So why do a solo album in the first place? I've had a lot of time to think about the church and how we do worship, and I've observed one commonality among all of the churches I've been to. It seems that contemporary worship revolves around rejoicing with one another. We always sing songs about being joyful in God's presence, or about happiness in the Spirit (and these are great things to sing about), but over the years, it seems that we don't do much to bear each other's burdens, at least where corporate worship is concerned. I'm sure you've heard both believers and unbelievers say that they don't want to be at church because they have to put on their "happy face", or that they can't really be themselves without offending someone. It'd be easy to blame this sentiment on those kinds of church-goers who are territorial over a particular space on that second-row pew with the perfect view of the pulpit, but I feel like this problem goes way deeper. I think it begins with our overall attitude towards worship, and what we understand it to mean.
Romans 12 talks about how we are to offer our bodies to the Lord as living sacrifices. More and more, I see the church's standard of worship becoming less and less sacrificial and more about entertainment. I think that we sing mostly about joy because it's easy to do and allows us to forget exactly why God is sovereign and we are not. During a particular collaboration with another worship leader years ago, I was told that when writing worship songs you should always follow two rules - make it easy to sing, and make it simple. This is a great mantra if you want to write a song that will make it to the Top 40 in ten seconds and fall off it again ten seconds later, but where's the heart? Do we want everyone to be able to sing along with us by the end of the second chorus, or do we want to be real with God and genuinely desire for Him to fix what's wrong with us, regardless of how painful the healing process might be? It's a lot harder to cry out to God in mourning over our sin, but I'm increasingly convinced that it's something we all should do together.
Galatians 6:1-2 says "Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ." It's not enough to just cast our own burdens at the Lord's feet, we need to help each other do it! Furthermore, 1st Corinthians 12:24b-26 says "But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it." To me, the message is clear - we all have a part to play when it comes to restoring those who are hurting, because every one of us is broken (Rom. 3:23).
The goal that God has placed on my heart for this project is to demonstrate that it's not just OK but necessary to share in our strengths and weaknesses. I don't want to be another cookie-cutter worshiper, I want to be real before God and His church. And in order to do that, I need to be completely honest in not just my songwriting but in the struggles I face every day as a fellow sinner. This project is about more than just writing music, it's about personal change and dependence on God's grace, and ultimately, sacrificial worship.
That's all I have for now - I'll do my best to update this blog on a weekly basis, and hopefully I can get some music from the album up here too :) I'll keep you posted!
Ben
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