monday's meeting

"I'm a recovering worshiper." - Griff

earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal

a couple of days ago i posted the lyrics to a hymn that resonated with my heart. today another has found me. i've been thinking about why i love hymns, and i have come to believe that it's because they tell us our story. i could go on and on about how we need to hear our stories again and again. but for the sake of this post, i'll just say that i think God in His great wisdom knew that we would so quickly forget our stories. so, He commanded us to return to them again and again. to tell them, to write them, to live them, to rehearse them. and, i think the great hymn writers knew that. so, as i listen to hymns written years and years ago, i am caught up in the beauty of the poetry that describes just where i am today. here's another one: "Come Ye Disconsolate" which means "Come you who are hopelessly unhappy or you who are deep in despair." and, in case you are wondering, Indelible Grace does have a beautiful arrangement of it which i have been enjoying very much today.

"Come Ye Disconsolate" words by Thomas Moore, 1816

1. Come, ye disconsolate, where'er ye languish,
Come to the mercy seat, fervently kneel.
Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your anguish;
Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal.

2. Joy of the desolate, light of the straying,
Hope of the penitent, fadeless and pure!
Here speaks the Comforter, tenderly saying,
"Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot cure."

3. Here see the bread of life, see waters flowing
Forth from the throne of God, pure from above.
Come to the feast of love; come, ever knowing
Earth has no sorrow but heaven can remove.

Come, ye disconsolate, where'er ye languish.

counting men

Last night as I unpacked the final boxes of books and placed them in the few spaces left on my shelves, I began to wonder if one could have too many books. In my recent quest for simplicity, I have rid my home of many of my belongings. But, as I looked at the books, I realized there weren't really any that I wanted to get rid of.

As I stood there, I thought about a friend of mine who had counted his books and was nearing one thousand. I have never counted my books, and it occurred to me that I could. But, just as quickly as the thought crossed my mind, the story found in I Chronicles 21 also came to mind. It's here that we find King David wanting to count his warriors. And, he gives the order to number all of the fighting men. This command disgusts Joab though he does follow the orders of his king. We also read in this text that David's desire to count his men was not from God. So, the act of the numbering was detestable to the Lord as well. Because of David's disobedience, a plague falls upon the people who were under the care of King David.

This is sobering. Because of the disobedience of the leader, God curses the people.

We also read in the story that David repents and asks that the punishment fall on David and his household. And, God "relents" before destroying Jerusalem. Without getting into the theology of God relenting or King David's influence on God's decision, in some form the message is the same: a leader has great responsibility and great influence.

To be honest, I'm not too concerned about my leadership over the books in my Kingdom (though I don't think I will count them today). My concern instead is for my personal obedience and my leadership in the church. Moments like these, I am relieved that I am not called to the office of senior pastor (we'll skip my theology on this point as well...), but I also shudder as I consider the responsibility I find in guiding the people and direction of the worship ministry which is under my care. And, again I fall on my knees and utter:

Kýrie, eléison;
Christé, eléison;
Kýrie, eléison. Amen.

cleaning out

seriously, what does one do with all the music that was once cutting edge and now is kind of dull? i realize this opens a whole host of questions as to what makes music "good," but more on that later. right now i have to figure out what to do with these boxes of spiral bound praise and worship music books complete with flute, oboe, guitar, keyboard and synth parts.

amateur actors

"Oh, brother or sister, God calls us to worship, but in many instances we are in entertainment, just running a poor second to the theaters. That is where we are, even in the evangelical churches, and I don't mind telling you that most of the people we say we are trying to reach will never come to a church to see a lot of amateur actors putting on a home-talent show."
- A.W. Tozer, Whatever Happen to Worship

I have been thinking a lot about evangelism, and it's place in worship. I don't have any answers, but more and more I think our corporate worship services aren't the place to begin the task. But, instead, we need to be going out to those who need to be introduced to the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So, I guess I am jumping on the missional bandwagon. Any thoughts you have about the marriage of worship and evangelism are most welcome here....

My prayer tonight: Father, may it never be that we are more interested in bringing people to see the show than we are interested in humbly bowing before you. Lord, convict us when we are merely amateur actors putting on a home-talent show. Give us wisdom to know how to unite evangelism and worship in ways that bring you glory, share your love, and proclaim your truth. In all of our creativity and brainstorming, may we never lose sight of our purpose as leaders in the Church. May our lives be such that people are drawn to you and drawn to worship you. In Jesus' name. Amen.

boring stuff from the worship director

I tend to be drawn to songs with "Hallelujah" in them.* So, yesterday morning as I was getting ready for the day, a praise song was bouncing around in my head. I was singing the Hallelujah part, and then I came to the end of the song. And, as I was singing it I realized that I didn't at all agree with the theology. It was a little disconcerting to me that I had never realized this before. And, I was convicted. As the director of worship and music in my little church, I really need to be aware of the theology we are promoting in our corporate worship services.

Perhaps I have written before about my belief that today much of our theology comes from our music. The words we sing impact the way we think. So, as I am singing the lyrics in my day-to-day life, the theology becomes a part of me. I wonder if this is more of a new phenomenon. Now that we have access to music in the car, and in our homes, and on our mp3 players, lyrics follow us everywhere we go.

Not so long ago, the family I lived with sang a little song to me, and in a strange way I think it applies here.

"Be careful little ears what you hear,
Be careful little ears what you hear...."


*for an explanation on why, go to "a not-so-little dance of joy" from last spring.

i am moved

This morning I am struck by the first years of Jesus' life. Not so long ago I was having a conversation with a friend about the patterns of the stars during Mary's pregnancy and into the first years of Christ's life. My friend was telling me all about the constellations and how they have simulated with computer programs the actual sky that the so called "Kings" would have been studying as they were waiting and watching for the miraculous coming of the Messiah. The crazy thing (or not so crazy, really) is that the patterns found in the skies so many years ago actually line up with the account found in the pages of Scripture. I am not an astrologist, but it fits in with my experience with Scripture.

So, I've been reflecting on this all of Advent and now during Christmastide. And, as I opened my Bible this morning to read Matthew's account of Jesus' birth, several things moved me to worship.

First, the account of the Magi now makes more sense. It doesn't seem to be one star that they followed, but several constellations that announced such spectacular things with an amazing amount of accuracy. Our God is a god who rules all of the universe.

Second, so much prophecy. So much fulfillment. Our God is a god who rules all of the timing of all of the days.

Third, Joseph was a critical piece of the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The account reveals to us Joseph's constant attention to direction from the Lord. It was no small thing for him to take Mary to be his wife and receive Jesus into his lineage. It was no small thing for him to pack up and go to Bethlehem with a very pregnant wife. It was no small thing for him to consistently hear and obey the voice of the Lord as our God instructed Joseph to move his family from place to place. And, I imagine it was no small thing for him to move them again and again as the Lord commanded it step-by-step. Maybe it's because I'm on my tenth address in three years, and I don't really understand the purpose of the constant transition, but looking at the story of our Lord shows me that with each move there was purpose, and with each move it may or may not have been clear to Joseph just why the Lord was moving him and his family as He was. Our God is a god who rules the universe, it's timing, and our timing within that timing.

And, I am moved.

just so you know....
You are invited to share your thoughts, ideas,
prayers, etc. on the comment card posts...

christingles

This year I was introduced to a new kind of Christmas service called a Christingle Service. Christingle means "Christ Light" and the service is a celebration of Christ coming to be a light to the world. The church I am a part of has done several of these services and has used the article in Reformed Worship as a guideline for the service. For us, the service began in the fellowship hall. It was here that we made our Christingles beginning with an orange and ending with the fruit, nuts and candy on the toothpicks. Each part of the christingle is symbolic. I think what I enjoyed the most about the service is that with the symbol, the ideas stick with you. It's also a great opportunity for children and teens to get involved. We distributed the parts to members of the youth group and had them help everyone make their Christingles as the service began. Though it is probably best saved as a Christmas Eve service, we found it helpful in preparing ourselves for the coming Christ a few weeks before Christmas. Whenever you do it, it is a great opportunity to share the story of Christ - that old familiar favorite - with a bit of a different twist. And, it gives you something to take home to remember the event as well!

guarding the meaning

The way we speak about things reveals the heart behind the subject matter. There are a few words that make me shutter when people use them in reference to worship. Depending on the person and the situation, I may or may not correct someone. For instance, if someone refers to the musical part of a corporate worship service as the "worship" it may reveal that they don't find the preaching or reading of Scripture as worship. However, when someone turns over their life to Christ, their entire life becomes worship. So, worship is not limited to the singing part of a Sunday morning service, but includes most (I wish I could say all) of life. A definition of worship that I have come to use as my own is from Dr. Parrett at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary. One of the ways he defines worship is "Bowing all that we are before all that He is." It's a life thing, not a singing thing. In his article "Defining Missional" in the Fall 2008 issue of Leadership, Alan Hirsch says:

"There are consequences when the meanings of words become confused. This is particularly true within a biblical worldview. The Hebrews were suspicious of images as conveyors of truth, so they guarded words and their meanings carefully. Part of theology, therefore, includes guarding the meaning of words to maintain truth within the community of faith."

I couldn't agree more

just so you know....
You are invited to share your thoughts, ideas, prayers, etc. on the sunday symposium posts...
"symposium - 1. A drinking together; a merry feast. -T. Warton. 2. A collection of short essays by different authors on a common topic; so called from the appellation given to the philosophical dialogue by the Greeks."
symposium. Dictionary.com. Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary. MICRA, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/symposium (accessed: December 14, 2008)