Faithfulness in Worship
I’d like to share with you about how faithful God has been to me once again by helping me to worship Him—not only when I hear the hymns I love but also when I hear the many beautiful newer contemporary worship songs.
I’m getting old. In 9 months I’ll be 80. One of the hard things about growing old is all the changes we have to deal with. Technology is the worst and hardest. I’m grateful for Rachel and Emily’s patience and kindness. They either do things for me or encourage me saying “Janet, just go to the app, you can do it.”
Getting use to the new worship music has also been hard for me. Our dear Pastor Nick will be 40 in 8 months. There have been a lot of new worship songs written in the last 40 years and of course he will want to use them. And, I can’t help but notice that Nick does a wonderful job choosing the songs that compliment the sermon that day. Still, I was finding myself way too often annoyed at some of the songs. I thought of that a couple of weeks ago when Pastor Dave preached on Genesis 34. This chapter reminds us that we can often have an opinion and want things the way we think they should be. I don’t want to be that way!
One Sunday, I was looking around at my church family and noticing that my younger brothers and sisters in Christ were singing and worshiping with all their hearts during the contemporary songs. I was glad to see that and happy that many people were blessed by this music. I prayed silently that God would help me worship Him with my whole heart with every song that is played. I want to learn to love what others love in my blood-bought family. I have always clapped and raised my hands in praise while singing. I want to keep doing that. As a side note, I haven’t started jumping up and down yet. Before I do that, I’ll have to get a watch like Pastor John Piper has so that I will be alerted when I fall down.
And then, one Sunday I came to church feeling tired and weary. The words of the first song that Sunday spoke so strongly to me. When I got home I looked up the lyrics, wrote them on a card and taped it on the inside of my devotional book. I prayed through those words many times that week. The next Sunday, the words of another song were so powerful and meaningful to me. When I got home I decided to start a book with the lyrics to the new worship songs that had touched my heart. For years, I’ve had my Bible, devotional book and hymn book by my chair. Now I’ve added a 4th book and it has been a blessing to me. I still do often sing and pray through my favorite hymns, but I’m often praying through the powerful words of the new songs too.
Yes, Lord, you have been so faithful, Lord you have been so so good, With every breath that I am able, I want to sing of the goodness of God—yeah!!
—Janet Hutton, member
