on friday, may 4 i has the distinct privilege of seeing Nickel Creek in concert for the second and (most likely) the last time at hanford’s historic Fox Theater. you see, Chris Thile, Sara Watkins and Sean Watkins are calling it quits after 18 years as one of the most unique and accomplished groups in memory.
i’m not about to speculate on the reasons for their decision to only do individual and cooperative work outside of nickel creek. in fact, they each have been producing solo and collaborative albums all along the way. after all, being a band for just shy of 2 decades is quite a feat. the beatles were only active from 1960-1970. led zeppelin was finished after just 12 years.
i think it’s safe to say that nickel creek has made a wonderful impact on music that will not be soon filled. i mean, a simple look at their history should just blow your mind. chris thile started winning national recognition at the age of 12…sara watkins was only 8 when nickel creek formed. their latest album Why Should The Fire Die has sold over 250,000 copies…now that’s pretty good for a bluegrass band!
but, a nickel-history is not the purpose for this post (which i’m hoping won’t end up as long as my forays into Ritalin and Politics…). the purpose is some of my thoughts from the amazing show.
see, i don’t really like concerts. i don’t know…i just don’t get into them. i certainly don’t enjoy a show where i’m supposed to be on my feet screaming the whole time. so, sadly for me, as much as i’d like to see U2 live i know i wouldn’t enjoy it. but, if i can sit in a plush seat and just take in the performance, well then now you’re starting to present me with an entertainment option that i might actually enjoy. nickel creek at the fox is just such a performance.
like i said before, it was my second time seeing them live, which was good because i could be critical and pay attention to different things this time around. believe me, the first time you see these guys play in front of you, you’re just awestruck at the musicality and naturalism of the band…chris thile does things that….that just shouldn’t be possible on a tiny little mandolin fretboard. and i assure you, every musician in the audience is invariably hypnotized by the excellence and virtuosity of the whole band.
but, this time it was time to pay attention. and i did. and i was blessed in my heart by some of the things that the Lord showed me both as a worship leader and a member of the Church.
AIM: to direct efforts, as toward an object
i lead worship at calvary hanford every third sunday. thus, i am more often in the congregation worshiping than on stage helping to facilitate worship. when i show up to church on those sundays what is my aim? am i coming to render my sacrifice to the Almighty? am i coming with a great expectation? with joy? with desire? is my aim to take part in the worship and the study? am i there to learn? do i have a reason at all or is it just my sunday routine? do i prepare myself as i would for a concert? do i sit in my seat with the understanding that the great God of the universe is there to commune with me?
conversely, there are those sundays where i am on stage leading worship. what is my aim then? did i construct a set that will usher people into the presence of God? am i standing there out of obligation or out of excitement? do i treat my position as a levite who serves the people who have come to meet with God?
it is all too easy to become scheduled and stale in our sunday-to-sunday connection to God. when a concert roles into town we may get very excited, keyed up, dressed in a special way, but what about in my sunday morning dates with God? it was an interesting thought.
ART: the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance.
now, obviously worship is much more than aesthetics, but this spoke to me as a worship leader.
nickel creek is one of the few bands that exceeds their own recordings in 2 ways: 1) energy, the actual performance carries an electricity that cannot be matched on a cd, but more importantly, 2) excellence. see, take your favorite nickel creek song and add 3-5 minutes at the beginning and the end of wonderfully planned instrumental music. that’s what happens at a nickel creek show. hours of cascading music which introduces songs and then buttons them all up. the caliber of their music can only be expressed as art. the creativity and depth is undeniable.
as a worship leader, am i crafting those sets artfully, excellently, or am i just regurgitating the same tired songs in the same tired arrangements. am i giving my ‘listeners’ (in our case, participants in the worship service) something to marvel at? not, of course, at me, but something about God, something Godly, at which the body might marvel and glory in the Lord? am i presenting art to my Jesus or simply assignments?
i think it is the case for many musicians that worship has become either an obligation, or something so uninteresting that the music has become a type of assignment. ‘you, set up tables, you take out the trash, you sing this melody.’ tables and empty trash cans are necessary, but it is the worship that we have set aside for our God. it is the music that we have established as corporate praise in accordance with the commands we receive in the Word to sing unto the Lord!
worship leading, singing songs before the Lord, should be so internalized that it wells up in our soul and spills out onto the canvas of our church service. we should be carefully creating with control and style not simply filling out the form and sliding it across the desk.
AWE: an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, fear, etc., produced by that which is grand, sublime, extremely powerful, or the like
This spoke to me as a congregant (though, the applications as a worship leader are many). i sat for 2 hours in complete hypnotic astonishment of the musicians on the stage in front of me. the entirety of the performance had only 2 discernible mistakes or errors in the playing, and that few in a show which one could hear thousands of notes more than at a rock or pop concert. i was in awe of their capabilities.
sadly, i often forget to be in awe of God when i sing to Him. stupid right? of course it is. why shouldn’t i be? what is more grand than the Maker creation? who is more powerful than the Author of life? i find that i need more awe in my worship and less participation. by that i mean that every so often i should pause to speak and listen to God, not just recite to Him.
ALL: the whole of
these things that the Lord showed me are so basic, but were SO encouraging to me. there were so many realizations that my attitude toward the performance of men had a huge disconnect with my attitude toward a regular worship service, and not in the ways that it should.
of course on many obvious levels we shouldn’t treat church like a concert. we shouldn’t reverence worship teams above anyone else (which we already do…that is the subject of a different discussion). yet that expectation, that excitement, that preparation, that excellence, that sense of something special should be the same. whatever side of the stage i enter on i should remember that i have scheduled this time, set it aside as a special event and treat it like it should be treated…a time to meet with my King, my Lover, my Savior.
the summary of thoughts is this: an objective observer of the nickel creek show could pretty safely say that on some level they were being worshiped by the audience. the payment to get in, the cheering, the chanting, the singing, the demand for an encore, the asking for autographs, the clamoring around the tour bus…all that could pretty easily be construed as worship. could that same observer reach the same conclusion at a sunday morning service?
it’s not that we all become charismatics, wild and uninhibited, elated and loud. that is not the fix at all. instead the answer is that hearts be full of joy, full of the Holy Spirit. and, if that is the case, then there can be no denying our worship of God.
blessings.
i always like to have a few good biographies handy, so that i can turn to the record of what the Lord has enabled his servants to do in the past.”
Our work especially requires faith. If we fail in faith, we had better not have undertaken it; and unless we obtain faith commensurate with the service, we shall soon grow weary of it. It is proven by all observation that success in the Lord’s service is very generally in proportion to faith. It certainly is not in proportion to ability, nor does it always run parallel with a display of zeal; but it is invariably according to the measure of faith, for this is a law of the Kingdom without exception, ‘according to your faith be it unto you.’
