The Heart of Worship by Jen Tang

Worship and praise through music have been so influential in my walk with Christ. Even before I became Christian I knew there was something powerful about a room full of believers singing and guitar-ing and just praising God. And in some ways, that made me feel like an outsider. Or an onlooker. That everyone was so filled with a passion for God that I didn’t understand. But you could see so clearly the way the Holy Spirit was moving in and among each individual and though I wasn’t a part of it, I knew it was something amazing.

Then after I came to know Christ, music became this really awesome experience that helped me grow closer to God and it was just how I would express my love for Christ and praise him and just sing about His amazing love. But I guess, recently, I joined a worship team and began leading worship for Sunday school. The role of music in my spiritual life changed, from a medium through which I could be with God, to kind of another responsibility – something I would have to prepare and perform and practice. The stress over how I sounded and how I played and how I sung distracted me from the true purpose of worship. I became so concerned with this fear of screwing up the song or the words or chords. For me, worship wasn’t about God anymore, but about pleasing the congregation and not making a fool of myself.

But I recalled something Jon told me when I first joined a worship team – he said that when they practiced, his team would only go through the set once and be done so as not to make worship a time about the band’s performance and playing everything perfectly, but to keep it focused on God.

Read and reflect on Mark 12:29-30

Heart of Worship
When the music fades
And all is stripped away
And I simply come
Longing just to bring
Something that's of worth
That will bless your heart

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 ways things appear
You're looking into my heart

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
It's all about You Jesus

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
Pray this song to God