I have been really taken by the Lord's prayer lately, and think I am just beginning to figure out why. For a "worship leader", I have had a pretty extreme aversion to calling the singing we do on a Sunday morning "worship". Somehow to me it compartmentalizes worship far too much. When I see it's usage in scripture, worship is so broad. It is about an entire life given over to living a different way, a life changed completely by Love and acting upon it. So then a song is worship, a prayer is worship, taking a homeless guy out for a hamburger is worship, being kind to your kids is worship, being crazy generous with your money is worship. But we tend to use the word interchangeably with 35 minutes of singing on a Sunday morning. Think about it. Someone says, "she loves to worship". In my culture, most people take that to mean, "she loves to sing songs to God." It should probably mean, "she really is diligent about being like Jesus."

Yeah, yeah, so what does this have to do with the Lord's prayer?

Well, it is changing my thinking about what my "worship leading" really is. It is prayer. I realize that my definition of prayer is poor. I tend to think of prayer as asking God for stuff. It is that, but that too is narrow. Christ starts off with "worship". "Father in heaven, holy is your name". Then asking (macro), "Let your kingdom come!" Then more asking (micro), "Give us enough to eat today..." Repentance, "forgive us as we forgive.." Asking for deliverance, and then finishes off with more praise and worship, "The kingdom, the power and the glory is all yours, forever!!!"

So when we sing together, I am approaching it as prayer, as a part of worship. Because through prayer, the spirit leads us into action (I hope), and into the fullness of what it means to worship God. For some people, I know this seems a little irrelevant, but it sure helps me. I guess it is something to do with a passion for "true worship", which can't be centered on only music...