When The Music Fades
- By John Chisum
- Published August 18, 2008
John Chisum
John Chisum is a well known worship leader, conference speaker, recording artist and the founder of Worship4Life and Firm Foundation Ministries. John is a regular contributor to PraiseCharts in the Worship Articles and Resources section. For booking worship concerts, retreats, and Worship4Life Weekends with John Chisum, please contact: Susan Stark 276-236-1085 for scheduling information as well as Worship4Life.org. You can also find John on his new site: doxa360.blogspot.com and doxa360.com
Today is my daughter's last performance as ANNIE (check out my Facebook
page for some pics). She's done thirteen shows and has had an absolute
blast doing them, but it all comes to an end after today's matinee.
You'd have to know her to know that she was born for the part (everyone
says so) and that she even came out of the womb with red hair. This was
her first lead and she has done a marvelous job, says the proud Papa!
It has been her dream to play this part and we've stocked up on
anti-depressants now that the show is ending!
Sometimes, as church-going Christians, we can get hooked on the adrenalin of the praise music, preaching, and fellowship we experience on Sundays. The writer of the Book of Hebrews (most scholars think it was Paul) said "let us not stop meeting together" (Hebrews 10:25) so, of course, we shouldn't but I wonder sometimes if we're not looking for the wrong kind of stimulus from it. Considering how performance driven we've become in our churches these days it seems easy to me that we would all begin to be conditioned to being "pumped up" by the music and excited by the exhortations and forget the transforming work of the Holy Spirit.
We'll pray our daughter through her "post-adrenalin" let-down over the next week. She'll miss being Annie, but there will eventually be new roles for her to conquer. But what about the rest of us? Can we worship effectively at home or in the car with no music, no preaching, and no one else around?
In my workshops I help believers go deeper in their personal worship lives and to look at corporate worship as a time to contribute instead of to receive only. When the lights go down and the stage is bare, what song is playing in our hearts?
Sometimes, as church-going Christians, we can get hooked on the adrenalin of the praise music, preaching, and fellowship we experience on Sundays. The writer of the Book of Hebrews (most scholars think it was Paul) said "let us not stop meeting together" (Hebrews 10:25) so, of course, we shouldn't but I wonder sometimes if we're not looking for the wrong kind of stimulus from it. Considering how performance driven we've become in our churches these days it seems easy to me that we would all begin to be conditioned to being "pumped up" by the music and excited by the exhortations and forget the transforming work of the Holy Spirit.
We'll pray our daughter through her "post-adrenalin" let-down over the next week. She'll miss being Annie, but there will eventually be new roles for her to conquer. But what about the rest of us? Can we worship effectively at home or in the car with no music, no preaching, and no one else around?
In my workshops I help believers go deeper in their personal worship lives and to look at corporate worship as a time to contribute instead of to receive only. When the lights go down and the stage is bare, what song is playing in our hearts?
