"David Worships with Music"

Pastor Laura Guy

November 8, 2009

Here's an instant replay of what happened in worship:

We listened to U2's song 40 as a prelude to worship. The congregation knew who sang it, but didn't know that the lyrics were written by King David almost 3,000 years ago (but not in English). It's based on Psalm 40.
We thought about Top 40 songs from our pasts that have made a kind of soundtrack for our lives, how they can instantly bring back memories of where we were and who we were with when we first heard them.
We recognized that music has an emotional connection for us. It is a language of the heart. It makes perfect sense that people of faith would use music to worship God. Music allows us to communicate our love to God and also allows God to communicate His love to us.
We saw how David was an accomplished musician. He played the lyre to soothe King Saul's frazzled nerves. David's playing was also an offering of praise to God. When he played, his music centered Saul in the worship of God, putting things back into perspective
We learned that David also wrote many hymns. Almost half of the Psalms in the Bible are attributed to David. In 2 Sam. 22:1-4, we can also find one of the Psalms David wrote. David knew how to worship God with his whole heart, from playing music, singing praise songs, or even dancing unashamed before the Ark of the Covenant.
We realized that whenever we use music to praise God, it also centers us in worship of God, putting things back into perspective. These songs of praise create a spiritual soundtrack of our lives. Pastor Laura said that when her friend Kay was dying, she played praise songs and sang them to her friend as way to remind Kay of her spiritual soundtrack and center her in the love of the God she had worshipped for most of her life.
We prayed a prayer of thanksgiving for musicians who help us create those spiritual soundtracks that ground us in the worship of God.
We celebrated communion at the table of love.