Your comment on the GLAD lyric means you must be on this side of 40, at least.

I just came on the page. Really enjoyed your comments and wish I’d seen them months ago. My pastor just yesterday communicated that I tend to ramble and asked that I basically “not talk at all.” It was a bit of a blow, but truth be told, I was never very comfortable talking anyway. Some have said they appreciate things I’ve said, but given the objections of my pastor — combined with my general discomfort handing out the brief devotionals typical of leaders in contemporary music worship — I’m content to drop this sort of thing completely. Any thoughts?

By the way, I always loved this “Glad” lyric: “Until we are living the truth right beside them the meaning of life will never free them.”

God bless,

Matt T.

Sounds like you’ve experienced more than your fair share of worship leaders who dominate the meeting or are frustrated pastor/teachers. I’ve been there. In fact, I’ve been one of them! But I’m not sure that deciding whether or not to speak between songs is quite as black-and-white as you make it sound.

There are a number of reasons we use music in worshipping God - music helps us remember words, gives us time to meditate on them, demonstrates the unity we have in the Gospel, enables us to combine doctrine and devotion, and much more. Simply to say that “the spoken word can’t carry the whole thing,” seems to imply that music is essential in our worship of God, which it’s not (although God has communicated clearly enough in Scripture that singing His praises is pleasant and pleasing to Him.)

Well chosen music may or may not need some verbal comment, as you mention. But even if songs are being sung one at a time, with other elements of the service around them, a brief transitional statement can help people understand why we’re about to sing the next song.

When singing a number of songs in a row, I don’t assume that each person in the congregation is engaging with every lyric that we sing, or even most of them. Some brief but Spirit-led remarks might lead someone who is mindlessly singing words to worship God from the heart. And as a leader, that’s my ultimate goal.

I think with prayer, thought, preparation, and feedback we’ll end up doing what’s most helpful to the people we’re seeking to serve.

This post gives me just the guidelines I was looking for to begin growing in this part of my leading.

Patrick

I have been tending to use Nathan’s (my pastor) sermon from the week before - and pull a theme from there. Sometimes this can be more difficult than other times as I can’t always seem to find appropriate songs to link with the theme??? Have you ever had this problem? What do you do - just change your theme or get around it some other way?

It was a great point to be reminded to keep it different every now and then. I do enjoy looking for new ways to draw peoples attention to the truth about God.

Thanks again my friend - Jadie <>

I definitely believe there’s a balance between two extremes:

There is the extreme of bloviating, and I think this is (partly) what Wayne Grudem refers to in his Systematic Theology on p. 1013: “I personally find that a worship leader who talks to the congregation between songs usually distracts my attention from the Lord and onto himself, and my attitude of worship is greatly diminished.”

The other extreme is one in which the minister fails to help his congregation sing with understanding, which can also be detrimental on a long-term basis.

Once again, thanks for your words, and I appreciate your blog! I just recently found it and hope to visit often! Blessings!