Sunday, May 22, 2005

Heart of Worship....

This is just some of my thoughts as I ponder this...
Wow did I struggle with this song this morning in Church... Most of us don't have a clue what this song is about, including me. We try to wrap our heads around the song and it feels really good when we are all belting it out at the top of our longs singing in unison. Pastor Jamie said something to me in the office one day at church and then to you all from the pulpit last week. He said, "You don't know what poverity is untill you touch it." I believe this to be true with many other things. We are taking the song "Heart of Worship" and singing it not really getting the depth of the lyrics. If you know anything about the story behind the song, Matt Redman and his church got rid of there sound system, got rid of the band and they just did worship a apello for sometime. So here I am sitting this morning wondering why we are even doing this song. We don't know what it is like not to have worship with out all the instruments in place. We get frustrated when they are off key or out of sync and then blame them for how worship turns out. Side note... maybe our def. of worship needs to change... So, I was confused this morning when we are singing this song when we really don't have a clue. Maybe we need to touch the depths of this song, what Pastor Jamie said... poverty, and realize that we can apply it in many ways in our lives. This is just a thought and really it is a challange for me.

Heart Of Wroship
Chorus 1
I'm coming back
To the heart of worship
And 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
All about You Jesus

Verse 1
When the music fades
All is stripped away
And I simply come
Longing just to bring
Something that's of worth
That will bless Your heart

BRIDGE
I'll bring You more than a song
For a song in itself
Is not what You have required
You search much deeper within
Through the way things appear
You're looking into my heart

Verse 2
King of endless worth
No one could express
How much You deserve
Though I'm weak and poor
All I have is Yours
Ev'ry single breath

A little bit about Matt and the story be hind the song.
"Heart Of Worship"


The song dates back to the late 1990s, born from a period of apathy within Matt's home church, Soul Survivor, in Watford, England. Despite the country's overall contribution to the current worship revival, Redman's congregation was struggling to find meaning in its musical outpouring at the time.

There was a dynamic missing, so the pastor did a pretty brave thing, he recalls. He decided to get rid of the sound system and band for a season, and we gathered together with just our voices. His point was that we'd lost our way in worship, and the way to get back to the heart would be to strip everything away.

Reminding his church family to be producers in worship, not just consumers, the pastor, Mike Pilavachi, asked, When you come through the doors on a Sunday, what are you bringing as your offering to God?

Matt says the question initially led to some embarrassing silence, but eventually people broke into a cappella songs and heartfelt prayers, encountering God in a fresh way.

Before long, we reintroduced the musicians and sound system, as we'd gained a new perspective that worship is all about Jesus, and He commands a response in the depths of our souls no matter what the circumstance and setting. The Heart of Worship simply describes what occurred.

When the music fades, all is stripped away, and I simply come / Longing just to bring something thats of worth that will bless your heart / I'm coming back to the heart of worship, and it's all about You, Jesus

Redman remembers writing the song quickly in his bedroom soon after the church's journey together, with no grand intentions, by any means, for it to become an international anthem. He viewed the words simply as his personal, subjective response to what he was learning about worship.

3 Comments:

Blogger Jason said...

I'd like to raise a question for us to think about. This song is great. It captures the feeling and atmosphere that Matt Redman, his friends, and his congregation experienced. They can legitimately say, "I'm coming back to the heart of worship" because they realized that they weren't in the heart of worship and then they had a corperate experience where they returned to a more true experience. So it makes sense.

Here's my question: Why do we sing that song? Have any of us been away from the heart of worship? Do we really know where that is or what that is? We've been singing it for years. Are we just getting closer and closer to the heart of worship? Do we keep falling away and then coming back. If so, is that ok?

My only point is that this song is very specific to a point in time and people. My brother, Ben, and I have been talking about how beautiful it is when a song is actually written by the people that sing it and how often times the point is missed when we sing other people's songs. I think we're wasting our time when we sing this song (just my opinion). I don't want to delegitimze any valuable experience anyone may have had while singing the song, but imagine how much more effective an original expression of worship would have been. Just something to think about.

I guess my whole point actually is that the most valuable and true expression of worship is something original to you, not what you heard on a cool CD or heard at a concert. If you're an artist, then your art is your worship. If you're a musician, then your music is your worship. If you're an employee at a window installation company (Applebees, for instance) then the way you treat those around you and the love and compassion you show everyday is your worship (I'm not trying to point that at Dwayne, he was just a convenient example). If you are a human being, then the way you love is your worship.

Sunday, May 22, 2005 6:14:00 PM

 
Blogger Rho said...

man, i have a whole lot to say about this subject. for some reason, though, i feel a bit muzzled at the moment. i think i need to take some time to really think about my response...but maybe not:o) one thing i will throw out here though, is that we can sometimes get caught up in the over-analysis of 'worship' as the term applies to sunday morning services...there are limitations that we just won't get beyond..ive been there done that heart-struggle! that said..i do believe that ben-man brings up a very good point. i did know the story behind that song, and i think of it every single time we sing it. though i cannot fully grasp what was in matt's mind and heart as he wrote the song, i can somewhat understand what he means when he says 'i'll bring you more than a song, for a song in itself is not what you have required..' many times i have felt so inadequate in what i bring to the feet of Jesus in times of worship. i often wonder why he tolerates my insignificant gifts..if you've ever had a cat, you know that they so love to bring little 'presents' to the doorstep to show their love for you..a mouse here, a mole there, it's all ew ew ew! but when you get right down to it, that stupid cat is trying to give you something and is just waiting there for you to give 'em a little pat on the head and say, 'hey, i love you silly kitty, even though you just brought me a gnarly little dead creature as a gift'..twisted though this analogy may be, it's dead on. (pun TOTALLY intended:) we have these little gifts to bring to Jesus..some of them just downright dead and stinky..inadequate for sure. but He accepts them, regardless of how pathetic they look...His grace and His love and His mercy cover our shortcomings, our barriers, our inadequacies. He loves us, regardless of just how little we understand what worship truly is. in my heart and my mind - and i have struggled with the same things that ben has, so many times, believe me - i give every single thing that i have to give at the very moment that i open my heart and mouth in worship. that includes sunday morning. we could prattle on for days about just what worship really is, and how we have no idea what it's really like to truly worship, but in the end, i am convinced that if we come with a heart that is humble, sincere, and ready to give what it has at that very moment..it becomes the true definition of 'worship'.

geez. can we take 5 days to discuss this? so many stones to overturn and examine...

but anyway. thanks ben:o)
rho-dawg

Sunday, May 22, 2005 11:38:00 PM

 
Blogger Benjamin Bachman said...

trust me... anything that i blog on here is going to be coming from me first person... sorry if i offended. i am so pointing the finger at me through all of this.
benjamin

Monday, May 23, 2005 8:34:00 PM

 

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