Let’s finish up the week with a little gratitude and joy shall we?
I have the privilege of leading the worship team at my church. In a nuts-and-bolts manner of speaking, it means I wrangle the schedule, write charts, lead rehearsals, play bass guitar, and sing. In a broader sense, I make decisions about how we’ll play songs, communicate with various team members solely in movie quotes, encourage people, pray for them, and generally have a great time.
This week, I looked over the schedule and realized that my presence on stage was somewhat superfluous and decided to take the weekend off for my birthday.
Now, don’t get the wrong idea… I cherish the opportunity to play and/or sing every single time and am not fishing for compliments about how it just isn’t the same with you etc. What I mean is that I had an excellent bass player on the schedule and a couple of lead singers who could easily carry the load vocally. I also take the idea of a sabbath in serving seriously (try saying that three times fast), had picked up an extra week in January, and figured this little treat wasn’t too much to ask.
Anyways… I was at rehearsal on Wednesday to help a new singer as she was going through some orientation time, and had a chance to catch the team from the other side of the stage.
One of the joys I’ve pulled from taking a sabbath, or a break, from serving is having a chance to see other people lead and also assist from a spot other than behind a microphone. What I got to see was people who genuinely like being around each other making music. Helping each other out in the most gentle ways so that they were building each other up. Accepting a new person on stage – guiding and encouraging them.
Oh, and they sounded fantastic too.
Being able to see that warmed my heart and was one of my favorite things this week.