Sing the same song for 2 hours???

Have you ever been on a long plane ride, like seven hours? Some of the longest flights, like to Australia, can take up to 18 hours. Imagine that flight without any in-flight entertainment. Just you, staring at the seat in front of you, unable to walk around. Maybe you're stuck by the window with two big sleeping people between you and the aisle for 18 hours. It's almost torture.

In-flight entertainment, whether a book or movies provided by the plane, barely makes the long flight bearable. How many movies can you watch in 18 hours before getting fatigued? The point is, that in-flight entertainment makes time pass faster. Without it, 18 hours feels like an eternity—completely boring and undesirable.

In the worship community, people often joke about "singing the same bridge over and over again". I've heard of worship times where they sang one song for two hours or how about nine-hour worship sessions? Yikes!

I remember attending an intense worship time in Florida in my early twenties. It was so crazy that even old ladies with gray hair were dancing non-stop. I couldn't keep up, was sweating profusely, and had to retreat to the bathroom to cool off. Everyone else was still in the auditorium praising and dancing. There are levels to this thing...

When I was younger, I wondered if praising the Lord forever in heaven would be boring. But angels around the throne cry "holy, holy, holy" endlessly because they're responding to a recurring revelation of God's infinite wonder.

What is it about a two-hour song that we're missing? How could that possibly be a good thing?

Well, it's like a ten-hour flight; it feels unbearably long if you're not engaged in something like in-flight entertainment or sleeping.

They didn't set out to sing for two hours; they encountered Someone during that song and didn't want to leave.

Think about a long car trip where you're having a passionate discussion or listening to an engaging podcast. Time flies because you're engaged. This principle applies to worship too.

The song is like a flight; if you focus only on the words and music, it can feel repetitive. But when you focus on WHO you are singing to and encountering during the song, singing holy a thousand times is nothing.

Our level of encounter is so low that "repeating the bridge" is a joke, a silly thing we do. Do we joke about the only song angels sing around the throne? That song doesn’t even have a bridge - just one line “Holy, Holy, Holy”

What could possibly make that repetitive refrain bearable?

Only encounter. A response to revelation.

It’s what makes lifetime marriage possible. They say romance is the continual discovery and exploration of the other person. Curiosity and intimacy with the other make for a long romantic marriage. The moment we think we have heard it all, nothing left to see here… we lose interest and look away.

One of my most memorable worship times was at a Toronto airport. I felt face-to-face with God, singing and making melody in my heart. It felt like 15 minutes but turned out to be an hour and a half. That encounter made the passage of time irrelevant.

That encounter, along with many others, is why I push for presence-based, encounter-seeking worship. There is soooo much more to discover.

Many of us focus too much on the songs rather than engagement with God during worship. We need to learn to find the Lord in the song and respond to Him as we sing. When we do that, repeating a bridge won't matter because meeting the endless God takes our breath away.

When you focus on the flight… every minute is long. When you focus on the movie… time flies (literally)

When you focus on the song, that's when you need it to be musically engaging and dynamic because it can get boring quickly. When you focus on the person of Jesus, and respond to His promised presence… you forget the song you are singing. The song is like the car you are driving or the flight you are on. It fades into the background.

Linger. We must put this dynamic back into our worship—linger like Joshua did after Moses met with the Lord. Linger in the song. He doesn't want our song, he wants our hearts that use the song as a method of encounter. This desire to linger comes from encountering God's presence. Lord, show us how.