Praise Him All Creatures Here Below

Just the other day, I had a woman ask me, "Do you have a 'word from God' for me? And because I thought I did, I told her what was on my heart, even though for a long time--and even now, to hear such a phrase (a word from God) ruffles my religious feathers a bit. But the phrase is coming to be healed as the answer becomes more often "yes" these days. And now I think I have a word from God for another friend. He hasn't asked for it, but I feel inclined to share it nonetheless. His name is Ben.

Ben is the worship leader at our church, and I have worshipped God under his leadership countless times. If I were to string adjectives together about worship as Ben leads it, I'd use words like deep, cleansing, rich, uplifting, intimate, solicitous of revelation from God. But these are words about me and my feelings, and I am just the messenger. This is more of a message from God to Ben.
This morning, I came across this verse that seems a fitting opening and spurred me on to write:

Jhn 14:21
He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

Jhn 14:22
Judas saith unto him, (not Iscariot), Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?

Jhn 14:23
Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

How will you manifest yourself unto us and not to the world? A valid question. You, Ben, offer one of the ways it is answered.

I have sung under the leadership of many worship leaders in my days. I've sung under the lead of red-faced men in suits standing in a pulpit, one hand holding a hymnal, the other gesturing as they sang. I've sung to young skinny guys who stomp their foot as they play an electric piano or guitar for themselves. All very different, but one thread seems common to them: they lead alone. The back-up singers, if there be any at all, are at best a faint echo of harmony in the speakers that if you lean in and listen very closely, you might catch a whiff of from time to time. That's at best. At worst, these other singers are just mute working mouths--utterly lost behind the cranked lead voice of the worship head. In fact, not that long ago, I happened to be around while a worship band was tearing down after a service. One of the back-up singers was literally shouting with joy about how beautiful the harmony sounded in the monitor. I didn't have the heart to tell him that the monitor was the only place that harmony was heard. Worshippers saw him sing from the depths of his soul, but we heard absolutely nothing.

But then there is the music that Ben calls into being. Ben usually has only one back-up singer, a woman harmonizing in perfect balance with him. Sometimes he sings alone, but her presence is ever known. You can close your eyes in worship, and yet you know she is there--because she plays a vital part, she is heard!

Why does this matter? If our worship is a reflection, then God looks down on Ben and sees the reflection of His Son glorifying His name. That Son has a counterpart, a Bride--as He calls her--in the church. It has been much on my mind lately--this idea of our expectations as we look at our lives in heaven. So often we anticipate it as a place where many individuals will experience blissful existence, but to see ourselves as Christ's ezer kenegdo, His Eve, His Bride this is a rare focus. And the rarity gives evidence that the full incarnation of that Bride is not yet ready. She is not yet mature; she is still self-absorbed. For contemporary singers to sing only into their own monitors matches this premature view of our significance in heaven. We want to be there, but, our expectation is that Christ will be all that is really heard. We don't believe His love for us goes deep enough to offer us an opportunity to sing in balanced harmony with Him.

On the flip side, some will sing of the excellence of God in intricate blended harmony, but to the underlying effect of saying, "You people should love the skill within me, put on display in the context that I sing about God." This, too, is still self-absorbed and falls short of the mark.

Christ speaks of us as joint-heirs, and I don't think by that He means "I'll put a mike in your hands, but to no effect. You can look good, but my voice is the only one to be heard." Nor does He say, "I'll give you a voice so beautiful that I will fall into the background and your beauty and talent will become the primary focus." (If that were to be the case, then Lucifer's designs that brought his own fall would have been justified.)

Christ doesn't fall off the edge of the sword of truth in either direction, nor do you, Ben; and in that way you give a purer reflection of heavenly worship than most. God is pleased and Christ has certainly made His abode with you!