Thoughts on responding in worship

This week we wrapped up our summer series on James, and this final sermon our pastor ended with an extended period of response. He encouraged everyone to reflect on the entire series, asking the Holy Spirit to convict us about an area where we should be growing.

I took a moment to respond but was interrupted by the worship team getting back in place and our production team returning to full-production mode. It got me thinking: how do we as technical artists respond in worship?

In the past I wrote about how to engage in worship, but the response time is usually something the whole team is engaged in. What does it look for us as technical artists to respond in worship? Here are a few thoughts.

We serve

Serving others is an act of worship. Don’t ever diminish the importance of denying yourself to serve someone else. It’s the example Jesus set for us: serving others and laying our lives down for others.

The challenge comes when we serve others on a regular basis, we inevitably miss out on responding to what God is doing in the midst of our worship service. If we’re always sacrificing our times of response, how are we growing and being challenged by the word of God and the movement of the Holy Spirit?

We soak

One thing I’ve noticed is even while we’re producing worship or an event, we’re still being exposed to what’s happening in front of us, even if we’re not just sitting there listening. I call this soaking. We soak in what’s happening in front of us and take time to process it later.

I remember the first time I experienced this, while running graphics for IJM’s Global Prayer Gathering. During the event, I heard amazing stories of rescue and life change. Even though I wasn’t able to reflect on those stories in the moment, I remember feeling changed by them. I could tell God was working in my own heart as I served and helped tell other’s stories. As I traveled home from that conference, I reflected and prayed on what I had just heard.

Soaking is how we are impacted, then we respond.

We respond

So again, how do we respond? The best answer I have to give is we soak in what’s happening around us, and we respond later. This could be in the midst of traveling back home from an event, it could be as simple as discussing the sermon with fiends over lunch, or it could be taking notes during the sermon and reflecting on them later.

That’s what I did this past Sunday. I didn’t have enough time to fully capture my thoughts during the response time, but I took notes during the sermon and wrote a few reflection questions. I have some time set aside this week to review the notes again and respond when I can be away and present with the Lord.

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How do you respond in worship? Do you struggle being present or processing your thoughts and feelings as you serve? Do you take time later to respond in your own way to what God was saying to you?

I encourage you to think about this the next time you serve. How can you still give your best work and serve others, but not miss what God is saying to you?