Music & Worship

When Jesus said the time is here to worship in spirit and truth, he wasn’t talking about music. He wasn’t talking about raised hands or even church services at all. He was talking about a Way of life, the experience of bringing the presence of God consciously into every moment of our lives. Paul called this praying continuously.

A 17th century French monk, Brother Lawrence called it the “practice of the presence of God.” Brother Lawrence found God just as present among the pots and pans of his kitchen as he did in any formal worship at chapel. This is worshipping in spirit and in truth–a way of living in which work, play, prayer, fellowship, formal worship, liturgy all become one seamless flow of connection from our heart to God’s, sanctifying everything in its path and making every moment a prayer. Not a spoken prayer, but a living one. In the church today, worship has been given a more specific and much narrower definition. We now relate worship almost solely to church services and more specifically to the singing and playing of worship music.

But even though our formal times of worship are only a part of the whole, we believe they are vitally important as long as they lead to and call to mind the fuller meaning of worshipping in spirit and truth.

The Music
Our lives have become so noisy and busy that it is often only in the context of music that we can turn off or drown out the noise and distraction that makes God seem so remote. In essence, the music becomes a carrier wave on which our spirits can rest and be carried away into God’s presence. Our musical worship time can then become the touchstone for what true worship is supposed to be, and the vehicle for bringing it out of the sanctuary and into the pots and pans of our moment by moment lives. Musical worship is a huge part of the experience of God’s presence at theeffect.

We believe the most effective worship leaders are those who simply get lost in worship themselves and let others follow. In effect, they present the musical vehicle for worship and then get out of the way–trying not to call attention to themselves and allowing the Spirit to do the heavy lifting. It’s all about allowing everyone present to quiet mind and heart enough to become conscious of God’s presence. And if these times of musical worship are then linked to our every waking moment, we’re all well on the Way.

The Band
theeffect worship band has been playing at churches and other venues throughout Orange County, CA for over twenty years playing both original worship music and contemporary and traditional favorites. The band has recorded two albums available on CD:

You Never Run Dry, a studio recording of ten original songs is available at theeffect.

Alive Worship is a live recording of ten songs, a mix of original and worship covers, also available at theeffect.

More CD information at our resources page.