Worship Unto Jesus

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about worship music. I just led worship last weekend at a church in Ladoga, IN for their first night of worship. It was an hour of musical praise with a small teaching mixed in--a lot of fun for me to come into a new place and sing to Jesus. I've also started singling out Jesus a lot more from the Trinity, because I feel as if a lot of people talk about "God" but don't mean Jesus. So I'm starting to get more specific when I talk about it.

Anywho, I've written lots of music that I quite enjoy praising Jesus with in my own time. I've done a few of my songs here and there when I lead worship, and usually they're met with success and failure. And honestly, this is a legitimate finding, the older members of congregations tend to not like the songs that I've written as much; but I've gotten good feedback from my peers. I'm not saying that I write awesome worship songs, but I write them as a personal response to God--and I know that not all people share my personal worship views.

Something that I absolutely love doing is praising Jesus for the small things: shoelaces, mug handles, sliding doors, the garbage disposal in the sink, banana trees, individual blades of grass, computer cords, etc (the small things that I tend to lose with my "big picture" mindset). I wrote a song a few weeks ago called "Unstretched Arm," and here are the lyrics:

When I consider the beauty of Your fingertips

Such eyes as mine cannot comprehend

That the rings of Saturn proclaim Your dynasty

The gales of Neptune mimicking Your love for me

The coals of the Sun are conquered and pale in Your light

No other star can outshine You, none as bright

Resounding power rests in Your throat

All creation's patented by the Lord of Hosts

You imagined black holes and comets in Your mind

Celestial bodies formed when vocalized

The coals of the Sun are conquered and pale in Your light

No other star can outshine You, none as bright as the Fire of Heaven

Stars flare as You pass by them

You chill Pluto with Your shadow

All of outer space is kept within the breadth of Your arm

Within the breadth of Your unstretched arm

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The above song is about how astounding and expansive the universe is that Jesus created, and how such great power rests in His words. I'm not going to lie: I wanted to write some lyrics like Jesus dribbling mars through the universe like a big basketball and shooting from downtown for three into a black hole (of course He hits it every time). Or like Jesus snacking on asteroids like they're chocolate covered cookie dough balls from the movies. He is so much grander than what we see. Imagine Him actually using the Earth as His footstool. Warming some marshmallow comets on the star Sirius until they're burnt on the outside and gooey on the inside, just how He likes them.

I enjoy writing songs about specific things in nature and God's creation, like wolves howling or whales catching krill in their baleen, or thermal vents deep in the ocean or the chemical reactions of the upper atmosphere. I see a trend in worship music that is very generally-oriented. Granted there's good to it, because more people can connect to it, and when you're selling albums, that's important. As well, when you're leading a new song in a church it's good to have a simple, not-too-wordy vernacular in the song so that people can learn it and carry it on their own quicker--you know, make it their own worship song to God. So while I'm not making a living by it, I'm completely and wholly doing it as a response to God's greatness and not concerned about anyone else connecting with it. Although, every Christian should be able to worship Jesus through any praise song, no matter how specific.

Like I was saying in a note I just posted, I try not to jump on the "bash worship" bandwagon. I'm not a music snob, and I know very little about music, truth-be-told. I just simply enjoy praising Jesus in as many ways as I can, and that generally involves me stepping out of a comfortable area into a realm where I maybe feel awkward singing about how the adenosine triphosphate in my cells shows me Your love, or that an overflowing cup is a great way to see how You really provide for me (that I need to quit looking at the cup itself and start realizing the huge pool that is flooding my room).

So I'm quite glad that I don't have a recording label breathing down my back. I would probably become a much better musician if I had that type of input and direction, but for now I'm doing my best.

You can check out the song on my Virb page.