Articles

Worship Highlights - May 2024

Over the next few months I’ll be sharing some of my favorite resources to spur on growth as worshippers of the living God. Scripture presents worship as an all-of-life orientation (1 Cor. 10:31), a commitment of family rhythms (Deut. 6:4-9), and a gathering of the church community (Ps. 100).

In each of these spheres we are invited and enabled to worship through the new and living way that Jesus opened up through his sacrifice (Heb. 10:19-20). Cleansed by his blood, we now offer up a sacrifice not of blood, but of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name (Heb. 13:15).

May praise flow from our hearts, be evident in our lives, and resound from our lips!

Book

“Family Worship” by Donald Whitney

This book offers a biblical case for family worship in the home and practical tips on how to do it! My biggest takeaway is the simple rhythm of “Read, Pray, Sing” as the outline for an intentional time of family worship.

MUSIC

“Our God Will Go Before Us” by Matt Boswell & Matt Papa

Papa and Boswell deliver yet again with singable, biblical, and compelling hymns for the church. We recently introduced the first two tracks from this album, “The Lord Almighty Reigns” and “All My Boast is in Jesus.”

Singing Tip

Smiling while singing can help brighten your tone of voice, lift your pitch on key, and prompt your body to engage in worship with energy. Try it!

The Volume of Music in Worship

Managing sound for worship

Whether using a full band, piano, guitar, or organ for musical accompaniment in worship, sound system management can be a challenge. At NCC, we seek to steward the technology God has provided as best we can for the praises of God and the good of our congregation. We think intentionally about setting aspects like audio, video, and lighting to these ends. Each component has its primary goal of serving our church's worship, even while our congregation may possess a diversity of personal preferences or sensitivities. Our hope is to achieve the greatest common encouragement. For sound levels, here are a few specific goals:

  • Theologically, we want to push the volume to reflect the greatness of God and the call for "loud" music, singing, shouts and rejoicing unto him with “all our might” (Ps. 33, 150; 1 Chr. 15:28).

  • Functionally, we seek to set the volume levels loud enough to support the primary instrument in the church, the congregation's voice, without being too loud that it drowns our people out. The communal aspect of singing is so powerful that we want people to feel confident to sing but also be able to hear the unified congregation's voice, and not have their hearing damaged. We are always after this "sweet spot."

  • Technically, we monitor the audio levels with decibel meters and equalization graphs. When our levels are too low they drain us and if they are too high they distract us. We feel confident that our current average levels are appropriate for the goals we are seeking to achieve. That being said, there will inevitably be moments where sound is louder or softer as our musicians, vocalists, and technical volunteers express their gifts dynamically.

Psalm 47:1

Clap your hands, all peoples!

Shout to God with loud songs of joy!

Managing Our Worship Song Library

Considering songs for our repertoire

Got a song or hymn you love to sing in worship? I regularly get requests. In addition to individual song qualities, I find it both practical and pastoral to think intentionally about our overall repertoire of songs. Based on several factors, we may receive a new song, reject it, or defer it to be considered in the future. Receiving a song may be for a one-off use or slotting it into regular rotation. Rejecting it may be a judgement call on the song itself, or just that we already have other songs that are too similar.

Here are some of my considerations for managing our worship song library:

  • Individual song strength (see previous article)

  • Song fit within the context of our current library

  • Song fit for our music team to lead well

  • Familiarity and singability in our congregation

  • Song source

For our library we seek a general balance of the following:

  • Perspective (I/me, we/us, and third person songs)

  • Trinitarian (songs about the Father, Son, and Spirit)

  • Type (hymns/songs, old/new, simple/complex)

  • Mood (upbeat/mid/slow, joy/lament, major/minor)

  • Theme (creation, thanksgiving, redemption, heaven, etc.)

CHOOSING songs frOM our repertoire

Core Repertoire (Use 1-2 songs from this column each week) - currently includes 42 staple songs like All Creatures of Our God and King, Christ Our Hope in Life and Death, Jesus Your Mercy, and Who You Say I Am.

Extended Repertoire (Use 1-2 songs from this column each week) - currently includes 49 well-loved songs like 10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord), God Is For Us, This is Amazing Grace, and O Church Arise.

Classic Repertoire (Use 1-2 songs from this column each week) - currently includes 74 time-tested songs like Amazing Grace, How Great is Our God, It Is Well With My Soul, and Mighty To Save.