In 1993, I tagged along with one of my friends to a U2 concert. Even though I wasn’t much of a fan, I had heard a couple of their songs on the radio and thought it might be a good show. I wasn’t prepared for what I would experience:
Bono just may be the greatest worship leader in history.
Some kind of supernatural group experience took place there in the L.A. Coliseum. We sang our lungs out and we stood in reverent awe and we raised our hands to Heaven. It was like the best church service I had ever been to. I almost hugged the drunk guy next to me.
What happened? How was Bono able to take three-chord rock ‘n’ roll, a bunch of video screens and a giant mirror-ball lemon … and connect me with God? Why did I arrive wanting to buy a T-shirt, and leave wanting to change the world? How could something as throwaway as pop music connect me with the eternal?
I have a couple theories …
First, Bono harnesses the power of a group experience. It quickly became clear the four members of U2 were only a part of the performance, and Bono invited us in every chance he could. It wasn’t “listen to us play and then you clap,” it was “let’s create something beautiful and huge together!” And we did. Their concert turned into our concert, and the rock mega-stars became our backing band.
This gift must burn through the veins of every worship leader. We are artists, but our job is not simply to perform. We use our gifts to engage an audience, but not simply to entertain them. We are accompanists. We accompany the primary instruments, which are the voices of the community. This involves setting the vibe and musical foundation to leap from, being both easy to follow and great at following, helping serve the experience by knowing when to assert ourselves and when to get out of the way, and most importantly, playing in such a way that the music is inadequate without the community singing their hearts out. I often tell our worship band that if our rehearsal sounds complete on Thursday night, then it’s too full. As good accompanists, we need to use great skill in crafting space for the main voices, which are not ours.
Second, Bono wrestles with, understands and can articulate the nature of praise. He always uses stories and word pictures that widen and expand rather than reduce or neuter. He lifts up the stones and explores underneath, but he never tries to conquer such a deep and elusive mystery. This is an excerpt from his introduction to the book of Psalms, entitled “Elvis, the Bible, and Me” (New York: Grove Press, 1999):
“Anyway, I stopped going to churches and got myself into a different kind of religion. Don’t laugh, that’s what being in a rock ‘n’ roll band is, not pseudo-religion either. … Showbusiness is Shamanism: Music is Worship; whether it’s worship of women or their designer, the world or its destroyer, whether it comes from that ancient place we call soul or simply the spinal cortex, whether the prayers are on fire with a dumb rage or dove-like desire … the smoke goes upwards … to God or something you replace God with … usually yourself.”
Worship is an enormously wide idea that will take all of eternity to explore. And I think it’s important to wrestle with it. However, in trying to figure out my role in the church, I’ve often stumbled trying to expand my job title of “worship leader” to fill this expansive idea. What began with earnest intentions kept ending up grandiose and over-inflated. The reality is God has created many worship leaders—teachers, community, the Bible, nature, pain, doubt, sights, sounds, smells—I’m just the one with a piano. And I get to play my little role with some songs. Musical worship is to Worship the way Q-tips are to cotton swabs—one brand of a much bigger thing.
Third, Bono pushes us to action. Is it awkward seeing a rock star shaking hands with George Bush? Yes. Is it odd seeing the lead singer of a band trading sunglasses with the Pope? Yes. Does Bono care? He doesn’t seem to. He’s too busy trying to change the world, and too busy trying to get all of us to join him. In the last decade, Bono has crusaded on the behalf of an entire continent that is being devastated by AIDS … and not just with a couple rich-person benefit concerts. He’s been touring the world—speaking, singing, writing and trying to shake those of us who “have” into doing something for those who “have not.” And “calling people to active love” just may be the central role of a worship leader.
