Just Side Effects
I usually don't like helping with music for church. In the past, I've pushed away offers to join worship groups, worship leading roles when offered on youth Sundays, and even hymn leading because there was always someone else who was able and willing. Anything up in the front was stressful. I wanted to do it right; I couldn't live with messing up in front of so many people. If someone else could do it, I was happy to let them. There was also the compounding Jared Stutzman attitude that worship should never be a performance, and being at the podium always felt like I was showing off. My eager pride could so easily begin to take precedent over any good intentions. I would much rather sit among the congregation and sing as part of the group forced into a place of knowing that though I am a choir nerd, my voice is no more important than anyone else's to God, and that though I could write down my own, unvoiced reflections, I have no more wisdom than anyone else, and I don