Foot-Stamping at Church

John, Anna, and I were recently asked to play special music in the church service. One thing led to another, and we soon found ourselves doing special music twice in the service and leading part of the congregational singing! I found myself wondering how I get myself into these things.

We were a little concerned about how our music was going to be received because we generally play rip-roaring bluegrass but our church is the pipe organ variety! Never in the entire history of the church, had there been music like there was last Sunday. The music leaders certainly liked it, though. We had played for them ahead of time, and that’s how we ended up doing so many songs for the service.

John played his banjo, I played the guitar, and Anna played the fiddle. We played gospel songs and tried to keep things toned down so as to hopefully not get kicked out of the church. It was so different from the music we usually have at our church that I figured people would either love it or hate it. It was interesting the way the church treated us like a visiting musical group or something. They even had a paragraph in the bulletin that said something about “welcoming the Pedersen family as they share their unique worship style with us”! I think that actually helped by making it seem like sort of one-time thing so people wouldn’t freak out and think this was the new yee-haw church!

Well, it turned out that the congregation absolutely loved it. Lots of people complimented us and said things like:

-When are you playing again?
-I didn’t know you could sing or play instruments!
-You brought back memories of my childhood.
-It was a breath of fresh air.
-Y’all were awesome!!
-Do you have any albums?

So now we have a whole other set of problems. We’re pretty much famous now. It felt very much like we’d given a concert, because we got so much attention. I’m glad people enjoyed the music, but that’s really not what a worship service is supposed to be about. We’re supposed to be focusing on the Lord, and I found it a little unsettling to have people seeming to be focusing on us so much. I almost felt like I owed God an apology. On the other hand, the other side of this argument that I’m having with myself is that we had the opportunity to use our God-given talents for God’s glory and to play and sing songs about him.

Also, from a more selfish perspective, we really enjoyed the opportunity to prepare the songs and play and sing together. We hadn’t really done a bluegrass-style performance together before, (for more than family and close friends) and it was great fun.