First of all, let me preface this post with the fact that I have only recently thought of myself as a "musician" and even then, I still struggle at times to feel like I am truly worthy of that title. I played some piano as a kid, but for lack of discipline and for increased interest in sports and other things, I didn't continue on that path. I bought the djembe in college, and barely played it (mostly out of fear of looking stupid and lack of confidence) until after Tom and I were married and I began to play with him for worship. So I guess that I may be qualified as a "musician" for about the last three years or so. Anyways, I have really enjoyed playing the djembe and also braching out a little in singing (I have come a long way since "We Saw a Bear"). Playing and worshipping together has gradually become a larger and larger part of our life together and our life with others in Christian community. We have grown a lot in freedom and different areas since being at Rezz and we are definitely in a place that has a major anointing in worship that we just get to participate in, which is pretty cool. We have learned a lot under the covering of the worship leadership in our church and there is a freedom for "singing a new song" that we hadn't experienced a whole lot before. (We have definitekt experienced this in Sojourn in the past, which is where the hunger for that started,but it's a larger part of our life now, and different when you are more actively participating.
We have had some amazing experiences in the last few months. We have felt a calling and passion for writing music (mainly worship) and it has been incredible to see the way that God gives us songs to sing back to him, The really odd thing is that God will often give me the melody and words, even though Tom is definitely the vocalist. I guess He really does like to use us in our weakness. We have really enjoyed this time together and probably about six months back, we nervously and sheepishly shared our first song with our musical guru, passionate worshipper friends Libbie and Todd. Since that time, we have had a number of great "worship jam" times together with them (like at OneThing, back in December, which was a huger "igniter" in that passion for all four of us) and with their friends. They have this really cool community night where they have brought together a number of their friends, many of who didn't know each other and fostered a wonderful environment for food, fellowship, honest sharing, prayer and impromptu, spontaneous original worship. It is one of those things that I feel like I must have "accidentally" been invited to, because I feel unworthy to sit amongst some amazing followers of God and such incredible musicians. Either way, I am glad that I slipped in and we really enjoy it. They have this really cool recording device that kind of "hides" in the room, once you forget it is there, and records the live worship (and conversations, when you forget to turn it off). We just received our first set of mp3files from these nights and it's really enjoyable, and a bit strange to listen to.
We also had a really cool worship session on Tuesday night, at our young adult ministry. We usually do a worship set (Tom and I, plus a drummer and base player) before leading into the "message" and ministry part of the evening. However, this past week, Tom decided to not choose a worship set and to just choose to base our worship time around a specific Scripture passage that our drummer chose and where we were feeling led by the Spirit. We opened with a song (the one thing we did pick) and played one other one during the set (which we thought we might play). Tom had joked that we would just play that song for 25 minutes, but in reality, we probably played off of it for almost that long. We played a little, then there was a short message from our pastor that led into more worship and ministry/prayer time, where we just kept playing. Tom stepped out and sang from the passage and what he felt God leading him to sing (and a few times I felt like I had some to add, which I would whisper-sing to Tom and then he would sing) and then the rest of the musicians just kept playing as the Spirit led and as the instruments ebbed and flowed. It was an amazing, free experience. A little weird at times and definitely out of the structure we usually place the night within, but it was really cool and brought a different spiritual atmosphere around the prayer time. Not an every week type of thing, but definitely something to try out a few more times.
So, my blog has no real point, just wanted to share the joy that it's been to enter into a more free worship relationship with God. It has been fun to grow musically and to enjoy these times together (and gradually become less timid). It has also drastically affected my personal prayer life and worship life. I find that I sometimes just have a "new song" of worship in my head that I begin to sing, and I love that. Especially since I'm not a typical musician. God amazes me with the ways that He draws us to Himself and the ways He desires intimacy with us.
We have had some amazing experiences in the last few months. We have felt a calling and passion for writing music (mainly worship) and it has been incredible to see the way that God gives us songs to sing back to him, The really odd thing is that God will often give me the melody and words, even though Tom is definitely the vocalist. I guess He really does like to use us in our weakness. We have really enjoyed this time together and probably about six months back, we nervously and sheepishly shared our first song with our musical guru, passionate worshipper friends Libbie and Todd. Since that time, we have had a number of great "worship jam" times together with them (like at OneThing, back in December, which was a huger "igniter" in that passion for all four of us) and with their friends. They have this really cool community night where they have brought together a number of their friends, many of who didn't know each other and fostered a wonderful environment for food, fellowship, honest sharing, prayer and impromptu, spontaneous original worship. It is one of those things that I feel like I must have "accidentally" been invited to, because I feel unworthy to sit amongst some amazing followers of God and such incredible musicians. Either way, I am glad that I slipped in and we really enjoy it. They have this really cool recording device that kind of "hides" in the room, once you forget it is there, and records the live worship (and conversations, when you forget to turn it off). We just received our first set of mp3files from these nights and it's really enjoyable, and a bit strange to listen to.
We also had a really cool worship session on Tuesday night, at our young adult ministry. We usually do a worship set (Tom and I, plus a drummer and base player) before leading into the "message" and ministry part of the evening. However, this past week, Tom decided to not choose a worship set and to just choose to base our worship time around a specific Scripture passage that our drummer chose and where we were feeling led by the Spirit. We opened with a song (the one thing we did pick) and played one other one during the set (which we thought we might play). Tom had joked that we would just play that song for 25 minutes, but in reality, we probably played off of it for almost that long. We played a little, then there was a short message from our pastor that led into more worship and ministry/prayer time, where we just kept playing. Tom stepped out and sang from the passage and what he felt God leading him to sing (and a few times I felt like I had some to add, which I would whisper-sing to Tom and then he would sing) and then the rest of the musicians just kept playing as the Spirit led and as the instruments ebbed and flowed. It was an amazing, free experience. A little weird at times and definitely out of the structure we usually place the night within, but it was really cool and brought a different spiritual atmosphere around the prayer time. Not an every week type of thing, but definitely something to try out a few more times.
So, my blog has no real point, just wanted to share the joy that it's been to enter into a more free worship relationship with God. It has been fun to grow musically and to enjoy these times together (and gradually become less timid). It has also drastically affected my personal prayer life and worship life. I find that I sometimes just have a "new song" of worship in my head that I begin to sing, and I love that. Especially since I'm not a typical musician. God amazes me with the ways that He draws us to Himself and the ways He desires intimacy with us.
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