Jamie Brown

Some Services Feel Weirder Than Others

Don’t ask me why – or maybe if you know you can tell me why – but some weekends and some services just feel weirder than others.

There’s no way to predict it, and sometimes no way to avoid it. Due to factors outside your control, or just an unfortunate confluence of events, sometimes you leave a service scratching your head, thinking “what was that all about?”

This past weekend was one of those weekends for me.

First, I couldn’t decide what songs we should sing at our services. For some reason, I was hit with a severe case of indecisiveness and I couldn’t get over it. Up until (and through) rehearsal on Saturday, I wasn’t crazy about how it all felt. On their own, I liked the songs. But put together, it just didn’t seem like the right fit. I made changes after the Saturday service and before the Sunday service, but even after that, the songs still felt a little weird.

Secondly, after the opening song on Saturday night (“All Creatures of Our God and King”), our drummer accidentally counted off and started playing Matt Redman’s “The Glory of Our King” all by himself for about two measures before stopping. The problem was that we weren’t doing that song on Saturday. It was supposed to be on Sunday only. So we stopped and I made a quick joke about it before we moved on, but it was still a bit awkward. And weird.

Third, I think I emailed about seven or eight singers to see if they could sing this past weekend since the one who was scheduled couldn’t make it. None of them could for various good reasons. So I was the only singer. I like having some back-up when I’m leading with a band, and especially leading a service of 800-900 people. Without anyone singing with me, it felt weird.

Overall, in addition to these three things, the services felt a bit flat. I felt flat too.

Some services everything seems to fall together really well. Some services are just normal, good, and average (in a good way). And then some services make you wish you could just go back in time and start from scratch.

I honestly don’t know what I would do differently this past weekend (other than make sure the drummer knew we weren’t doing “The Glory of Our King” on Saturday). And that’s just fine. This coming weekend is a fresh opportunity to choose songs and lead people to magnify the greatness of God through song.

When you have great services, it’s important to stay humble and resist temptation to remember in your mind all the things you did really well. But when you have “weird” services, it’s important to keep a healthy perspective: it’s not the end of the world. There’s always next week. Also, just because I felt “weird” about a service, it doesn’t mean anyone else felt the same way.

Was I prayerful? Yes. Did I try to be faithful and humble? Yes. Were we well prepared? Yes. Where there things I could have done differently? Always.

While it’s impossible to know why some services really click and others really don’t, it is possible to let both kinds make you a better worship leader. They’re both reminders that it’s not about you, your worth as a person isn’t wrapped up in your abilities but instead in Jesus Christ, and any hope you have at lasting in ministry will require you to get used to the roller coaster that is not only normal, but can also be kind of fun.

More Bulletin Bloopers

I can’t get enough of these. I’ve posted some before (here and here) but here are some more.

· Next Friday we will be serving hot gods for lunch.

· Nov. 11: An evening of boweling at Lincoln Country Club.

· Women’s Luncheon: Each member bring a sandwich. Polly Phillips will give the medication.

· Karen’s beautiful solo: “It is Well With My Solo.”

· Congratulations to Tim and Ronda on the birth of their daughter October 12 thru 17.

· If you choose to heave during the Postlude, please do so quietly.

· We are grateful for the help of those who cleaned up the grounds around the church building and the rector.

· Hymn: “I Love Thee My Ford.”

· Sign-up sheet for anyone wishing to be water baptized on the table in the foyer.

· Newsletters are not being sent to absentees because of their weight.

· The Advent Retreat will be held in the lover level of St. Mary’s Cathedral.

· Thank you, dead friends.

· Diana and Don request your presents at their wedding.

· Lent is a period for preparing for Holy Weed and Easter.

· Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget all His benefits.

· For the word of God is quick and powerful… piercing even to the dividing asunder of soup and spirit.

· Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peach to men.

· Volunteers are needed to spit up food.

· Please welcome our Head Deacon and Dead Deaconess

· There will not be any Women Worth Watching this week.

· I was hungry and you gave me something to eat; I was thirty and you gave me drink

· The visiting monster today is Rev. Jack Bains.

· We are always happy to have you sue our facility.

· Hymn: “I am Thin, O Lord.”

· This being Easter Sunday, we will ask Mrs. Johnson to come forward and lay an egg on the Altar.

How to Handle Anonymous Criticism

This morning I checked my mail box and found this anonymous hand-written note that someone had dropped in our offering plate this past Sunday:

“The song leader does not know how to end this LONG service, my last here. (Frown face).”

How do you handle anonymous notes?

Step one: read them.

Step two: consider their content.

Step three: throw them away.

When someone takes the time to talk to me in person, call me, or write me a letter with a concern, comment, or criticism, I take it very seriously. While I might conclude that what they’re saying shouldn’t cause me to change my course, oftentimes this is the way God chooses to bring needed correction or insight that I would otherwise miss.

But when I receive an anonymous note like this, I don’t take it seriously at all. Since I am given no context to help me in considering (1) who is speaking, (2) what they’re saying, or (3) why they’re saying it, I am not able to discern whether or not this is the Lord speaking to me or just an angry person being angry.

I need God’s discipline, whether I like it or not. And when I need to be disciplined, God will do so out of love (Hebrews 12:6).

So even if an anonymous note might have a shred of truth in it, and might have something I need to hear, if its content is angry or unclear or hurtful, then it belongs in the trash. God will not communicate his loving discipline to me in a way that is mean spirited.

This isn’t to say that God’s discipline is pleasant. “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it”. (Hebrews 12:11) As I said earlier, oftentimes a painful conversation, phone call, or email will be the way that God chooses to speak something to me that I need to hear, whether I want to or not.

But his discipline won’t come in the form of angry scribbled notes in your box on a Tuesday morning. He’ll find another way and you’ll be able to recognize his voice. He always signs his name.

Ten New-ish Songs Every Church Should Know By Now

Every once in a while I’m asked by pastors and/or worship leaders at smaller and/or more traditional churches what new songs would work for their congregations. Apart from a hymnal, and maybe (just maybe) some songs from the late 70’s, their repertoire has pretty much remained stagnant.

I’m going to be gracious in my definition of “new” and include (except for one) songs from the last fifteen years that, for most congregations, should probably be added to the repertoire.

These songs might seem old to you. If so, this post isn’t for you. This is for the churches who have never sung these. Here are some suggestions.

Before the Throne of God Above
Written by Charitie Lees Bancroft in 1863 (Public Domain), music by Vikki Cook © 1997 Sovereign Grace Music.
iTunes

Please add any you think I’m missing!

The Wonderful World of D – Pt. 4

Here’s the last in a series of videos on how to get past the basic-ness of the key of D on acoustic guitar. This video shows some things you can do when you’re fingerpicking.