The Art of Losing Myself

A friend of mine (who will remain nameless to protect her own guilt) tells a story of a time she helped her church's flower committee construct two very large flower arrangements to adorn the altar area at the front of the sanctuary. The huge arrangements were so beautiful, and she was so proud of her work, she couldn't take her eyes off of them during that week's worship service. That's OK...soon enough no one else could take their eyes off of them either. Because no sooner had she begun admiring her own handiwork, that one of the huge arrangements slowly and dramatically began leaning to one side. First slightly, then severely, then in an instant, came crashing down!

What's that about pride coming before the fall...?

There is a line in the song "From the Inside Out" by Joel Houston that I think is incredibly profound. Yet how many times do we lose sight of heeding the advice? That line simply states, "the art of losing myself in bringing You praise." After all, isn't that what we are all striving to accomplish in any worship service? To lose sight of ourselves in the act of offering our praise unto God, and to focus solely on Him, the Receiver? John the Baptist was faced with this scenario in the book of John chapter 3. He was questioned by his disciples why Jesus was all of a sudden getting more of the spotlight. John's reply should be our collective mantra, "He must become greater, I must become less."

Sounds easy enough...

But honestly, I think that is the hardest part of being a musical worship leader. It's not the mechanics of the job: practicing my instrument, writing out and transcribing music, directing rehearsals, producing a polished and pleasing sound. That's the easy part. The fun part. No, the tough part is not letting all the creative arts implemented in our corporate worship gatherings become the focus; the very stumbling block that we hope it won't become. Let's face it. A well orchestrated musical presentation in a worship service (traditional and contemporary alike) will indeed command the congregations attention. The trick is to not afford the congregation the opportunity to get stuck gazing at and admiring the offering. Especially if it comes crashing to the ground!