My Best Worship Experience

About two weeks ago, I attended a little church in Lacey. Sarrah was out of town that weekend, so I was alone. I wasn't sure what to expect from them, but the website seemed promising. That church turned out to be great. I loved the very Bible-centered preaching, the people were nice, and the worship was the best worship experience I've had ever since moving to Thurston County, quite possibly in my entire life. And that's what I want to talk about: worship, specifically the music aspect of it.

In our time here, Sarrah and I have been to several churches, each with varying styles of worship music. The most common worship music involved a piano/keyboard, an acoustic guitar, a drum kit, a bass guitar, and more than one singer. These churches often sang songs that every Christian knows and aren't new but are more contemporary than hymns (which isn't difficult), such as "Here I Am to Worship." Mars Hill Olympia went all out with loud rock, ranging from blues to experimental to alternative. And don't even get me started on the thousands of dollars of technology that went into their setup. We also went to one church that had a piano, a hymnal, one lead singer, and a very traditional, formal atmosphere. And there's nothing wrong with those approaches.

At this particular church, they mostly had a piano, a lead singer, and a hymnal. I say mostly because at one point the family that leads the music there all got up and played a couple songs with guitar, mandolin, harmonica, bass and melodica as well. That probably sounds pretty boring to most Christians my age (or a little older). But it honestly felt, to me at least, more joyful and worshipful than any of the other churches I've been to here. And I think I know two reasons why.

The Congregation

I could hear the congregation (something that is tragically lacking in some churches), and they sounded joyful in their worship. We were all singing out of a hymnal, which isn't very worshipful to some other churches (charismatics mostly), but I could just tell the love they had for their Savior and Lord. I can't really explain it, but it was there. But that's not nearly as important as the fact that...

I Could Actually Think About What I Was Singing

I frequently fall into the trap of just listening to the music and singing along without really thinking about the song's meaning. Maybe that's just a flaw in me that needs to be worked on. But, for whatever reason, I could really think about the meaning of the words that we sang in this church. I could focus not on the music, but on the God we were worshiping, what He did, does, and Who He is. Maybe it's because it didn't seem like the church was overly focused on lots of music, I don't know. Heck, the piano player pretty much just played the music in the hymnals, nothing fancy. But we focused on the words, the meaning of the words, and God Himself. And to me, that was the best thing ever.

I think this is something that can get lost in worship music a lot. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with striving for musical excellence and interesting melodies and harmonies in a church, and my experience as a guitarist/singer in a church was something I wouldn't trade for anything. But I think we frequently focus on getting emotions and volume up (which again, aren't bad things) without thinking about the mind aspect of worship. I'm not directing this to a specific church or anything. I just want people, no matter what church they go to, to think about it, that's all.

Here come the Bible references. "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind" (Luke 10:27; see Matt. 22:37 and Mark 12:30). Philippians 4:8 says, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." That applies to worship! We worship God because we love Him! He is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, and excellent! We should love and worship Him not just with our hearts, souls, and strength, but also with our minds.

And that, my friends, is what led to what was quite possibly the best worship experience of my life.