I have the blessing of being in a small group with three ladies that just happen to all be wonderful worship leaders. This past Monday we got into a discussion about guess what? worship.
The different questions we tossed around:
Does secular music have a place in worship services? And if so, where?
What is worship?
Where is God in worship?
At the risk of bringing up a topic already highly scrutinized, I want to share some "aha" moments that occurred for all of us that night.
First of all the concept of secular music to me is a bit ridiculous when I remember the vastness and enormity of our God. We like to separate art, music, businesses, and people like sheep and goats. For what purpose? A good friend of mine pointed out a not so savory hip-hop/rap song that touched her heart deeply while she was on her DTS for YWAM (Youth With A Mission). She was feeling alone, broken, and ravaged by years of pain being forced to the surface with incredible force and destruction through her YWAM journey. She went for a walk alone in rural Thailand and the words of the rap song came to her like an all consuming embrace from God. She felt the words searing through the sin and pain and speaking truth to her heart. I have to admit that when she later told me of this story, I laughed with an uncomfortable mixture of ignorance and indignation. How could those words speak to you? Her reply was simply, "How could He not?" How dare I limit God to speaking only through self-professed Christian artists wearing their brightly whitened Christian smiles and freshly starched Christian t-shirts. I'm not saying that now I load my iPod with Snoop and Diddy's latest, but I do listen to music with a different ear, expectant of God to speak through His art.
The second "aha" moment goes along with the first. In this age of Rob Bell-esque inspiration, we have all been encouraged and blessed by investigating the Hebrew text and meaning when studying Scripture. We often call a church service "worship" or maybe we label just the section we sing as "worship". Some even say "Praise Chorus" or "Praise songs". What's the deal with Praise and Worship? Forgive me if I simplify the Hebrew because it is not my intent to be irreverent. But, from my understanding the word for praise is the uplifting, raise your hands in the air type of...well, praise. Worship is the kind that sends you to your knees to acknowledge the God of gods and that we are definitely worthy to be...on our knees before Him. We see that co-existing in the Psalms. I used to think David was a bit off his rocker praising God one second and crying and whining on his knees the next. Now I see his authenticity in the pairing of Praise and Worship. It's almost like one without the other doesn't make sense. It's like one side of velcro won't stick to anything or serve any purpose, but when they come together...Magic for your Roos!
So, connecting the praise and worship to "secular" songs and attempting to explain the final aha, the way I see it, when we authentically worship, we open ourselves up to hear God speak. God is everywhere and in everything, rap music, the crabby lady at Target, and a sun-filled leap day. Worship happens whether we do it or not. The very rocks will cry out and proclaim who God is. Why wouldn't God use everything in His world to speak to us? Saying secular music has no place in worship is like saying bulletins have no place or drums are not holy and do not belong in church. It's not about the style, it's about the intended purpose. I don't think we'll be going Younglife anytime soon and breaking out in "Brown-eyed Girl" on a Sunday morning, but my vote is to start with hearing secular songs differently in our own lives. Allowing God to speak to us through something we always thought just had a catchy tune or funky dance beat. Maybe we'll find out that worship isn't confined to brick walls and steeples.
