How I can lead worship on the Sundays that I don’t even want to get out of bed.

Last Sunday at Knox Midland, I said that one of the challenges of a pastor is the leading of worship even when you don’t feel like it.  Maybe this comes as a surprise to you.  This is a problem common to many positions in the church.  You probably also have tasks in your own job that you sometimes wish you didn’t have to do. 

For the sake of brevity I wasn’t able to get too deep into this topic, so I thought I’d write a short note about how I am able to lead worship, even when I don’t feel like it.  Maybe someone can relate.

 

Let’s face it, some mornings you wake up and you just don’t want to get out of bed on Sunday morning.  Maybe you had a disagreement earlier in the week with a brother or sister in the Church, and as a result you are nursing anger or disappointment.  Maybe you got into a fight with your spouse or your kids on the way to worship.  Maybe you had a flat tire, or the car won’t start, and now you are running late.  You show up to worship worn out, or tired, or frustrated.  So what do you do?

Here’s what I do.

1.) Focus on Jesus.  No matter what’s going on when I get to the sanctuary on Sunday morning, it all takes a back seat to my focus on Jesus.  Even on the worst days, when everything has gone wrong, I block it all out and focus on the reason why I’m there – to worship Him.  When I take my eyes off of Christ, nothing turns out right.  So whatever might be going on, I keep my eyes on Him.

2.) Focus on others.  When I focus on the congregation, my personal problems become secondary.  There are probably people in the congregation going through worse things than me anyway, and they need an encouraging word from the Word.  As pastor, you know quite intimately the details of other’s lives – those struggling with cancer, divorce, death, depression, addiction.  They are there, and they are ready to worship God – so I am too.

3.) Find comfort in community.  There is tremendous joy for me in preaching and leading worship, especially when I receive energy back from the congregation.  When I see that woman raising her arms in worship, even though I know she’s struggling with deep personal pain, or when that faithful couple in the back pew smiles and nods at me as I preach, I receive a gift of affirmation.  I feel a sense of purpose and belonging that eases any doubts that I’m in the right place.

There are other reasons why I can lead worship, even on the hardest Sunday, but these are the first that come to mind.  How about you?  What gets you out of bed on Sunday morning?  

-A

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