Sing unto the Lord

As a guitarist, my main use for a leatherman is as a pair of string cutters. If I was a fisherman, I would mainly use my leatherman for cutting fishing line. If I was an electrician I could use my leatherman to strip wire. If I was a person who was strapped for cash, I could use my leatherman as a weapon and rob a servo. A leatherman is a tool that can be used for all sorts of different things depending on the context.

The mid section of church is surrounded by so many different elements of meeting together (prayer, community announcements, bible reading, sermon, mission spots, givng) that the songs that you sing in this time could be used to help people respond to God in so many ways. You could sing songs about mission to connect with an interview on mission or evangelism or perhaps a song about church and the people Christ has called together to connect with anouncements. Alternatively, you could sing a song that prepares peoples hearts for the sermon or prepare them to give their money for the work at church. All of these ideas have merit.

This set of songs does not have to have the same effect as the first set as the people are already in the door. They have already been singing joyfully together. These mid-section songs can be used to reflect deeper on a more specific facet of Christ's saving work. Sometimes it is appropriate to have an item in this time that might emgage with the part of the Bible the church has been looking at.

All in all, the mid-section is the leatherman of church music. There are so many different roles that it can perform. I think it is important to think intentionally about this section of the meeting. What do I want the congregation to be reflecting on? What do I want them to remember? Too often we stick our filler songs in this section. How much more beneficial it would be if we used this time intentionally and thoughtfully.