Do You Tip Your Hat?

I was totally blown away by a passage I read today by one of my favorite preachers. I am a Charles Spurgeon fanatic, so I love to chew on his writings quite frequently when I sit down to read.

Today he expounded a bit on Psalm 34:2

“My soul shall make its boast in the Lord; the humble shall hear of it and be glad.”

Spurgeon says that boasting in God should be a “holy glorifying and extolling the Most High with words sought out with care that might magnify His blessed name.” I love the line “sought out with care.” How often do we speak flippantly with words of rote and repetition about an awe inspiring God? How “boastful” is that? It’s more a tip of the hat…a lack of boasting…quite possibly boasting in ourselves because we’re glorifying our apathetic attitude towards a Holy God.

Instead, could we come to God with “words sought out with care” because we have sat and soaked up the presence of this infinite God we serve? When God comes and shows various facets of His character to us, it should increase our boasting in Him and the words we choose to articulate that. Our “worship vocabulary” should be growing in proportion to our relationship with Him.

The effects of boasting in the Lord are seen here in the scripture above… “the humble (down trodden, weak, struggling, hurting, poor, wavering…etc.) hear it and are glad!” Our boasting in the Lord has an effect on people…our worship to God helps move others to worship. But how many people are moved by a mere regurgitation of religious banter? Let’s allow our spoken worship to God to be influenced by fresh encounters that come from “tasting and seeing that the Lord is good!”

Winds of Change

So the worship team at Crossbridge is definitely in the midst of a new season. Something I began to realize nearly 6 years ago is that my worship team will constantly be in flux. For so many years I wanted to have my select few musicians that led I worship with and that was it. Basically we were a band...but God began to show me that within the context of the local church, that might not be the best approach. For one reason, it often lends itself towards exclusivity, all the while there are many talented musicians and worshipers in the church whose strengths aren't utilized cause we "already have our 5 people to make up our band." I also began to watch people go through their various seasons of life...marriage, babies, job transfers and etc. This typically led to someone leaving our team/band.

So, for the past 5 years, we've instituted rotations and have increased the size of our team from about 7 to nearly 25. I do often miss how musically "tight" a band can be...but I wouldn't trade what God has done in our midst through all these various people!

So here we are again...for some reason God is moving people out of our worship ministry. I am always amazed to see what He brings our way when there are departures! I hate to see people leave, but when the winds of change begin to blow, I now become more excited than scared. God is up to something...don't know what it is, but I'm in for the ride.

What is our response when winds of change blow? Often times these seasons can bring some of our deepest moments of worship. As I stated in a previous blog...no matter what, our proper response is always worship!