This Sunday, we sang my least favorite worship song in church. I wasn’t leading the worship set, so I didn’t choose the song. In fact, my husband –the Pastor– chose the song. He acts like he runs the church or something. He gets to do that ‘choosing songs’ thing every now and then, since he’s the Pastor and all. 😉
When Adam told me he had asked Dean to include this song in the set, I rolled my eyes. Adam smiled at me, “I know you don’t care for this song very much, but it fits really well with our ‘Serve Sunday’ service.”
There is absolutely nothing wrong with this worship song. It glorifies God. It sings of His Truth. It has a nice melody and sound… but it has always been one of my least favorite worship songs. I would still engage in worship when we sang it, but I would only choose this song if Adam asked me to add it into a set.
So, I’m a worship leader who doesn’t like a worship song? …Shouldn’t I like all worship songs? …Shouldn’t I be able to lead any worship song, if it speaks truth and brings glory to God? …Shouldn’t I be able to worship without an attitude, regardless of the song we’re singing? Yes. I should.
But I’m weird. I know. So I pick and choose preferred worship songs. I would guess, most worship leaders do.
And then Dean asked me to lead the chorus of the song.
WHAT?! I think God was laughing at me….. 😉
But God… He’s so funny.
When we began the worship set, my heart changed. As we entered into “God of this City”, the Holy Spirit breathed new life on this song for me. I cried in response to His mercy and kindness. I looked into the congregation and my eight year old son was worshipping, hands raised, fully engaged. My heart swelled with joy. As we left church, Salem exclaimed, “I loved that song we sang, Mom!”
Since Sunday, I have cried every time I have heard this song. God changed my heart and now, this is one of my favorite worship songs. He is God of this City and Greater things have yet to come!
Do you have a difficult time worshipping to certain songs? What worship songs do you prefer? Have you ever experienced a change in your worship song preferences? Please share your experiences… our stories are only half written… In Him, Leslie
Half Written Records 
My church doesn’t give me the option of doing contemporary worship songs – they do old fashioned hymns and I’m stuck with them for the foreseeable future. On Sunday, the words were on display on the big screen and about a sentence into a song I was totally lost – the tune was totally unfamiliar, the speed was slow, and the words were just old. I asked myself aloud: “Why am I even bothering? I don’t know this hymn!” So after that I didn’t sing the rest of it or any of the other hymns.Turns out I wasn’t the only one having difficulty, the musicians were playing it in a slower time than the people were singing it.
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Thank you for sharing this Jamie! I’m still learning to worship, even when I don’t care for the songs themselves. I grew up in church singing hymns-very different from the songs we sing now. Regardless of the song choices, I know HE is worthy to be praised. Bless you!
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