People say the weirdest things. I know that I'm probably just as guilty for saying stupid things, which is why this makes me qualified to talk about such nonsense. I've been a worship leader for a few years now and this position is not exempt from receiving weird comments. Now don't get me wrong, being a worship leader has some really good benefits like:
1. You get to choose the songs.
2. You get to decide how many times you'll repeat that chorus.
3. You get to tell people (mostly the church) what to do (like when to sit, clap and be still).
4. You get to leave your back up singers out to dry when you decide to go up an octave without them knowing (that's always fun).
But this job also has it's downside like:
1. People always point out that you messed up the words.
2. People always point out the fact that the words are misspelled on the PPT.
3. People always point out that it's too loud.
4. People always point out that your zipper is down (j/k....God forbid that ever happening).
But the absolute worse thing I'd want to hear are the dreaded words, "Great worship!" Ahhhhh! Nooooo! I must have heard that about 5 or 6 times today. Now, I don't mind when someone says the music was great or you guys sounded great, but "great worship?" I mean are we still calling music worship and worship music like they are the same thing? And I know most of these people have great hearts (well....most of them.....yes.....I know their hearts...don't be jealous), but the problem I have is the obvious. If the music was terrible, which I'm sure sometimes it is (especially when you're playing the wrong song), does that make the worship bad? I know if it was, no one would come up to me and tell me. I guess it's just one of those things. The worst was when someone actually gave us,"Two thumbs up" or better yet when they said, "You guys scored a 10 today". Why thank you Ebert and Ropert for your wonderful review and insightful rating. Or better yet maybe when we are finished with the "great worship" we should move towards the front of the stage like on Star Wars IV, bow our heads, and accept our gold medals for scoring a perfect 10 and for destroying the Death Star. I'm sure God's thinking, "Man, those guys were right. That was great worship!"
What is it that you can't stand people say to you?
How do you respond?
I would love to hear any comments, so please share.
My dear friend, this is a wonderful conversation starter...so wonderful that I can't think of where to begin! Okay, I'll give it a try.
ReplyDeleteWhat I can't stand:
When people pull the "All things work together for good" card out of their pocket right after I've poured out my soul to them. It would be one thing if the statement was accompanied by some sort of concern, but let's level with each other. For we ALL KNOW what you REALLY mean when you pull the "all things work together for good" card out...what you want to say is: "Dang...I'm sorry I asked how you were doing today..." But you would NEVER say that, becuase that wouldn't be Christ like, now would it?
How I respond:
Typically I throw my arms around the person and cry out "THANK GOD for sending you to me at this moment...because I've been in church my whole life and NEVER HEARD THAT ONE before...You've changed my outlook on this whole thing!!!!!"
(Okay, I don't respond like that...but I'd love to work up the nerve, JUST ONCE....)
Love the blog. :) In addition to being mindful of yourself, you should be mindful of those backup singers...hanging them out to dry could be a dangerous practice. (You know how they are...they are probably plotting revenge right now!)
So I have been debating about whether or not to respond. I decided I would. So here is my tangent of your conversation:
ReplyDeleteI cannot stand it when people say, "I know how you feel." (In an emotional context).
In my head all I can think is, “NO YOU DON'T!” You are not me! There is no way that our histories are at all similar and our interpretations of our life experiences match up. Our personalities are different, our views of politics and some areas of religion are also different.
Even if we have shared some personal experiences or anything for that matter, we are still different. You may have experienced the death of a pet or the birth of a niece, like I have, but we process life and death, the concepts of them, and our new situation(s) differently. As long as we have separate minds, we will interpret even the same experiences differently.
Get the drift? We are different, so you cannot know how I feel.
A better response would be to say I cannot imagine how you are feeling/ how you feel. That's it. That is all that I feel needs to be said.
So next time I am having an emotional high or low and someone tells me they know how I feel, perhaps I will call them a liar.
;)
Jeff....
ReplyDeletePerhaps? I say you call them a liar to their face and watch their response. As a matter of fact, I think you need to go off and talk about the whole "death of a pet and birth of a niece" thing every time someone says, "I know how you feel." So....basically.....I know how you feel.
;)
"Are you tired?" as she (typically females do this) nods her head up and down at me. That's a huge pet peeve of mine. Especially when I've had a great night's sleep and am feeling pretty good.
ReplyDeleteThis almost always happens when I've either decided not to wear makeup or to wear very little. I understand makeup makes you look better, but why do people feel the need to ask that horribly rude question when I'm not dolled up? If I was that tired, I'd probably allude to that in my conversation.
I might not be so bothered by this if they would offer to run my errands and babysit my child so I could take a nap. At least I could get something out of it...but that's never happened.
Typically, my response is to look at them and say, "Yes, I'm exhausted," because I don't want to get into a debate with them that it's simply the lack of makeup that's causing them to believe this about me.
However, I'm not going to cave in anymore. The next time I'm asked that question, I will shake my head side to side and say, "Nope, I feel wonderful. Why, are you tired?"
Ha! That's classic! I can see the dialogue....
ReplyDeleteSchmo: "Are you tired?"
Jessica: "Nope, I feel wonderful. Why, are you tired?"
Schmo: "No, why would you ask me that?"
Jessica: "Well, I figured you're into asking really rude and stupid questions so I figured I would return the favor"
Schmo: "(Speechless)"
Jessica: "By the way, those bags under your eyes are huge, you might need some oil of olay for those crows feet and you should really get that hideous mole checked out!"