Lessons Learnt During Praise & Worship Ministry - I

Dear all,

"Let us give thanks to the LORD our God.... It is right to give Him thanks and praise" (Roman Missal)

I am back here to share what I've learnt while being in the team leading worship ministry.

In the initial years, when I was in MA College of Engg, whenever I had to lead the Praise & Worship, it was almost entirely spontaneous. I was not even sure whether it is right to plan things (I was of the opinion that there is no need to plan and everything will be revealed on time.) At that time I was a little careless about how the group responded to the way I was leading. Sometimes it was good, sometimes it was not. I was a little avert to using tips and tricks in order to make the session interesting. To me it was like interfering with the work of the Holy Spirit.

It was when I came to Mumbai and started ministering to a youth prayer group in Mulund (sometime in 2002-03) that I realized that leading a P & W session needs a lot of preparation. Years with Jesus Youth Mumbai taught me a few lessons on this which I wish to share with you all. I hope that this will be of some use to the new Jesus Youth leaders, those in the parish choirs, the new leadership in KEY Army and so on.

I don't attempt to present a research paper on Praise & Worship. You will find detailed presentation on the net. As in my earlier posts on "Lessons Learnt .." series, you will find several things doubtful or inconsistent, and so feel free to disagree with my views.

• Praise and Worship is a beautiful way of responding to God's infinite love, glory, providence, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and all that He really is, with all the superlative qualities.
• The praises that we offer is something that cannot match what He rightly deserves.
• A layperson who is not used to Praise & Worship may find it awkward. One might wonder if any god would require his creation to shout praises to him; and if so, how praise-hungry god he is!! But things are a bit different...
• All the heavenly beings (Angels and Saints) constantly see the beatific vision of the One Almighty God!!! They can't help constantly praising Him whose glory and goodness has no measure!! Nobody compels them. They do so because they are really know what they are doing!
• "God so loved this world that He gave His only begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him shall not persish but have eternal life." (John 3:16) "To those who accepted Him, to those who believe in his name, he gave power to become children of God" (John 1:12). By praising and worshipping God who made all this possible, we are already doing what we will be doing in heaven for eternity.
• Our praises & worship do not add anything to the "intrinsic glory" of God or subtract anything from this glory by not doing it. But the "extrinsic glory" (glory that needs to be duly acknowledged by the creation) is not perfect; rather it's minimal compared to what He deserves. By way of our Praise & Worship, we are privileged to participate in increasing the extrinsic glory of God.
• The last person who is benefited by hearing our shouts of praise or the seeing the moments of worship will be God. Our praises confirms our faith and that of the congregation. Our worship brings us closer in intimacy with the LORD. It renders our enemy powerless. The power of God is released abundantly that breaks the bondages and set ourselves free.

(To be continued)