Each week the worship planning team gets together to plan for the upcoming weeks, series and events. I have to admit that for many years this meeting was about the business of worship music: what songs, how long, what arrangement, and what things do we add to the service this week…all very necessary stuff.
Worship planning today looks much different. One change is that it isn’t just me and one other in the room, now there is a larger staff and we discuss multiple services and venues. The most important change is that we spend a significant amount of our time in study of God’s Word and in prayer. The study can be specific to the up-coming sermons or it can be, as it was today, about passage.
Today’s topic we examined was found in the book of 2 Chronicles Chapters 29-31, centering in on the call to ministry, specifically leading others in worship.
2 Chronicles 29: 11 states: “My dear Levites, do not neglect your duties any longer! The Lord has chosen you to stand in His presence, to minister to Him, and to lead the people in worship and make offerings to Him”
I believe the team I lead has been called to do just that…called to lead.
2 Chronicles 29:15: “These men called together their fellow Levites and they purified themselves. Then they began to purify the Temple of the Lord, just as the king had commanded. They were careful to follow all the Lord’s instructions in their work.”
This is why we spend time in God’s Word and prayer each week; praying for each other, praying for ClearView, praying that as we lead we follow God’s instructions.
2 Chronicles 29:27: “Then Hezekiah ordered that the burnt offering be placed on the altar. As the burnt offering was presented, songs of praise to the Lord were begun, accompanied by the trumpets and other instruments of David, king of Israel.”
Burnt offerings = prayers…they lifted up prayers before they could ever minister. The worship team at ClearView wants to do just that; then when worship leaders, and all other worshipers join together, we celebrate the very presence of God, with joy.
2 Chronicles 31:21 : “In all that he did in the service of the Temple of God and in his efforts to follow the law and the commands, Hezekiah sought his God wholeheartedly. As a result, he was very successful.”
We know that we can never be successful if we do not seek God with our whole heart. Worship planning is so much better when it is not about the things that fill our worship services but about the One we worship and what we can learn about who we should be from His Word.