[HERn]

Originally Posted by aron

I had an interesting conversation this week with the "worship leader" after a church service. The guy was obviously very skilled, but he was doing a kind of simplistic melodic structure, kind of repetitious. Later I went up to him and said, "Obviously you are a skilled player, and I love your style, which is very inventive (he had a 'jazzy' style; very fluid and nimble and you could tell he was having fun). But that song was rather rudimetary. Are you purposely 'dumbing down' your music for the assembly?"

I felt that he was afraid to really play up to his skill level. Like he had to do the lowest-common-denominator thing for the church service. Many Praise & Worship groups really bore me.

He said, "No, I took my time, and worked hard on that arrangement. Both the words and the song structure were very carefully chosen. But thank you for your input."

Later I felt convicted -- like, who was I to tell him how to arrange his song? That experience really helped me. I can "like" or "not like" an arrangement (and believe me, there's a lot I don't like), but that doesn't mean that anyone else's relationship with the Holy Spirit of God is of some inferior quality. Everyone has their own approach -- who am I to dictate what is "better" or "closer to the heart of God"? As long as someone approaches God respectfully who can tell them what's the proper "joyful noise"?

Wow -- I really felt free after that. I'm free! Hallelujah! If God wants to tell a musician to compose differently, then certainly God is able to. I can be free to follow the voice within. We all will stand before the Lord. What a release that was. Incredible!

Hi bro Aron. Do you think you offended him?