Author: Jamie Brown

What to Sing on Ash Wednesday

Yesterday I received a question from a worship leader about what kinds of songs to sing on Ash Wednesday. My answer to him wasn’t terribly profound or detailed, but since Ash Wednesday is this week, I thought I’d share my response here in case it’s helpful to anyone else:

I’ve always struggled with picking songs for Ash Wednesday myself.

I think that people wrongly think that Ash Wednesday/Lent is about self-determination to grit their teeth and give up chocolate for 40 days to show God how much they love him and impress him. I think Lent works better when it’s seen as a season to cherish Jesus more.

So, I know this sounds simple, but really any song on the glory of Jesus and his finished work. This goes against what some people want on Ash Wednesday. They want to hear/sing things about something THEY’RE going to do. Determination. I try to make a point of avoiding those songs and helping people understand there’s nothing to be gained by focussing on our own efforts.

So, in summary, pick songs about Jesus for Ash Wednesday. And Lent. And Easter. And the rest of the year too, I suppose.

Live Worship CD Recording

I’ve been quiet on here this week and will probably be quiet for the next couple of weeks since we’re planning on recording a live worship CD at my church on Friday March 2nd and Saturday March 3rd. We’re really excited and really busy!

We got word about a month ago that, in all likelihood, we would be losing our building in a very short amount of time. The thought came to some of us shortly after that after years of dreaming about recording a live worship CD at our church, the time to do it in our building was quickly running out.

So in record time we planned it, budgeted it, are raising support for it, scheduled it, are getting people in place, are advertising it, are finalizing a song list, working on arrangements, and trying to figure out how to set all of this up in a ridiculously short amount of time.

I’m excited to capture a sense of corporate worship with the congregation of The Falls Church in our building before we move on from it. That’s the main reason we’re doing it. I think it will bless our congregation and other congregations who are losing their building. I think God will use it beyond our church, though. I don’t really know how, but I think he will, and that’s exciting too.

We’ll be using some of our own musicians, but also bringing in some gifted guys (Carl Albrecht on drums, Russell Crain on electric, etc.) to help us out. Lord willing, we’ll be getting it mixed and mastered in Nashville using many of the same guys who have done Sovereign Grace Music’s recent albums.

We’ll be doing some re-worked hymns, some songs you may have already heard before, and some new songs original to our congregation.

I’ll keep you posted over the next few weeks/months as this project progresses, and let you know how you can pre-order the CD soon. It really will help us if people pre-order the CD as that will allow us the funding necessary to bring the project to a quicker completion. We’re viewing it a bit like a Kickstarter project, but the difference is that we’re guaranteeing it will get done eventually, we’re just not sure when. The more positive a response up-front, the more likely it will be in your hands by early summer.

 

The Main Thing

Not once has anyone ever come up to me and remarked on how much they were affected by the copyright dates on the songs we sang at a service all being after the year 2000.

No one has ever told me how much they were really ministered to by my new guitar.

I’ve never heard someone say that their life was changed by the new chord progression we used on the second verse of “Here I am to Worship”.

I haven’t heard of anyone seeing Jesus as more precious because of the new drum shield/acoustical panels we bought.

No one has ever been impacted more by the Gospel because we played a song almost exactly like the recording.

We got in-ear monitors a few years ago and I don’t think the Holy Spirit came down in tongues of fire that first Sunday. I think I’d remember that.

And it’s not like using in-ear monitors, drum shields, new progressions, new songs, and good arrangements is a bad thing. It’s just that they won’t change anyone’s life. Only Jesus will.

The assurance that “my shepherd will supply my needs: Jehovah is his name…” brought peace to a new widow and now single mother.

The truth of the Gospel that “from life’s first cry to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny…” comforted parents who had lost their infant son.

The good news that “…he must win the battle” assured a congregation after learning they will probably lose their building.

The grace of God that “breaks the power of canceled sin and sets the prisoner free” reminded a man lost in sin that there is always freedom in Christ.

I’m sure the equipment we used, the arrangements we rehearsed, and the time we put into choosing these songs all contributed to helping people sing these words. But the widow, the bereaved parents, the shocked congregation, and the lost man found no comfort, no hope, no peace, and no life in what we had to offer. Jesus is who shined through, and Jesus is who they encountered.

I think way too many worship leaders, worship teams, creative teams, video producers, choirs, and choir directors get lost in a sea of creativity and artistic expression and classic works and new songs and great equipment and fresh arrangements and ten rehearsals and burn themselves out trying to make great music. I love Bob Kauflin’s line that “music is a great tool but it’s a terrible idol”. Indeed.

All this is is a simple reminder that we have a great Savior and he is the one who will change people’s lives forever. Great music for the sake of great music is a waste of time and people’s tithe money. Great music to present our great Savior who is the hope of the world is why we (should) do what we do.

Things to Pray for Before a Service

If you’re anything like me, and if your worship team is anything like mine, sometimes when you gather to pray (and I hope you do) before a service, you can either blank on what to pray or you can tend to pray the same sort of thing. What kinds of things are we supposed to pray for before a service? Here are some ideas:

That your worship team would be unified in the Spirit
All of us have different gifts, but we all belong to the same body (1 Corinthians 12:12-13). Your worship team needs the Spirit’s help to act as one body, not a bunch of individual members.

That Jesus would be made central
John the Baptist said in John 3:30 that “(Jesus) must increase, but I must decrease”. The Psalmist wrote in Psalm 115:1, “Not to us… but to your name give glory…”. These are our prayers, and we need the Holy Spirit to help us decrease and to help Jesus to increase (John 16:14).

That God’s word would be preached faithfully
The “sword of the Spirit” mentioned in Ephesians 6:17 isn’t a synthesizer pad or a cool transition. The sword of the Spirit is the word of God. We should be praying that God’s word is preached boldly and faithfully, and that what we do supports it.

That people would sing from their hearts
In Matthew 15:8 Jesus lamented the people who honored him with their lips but whose hearts were far from him. One of our jobs is to help prevent lip-service to Jesus. We need the Holy Spirit for this, since he is the only one who can search our hearts (Romans 8:27).

That you would lead with Spirit-inspired excellence
If I wanted to, I could play an excellent guitar solo. But it wouldn’t do any good. Excellence on its own is useless. Excellence for the purpose of God’s glory and the congregation’s edification is commanded (Psalm 33:3). We need God’s help to discern the difference between being impressive for the sake of impressing, or excellent for the sake of serving.

That unbelievers would be convicted by the Holy Spirit
Here’s an understatement: there are certain things God can do that you can’t do. You might be a great worship leader but you can’t convict unbelievers of sin. In 1 Corinthians 14:24-25, Paul says that one advantage of prophecy is that an unbeliever can be “convicted… and declare that God is really among you”. This is why you should pray that God helps you lead prophetically, in the power of the Holy Spirit, so that even unbelievers will see God’s glory.

That you would be led by the Holy Spirit
Don’t just plow through your song list and rush through it without taking time to let God lead you to repeat, underline, emphasize, or even skip certain things. If the Holy Spirit lives in you, then (this is amazing) you can know the very thoughts of God (1 Corinthians 2:11). What you’re thinking is important. But what God is thinking is more important. Pray that the Holy Spirit speaks clearly to you what’s on God’s heart as you lead.

That the time of singing would bear fruit
It’s not enough to give people a pleasant singing experience on Sunday mornings. We should be changed every time we encounter God individually or corporately. One of the main ways our time of singing can bear fruit is for the words we sing to sink deep down in our hearts and stay there during the week, reminding us of the truths we’ve sung (Colossians 3:16).

That your sound engineer will have wisdom and energy
Seriously, pray for your sound engineer(s) anyone else on the AV team at your church. Too often worship teams treat their audiovisual colleagues like second-class citizens. Pray for them, honor them, thank them, and be understanding when something goes wrong. They need God’s help to stay attentive, to be able to engage in worship, and to maintain servants hearts while in the background.

That you would lead, sing, and play beyond your natural abilities
There are many instances in scripture when the Holy Spirit enables someone to operate beyond their normal ability (Moses in Exodus 31:3, David in 2 Samuel 12:32, Ezekiel (all throughout the book), Micah in chapter 3:8, Zechariah in Luke 1:67, Stephen in Acts 6:10, and Peter in Acts 11:12). These are normal people to whom God gives supernatural strength for the demonstration of his power and the proclamation of his good news. Worship leaders would be wise to ask for that same supernatural strength, every single Sunday.