Who should be on stage, up front, perceived as leading worship?

I can remember, as my second lead pastor took the reigns while I was a youth pastor in the United Methodist Church, taking a trip to Ginghamsburg United Methodist Church, now Ginghamsburg Church. They were doing some earth shattering things in the 90s. They hired band members and the band members didn’t have to be Christians just great musicians. They used projection, and had awesome set designs. They used drama, and their sanctuary was multipurpose. Mike Slaughter is still the pastor there and I think that they are still a UM church, but dropped it from their official name.

I left that Saturday evening unispired. The music and transitions were tight, but people just watched…and there was little awe expressed at the mystery of why God would love us so much.

Ever since that time I have struggled with the question of who should be on stage. Who should we allow permission to be perceived as a leader of worship? It is boiled down in this question, “If Johnny, the drummer, doesn’t know Christ, but he’s the only drummer available do you let him help lead worship?”

Now before we go much further let me say that we will always have posers, and depending upon where people are in their personal walk with Christ there will always be the possibility of “phoning it in,” or losing perspective on why they are actually up there. And I don’t mean to pick on drummers. It’s just a hypothetical and drummer is always where I land with this hypothetical. I don’t think that they are any less important. However, they are most likely not a Phil Collins either.

So, why is all of this coming up on this Friday. Today, I land at Ezekiel 44. Ezekiel has been given details of the Temple and the Altar and now it turns to the instructions for the Levites and Priests. Through Ezekiel God slams them for allowing “foreigners” to take charge of the sanctuary.  It is clear from the context that there was something sacred about the things the Priests and Levites did. There was something that only people who’s hearts were prepared for the work, and who had disciplined their bodies for the work (cricumcision) should be doing.

Now, times have changed. We no longer live under the law. We, now, are Temples and do not worship in the Temple. Non-Jews, regardless of our circumcision, have been grafted into the Vine. When I order Pad Woon Sin at the local Thai restaurant I can order pork as the meat of choice. Jesus has made a way for those who were unclean before to become clean for all times.

However, there is still something sacred about what we do with worship within the context of “the gathering.” I will Ignore, for a moment, that we now lead a life of worship and that everything we do is an act of worship. For people outside of the Body of Christ there is no such thing. They really have no ability to truly worship, because we now worship in Spirit and in Truth, and those outside of Christ have neither accepted the Truth or the Spirit and so how, therefore, can they worship?

Tight transitions, and awesome performances will bring people in for a little while, but when they perceive that there really is nothing more to what they are experiencing than the typical show it will wear thin. Bands will “Go Big” and people will eventually stay home.

Ezekiel 44 somehow reinforces for me that it is important that the people who may be perceived as worship leaders, like Johnny the drummer, should have experienced the life altering transformation that comes from a life sacrificed to Jesus. Because when the Spirit speaks, and plans need to be changed Johnny needs to hear and be able to obey. Only God knows who walks in our doors on the weekends, and there may be one song, one word that needs to be said, that will present an opportunity for that person to be changed.

When we started a contemporary service in that UM church, so long ago, we brought in a band who played at the Campus Crusade events on UK’s campus. Everyone was nervous about the perception of the people who attended. Lots of silver haired folks with lots of money and influence were in that church. In order to expose everyone to what we were going to do both worship services were contemporary. The only thing that we could ultimately control was whether our hearts were ready to worship. That was my charge to them. “Don’t worry about the crowd. If we worship, then God will take care of the rest.”

I wonder what I would have said if Johnny didn’t know what in the heck I was talking about? I wonder if it would have mattered?

I think even today, Ezekiel would say that it matters. What say you?