Music ... mylife ... and the Master Conductor

In a world where most of the music we hear is over produced and painstakingly processed for digital streaming it is a wonderful experience to go to a concert of live music and hear a band or symphony play with a full and glorious range of sound. It’s strangely compelling to hear the wispy sounds of the piccolo or to allow one’s self to be assaulted by the power of a brass section. It’s thrilling to hear an ensemble feel the takt of the music, not driven by a metronome but by the sheer emotion of the composer. The “legitimate” interpretation of the music gives way to the heart and soul of the performers. The notes on the page serve as a guide for the conductor but as he interacts with the music on a level that is impossible to notate the tempos vary and the timbre of the phrases intensify. And when the performance is done we, the audience, erupt in spontaneous applause. We leave the concert venue trying to savor in our minds ear all that we have just heard. To turn on the radio for the drive home would be a sacrilege. We want to allow those sounds to linger as long as possible.

It is a wonderful thing to have an audience with the Master Creator of the universe and have him gently lead our souls in the score that he has predetermined for us. To watch for his cues as he increases the tempo and leads us into the sweet discovery of what our life was meant to be. If only the score could soar like this forever, but the passage that follows is a quiet and pensive adagio that seems to plod even slower under the Great Conductor’s baton until the sense of the beat is almost lost. The phrases seem too long to sustain – the weight of the wait seems to crush the spirit. But just when hope has been all but lost the score takes an upward turn – the notes come more quickly, their range more extreme and their expression richer.

And in that moment, we recognize that the sweet song that we sang at the beginning means nothing if it is not tempered with the melancholy. The fast and thrilling passages mean little without their slow and deliberate counterpart. And when our concert for One is complete we wait for the acknowledgement of his approval. And in a stage whisper that is barely audible he speaks, “Well done, good and faithful performer. In responding to me you have beautifully played out the score that I have composed for your life.”  

The Worship of Heaven - Here and Now

There are times when I let my imagination run wild and speculate what the worship of heaven will be like. When all those created beings, human and celestial - some redeemed from sin and some who have never known sin - gather around the throne of God it will be truly awe inspiring. I’m quite sure it will be different than anything that any of us have ever experienced. Will we sing in one language or will we sing in the language of the nation and tribe from which we come? Will we stand and raise our hands in overwhelming joy, or sit in stunned silence? Perhaps we will be so overwhelmed that we will just lie prostrate on the ground – as low as we can in front of the one who redeemed us.

A quick perusal of the Old Testament gives us a few instructions as to how the ancient Hebrews were to worship.

Psalm 100:2 Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.

Psalm 29:2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor              of his holiness.

Psalm 95:6 Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;

Psalm 109:30 With my mouth I will greatly extol the Lord; in the great throng of worshipers I will praise him.

The New Testament gives us less specific instruction for worship in the church of Jesus. One of the most profound is when Jesus instructs the woman at the well in Sychar.

John 4:23-24 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”

It is the reveled truth of God, found in his Word, that should frame our thoughts and inform our expressions of worship; and it is from our spirits – the inner core of who we are – that our worship comes to the Father who created us and redeemed us.

Have you ever seen unrestrained worship? Look at a stadium full of fans as they cheer on their team. Hands in the air; voice shouting at the top of their lungs; expressions of adulation for the one who just made the scoring play. Or look at a little child who instinctively claps his hands when he is happy or dances when she is moved by joy.

Most of us have been told that in church you are to sit still and be quiet. But Jesus said, “Let your worship come from a knowledge of the truth about God and from that deep, inner place of who you really are.” (A loose paraphrase of Jn 4:22-23) Now some of you reading this will say, “Oh no – Steve wants us to become some wild crazy dancing church.” Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, I’m not asking for anything or expecting anything. I’m just saying that our worship needs to flow from a place of release in our spirit and our expression should be overwhelmed with the truth of God’s divine revelation to us. And when someone near you folds their hands and lets a tear role down their cheek or raises their hand toward God or does a little side step in the pew next to you, smile with the recognition that just maybe God is receiving exactly what he has been looking for – a true worshipper. So when I think about the worship before the throne in heaven I sure hope my soul won’t be surprised but will rather find a brighter, sharper experience of what I have already known in His presence here on earth.