deep insight from Aaron Shust

This will also be posted at my quote library blog. I stumbled on it today through worship.com ... delighted to find it a profound answer to a question we often wrestle with in helping the worship teams we lead find a balance.

"There are two definitions in the Hebrew for worship. One is a bowing and bending of the knee, and the other is labor and service. Take any given Sunday morning. You’ve got a band on stage that is working hard to play their instruments, to make sure they’re playing accurately. Chances are they’re not lost in the rapture and the beauty of God. They’re focused on making sure their guitars are in tune. But that, in God’s eyes in the Hebrew word, qualifies as worship. It’s labor and service.
"On the flip side of the stage, if the people out there are hearing the words, their hearts are embracing the words; they’re getting lost in the emotion of the music, and they’re worshipping through bowing and bending of the knee. It’s comforting to know that I can do this work. I can make sure the guitars are in tune and warm up my voice, and God sees that as pleasing worship."

~Aaron Shust