Today, I have the privilege of sharing some thoughts about the mission of music in our corporate worship services over at the Theological Synergy blog. Ever wonder about the propose or mission of music in our church services? Head on over and give it a read…
I thought I would share this as we start the weekend – which is filled with many things, including opportunities for gathered worship (otherwise known as “church”).
God has been really working on me in this area lately. I’m far from where He would have me be and know I will never “arrive” at that place this side of Heaven.
Anyway, I thought I would share two songs that have been hitting me heavy this week:
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Instead of a Show, Jon Foreman
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Fade With Our Voices, Jason Gray
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“… Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
– Jesus (Mark 12:30-31)
“Speak up for those who can’t speak for themselves; defend the rights of the poor and needy.”
– Wisdom from King Lemuel’s mom (Proverbs 31:8-9)
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
– James the Just. (James 1:27)
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What will our “gathered” worship result in this coming week?
This morning I was reading Isaiah 26 and the second half of verse 8 jumped out at me:
Your name and renown [Lord] are the desire of our hearts. (NIV)
My Observation: It’s all about “heart”…without it appearance, words, & deeds are empty. I saw some HUGE hearts on Sunday. I was Blessed and I have to believe God smiled…
Sunday, our church held its 7th annual Car and Bike Show on our lawn. It’s come to be a great annual event that draws many from the community and offers a chance for car and bike (the motor and the pedal-types) enthusiasts to show off their toys and those who don’t have the toys to check them out, even drool (in a dignified way, of course).
The afternoon is always filled with cars & bikes, food, music, a dunk tank, a jump house, and tons of conversation. As in past years, we had a lot of people and the lawn was filled with cars. People come and hang out for 10 minutes or for three hours…it’s all good!
If that were all it was about, we’d call it good and start planning next year…
But that is not what it was about. As Pastor John put it Sunday morning, “it’s about people.”
It was about people.
It was about community.
It was about getting out of the “cube” in the corner of the lot on 2827 Flint avenue we call “church” and being the tangible hands and feet of Jesus.
Being the true Jesus.
The one that cares unconditionally and that is approachable and interested in talking without any “hitch” or angle – just being a friend.
I saw that. I heard it. I saw people at worship.
For sure, God smiled.
It’s a common question being asked by returning students right now – regardless of age or grade: “What did you do on your Summer vacation?” It’s somewhat lost on us adults…we don’t generally get three months off from work (although we’d like it!) OK, we do truncate the question and ask: “What did you do on your Summer vacation?”
Anyway, here we go:
<you>: Dennis! How’s it going? Love the blog, keep up the great work!
<me>: ‘sgoing pretty good. How ’bout you?
<you>: Fantabulous! Hey, What did you do on your Summer vacation?
<me>: I’m glad you asked…
The Deets:
This summer, our church went through a program called The Bible in 90 Days (aka BIND, aka B90X). It’s not a hard program with hidden details – it’s reading the Bible in 90 days (OK, actually 88…there were two “grace” days built in). We started on June 7th and from that day until September 3 (for me), we read about 12 pages each day – straight through…Genesis to Revelation. Our adult Sunday School class and Sunday service sermons also followed the readings, highlighting various themes or characters from the previous weeks readings.
The Story:
True confessions here – I actually saw the official BIND Bible at our local Christian bookstore over a year ago. I bought it and thought I’d give it a go. It didn’t go… But, when we decided to go through the program at church, I decided I was going to do it! GULP!
I read & study the Bible daily – but I don’t generally read 12 pages. I’m also a slow reader (I’ll admit it!), so this was especially a challenge. [FYI – my reading speed is really a product of wanting to fully understand and I just can’t get there by scanning…some can – I can’t.]
In addition, having just started this blog a few months before, I decided that I would write a post about each days reading. Yes, EACH DAY (read: Leviticus). My decision was based on two things:
So I started. I read…and I blogged, and I read…and I blogged… Eighty-eight days of reading, too many late nights trying to stay on track, and 67 blog posts (some were catch-up days) – all in all, an incredible journey. I am glad I stuck it out. It was great to read the whole Bible in a concentrated time frame. It was amazing to see the thread of God’s redemptive love and care for man (me, you!) in this life-changing, life-giving book that has been lovingly preserved.
So, there’s no badge, t-shirt, or tattoo (?!) for completing the program. But, there is the joy in knowing that I am a little bit more “equipped” to be a better worshiper of my awesome and amazing God!
What’s Next?
For the Christ Follower, the Bible shouldn’t be a book that is read and then put on the shelf – saved for future reading if desired. So, for that reason, I’ll never be “finished” reading the Bible… I think I’ll even do BIND again next year.
I am starting two new books though:
Both look to be GREAT reads…even blog subjects!
HEY, if you’d like to give BIND or B90X a try, here is a reading schedule that Elevation Church in North Carolina has posted.
If the title of this post were a Jeopardy question, the answer would be:
What are all things we “have” in relation to God.
Think about it…when we buy someone a gift, often it is something that is a surprise or unexpected (unless someone spills the beans). When we give God our worship (which is all that we are and do: Romans 12:1 & Colossians 3:17), we are giving Him something that He created. We offer back to the One who created that which He created. There is nothing that we can give, write, sing, play, do, say, act,…whatever that doesn’t originate from Him. We never surprise Him with our worship.
It’s mind boggling when you think about it.
Romans 11:36 reads:
“For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen”
“All Things” pretty much covers everything…anything that we can offer.
We all worship something (sports, music, the list goes on…) – but GOD commands, desires, deserves our genuine worship! Our worship of GOD is soooo much more than Sunday mornings! It must be our entire life – a 24/7-kinda thing.
Our worship of GOD must become a HABIT. We’re all basically selfish (worshiping the things that please us or are interesting to us) and it’s probably not our default to worship GOD. Keying off the word HABIT, the old English (and French, thanks to my friend Christian) definition of HABIT is “clothing, a condition, or character of something.”
Keeping in mind the definition above, a nuns garb is called a HABIT. Their HABIT is a reminder to them and a sign to others of the cloistered life they have chosen.
As followers of Christ, we have a HABIT – JESUS CHRIST:
We’ve all seen it on the news…a reporter standing in a war zone talking into the camera – gunfire and bombs going off in the distance. He or she knows the gunfire and bombs are there, but keeps talking – giving the news, describing their surroundings. Suddenly, the gunfire or bombs are no longer in the distance…we see them “hit the deck” – now, they are fully aware of their surroundings. We say to ourselves (or the TV) – “hello, don’t you know what is going on all around you?”
Sadly, it is often like that for us…with GOD? We know He is THE Almighty and Sovereign Creator – but we miss the obvious affirmation of HIS creation!
O, the Psalm 19-of it all! We take for granted the mind-boggling fact that He was and is so creative by not fully “seeing” everything around us – at any given moment, whether you’re standing on the beach or (like me right now) sitting in front of a computer (“I’m a PC!” But I love my iPod & iPhone – guess I’m conflicted.)
Think about the snowball effect of our Awesome God’s Genesis 1:3 command. The person sitting next to you, the one on your mind right now, the phone you’re holding, the car you’re driving down the freeway in at 65.1 MPH…while Twittering, the iPod you’re listening to, the amazing creation that you are about to shuttle to soccer/baseball/gymnastics practice, the beans that were cooked/ground up/brewed that you are drinking, the very ground/carpet/pavement you’re standing on…all a result of those four, powerful, monosyllabic words: Let there be light!
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