(Love this photo.)
Ever get really excited on Saturday night because you know there’s a huge solo (or perhaps an anti-solo, as I prefer to play) coming up in one of the songs for the Sunday morning service and you’re the one who gets to play it on your instrument? And then you perform it…. and then you get excited because maybe for once people will recognize the utter glory of your tone? And maybe, just maybe, the sound guy will turn you up enough for your solo (or anti-solo…. yikes, I can’t even type the word ‘solo’ anymore without some explanation…. I’m a dork) that perhaps someone will hear the difference that your NOS tubes and Mosfet boosted mid switch are making in your tone? And then there will be tears of love and joy and Irish longing all at the same time? And it will all be for God’s glory? (And please know that I am totally describing and making fun of me right now.) :-)
And then on Sunday, it happens, and you perform the heck out of your solo (or….you know), and you wait for the applause, or the tears, or the voices, or the hands raised to the Lord, or the people falling on their faces in worship (not of you, of course)…………………………………………………………………….. and then you open your tear-filled eyes, and through the watery mist see blank faces staring back at you?
Oh, ya. Gets lonely quick.
I was at a nameless church gathering the other day….. lots of churches, lots of church leadership, lots of people feeling important, lots of ‘cutting edge culture’ videos that gave me an odd nostalgic feeling from when I was 5, and just generally a lot of good, old-fashioned Christian awkwardness.
(A prime example of ‘Christian awkwardness.’ Swing that Gospel axe. And the frightening thing is that one of them really does have an axe.)
And I’m sure I’m one of the biggest offenders of Christian awkwardness…. but I can’t see myself, so I just assume that I am generally perfect. hehe
So, there’s this nameless musician (and she did have a name, it was all over everything being sold there) gets up to do some songs. And I won’t describe what ensued…. because I don’t want to give away where I was. But suffice it to say I was a sinner and shot some ‘Jim-from-The-Office’ looks over at a friend of mine across the table when the singer had told us to close our eyes so the power of her song could drench us in worship. *Gasp!*
But at the end of her songs is where this story really ties in to what I am saying, and it’s not just an excuse to tell a story (which I really enjoy doing).
The last song is a chorus. And a very well-known chorus. I mean, you can’t be alive in America today and not know this song. Not just Christians alive in America. (Really hope I’m not giving this away here.) And so she invites us to sing with her. And the whole room starts singing. And people are worshiping. And hands are being raised. And it’s not a worship song. And more hands go up. And we sing more lyrics not about God. Which I’m okay with. I like U2 just as much as the next guy (no, that’s a lie… I like them more). It’s not a U2 song, but it’s less Christian than a lot of their songs. And it’s a good song. And good lyrics. And I like the song. But I am not raising my hands while singing it. Sorry. Little rant right there.
But anyway, this singer starts to put more and more….shall we say, ‘flare’, into every line of the song. And she’s showing off her amazing skills. And more trills come flying out, and arpeggios, and notes that I don’t even think are there in a blues scale, and then some Chinese quarter tone scale notes on a part of the song that the rest of us are just trying to hold out just one note……… and what do you know……. by the end of the song, she’s all flustered because no one is singing with her. And she says in the last chorus, ‘Sing with me to the Lord!’ But tragically we can’t. She is not singing the melody of the song…… ya, not even a little.
And I wonder…… if we as worship musicians, held back just a bit, and played with the song….. or sang a melody that people were comfortable with, or played a bass line that went with the chords, or a drum beat that helped the beat, or a keyboard part that anchored………………………………………………………….. then maybe people would sing more, and worship more, and we might feel a little less lonely out on our solo.
See, it’s like, we always want to perform……. and then we’re shocked when the congregation can’t follow. If you want to sing a crazy melody with lots of gospel arpeggios and such, that’s fine. Maybe you can even worship better when you do that. But you can’t be surprised when people suddenly can’t sing with you, and end up watching the performance. And maybe as guitarists, we could make just one solo a month be the melody of the song…. or something crazy like that. So it might help the people worship with the song a bit. Not all the time. Just a few times. See people singing the lyrics to the Lord in accompaniment with your solo, instead of blank stares.
(So sorry. Really. But I couldn’t resist.)
I am fine with performances. They can have an incredibly powerful place in a worship service. And not just performance-based songs….. I’m all about the huge guitar solo or the secular song or the decibel level being huge. But if we’re asking people to worship by engaging themselves actively in the song with us (which is what we most often do), let’s not (again) be surprised that no one is singing, when in reality we just really wanted to perform. And the we go off-stage after full-on ‘performing’ the set (and you know when you were showing off your skills as opposed to when you were using your skills to further the song and the worship) and shake our heads like, ‘Wow. People’s hearts just are not where they’re supposed to be. You know what? Maybe a solo during the offering song will help! I’ll try that!’
Just a thought. :-) Please feel free to disagree! And much thanks to everyone who reads these random musings looking for a pedal review and then ends up just laughing at my rants. Your patience is appreciated. I think it’s important to think about worship mindsets, and tone. So, here’s the worship mindest post. I’ve got a Zendrive, a Keeley modded Blues Driver, and a Subdecay phaser all coming in, so the tone posts are coming! :-)
Splendid.
Karl.
Guitar for Worship 