The guitar is not my main outlet for creativity, but I do really love to play worship music. For years this love has been kept safely in the wee hours of my living room, but has recently exploded into amplified worship leading for a group of 20-50 people. My skill level is far from awesome. I tend to use words like “proficient” or “adequate” to describe my guitar playing. This is not only my first experience leading a band, it’s my first experience being in a band.
In my defense, I think I’m a much better band leader today than I was two months ago. And really, there are very few activities I can say that about. But to be honest, I’m just not great at this yet. As possibly evidenced by my drummer taking a (hopefully) temporary leave from the band. Tonight I will miss the steady beat of the toms and the metallic rustle of the cymbals behind me, that surprising tonality I was just getting used to. She is a pretty fantastic musician. I already miss the generous heart of my drummer, who was always willing to give me a ride to band practice.
Which is how I wound up at the church at 9am on a Tuesday morning. Since the cute husband and I share a car, the only way for me to make a 4pm worship practice was to have him drop me off at the church on his way to work in the morning. So today my writing will be done in a back room of the church. I have settled in on the one couch the church owns, which I’m pretty sure the youth group picked up off a friendly curb. As my habit goes, I’ve formed a little nest for myself. I have my laptop, a bag full of food that I will carefully dole out throughout the day, my iphone is blasting my writing playlist, and my guitar is resting in its case nearby. Later it will be an instrument for worship. At the moment it’s serving as a coffee table/footrest.