BROKEN & REPAIRED
Worship has the power to both heal and break us. It’s a strange but glorious paradox. As the Bishop of Oxford, John Pritchard writes, “Worship is the moment when we’re both broken open and repaired at the same time.”
Life throws at us a mix of joy and pain. We might be celebrating new jobs, new life and new relationships, whilst at the same time experiencing great loss, deep doubts and huge anxiety. It never seems to be one or the other. I’ve heard it helpfully described as parallel train tracks – running down one track is blessing, favour, laughter and joy – whilst running down the other parallel track is pain, sorrow and despair. As Paul describes in 2 Corinthians we are a people who are ‘sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.’ (2 Cor 6:10)
When I prepare to lead worship I often find myself asking the question – ‘how do you lead a congregation in a journey of worship, when every person is starting from a very different point?’ I think of my church, last Sunday as I led I was aware of a couple recently celebrating their engagement, a friend thriving in a new job. At the same time I thought of parents I know agonizing over their children, a friend desperately struggling to financially make ends meet. How do we hold all this together? What is the key to our role as worship leaders? Ultimately it’s simple – we lead people to Jesus. Great music will in itself never bring deep comfort and healing to people in distress. Only Jesus will. Clever mood lighting will never lift the spirits of someone at rock bottom. Only Jesus will.
As we lead worship we remind people that there is more to life than money, health and success. Through the songs and the words we sing, we point people to Jesus. It begs the question – do our songs fill people with hope? Are they focused on Christ – words that communicate the character and nature of the God who saves, the God who takes away the sins of the world, and the God for whom nothing is impossible? It’s as we feed people’s minds with the truth that people begin the process of being repaired. We worship a Father who rejoices over us with singing and is mighty to save (Zeph 3:17), a Saviour who is able to sympathize with our pain (Heb 4:15) and the Spirit of God who gives life (John 6:63). In God’s presence we are slowly, moment-by-moment, day-by-day, put back together again.
But this journey of healing only starts when people are brave enough to be broken. If we don’t allow ourselves to be broken, we will never be ‘repaired.’ It is essential in our worship that we lead and serve with compassion, sensitivity and vulnerability. Worship is not about a show, a hyped response of emotion. Worship comes from deep within – a raw cry acknowledging that Jesus is Lord and that we are not! As worship leaders how are you allowing space for people to express their questions and pain? Do our lyrics allow opportunity for people to acknowledge frailty? I love the line in the song, ‘Mighty to Save,’
“Take me as you find me, all my fears and failure.”
It’s so healthy to be able to sing that to God in the company of others. Musically are we allowing time for people to reflect on the state of their hearts? If everything is pumping the whole time we can miss out on space for people to search their hearts.
There can be lots of pressures on us as worship leaders. So many practical things that are important to invest in, but to grow in our calling and responsibility we need to firstly allow ourselves to be broken before God. Are you seeking God in the hidden place? Are you admitting your fear and insecurities in what you do? If you’ve become confident and complacent as a worship leader, if you can’t remember the last time you found yourself worshipping alone in your room, then may I humbly suggest you’re missing something. Perhaps you need to reconnect with God – allow yourself to be broken and vulnerable. Be bold – take a risk. Only then will we lead times of worship that allow people to be both broken open before God and repaired at the same time.
Great post Tim...
I often find that it is in a place or worship (both in the hidden place and in church) that I become most vulnerable and allow God in to touch the depths of my brokenness. Worship is key to encouraging people to lift their eyes higher than their circumstances, to see the God who reigns over all.
I have been in an interesting season lately where God has highlighted a lot of the broken areas in my life that He wants to repair, but there is always a choice whether or not to let Him in to repair and rebuild the ancient walls.
Bless you Tim.
Gill x
Great post Tim, its obvious you have put thought into this. It was an eloquent delivery of thoughts, and it spoke to me. Thanks.
Wow. Amazing words of wisdom. Nikki
I am a worship leader, but the thing I really struggle to do is to connect with God in the way you are describing.
I have led a relatively comfortable life, having very supportive Christian parents, having been a Christian all my life, and I am very blessed in having a wonderful wife and two amazing children. I've led a relatively good path also - never smoked, don't drink (vegetarian also!) and never really went off the rails.
As such, there are only a very few things in which I'm broken - no-one's perfect, and I'm certainly not, but I sometimes think it's easier for people to connect with God when there life has had misfortune, mishaps, loss, sadness, illness. Sorry if this is controversial, but it's something that is very important to me to try and find an answer to.
Do you have any thoughts for someone who would dearly love to be broken in order to be made whole again - whilst keeping the status quo with all the good stuff in my life (i.e. wife, family, friends)?
Tim,
Thanks for your post. I've been leading worship at our church for the last 5 years and have seen myself grow and change in my thoughts, attitudes and approach to leading our congregation in songs of worship (sometimes good, sometimes bad, but I'm a work in progress... :-))
For the last wee while I've been struggling with feelings of annoyance that I sometimes experience when leading worship and, upon looking out at the congregation in front of me, seeing many folks (some of whom are in one of our two bands) playing on their iPhones or looking bored stiff, disinterested and otherwise underwhelmed (either by the music or Jesus!). I would annoyed with them because I wondered why they come to church if to worship God. (I also understand that different people engage with God in different ways, but sometimes it seems very obvious to me that they'd rather be somewhere else, but that's just my perception).
I'm praying that my feelings of annoyance turn to feelings of grief, because it's Jesus who's not getting His glory when these things happen. My heart is changing. Rather than annoyance, I'm grieved if God doesn't get the glory He deserves. I've started to pray for those people rather thank think (sometimes out loud, to my long suffering wife!) "why do these people even bother to coming to church?!".
Creating space for people to respond to the Spirit at work in them during a song works sometimes, and other times doesn't. What I mean by that is one Sunday people seem to be ready to praise God and take up the offer of responding to Him by singing their own song, or praying, or whatever, and other weeks you can almost feel the uneasiness when that same opportunity is given. Again, it's done in moderation (i.e., leaving space in songs - not every song and also possibly not every week), and only in (hopefully) the guidance of the Holy Spirit, but I don't get it right every time!
Anyway, thanks for this, it's got me thinking again.
This is exactly where I am with my thinking at the minute - I could never explain it to people - you've just put into words exactly how I've been feeling. great post.
Fantastic post!
Being broken before Him includes being aware that all have sinned and have fallen short of Gods glory (Rom 3:23), and his standards, and the penalty for all that sin (even one sin) is separation from God and ultimately death (Rom 6:23). We however who are in relationship with Him are free from that, at the cross He took our place, He took our death, our punishment and in fact became sin for us (2 Cor 5:21)
The truth of this should stir a mixture of thoughts, emotions and responses, eg,
- we sin - thats bad, but yet we are free from condemnation, we are now new creations, no longer have a 'yolk to sin, no longer have a predisposition to sin -thats good.
- He died for us. The Creator of all things became our Saviour, took our punishment - thats sobering, but yet is a theme for great celebration. We are no longer dead to sin (Rom 6:2), we are alive, and all because of Jesus (Rom 6:8).
Remembering who Jesus is and what He has done for us, all that He laid aside, to be the one broken for us, restore us, gives us hope, gives us life in all its fullness, is a part of being broken ourselves before Him. The gospel needs fully realising, appreciating and worshipping Him with 'Wow' you did that for me, you loved me when I was unlovely. Even though we may lead good life's etc, we do fall short of our great God's standards and He is the one after all who is Holy, the living creatures in Revelation never stop declaring it; "Holy, Holy Holy, is the Lord God Almighty"
I think its Bob Kauflin that said something like for our great salvation, we needed a great Saviour. And we have Him, Jesus is the only way.
Without Jesus, we have nothing. That is being broken. Thats being thankful, that is humbling.
Matt Z> Just be thankful you're in a season of blessing at the minute and enjoy the wholeness when it's around. I wouldn't go looking for brokenness that hasn't been sent your way by God! There's a time for everyone to experience the raw openness of life and if that hasn't come around for you, don't worry it will some day - we're all guaranteed trials at some stage of our life. Perhaps if you want to engage with brokenness you can be there for those around you whose lives are at breaking point...knowing the way God works, whenever something difficult finally comes crashing in on your life - they'll be there in turn for you, along with the God who is there regardless of whether our stocks are "up or down"!!
I have this mental image sometimes in prayer of lying on a table for open heart surgery, allowing God to get deep down into my being to rearrange everything that needs treated - by the master surgeon. For that to happen, my ribs have to cracked open though - sometimes we can't always cruise through life hoping for keyhole surgery!!
It's the cracked jars that ooze out healing oil...
What a fantastic post Larry!
Matt Z... how about asking God to reveal HIS heart to you for the broken... be prepared though to find leading worship challenging IF He does...It can be raw and painful leading worship ministering to brokenness in others when God reveals it to you as you are trying to sing and play. It usually stops me singing dead in my tracks.
It has been easier to manage when I've not been leading the worship and God has revealed that brokenness to me... as it means I can then go and discuss it with leadership and then explore how we are going to respond to it as a church.
Pauline
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great post tim!
we used mighty to save this weekend to reflect on a really tough situationin our church also.
God bless,
gav.