NEW YEAR’S PLANS – EMBRACING LIMITATIONS
We have reached an amazing moment in music production where almost anything is possible. The sheer amount of recording production I can achieve on this laptop was unthinkable 20 years ago. And in the live setting, the quality and affordability of mics, monitoring, and digital mixing consoles is extraordinary.
Within the church music world, the level of professionalism and resourcing we currently experience is truly remarkable, and so far removed from the more ‘cottage industry’ experience of church music many years ago. The quality of songwriting, professionalism of musicians, the employment of music pastors – what incredible investments into strengthening and growing God’s church!
Yet despite these overarching dynamics, our experience of church music each Sunday does involve limitations. We feel it. Our church has finite financial resources. Our musicians have limited time. We have limited musical skills, sound engineering skills, and rehearsal times. We have limited equipment. Oh, and limited patience! In sum, we are limited by our human-ness.
As we look to the year ahead, with dreams and excitement, how might we rightly embrace our limitations we feel each Sunday?
Treasure the uniqueness of our churches
When visiting other churches, or listening to produced church albums, comparison can creep in. “If only we had [insert any number of things!] at our church”. Having served in music ministry at five churches, and led training at many more, I can confidently say that no two churches are the same. Each has its own context, history, and community, and can’t be compared with another.
In 12 Rules For Life, Jordan Peterson says that although we naturally compare ourselves to others, we simply shouldn’t. There are so many unique things in each of our stories. Instead, Peterson contends, “compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not who someone else is today” (p 85).
So, rather than looking left and right to what other churches are doing, we do well to look upwards to God, inwards to ourselves (as individuals and a church), and outwards to those who don’t yet know God. For Jesus calls us to love God and love our neighbour (Matt 22:37-40). So as the church, our goal is to glorify him, to love those he has placed in our church, and to share his love with the world. There is certainly great benefit in looking to other churches occasionally for inspiration and guidance. Yet primarily, may our hearts be thankful to God for the church we are in and for what he has provided, with humble and faithful awareness of what we can do in our own setting to glorify God’s name.
Fully inhabit our identity as servants
Our world chases productivity and perfection. And almost unthinkingly, our churches can follow that pattern. But we must not.
It is so important that our teams reflect what God calls us to prioritise. Scripture calls us, first and foremost, to be faithful servants. Jesus – God himself – was a servant, performing the lowliest of tasks – washing the disciples’ feet (Jn 13:5). We long to hear our Lord say to us “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matt 25:21). And we look forward to eternal life in the new creation, where Jesus will be on the throne, and we will serve him (Rev 22:3). As Bob Kauflin writes: “Being faithful means fulfilling the desires of another. We don’t define our ministry; God does.” (Worship Matters, p 58).
Put simply, who we are and how we relate to one another matters more than musical output.
I love the way this is reflected in 1 Corinthians. Paul writes of our corporate worship: “Everything must be done so that the church may be built up” (1 Cor 14:26b). That is our guiding principle in how we shape our church services and how our music should be presented. It seems no coincidence that immediately before this, in 1 Corinthians 13, Paul writes about conducting our lives in love. We often hear the beauty of this passage shared at weddings, about love between a couple. But interestingly, Paul seems to be writing especially about love in the body of Christ. For Chapter 12 is all about unity in our diversity as God’s people. We may have many gifts, but unless we have love, Paul writes, “I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal” (1 Cor 13:1).
Imagine only being the sounds of our instruments, without a godly heart shaping each of those notes or sounds, seeking the good of the congregation. Actually, I don’t have to try hard to imagine that – I’ve done it before, many times. Perhaps you have too. It’s not right, Paul says. Our hearts – for loving God and one another – are the priority. May our church services, music, and technical artistry all flow from godly, servant love.
Trust that God really is sovereign
As we know, serving on music at church has a week in, week out rhythm to it (yes, I noticed the pun – you’re welcome). I have noticed that I experience church differently each week based on how I am travelling in my relationship with God and my loved ones. I am most content at church when I have a deep sense of God’s sovereignty. When I take him at his word and trust that he is in charge of all things. That despite all that’s occurring in life that week, he knows what he’s doing. Like, really, really knows.
We worship a God who is across all aspects of life – the big and the small. He is the Creator of all things, and is aware of even the smallest details of our lives! As we read in Psalm 139:
“Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely” (v4); and “Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” (v16)
It is possible to believe these verses and still query God’s sovereignty over our church life. And perhaps question why things are a certain way in our music and sound teams. Subtle doubts, but real doubts nonetheless.
The issue, I believe, is not that we don’t know God is sovereign. It’s that we don’t allow this knowledge to shape our hearts to trust. And importantly, perhaps we don’t allow ourselves to practise trusting. Instead, we permit a low level hum of questioning, dissatisfaction, or resentment. We catch ourselves thinking “Maybe God is sovereign over salvation, but not over the details of life and this church?”. These thoughts are human. But they are a product of our fallen nature and run counter, firstly, to God’s promises to lovingly work all things for our good (Rom 8:28), and secondly, to the spirit of thankfulness that we are called to cultivate: “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thess 5:16-18). May I encourage you to rest in God’s sovereignty. To trust that he has placed each team member at your church for a reason, and has provided exactly the people and resources needed. He alone knows what our churches need, so we trust him.
It is absolutely right to steward the team and resources God has blessed us with by planning for new projects, new equipment, and growth in our proficiency. But may we ultimately fully embrace the limitations that we face each week, trusting in God’s sovereign goodness, provision, and savouring the joy he offers us in faithfully serving him and one another.
Greg Cooper