Day 84: Leading Worship

The Prompt: None of the worship overheads at church work and all the hymnals have disappeared.  You have to lead worship, so what do you use to lead the congregation?

After Jake told me the news about the overhead machines, I felt a panic tighten my chest.  I'd only been leading worship for two months.  I didn't know what to do.  I only had ten minutes to figure it out.  It would have been so easy to simply sing any worship songs I had learned growing up, you know, the tried and true "Jesus Loves Me" that just about everyone knows.  I only knew a few of those songs though.  Plus they were short.  I had to fill up a half hour or so.  I would have loved singing a top hit on the Christian radio station, but I didn't have all the lyrics memorized.  The congregation would probably be the same way, and I'd end up being the only one singing broken lyrics because no one else would know them.  I needed one more idea, and I hoped Jesus would inspire me soon.

At 8:00, I walked up to the mic with my Bible in hand.  "Good morning, everyone.  Are you ready to worship?!"

Everyone, at least those who had drunk their coffee, cheered.

"Great!  Now, we're going to do things a little differently this morning.  Let's start with a song we all should know and love, "Jesus Loves Me."

I had already talked to the band about my song selections before, so Brian began strumming the little tune.  Some people happily started singing the song while others gave me a look that ask, "You are for real?"  I tried to keep my courage and remember that I didn't have to feel humiliated about worshipping God.  Once that was done, which was only about two minutes, I announced that "A Mighty Fortress is Our God" would be next.  That song was a little more well-received.  Then we slowed it down for "Amazing Grace."  Things were going quite well! 

Last minute, I remembered another song.  "Hey, Brian, why don't we try 'Revelation Song' next?"  I phrased it in a way that asked, "Do you know how to play it?"  He nodded and started the melody.  Internally I sighed with relief.  That song was able to give me an opportunity for prayer in between verses that stretched the time, but it wasn't enough.  There was still ten minutes left.  As I finished singing the last lines, the light bulb dinged.

"Alright, everyone, for our final moment of worship, I would like you to please get your Bibles.  Before we had worship teams and even written worship songs, churches sang the psalms.  I'd like you to open to..."  I quickly flipped through the chapters and announced to them the one I liked.  I began reading the verses in a sing-song fashion, making it up as I went.  I felt silly but kept on.  Towards the end, I urged others to participate, and about a dozen voices joined me.  Once that was done, I sang the psalm again, and more joined in as they learned the melody.  We sang two more psalms like that.  It was actually a lot of fun.  I had people coming up to me after the service asking of we would be doing that again next week and suggesting it should become a regular part of worship.