Heart of Worship

I just finished leading my first worship service from start to finish. I have preached before, and led liturgy, and selected music, but the pastor is now on vacation for 4 weeks and I was responsible for the whole service today. I'll be honest and say that it is a bit of a relief to be done with it, but things went very well and I had a great time. I know there were a few mistakes and such, but I'm not looking for perfection, simply an honest and authentic time of worship for those present. As a pastor it's sometimes easy to forget what worship is about and focus on things such as style, delivery and look. It's easy to think that worship is about you and what you do in the front of the room. When that happens worship ceases to be worship and becomes a performance. I struggle with this dichotomy sometimes as I realize that worship is all about God, but still want to be the best leader of worship I can be. It's also easy to get addicted to all the comments of praise and encouragement I get each week. Because I'm an intern people continue to go out of their way to say nice things to me. Over time these comments will go away, they don't last. It can be easy to take that as a sign that you are no longer being successful. I said a prayer today, but I can't take credit for writing it. It's a song by Sonic Flood that was shown to me by a good friend a few years back. It's an important prayer for anybody who leads in worship to hear now and again.

King of endless worth
No one could express
How much You deserve
Though I'm weak and poor
All I have is Yours
Every single breath

I'm coming back to the heart of worship
It's all about you
All about you, Jesus
I'm sorry Lord for the thing I've made it
When it's all about You
It's all about you, Jesus