O Worship the King

O Worship the King!

"I will sing praise to my God!" Psalm 104:33

Last Sunday we had the privilege of seeing our dear friend, Sue Thomas. Sue has been profoundly deaf since she was 18 months of age and has had an incredible journey in her world of silence.

Some of you may recognize the name because the PAX channel did a TV series based on her life, Sue Thomas FBEye. She is a dear friend and sister in the Lord.

She spoke at Lakes Community Chapel last Sunday morning, and unbeknown to what I wrote in my Freedom Fighter last Sunday, she addressed the topic of who we worship on Sunday. She had a very interesting comment ...

She has been the speaker at hundreds of churches, and she said that she is really tired of the "worship team" being the center of attention. Her observation is that many times the women are improperly dressed, and the attention is drawn to the team vs. being drawn to the audience of One. She suggested that maybe the worship team should lead from the balcony and not be seen and just have the praise music on the screen so the focus could be on the Lord.

Now if you are a part of a worship team -- don't send me comments. There are many outstanding worship teams serving the Lord today. But in my 30+ years of being involved in church music, I have to agree, that sometimes in our preparation for worship, the praise team gets to worship and the rest of the people end up being spectators. Sometimes its because we attempt to teach too many "new" or unfamiliar songs during worship.

We once had an awesome praise band come to lead worship for a men's activity. The team was a group of very gifted musicians. The music was very well rehearsed and prepared. They invited the men to stand to sing with them and for 25 minutes I stood and watched 95% of the men stand there without ever singing a note. Why? No one but the praise team knew the music.

Worship is not about us being spectators. We are participators as we worship HIM and HIM alone. Maybe from time to time we need to remind ourselves that worship is all about Him!

O worship the King, all glorious above;
And gratefully sing His power and His love;
Our Shield and Defender, the Ancient of Days,
Pavilioned in splendor, and girded with praise.

O, tell of HIS might, O, sing of HIS grace,
Whose robe is the light, whose canopy space;
His chariots of wrath the deep thunderclouds form,
And dark is HIS path on the wings of the storm.

Your bountiful care, what tongue can recite,
It breathes in the air; it shines in the light;
It streams from the hills; it descends to the plain,
And sweetly distills in the dew and the rain.

Frail children of dust, and feeble as frail,
In YOU do I trust, nor find YOU to fail;
YOUR mercies how tender, how firm to the end,
Our Maker, Defender, Redeemer and Friend.

Remember today -- HE IS OUR AUDIENCE of ONE. -- Bill Welte is President and CEO of America's KESWICK

God's WORD for YOU: Proverbs 15; Ezekiel 1-2; Hebrews 11:1-19

Great Quote: It costs God nothing, so far as we know, to create nice things; but to convert rebellious wills cost Him crucifixion.(Clive Staples) C. S. Lewis