Worshiping in Brokenness

Last weekend a few of us attended the Christian Music Summit @ Overlake. We'll be posting our notes that we took over the course of the two days and share what we learned and our thoughts here in this blog, so look out for them over the next few weeks. I begin with my notes from a session led by Laura Story (composer of 'Mighty To Save'), entitled, "Worshiping in Brokenness".

Laura started by saying that unless you are Adam or Eve, you have only experienced worship in brokenness. She asked the audience the question, "Where in the bible can we find worship?" After several answers by audience members, she admitted that it was a trick question, for the answer is that worship is in the whole bible. She then read the definition of "Broken" from Webster's dictionary (check it out: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/brokenness).

She reminded us that as Worship Leaders, we are leading a congregation of brokenness. It is good to see us Worship Leaders living in brokenness - to allow the congregation see some transparency of our own struggles - yet we're still getting up there and leading others through this brokenness in worship.

Laura is a Worship Leader in her church in South Carolina; she shared with us the story of when they discovered a tumor in her husband's brain, the near death experience after surgery, and how he hasn't fully recovered and has never been the same man she married. A heart-wrenching story of pain, suffering, loneliness, and a struggle with the question, "why?"

We have plans A, B, and C, but sometimes God whips up plan Y ("Why"). We read from Genesis about Abraham and Isaac - sometimes God seems to "rub it in"; but judge the circumstances by your God, not God by your circumstances. Then she had us read the following three passages from scripture: Psalm 13, James 1, and 2 Cor 1.

Laura enumerated three ways to worship in brokenness:

1. Come As You Are.
Like exercise, you may not like it, but you like the result. David in the psalms starts with what he feels, but ends with what he knows (about God's faithfulness); but don't abandon how you feel. She makes this statement, "God is half as concerned about our happiness than our holiness", and perhaps our working through our brokenness is carrying our cross to better holiness.

2. Consider It All Joy.
During the darkest hours during her husband's ordeal when he lost even the memory of who his wife was, Laura would cry out to God, "How can you love someone who doesn't even acknowledge you?" The answer she heard was, "Yes Laura, I know what you mean" - God so loved the world that He sent his only son, and how many people in the world don't even acknowledge Him, yet He is Love. But because we are so loved and cherished by the Lord, we can 'consider it all joy', even in our sorrow and brokenness for through it we can draw closer to God and one another.

3. We Learn to be Better Comforters if We're Afflicted.
Sometimes God chooses what we NEED, not what we WANT. Laura prefers the term "Music Minster" to "Worship Leader" for a minister is a servant, and we are called to serve the congregation, and worshiping through our brokenness makes us better servants. If we can't worship in our brokenness, then we don't have faith - it is our faith and hope in the Lord that sustains us through our brokenness and affliction. Ultimately, whatever we feel, God is no less worthy of our worship, and our worship honors Him even more when we do so despite our brokenness.

Moved by the Spirit, with tears in my eyes we ended the session singing "Here I am to Worship" and "Mighty to Save".