For those that missed it, our #SundaySetList from yesterday is below. If you lead worship (for students or for 'big church'), what did you do? What worked? What didn't? I'd love to hear…
My Redeemer Lives
You Are the Holy One (Engle)
Heavens Rejoice (Cofield)
How Great is Our God (Tomlin)
Shout to the Lord
Rise Up (Stephen Miller)
TAG: O Come Let Us Adore Him
Response: Jesus Paid it All (Kristian Stanfill)
After lots of prompting and arm-twisting, our little band is giving in. We're officially starting the preliminary steps to recording a CD of original worship music. So, here goes. I'm sure there will be more details to follow as this project develops, but for now, here's our first step.
UPDATE: we already have one house show that needs to be booked! Thanks for the $500 donation to get us started!
Last weekend, I ran in the Chuy’s Hot to Trot 5k with some bandmates (and their spouses) to raise money for Special Olympics. A very small race by serious runners’ standards, but we had a blast. Although none of us had seriously trained for the actual race, I was very much reminded why I love running and, more importantly, why the Apostle Paul uses the analogy for our Christian journey.
I always run better in a pack. I actually enjoy training and running by myself. It gives me time to unplug. Unwind. Clear out the cobwebs. Reboot my priorities. But, left to my own, I never run a per-minute mile as fast as I do when there are other runners around. They make me faster. They make me push harder. And they make me less tired. The momentum of the crowd is contagious and it always changes the way I run. As a believer, I need other runners alongside me. My spiritual life simply ‘runs’ better. It’s in our DNA to thrive on community and fellowship and relationships.
The race is reward. Things like stress management, weight control, cardiovascular health, etc., are simply byproducts of the real reward. The real reward is the camaraderie and brotherhood among a crowd of otherwise-strangers. Carbon-based life forms of all shapes, sizes, colors, languages, and skill come together under a single cause. And, if only for a morning, we are one. It sounds outright silly…unless you’re a runner. The reward is the ‘we’ that is found in the race. Like church, what we do on race-day-Sunday is a continuation of what we’ve been doing all week long at home and work and school. The ‘we’ is what makes it different. And how pleasing it is when children of all sizes, shapes, colors, languages, and ‘skill’ levels meet together for worship.
It reminds me to run MY race. As a novice, it can be easy to be intimidated by experienced runners who may be in better shape. Or have longer legs. Or newer shoes. Or…whatever. In a world that tries to make us all similar, it’s nice to be reminded that we are all different. The truth is that I am responsible to run my best and to be an encouragement and help to others in the race. If I can do those two things, I’ll be miles ahead of many in the crowd.
As with each race I run, it makes me want to run more. Longer. Harder. Hotter. Sweatier. To those on the sidelines, it may sound crazy. George S. Patton, U.S. Army General and 1912 Olympian, once said :
"if you are going to win any battle you have to do one thing.
You have to make the mind run the body.
Never let the body tell the mind what to do.
The body will always give up.
It is always tired in the morning, noon, and night.
But the body is never tired if the mind is not tired."
Paul told the church in Rome to ‘renew your mind’.
He told the church in Corinth, ‘I beat my body and make it my slave’.
I’m still learning those things, so I’m still running. And I’ve learned that, if you’re bored, it’s because you’re on the sidelines when you should be running.
"In order to achieve intimacy with Jesus,
without a commitment to Jesus,
at least one of us would have to be a whore."
-Tom Cottar, over coffee
"Reminding ourselves of the gospel is the most important daily habit we can establish. If the gospel is the most vital news in the world, and if salvation by grace is the defining truth of our existence, we should create ways to immerse ourselves in these truths every day. No days off allowed."
-CJ Mahaney, "Living the Cross Centered Life"
Early this morning, our staff got together and visited in young man in the hospital named Chris, who is continuing to fight for life against Leukemia. He’s an amazing young man who , after being diagnosed in high school, has followed hard after Jesus while his body is being ravaged with disease. After months of hospitalization, the medical community is frustrated at his lack of progress. So yesterday his parents called and asked if we would send some elders to come lay hands on him, pray and anoint him with oil, according to James 5:14.
And you bet we did.
As we prayed I was struck by the words of Greg Boyd, that prayer is foremost an act of warfare. We pray because it changes the future. Otherwise, why bother?
And because we are living in the midst of a now-and-not-yet conflict. In prayer, we are drawing a line in the sand, choosing sides. Yes, Jesus is King, but the battle is far from over. We elect a new president in November…and he takes office in January. But meanwhile we’re still living in early December.
And in December, we are still fighting Hell. Still working for Change. Still praying. Still living in defiance of the soon-to-be-outgoing Ruler of this world. Still an enemy of the state until January.
But January IS coming…
Please pray for Chris Ratliff.
If I affirm myself as a Catholic merely by denying all that is Muslim, Jewish, Protestant, Hindu, Buddhist, etc., in the end I will find that there is not much left for me to affirm as a Catholic: and certainly no breath of the Spirit with which to affirm it.
- Thomas Merton, from his book, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander
hmmm….
As I posted before, sometimes ridiculous things done in the name of God make my head want to explode. Things like wars. Boycotts. Televangelism.
This time, we're spinning our socks over our heads as an act of worship, while channeling the 80's New Wave/dance pop group Dead or Alive.
*warning: may cause nausea.
I wonder what I do that embarrasses Jesus and His bride….
I’m afraid many Christians see the Holy Spirit like some kind of spiritual appendix: they’re not really sure why he’s there in the first place. And if it was removed, we’d probably get along just fine.
Most of us believe we need the Holy Spirit’s power when we worship God, but we’ve minimized his role. What does it mean to ‘worship in spirit and in t
ruth’? Paul reminded the Philippians that ‘we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory of Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh’ (Phil. 3:3)
Huh?
When Heather and I were moving to our new house in Pflugerville, I foolishly carried our dining table (by myself) into the house. The next morning I could hardly get out of bed. I spent the entire day being dependent on her to take care of me. That day I was constantly reminded of one thing: I hate feeling dependent.
The truth is that I am weak and needy and dependent every time I step up to lead worship. Sinful desires wage war against me in my heart (1 Peter 2:11). The world has been calling me all week to immoral pleasures, ungodly attitudes, and passing rewards (1 John 2:15-17). And the Enemy is looking to devour me (1 Peter 5:8)
We are desperately dependent.
The Holy Spirit is here to help us. We show our dependence by asking him to empower us. Guide us. Lead us. That’s why we’re taught to pray in and by the Spirit and to pray for the Spirit’s working. He helps us in our weakness when we pray.
Confessing our utter dependence on the Holy Spirit should produce a deep sense of gratitude, humility, and peace in our hearts. It should free us from anxiety about how the service will flow, if band members will play correctly, if vocalists will be on pitch, and how people will respond to us. After all, it’s not our strength that displays God’s power, but our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9)
But we also need more than a simple acknowledgement of God’s Spirit. We also need to have an expectancy that He will act. Do our actions communicate that we believe God is actually with us? Deep down, do we expect him to reveal his power as we worship together?
Ultimately it is about what you and I believe about God. If he really is the great Jehovah, he really is unchanged, unchanging, and unchangeable. He really is the everlasting and eternal God. He really does still act.
Some of us believe in the Holy Spirit’s empowering presence theoretically, but don’t seem to believe God is active when we meet. He’s the Spirit of power in name only. Our focus is more on executing our plan than expecting God to do anything. We move through a song list without considering what the Spirit may want to accomplish as we sing.
The Holy Spirit is present and at work every time the church gathers. When people grasp something of God’s glory, the Spirit is at work. When people are convicted of sin, the Spirit is at work. When people receive hope and strength in the midst of a trial, the Spirit is at work. The Spirit reveals himself in any number of ways each time we gather.
God may not reveal his power in spectacular ways every time we meet, but we can expect him to reveal it in some way. And I’m fairly certain he wants to show his power much more often than we expect him to.
A young single mom came to my office yesterday. A young mother of two who is not plugged into our ministry, but simply ‘saw the cross’ on top of the building from across town and made her way to find someone to talk to. I just happened to be in the hallway when she came in.
For an hour, we talked (I mostly listened) about life, kids, unemployment, parenting, and Jesus. We both cried. She wasn’t looking for a handout. She was looking for hope. And for a safe place to shamelessly confess her problems and admit her guilt. She talked, leaving a trail of brokenness behind her…choices she was forced to make, unhealthy relationships she was in and out of, guilt and regret from years of ‘trying’. All the while, searching for something…someone….to make her feel complete. She had had enough of looking in the mirror each day and seeing a reflection that didn’t feel like it belonged to her. “This is not what I think I should have become..”
I found myself in her story. And we both cried. I tried to explain that she was loved already. That she was worthy of love and infinite value because she is an image-bearer of God Himself. That no man on the planet will satisfy her like Jesus will. That we all medicate in some degree to numb the hunger. Sometimes its alcohol or pornography or overeating or relationships. Sometimes its busyness and obsessive work habits and debt and being a ‘performer’ for those we want to impress. As Tyler Durden says, “[we are] working jobs we hate, buying stuff we don’t need, to impress people we don’t like.” Yet nothing really satisfies. Nothing outside of, or in addition to, Jesus really brings peace.
But our Hope is in the Prince of Peace. And our strength is in our confession and the bearing of each other’s burdens. We, the The Church, must be a place of shameless confession, where we admit struggles and failures…and receive Hope. Where we are real and honest and welcoming of anyone…anytime…in any condition. Where we each see ourselves as image-bearers of God who still desperately need the handout of amazing grace.
She came because she ‘saw the cross’.
BTW, that is the only way any of us come.
