In Worship Services, Service is Worship, and Worship is Service

          Disclaimer: writing on this subject was request by a fellow worship leader who wishes to remain anonymous.

          One of the most popular clichés of corporate musical worship that’s overheard in pretty much all camps is “it’s not about you.” This principle is mostly used to check our motives, making sure that God gets all the honoring thoughts, sung words and glory that a time of corporate musical worship offers to Him, despite the potentially-distracting excellence of any aspect or giftedness of any participant. This principle is also used to prevent us from becoming consumers, lest we, while in the house of worship, confuse our needs with our wants, and become picky, thinking only of ourselves and not the community with which we’re corporately worshipping.

          But this principle can and should go further.

          Worship, in its etymology, has two primary themes: “bowing down” and “service.” Therefore, all of its manifestations, including when worship is musical and corporate, should reflect humility and selflessness. Worshippers happily sacrifice worldly conveniences, rearrange schedules and allocate their energy to contribute in whatever way is needed towards a time of communal worship or any endeavor of God’s church, whether it’s musical rehearsal, tech setup/teardown, ushering, bulletin-printing, Bible research, cooking, etc.

          Yet congregants church-shop for just the right place. Sometimes churches lose dear members of their musical teams because a neighbor church provides more musical fun and less responsibility. Some people just plain don’t want church involvements to take up the rest of their lives.

          It’s time to remind such questionable reluctance with the ol‘ cliché. It’s not about you. Yes, the songs and sermons of a church’s worship service may not be what you hoped for. It can be hard to get up early during a weekend and/or allocate time on a weeknight. The list goes on. 

Being a Christian and serving in the church has always involved sacrifice. This is something I’m still learning, and I haven’t sacrificed near as much as many ministerial colleagues I know, much less the Church’s founding fathers. And I’m privileged to work with many volunteers at my church who understand servanthood to Christ. 

          It’s not about me. I, therefore, make sacrifices to serve my church family and to give glory to God.

          This is where the Church is meant to stand out as a loving and intimate family, not a business or government. As a time of communal worship, not a flashy gig. As a call to give to the poor, not a self-serving telethon. As a voice for the voiceless, not our own selves. Are we really following Paul’s call to think of others as better than ourselves?

          Like I said, this is just another way that worship is not about you.