Music ministry auto-pilot: 6 signs you may be losing your passion

Routine:

a:  regular course of procedure

b: Habitual or mechanical performance of an established procedure

All of us have these, don’t we? It’s only natural, after all. Any one thing or group of things that you do on such a regular basis that you don’t have to really think about the process anymore will eventually become your “routine”. If I asked you to describe a typical day, you could certainly do it without hesitation. In fact most of us can include specific days and times that  events happen on a daily basis, like clock work. This is not a bad thing, really. A routine gives our lives order and helps us be productive. It helps us carry out the list of daily things we all need to get accomplished, and do so in a productive way. So, a routine in this sense is a good thing.

So, when is a routine a bad thing? When you remove that little “a” in front of it. Then the word takes on a different meaning, doesn’t it?  When something goes from being considered a routine to just being “routine”, something important has been lost emotionally. Many of us can easily find ourselves in this place with our service in the music ministry. After all, the process of rehearsing and then performing songs for the Sunday service week after week is very repetitive. Often without realizing it you can find yourself simply going through the motions.
Many of us find ourselves having slipped into this state of music ministry auto-pilot, if you will. It’s a place where you may still enjoy being a part of the ministry, but it doesn’t mean quite what it did to you before. Now you just do it because it’s a part of you routine. You go to rehearsal on (insert rehearsal night here), you sing on Sunday. That’s what you do. Because that’s what you’ve always done. Only now, what was once part of your routine has somehow slipped into becoming “routine”; meaning mundane, lacking any real passion or enthusiasm.  Sadly, for some of us it even deteriorates to the level of becoming a “chore” . It’s something that happens so gradually that it can and often does sneak up on us before we’re aware it’s even happening.
Here then, are 6 simple “warning signs” that you may be losing your passion for the music ministry. Signs that what used to be an exciting, passionate way to serve God is slowly becoming more like definition “b” above: A “habitual or mechanical performance of an established procedure”.  

(that becomes more powerful to me every time I read it. There’s definitely something for me personally in that definition).

1. You see your service in the music department as your “job”.

2. You find that you don’t think about the music ministry except when you’re headed to rehearsal or Sunday morning services.

3. You seldom feel the Holy Spirit when you’re singing or playing, except maybe during the performance of new material.

4. You find that you no longer like older songs that you used to love when they were first introduced.

5. You don’t tend to express a lot of enthusiasm or excitement during performances, even when being coaxed to do so by the director or worship leader. And you feel like others who do are being excessive or “over-the-top”.

6. You resist or find irritating, any kind of changes to the way things are normally done in your music department