together . It felt to me like a poignant , powerful , Holy Spirit moment . A couple of the pastors and several others thanked me for using that song . Some said they had a strong sense of God ’ s presence as we sang .
The next day I received a terse email from an aggrieved congregant who told me that I had ejected the Holy Spirit from the service when I did that immoral song .
ANECDOTE 4 : Pub Choir
But my point is that the sorts of feelings that we believe are from God are experienced by many people including those who would not recognize God as the reason for those feelings . Feelings can be misleading .
SO , WHAT ’ S THE GOAL ?
When I have the opportunity to lead sung worship , I want the people I lead to experience God ’ s presence . But I don ’ t believe that I can make that happen . Only God can . presence all the time . A nation of priests with Jesus as our High Priest . His true Church is being built up as His home - His temple - with Jesus as the cornerstone .
If you want to know more about this mindblowing concept , make sure you check out this article :
“ How God ’ s Presence Came to Dwell with All His People - Presence Pattern and Kingdom of Priests ” by Amber Dillon
If you ’ ve been a regular reader of my articles , you ’ ll know that several of my recent articles compare Pub Choir to Church congregations .
The newest addition to the Pub Choir YouTube catalog sees over 7,000 people in Brisbane , Australia singing the 1977 disco hit from Australian artist John Paul Young “ Love is in the Air ”. Check it out here :
In particular , my article from August last year shared how many pub choir participants - and even those who simply watch the Pub Choir videos - sense a profound , deeper sense of connection through Pub Choir . Something , transcendental , other-worldy or even spiritual .
The people who attend Raves - what I call “ Doof Doof Parties ” - will often claim that they have transcendental , spiritual experiences .
Having read a small mountain of books by secular musicians , about secular musicians and about music in general , I can confidently state that having deep , spiritual experiences through music is not just for Christian worshipers .
You might write all that off as coming from the “ wrong spirit ”. And maybe you ’ d be right .
I have found it freeing - like the feeling of a heavy bag of rocks falling from my shoulders - to now simply focus on the “ voice ” of the congregation . On creating an environment where the congregation is most likely to sing worshipfully to God and leave experiences of God ’ s presence to God .
I believe that God is omnipresent . That He is present , not only in the church building as we sing , but when I was thoughtfully , prayerfully choosing the songs at home last Tuesday . When we sound checked . When we rehearsed .
But not only at those times . He ’ s present 24 / 7 / 365 and 366 on a leap year ! In the good times and the bad . In the noise and the quiet . The busy-ness and the rest . Sometimes I am more aware and other times I am less aware . But He ’ s there all the time . He is with me . He is with us . Emmanuel !
And our omnipresent God is present as we sing too . We can become more aware of His presence as we sing . If everyone in the room is singing together worshipfully , it seems to me that those experiences of God ’ s presence are more likely anyway .
THE KINGDOM OF PRIESTS
From the Garden of Eden until today , God ’ s big plan is that we would all exist in perfect , unspoiled unity with Him . More than just experiencing His presence from time to time , God would have us live CORAM DEO - in God ’ s
CONCLUSION
People experience God ’ s presence in different ways : Through prayerful meditation on scripture , worshiping together in church settings , by simply talking directly to God throughout their day or in countless other ways . Taking time out for quiet reflection allows us to be open to God ’ s presence even amongst the chaos of our world .
God is supernatural . He is beyond our understanding , scientific reason , and our current understanding of the laws of the natural world . We worship a supernatural God , but we often want the spectacular , sensational , experiential things of God so much that we miss the supernatural . The supernatural is , at times , spectacular , but the supernatural can also be in the day-to-day , mundane , ordinary things of life . But we can easily fall for the trap of seeking the spectacular , sensational things of God . Chasing experiences of God for myself is not the same as chasing God Himself . God can be in the spectacular and sensational , but he is also in the mundane and ordinary .
This is the third in a short series of articles I have written called “ SUNG WORSHIP & THE PRESENCE OF GOD ”. You might ( or might not ) want to catch up on PART 1 and PART 2 now . I ’ ll leave that choice to you .
Grant Norsworthy founder of MoreThanMusicMentor . com
MoreThanMusicMentor . com
32 January 2024 Subscribe for Free ...