[Major Tom]

I think my objection to the rut thing is just that it is a rut, and therefore ritualistic and perfunctory.

A lot of good points have been made on a lot of sides of this issue.

[Jo Mo]

I hope that I was'nt the one that started the discussion about God leading and changing everything in a worship service. Anyway, yeah, it happens even when we feel that God himself gave us a list to begin with only to change it suddenly. There can be several different reasons for this. Paul in explaining the work of the Holy Spirit in a service in I cor. chapter 12 & 14 the Spirit moves as he will. Sometimes an individual will come into the service that has a special need. God in his love and mercy directs his attention to this one person for ministry purposes. You follow His lead and as a result that person is blessed. You see its not hey this is the way I am going to do it, but, God do as thou wilt. When we lift Him up He will draw all men unto Him. It does'nt matter what others think about the worship service but it matters to God. And when we do it Gods way, not only is that particular individual blessed but everybody else is to.

[Jesus freak!!]

Let me explain my self, I don't know why but I will be in the middle of a service and feel like I should do somthing different. Now if you want to say that I don't understand the Holy Spirit that is fine but that is what I feel is the right thing to do. Now I don't change all the time, most of the time the songs we practice before are the ones we do. I dont know why God would change songs like that but I am not going to question him. God tends to be right most of the time All of you guys (and girls?) have very strong points.

[Indazone]

Originally Posted by KeyboardFreak

Why would God wait until the last second to "tell you to change songs"?

Why would God wait until the last second to stop Abraham from killing his first born? I don't really think we can confine God's timing to just preparation, or just spontaneity, but we should be open to both and anything inbetween when God calls on us.

[ryanspeer]

Originally Posted by Indazone

Why would God wait until the last second to stop Abraham from killing his first born? I don't really think we can confine God's timing to just preparation, or just spontaneity, but we should be open to both and anything inbetween when God calls on us.

BINGO!!! Indazone, you've hit the perverbial "nail on the head".

[Nate]

Originally Posted by Indazone

Why would God wait until the last second to stop Abraham from killing his first born?

Because He was testing Abraham's faith. I don't think Abraham's experience can really be used as an example for our worship services.

In His love,
Nate

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by Shredcheddar

Thanks, I do

That's always nice to hear .

[georgeo]

I won't say that one should never change songs from what was originally planned. I do, however, believe that the overreliance on the "we'll do in on the fly" approach to worship planning leads to emotionallism, singing what feels good to you.

I believe that through planning of scripture and song and other elements, one can figure out before the event what song or scripture would fit the progression of worship best. This works even better with prayer.

Situations where changing songs would be appropriate: major, unexpected events-tragedies, big problems in school, things like that.

I really don't think audibling is all that neccessary.

[Indazone]

Originally Posted by KeyboardFreak

Because He was testing Abraham's faith. I don't think Abraham's experience can really be used as an example for our worship services.

In His love,
Nate

And of course, Abraham knew this beforehand didn't he? Oh, wait no... no, he didn't. He didn't have a clue -- he did what God had told him to do, and then at the last second things changed.

Is it really so hard to swallow the fact that we can't predict/confine God's timing? Even when it comes to worship?

[Al Webber]

Its getting the balance right. When I was much younger than I am today we would turn up not having a clue what we were going to be playing. Sometimes they would just start with one song and see where it led from there. The songs were generally simpler 20 years ago so it wasn't quite as scary as it sounds. I don't think that this approach is right - I think that that there should be prayer and preparation in advance and the majority of times you will go with what you prepared in advance but there needs to be the flexibility to be led by the Holy Spirit.

We may be giving this discussion more importance than it deserves though. Exactly which songs we sing is not nearly as important as the attitude we sing them with.

Al

[Jesus freak!!]

Amen Al!!!! Beautifuly said!! Just what I was trying to say.