Style

The following article (in italics) was written by a worship leader named Jami Smith. I agree with what is stated here. I especially appreciate this statement:

A heart in love with God does not need its favorite style of music playing to express itself to God.

By the way, I'm also convicted by this statement. I'm not simply telling you how you should think, I'm mostly telling myself. To be totally honest here, I've grown very weary of the continued debate regarding style. The "not enough hymns", "too many repeated phrases", not enough guitar, the drums are too loud, you don't talk enough, you talk too much, complaints, combined with the expectation of absolute, perfection from the praise teams, choir and sound technicians, .............sometimes ......well........... Read the article.

Will we survive this worship trend? Will we emerge as worshippers of God or trend followers? I am asking God to alert my senses to what is cultural Christianity and what is biblical Christianity. This pursuit is important to me because I want this generation to grow up worshipping God with their lives, but also understanding that music, scripture, art, silence... these things are but tools that remind us that He is the Prize, not these things in and of themselves. We must be careful not to perpetuate a form of legalism, but instead teach others to worship God, not a style, a sound, a worship song, or a worship leader. I want to help teach the body of Christ not to be confused about the purpose of corporate worship. I have unfortunately heard about adults and students saying things like, "I am not going to that conference because this person is leading or this person is not leading," or "I only go to church when he or she leads." Statements like these expose not stylistic preference but heart issues. A heart in love with God does not need its favorite style of music playing to express itself to God. The musical debate continues to rage over traditional versus contemporary. I am so tired of Satan confusing us and getting our eyes off of Jesus. When our attention is so focused on our preference, we abandon the Prize to crusade our style and it becomes idolatry, ultimately, cheating ourselves. Anytime I worship anything other than God, I cheat me. If I enjoy your response to me or my music more than God, I cheat me; if I enjoy music and the emotions it makes me feel more than God, I cheat me; if I enjoy a new song taking shape musically with the band more than I enjoy God, again I cheat me and miss out on the blessings and sheer joy of interacting with the Lover of my soul and the Savior of the world. I pray we will stop wasting time and start focusing our attention and affection on the One who can satisfy. (Psalm 63)