefore a person who is shaping people’s (for the lack of a better word) study of God, which is the meaning of the word theology. And so you do need to heed the challenge to think more deeply and lead more pastorally and take more seriously your responsibility to not just throw together a string of songs or a cool light show.

You need to know: (1) Who you are in Christ. You were dead and now you’re alive. (2) Who you are as a person. You’re you, you’re not that other guy. Be you. (3) Who you are for God. If you exist for his glory then you’re on a church staff for his glory too. You point people to, you celebrate, you magnify, and you never move past what he’s done in Jesus Christ. (4) Who you are for your congregation. You are a servant, not a celebrity, you’re a pastor, not a performer, and you’re a facilitator, not a famous rock star. (5) Who you are as a musician. You’ve been given some gifts and not given others. Use the gifts you have.

Beyond these things, anything else you know is extra. If you’re an amazing composer, that’s great. Compose awesome stuff for God’s glory. If you love reading 18^th century German theologians, then read as much as you can and it will ooze out in your leading.

But, if you’re not an amazing musician or a budding doctrinal scholar or a curator of old hymns, you can take a deep breath. You don’t have to (and can’t) know everything. There are a few foundational things that really matter. Get those right and the rest will fall into place.

Leading Worship In the Shadow of Tragedy

Yesterday’s mass shooting an at elementary school in Connecticut is the kind of tragedy that makes everyone – Christians, non-Christians, atheists, agnostics – take a step back and wonder how and why something so awful could happen. The fact that everyone who will be walking into your Sunday morning services has been asking those questions should give worship leaders and pastors reason to think very carefully about what they’re going to sing and what they’re going to say.

First, worship leaders, don’t attempt to be the consoler-in-chief tomorrow. You might be the first person “up”, but that role falls to your pastor. It’s appropriate for you to say something like “This morning as we stand to sing, most of us are singing with heavy hearts after what we’ve witnessed this past week. So as we stand, let’s declare what we know to be true: that God is faithful, God is good, God is sovereign, and God sent his son to rescue a very dark world”. That’s all, roughly, that you need to say. Let your pastor do the rest. And let your songs preach.

Secondly, it’s not too late to change your song selections for the morning. Here are the songs we’re singing at my church tomorrow in case this is helpful.

1. Blessed Be Your Name (Matt Redman)
– Opening song
– Helps us articulate praise to God in the midst of joy and sorrow
– “Blessed be Your name… when I’m found in the desert place… on the road marked with suffering… though there’s pain in the offering…”
– “You give and take away…”
– We will keep the arrangement of this from getting too rocky

2. It is Well with My Soul (traditional)
– Song after the welcome, where our pastor will have people be seated and will address the tragedy and lead in prayer
– The 4 traditional verses assure us that when we experience peace, or sorrow, or trials, because “Christ has regarded (our) helpless estate, and shed his own blood”, we can say “it is well”. Verse 4 reminds us that one day Jesus will return.

3. How Long? (We Have Sung Our Songs of Victory) (Stuart Townend)
– Offering
– The verses contain cries to God like “Lord we know your heart is broken by the evil that you see…” and “…but the land is still in darkness and we’ve fled from what is right. We have failed the silent children who will never see the light”.
– The chorusses echo so many places in the Psalms and say “how long… before the weeping turns to songs of joy?”
– The last verse gives hope: “But I know a day is coming when the deaf will hear his voice, when the blind will see their Savior, and the lame will leap for joy. When the widow finds a husband who will always love his bride, and the orphan finds a Father who will never leave her side.”
– The version on iTunes that you should buy is the one off of the “Pour Over Me” album
– We’re singing this during the offering, and not expecting people to sing along.

4. There is a Higher Throne (Keith and Kristyn Getty)
– Communion song
– A song about the hope of heaven, where Jesus will “…wipe each tear-stained eye, as thirst and hunger die…”

5. Come Thou Long Expected Jesus (traditional)
– Communion song
– “Come, Thou long expected Jesus, born to set Thy people free. From our fears and sins release us, let us find our rest in Thee…”
– We will take the chorus from the old Vineyard song “All Who Are Thirsty” with the simple lyrics “come, Lord Jesus, come”, and use it as a chorus on this hymn.

6. Everlasting God (Strength Will Rise) (Brenton Brown)
– Closing communion song
– A song of faith: “Our God, you reign forever. Our hope, our strong deliverer… You are the everlasting God… You do not faint, You won’t grow weary.”

As Bob Kauflin tweeted this morning (12/15/12), we should be regularly singing songs that help us lament the brokenness and darkness and fallenness of this world. But particularly after tragedies like this, when everyone has been shaken by seeing evil on display, pastors and worship leaders have to be willing to change their game plan and help people not only grieve, but grieve with hope in a good and faithful God, who sent his Son to suffer and die in our place, who knew grief and loss, and who was raised to life, ascended to heaven, and will run day return to “make all the sad things come untrue”.

Don’t Be Afraid to Laugh At Yourself

Every once in a while, while leading worship, you can’t hide from the congregation the fact that, at that moment, you don’t know what you’re doing. In these moments, you can either try to keep digging (in which case you usually make things worse) or just laugh at yourself.

Here’s an example of what I’m talking about.

Back in May (of 2012), my church had its very last Sunday morning service on its beloved property of over 275 years. I’ve talked about this before (specifically here). Sunday May 13th was the day, and at the end of the opening time of worship at our 11:00am service, after we sang “Behold Our God”, I had planned for our congregation say Psalm 95:1-7.

The problem was that I hadn’t checked to make sure it was ready to go on the screen. So after “Behold Our God” ended, and I said “let’s read together from Psalm 95”, nothing came up. Awkward moment number one.

The other problem was that I was depending on the words being on the screen so I didn’t have a bible or a printout close by. So I had to rely on my memory. Which at that particular moment, in front of 1,000 people, decided to fail me. Awkward moment number two.

By God’s grace, I had the presence of mind to laugh at myself.

After realizing that Psalm 95 was, in fact, NOT going to come up on the screen, I said “…maybe I’ll read Psalm 95“. People laughed. Phew. Awkward tension lowered a little bit.

Then, after fumbling my way through trying to remember how Psalm 95:1-7 went (and not doing a very good job), I said “(pause) that’s a paraphrase“. People laughed. Phew. Awkward tension lowered again. Then I quickly prayed before I made any more mistakes!

My point is that in those worship leading moments when it’s clear to you and to the congregation that you’ve made a mistake — it’s usually a good idea to just laugh at yourself. It gives them permission to laugh too. It lowers the tension, breaks the ice, and then everyone can move on.

Here’s the clip of the moment for you to enjoy. Feel free to laugh.

Mr. I’m-Too-Busy-To-Reply-To-Emails

Every few weeks I attempt to get my inbox to zero. And in the process, I inevitably come to the bottom few emails that I have let go for weeks with no reply. The person who sent them took the time to compose them and send them to me, but I never took the time to even write them back and say “I will get back to you soon”. I became Mr. I’m-Too-Busy-To-Reply-To-Emails.

And so I begin my belated reply with some sort of genuine apology. I really am sorry (and embarrassed) that I didn’t get to the person for a few weeks (and in some cases, months) and so I say genuinely apologize and ask for their forgiveness. Then I reply to their email.

And that’s the point. I do eventually reply to the person’s email. To never reply to an email is the equivalent of hiding in your house when someone rings your doorbell who knows you’re home. If it’s a salesman, or someone suspicious, you’re probably doing the right thing by hiding. But if it’s a friend? Or a church member? Or a brother or sister? You should reply to their doorbell ringing.

Likewise, if a friend, church member, or a brother or sister-in-Christ sends you an email, you should reply.

If your email volume is at the level where you need administrative help with sorting through them, then you should make sure that person gives the courtesy of a personal reply. And you should make sure your administrative helper isn’t weeding them out too heavily and keeping you from being engaged with people who are seeking you out.

There are occasions when I come across a Mr. I’m-Too-Busy-To-Reply-To-Emails. A few days go by and I figure he’s just really busy. Then a few weeks go by and I begin to get the idea that he just pressed “delete” and moved on to something he thought was more important. After a few months I just assume that person is too far-removed for me to ever be so fortunate to speak with him.

And that’s sad.

As much as you’re able, don’t become a Mr. (or Mrs.) I’m-Too-Busy-To-Reply-To-Emails. Even if, like me, it means you to have eat some humble pie and apologize to people you’ve kept waiting. Better late than never.