William Hung Worship

Years ago I sat in a worship service listening to a retarded girl in her twenties sing a song she had written. She started slowly, awkwardly, the room felt uncomfortable. As she sang the words were difficult to understand her pitch and timing were absolutely terrible. Strangely something about her song brought me to worship. The next woman to sing had an amazing opera voice. I'm sure it was a beautiful song but it was anything but contemporary. I suppose I felt it was unworthy for true worship. The next girl to sing was the pastor's daughter. Like the second woman, she too had a beautiful voice, I had never met her but she seem very snooty, she sang a contemporary worship song, one that I liked, but I sat annoyed by her singing.

Looking back over the years I've thought about that situation many times. Was it anointing? My attitude? Their attitudes?
I had grace for the retarded girl and not for the other ladies.
My lack of grace cause me to miss out on worship an activity that helps me or were they just performances I didn't like, simple as that.
Regardless, I think a lot of pressure has been put on music ministers to perform and deliver excellence.
I don't think Jesus is critical of a persons singing voice, or style of music. I do believe he looks at the heart. Maybe we need better ways of teaching excellence in the heart.

Ps. I think the excellence movement is actually a "seeker" friendly tactic churches have adopted to draw people inside the church. I think it can corrupt the very heart of kingdom values.



posted by Andy at 7:26 AM | |