Reflections on Luke - Part 3

Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.
Luke 10:20

Once again, the disciples display the all-too-human trait of focusing on the wrong thing. I find it comforting that even though they walked with Jesus in the flesh during his time here, they still missed the point sometimes (okay, most of the time). I've been a Christian my whole life and there are many, many times when I get spun off and excited about the wrong things. But Jesus is so patient and so faithful to gently remind me of the important things.

Reflections on Luke - Part 2

When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” But he turned and rebuked them. And they went on to another village.
Luke 9:51-55

Leave it to the Sons of Thunder to highlight our judgmental tendencies. Oh, that I would learn to love more than I judge.

Reflections on Luke - Part 1

Our church is doing an epic sermon series on the book of Luke. We will be spending about 3 years going through Luke bit by bit. During the first sermon, Pastor Mark challenged us by saying that the average person can read through the book of Luke in 2 hours, which means that if you read for 15 minutes every day, you can read Luke once a week. He challenged us to read through Luke every week throughout the duration of the sermon series.

I sat down and figured out that I need to read 4 chapters a day to get through it every week. Normally, I don't like having to read that much Scripture in one sitting. I feel like I don't have time to process all the stuff that is in there. This is going to be an exercise in discipline for me, because I'm always wanting to stop in the middle and think about what I just read. But, if I'm going to be back at the same passage next week, and the week after, and the week after, I can continue to think about it for months.

And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.
Luke 5:11 (esv)

I was really struck by this verse even though it seems a little obvious. The disciples took care of the business they had on hand before they left everything to follow Jesus. It seems so logical, but how many times do we jump out of the boat to follow Jesus? Sometimes God calls us to something, but also asks us to continue along the job that we have until the appointed time to move on to the next thing.

It's Not For Them

Yesterday, October 1st marks the first day of our fiscal year and we spent it in prayer at a local church. We are so remarkably blessed to have wonderful artist partners who count it a privilege to come minister with worship.

I attended the break out session with two of the worship leaders, Anthony Evans & Michael Boggs. They opened the session up for Q&A at the beginning. As is often the case in sessions about leading worship, the question came up about how to get your congregation to cross the line from just singing into worship.

I thought their answers were very insightful.

Anthony mentioned meeting the people where they are at, if they like hymns, sing hymns. But above all, you should be authentic & you should be worshiping. He mentioned a few times they've gone into churches to lead worship where it was like "singing to a picture".

Michael echoed the idea of being authentic and that you should be worshiping. He also reminded us that ultimately, it's not about the outward expression, it's about the heart.

Even though I have never led worship from the stage, it is something that has been on my heart and mind often.

I find that this concern comes up often amongst worship leaders, especially here in the PNW. Even concerts here are rather subdued. About the only time a crowd gets really riled up, it seems, is for a 'Hawks game (and I would be interested to know what role alcohol has to play in that dynamic).

To me, it seems that there are a few points to consider when observing congregational worship.

1. What is the Pastor doing?
I had a friend recently share with me about her pastor sharing with the congregation what he had just experienced at church in Africa. He challenged the congregation to worship like that and then went and sat back down without ever demonstrating that kind of worship. At a church I attended recently, the pastor would often duck out of the worship service early to meet with people at the back of the church. It was a good way for him to meet with and pray for people, but I noticed that much of the congregation would filter out shortly after he left. Sometimes, there would be barely half as many folks in the sanctuary at the end of service as there had been at the beginning.

2. How is your service organized?
Many churches have to run on a tight schedule for myriad reasons. Our church right now is meeting in a school building. After service is over, we have to tear down immediately after the last song of the set. I have visited several churches of the liturgical leaning and found that the stand-up-sing-one-song-sit-down flow of service can be rather distracting for the uninitiated. Few churches have the luxury of allowing the Spirit to flow from song to song.

3. Where are you at with Jesus, personally and as a team?
This is the "be authentic" point. If you're not plugged into Jesus, it doesn't matter if you have the most emotionally connecting songs in the world, the congregation isn't going to feel it.

4. Who is your congregation?
If your church is composed up of blue-collar working men, you're not going to get a lot of reaction from them. But that doesn't mean they aren't responding. Those of us who are more expressive in our worship (there's a reason I sit in the back), can tend to be quick to judge if we don't see the same kinds of responses that are invoked in us. You can ask anyone who has sat next to me during a rockin' worship service, I cannot sit still to save my life. But I have learned not to expect that response from my husband, because he does not respond that way. He may sit down, or stand quietly, or even journal. Jesus does not override someone's personality when he works on them. He gave them that personality in the first place, and their response will be in keeping with who they are. If they are an artist, they may feel led to paint a picture when they get home, but you may never know that. Worship God as he has gifted & led you to worship, and trust that he will take care of the rest.

Which brings me to:
5. Who is your worship for?
You cannot force your congregation to enter the throne room. But you can enter yourself. As Michael & Anthony were talking about being authentic & getting to know Jesus for who he is, I was reminded of another conference session my mom gave me the tape for. Tommy Tenney was sharing about Esther and her preparation for meeting the king.

Here is the verse from Esther:

Now when the turn came for each young woman to go into King Ahaserus, after being twelve months under the regulations for the women, since this was the regular period of their beautifying, six months with the oil of myrrh and six months with spices and ointments for women.

Now, after 12 months of constant bathing in myrrh and other spices, Esther would have had a cloud of perfume around her. Every one who came in contact with her would have been completely blown away. But Tommy points out that this scent is not for them. It is for the king. Esther's time of preparation to meet the king enriched the lives of those around her, but it was not for them. It was for the king.

Self-Help . . . Or Not

I hate self-help books. In all their various forms and iterations. I don't like authors telling me that I just need to adopt this certain methodology to attain organization or develop these seven habits in order to become an "effective person" (whatever that means).

So why now was I standing in Borders, choking back tears, in front of that shelf in the Religious/Inspirational section, desperately searching for . . . What? Something, anything.

Because, to tell you the truth, I'm tired and I need help.

I'm tired of my husband feeling like he needs to act like my mother and my father. My mother, because somehow I managed to not learn how to feed myself, and so he has to try to scrounge up a meal for me on top of working full-time and completing his Bachelor's degree. My father, because I still can't manage to drag my ass out of bed in the morning to make it to work on time, and so he has to set two alarms and poke and nag and beg to get me up and getting around.

I'm twenty-four, for crying out loud, I should have at least these two things down by now.

I'm tired of hanging my head in shame when I hear "She's so organized", because I know the truth. The reason I carry that notebook in my purse is because I can't remember everything any more, and I got tired of constantly losing the napkins, envelopes and receipts I was writing those notes on.

And frankly, I'm fed up with being tired of these things, because nothing ever changes.

Hubby and I had just had a heated discussion (read argument) about my inability to feed myself. That was followed by a chapel message about hearing the voice of God, not merely listening to it.

As I was dutifully heading out to find something to eat, I felt that prompting. Go to Border's. You need some help. You can't do this by yourself.

The image of myself standing in that dreaded section of the store, thumbing through "The Seven Habits of Highly-Effective People", flashed through my head. What? Abba, you know I hate those books. I rolled my eyes, but turned towards the mall (maybe I am learning something). Well, there's a Starbucks there so I can grab some lunch and a coffee. And I can get those birthday cards I need at Border's. Maybe I'll go look at the books... I don't have to buy anything.

After picking out the cards I needed and a new journal to go along with . . . What? I'll just put it back if I don't find anything, I headed over for the Christian book section. As much as I detest the whole idea of picking out a book to begin with, the thought of trying to endure a bunch of psychobabble from psuedopsychologist who thinks that my problem is that I was potty trained too early, made it seem unbearable. At least a Christian will know that change without the Holy Spirit is impossible.

I soon found myself scanning a shelf full of imposing hard-cover books with titles like "Reposition Yourself: Living Life Without Limits", "Uncommon: Finding Your Path to Significance" and the like. Then my eye fell on a bright pink paperback. Only Nuns Change Habits Overnight. It made me chuckle, so I picked it up. I flipped it over to find, "The Best-Selling Author of Chocolatherapy". I knew the reason I had been sent to Border's.

Before I cracked open the book, I knew I had found a kindred spirit. This is a woman who gets me. Who understands what it's like to remember that "typewriter" is the longest word you can spell with the letters from the top row on the keyboard and to spend fifteen minutes searching for the pair of shoes she just took off last night.

Heaven knows, I've tried this before. But maybe, taking this journey with a woman who has never met me, but knows me all too well, and the help of the Holy Spirit, just maybe, I'll be able to move on from this place I've been stuck for too long.

Where are you from

Inspired by this poem.

Where am I from?

I am from three states,
five towns, and eleven houses
From a college town, the suburbs,
the country, and the suburbs again

I am from a Jeff and a Val
From a mistake,
A blessing,
A vow,
And healing
From Okies and Arkies
From neurological diversity
and cultural ambiguity
From twenty-five years of marriage
and a phone call home
at nine, noon and three

I am from the stock of strong women
and the men who love them
The kind who don't wait for the sink to get fixed
"I can do it myself"
Home-makers, career women, mothers, wives

From because-I-said-so
and to-make-little-girls-ask-questions
From pride in accomplishment
and the drive to do better
From go-to-your-room
and I-love-you
From organized chaos
From just-ask-your-father
and have-you-looked-it-up?
From laugh till you cry
and cry till you laugh
From no-man-is-an-island
and just-be-yourself

I am from schooling at home,
In the car,
At the park
From days at the library,
Dinner at home
And church on the weekends

I am from prayer before bed
From daddy's Bible still on the table
From discussing over coffee
and together by the fire
From follow-God's-plan-it-turns-out-better
and let's-pray-together

Where am I from?
It's hard to say
The journey continues
Day after day

Where are you from?
In this crazy space
Between Eden and Heaven
Each has a place

Thoughts on Corporate Worship (Part the First)

As this is something I have been mulling over for a while, there probably will be more to come on this topic.

It seems to me that there are two main schools of thought about being on a corporate worship team.

1. The first and, I think, most common among Christians and worship teams is exemplified by a conversation I had with a friend of mine a few weeks ago.

My husband and I had just gotten back from a Lincoln Brewster concert (which was amazing, by the way) . I was telling my friend, who plays bass, about Norm Stockton, the bass player who records and travels with Lincoln. Hubby and I had been talking about Norm's playing, and he had compared his playing to Billy Sheahan, who has played bass for Steve Vai.

When I mentioned Steve Vai, my friend face went completely blank like he had no idea what I was talking about. So I tried to explain:

"He's a great shred guitarist who..." "Oh, I don't need to listen to any of that. I'm only ever going to do worship."

2. The second, and less common, view is that if you don't know anything about music, stay off the stage.

Some friends of ours used to live in Nashville and at one of their churches, the music pastor wouldn't allow any one on stage unless they had a major contract or were touring with a major artist.

Hubby and I attended an informational meeting about leading worship at our church. They mentioned that they don't want anyone who doesn't have prior band experience to "audition". The three things they said they are looking for in a band are (1) theological soundness, (2) congregational participation and (3) musical quality/stylistic individuality.

In theory, this is great. In practice, what I have seen is that 3 comes first, then 1. If 2 is considered at all, it seems to be almost an afterthought.

Here is my question then:

Shouldn't we be looking for a balance between the two? As Christians, I believe God deserves the absolute best that we can offer him. However, does this mean that we leave the congregation behind so that our music can reach its creative heights?