#setlist

I caught myself doing something I can’t stand.

A couple of weeks ago, I started tweeting my praise band’s set list and requesting prayer for our team (For the record, the past couple of weeks have been Spirit-filled. Thanks to those who pray for us.).

Then, I see Todd Agnew doing the same thing. All of a sudden, I feel like I’m in good company. But at the end of his, I see the following: “#setlist.”

(For the Twitter-illiterate, the number sign in front of a word indicates it is a trend. Users follow trends to join conversations about various topics.)

I followed the “setlist” trend, and I find tweets from other worship leaders outlining the songs they did or are doing Sunday. “Great!” I think. “I can get some great ideas this way.”

Then it happened. I read a setlist of hymns.

My critical thoughts went something like this: “Hymns aren’t a setlist! A setlist is a band song thing. Hymns are too old fashioned for ‘setlist.’ Those songs are just phoned-in, pre-sermon singing.”

First, I assumed the exact thing that I fear people assume about me: that I just pick songs out of a hat with no prayer, conscious thought, or Spirit leading involved.

Second, I belittled in my mind an entire genre of worship songs. If you don’t attend my church, you might not understand how hypocritical this is: I lead worship in a contemporary AND a traditional service! But somehow, in my mind, I separated the two. Setlist for first service, hymns for second. Like it matters.

I know better than that. Doctrine versus preference is a fight I engage in often, and am dedicated to the former and skeptical to dismissive of the latter. I endeavor to bathe my song choices in prayer and trust the Holy Spirit to use them.

How dare I assume this brother did not!

This just reaffirmed in my heart that songs, hymns, and spiritual songs all have valid purpose. This is true whether you program “Majesty” or “Majestic,” use a 50-year-old piano or a band, or call it a “setlist” or “order of worship.”