Let's play a little match game. You try to draw a line between the song leader and the song they "own". If you don't know what I mean, then do this: look at a song title I have listed and imagine someone leading it. Who does the song remind you of? Your mileage may vary.
Dare to Stand Like Joshua
Kieran Murphy
Jesus Loves Me
Mo Accomazzo
God's Family
Me!
As the Deer
Ed Paquette
He's My King
Bill Krause
Mighty is the Lord
Frank Chetelat
King Most High
Brent Romine
When the Roll is Called up Yonder
Robert Melanson
In the adult class upstairs, we are winding up a study of the return of the people from captivity. One of the characters we dealt with was Daniel, and one of his personal traits was the habit of opening his window towards Jerusalem and praying 3 times a day. It was something that got him in trouble, as his enemies could count on him doing it and "surprised" him not worshiping the king's idol. To a casual observer, it may look like he was arrogant, as he heard the king's proclamation and promptly went right to praying in spite of it.
When we studied the book of Job, we found another character in the Old Testament that made worship a habit. Job was so determined to do the right things, not only did he make sacrifices for himself but he did it for his kids, too. To a casual observer here, it may appear that he was "over-religious." Surely it's just great when someone spends so much of every waking moment with regard to God, but we can't all be saints, right?
I keep using that word habit, and I know it scares some of us. We say our worship needs to be fresh, and spontaneous, and never just a stale old habit. "Beware of vain repetitions" we say. I don't know about you, but if I could manage to do what's right in God's eyes day after day after day I just have a hunch he will never get tired of it. If I make it a habit to pray before every meal, or every night before I fall asleep, or even every day on my way into work - if I set aside some block of time every day to pray to God, I cannot imagine it is displeasing to him. You might quibble and say it's a custom and not a habit, and that a custom is OK while a habit is wrong, and I guess I will just have to grin at you. There is nothing wrong with worship of God out of habit. If I can "get into the habit" of always thinking of what I can do to accomplish his will, hey more power to me. It's my personal habit to go around humming "When the roll..." for just any old reason, as my mind is so saturated with going to heaven it pops out almost unbidden.
Listen, I like my teeth. They are nice and sharp and they cut up the pizza I eat with ease. Thus, I am concerned about taking care of them. I brush them every day, twice as a matter of fact and sometimes more. If I am in there listening to my wife tell me about her day while I brush my teeth, do you suppose I don't care about them? On the contrary, I am so concerned about my teeth that I take care of them no matter what. Wouldn't it be nice if I could get myself trained so that I always did what was pleasing to God no matter what? How can that be a bad thing?
And that's the trick, isn't it. If by habit one thinks of just going through the motions with no thought at all behind it, then I would agree it's a vain thing. But to discipline ourselves to be good servants at all times, well, you'd have a hard time convincing me that it isn't what God intends for all of us.
As for our little test! Why do you suppose Brent leads Jesus Loves Me so much? Just because his kiddo's ask him to? Maybe it's because he likes it and he's comfortable with it. Maybe it's all of that! He's teaching his kids to sing a song about Jesus, and our all singing it together shows how important it is. He's getting them in the habit of worship to God. And isn't it better that he sings the same song often than not to sing a song at all?
Randy
Ps - you want mindless babbling? Read the bulletin week after week! <grin!>