Hybrid worship

Hybrid cars: seemingly esoteric a few years ago, but all the rage in the current environment. Two power sources, one gasoline and the other rechargeable electric, share duties to power one vehicle forward.

We’ve seen a lot of hybrid worship artists in the Worship Café over the last few weeks. Just one power source, mind you, but two different tracks on which the artists run. Kim McMechan, Andrew Smith, and Ari Neufeld, to name a few, all pursue careers as musicians and singer/songwriters in the non-church arena, yet all have graced our stage at Worship Café as worship leaders.

 They don’t fit the typical slot of ‘worship leader’, in that most of their repertoire does not consist of cover versions of worship songs known by believers everywhere. Probably most of them would even hesitate to call themselves worship leaders.

But as singer/songwriters who also engage the rest of the world face-to-face with their art, they bring a heartfelt authenticity to the table when it comes to leading worship. Kim, Andrew, and Ari each have gut-level songs that speak from and to deeper issues in life than one normally hears addressed on a Sunday morning. Their songs, even though they’re not necessarily ones we’d all sing along with, resonate with truth.

Am I saying more typical Sunday-morning worship leaders don’t operate in authenticity? Not at all. I’m one of those myself.

I’m saying that these artists, in the context of the Worship Café, have shared deep and precious inner thoughts with us as the viewers, both in their songs and in their spoken lead-in to songs. They’ve touched on topics, including depression and wrestling with God, that are not the common ingredients of a more ‘typical’ Sunday morning time of musical worship.

The book of Psalms includes a number of  laments, songs written out of angst or inner turmoil. Rarely do we hear songs based on these passages, even though it’s clear the ancient Hebrews were not afraid to wrestle with God one-on-one over things which weighed them down. But I’ve heard songs at Worship Café which could be called laments.

So what is it about Worship Café that allows these artists the freedom to talk and sing about things they’d perhaps normally reserve for the non-worship concert stage? I don’t know; it might be just that we’re meeting in a coffee shop, and the environment is free enough that everyone just feels safe. Like I said, I don’t really know – but I know that I like it. And I’m sure hoping it will continue.