Worship Is Whatever You Do.

Today, at church, singing was uncharacteristically solemn for the second Sunday in Easter.

Stuff’s been going on with Pablo and Christy, the leaders. God’s been working on them.

Today, Pablo shared from several passages, discussing the idea that our “reasonable service” is to do whatever unto Jesus. Our worship continues beyond the church doors on Sunday morning.

Nothing new, but don’t we just need to keep hearing that truth over and over again?

So, Amen, Pablo.

I’ve got a few thoughts on this topic. A couple of vignettes:

And Jesus Prayed… (Part 2) – A plea for peace

From the words of the Apostles’ Creed:

We believe in God, the Father Almighty,
the Creator of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:

Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.

He descended to the grave (my paraphrase).

The third day He arose again from the dead.

He ascended into heaven
and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty,
whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic (that is, universal) church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting.

Amen.

“In the essentials, unity; in the non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.”

Well, I’ve just stated the essentials, and last time I added Jesus’ own words stating an essential for the Church, “That they might all be one, as You and I are one…”. I sincerely hope that the Church (and there is only one Church) can have unity on the above.

And Jesus Prayed… (part 1)

I am on a unity kick. This is not new for me, nor is it an original thought. But there it is: unity kick.

The good – and frightening – thing is, I think it’s never going away.

Just like my love for guacamole (all thanks tom my buddy Kerri who makes the best in the world) and my belief that old Petra is better than new Petra (there, I’ve dated myself), here to stay is my belief that unity in the body of Christ is, perhaps, one of the most-neglected essentials of the faith. I said the E word, and I’ll say it again: Essential.

As the first of what will be a series of thoughts (read, if you like: ramblings) I want to start with the Expert Himself. Jesus actually took a great deal of time praying for this one thing in John’s account:

17:20 “I am not praying only on their behalf, but also on behalf of those who believe in me through their testimony, 17:21 that they will all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray that they will be in us, so that the world will believe that you sent me. 17:22 The glory you gave to me I have given to them, that they may be one just as we are one – 17:23 I in them and you in me – that they may be completely one, so that the world will know that you sent me, and you have loved them just as you have loved me. (NET – emphasis mine)

Nope, He didn’t pray that we’d all have the exact right view on baptism, communion, free-will or predestination. He didn’t pray that they would believe in objective facts about the faith or be convinced that we have a handle on absolute truth. He didn’t pray that we would all like the same kinda music.

He prayed that we would all be one.

Why? Oh, no big reason: only so that the world would believe in Jesus.

[Ranting and raving here has been censored by my own sense of decorum. No need to make too many enemies!]. Folks (and I will get into more detail in a future post): it’s Easter. Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. Or, as they say in another liturgy: We have died with Christ, we live with Christ, we will reign with Christ. Lay off each other.

Please.

More soon.

By the way, the NET Bible can be found at www.bible.org.

An … oddly … quiet … Easter …

I tell myself, I know Easter is not just a day; it’s a season. I remind myself, Our daughter’s got a fever of 102; staying home makes sense.

But, right or not, it’s odd to spend Easter Sunday walking to the Supermarket, eating Chef Boyardee, playing online Catan with your friend in Ohio, playing with your 3-year old (she really likes to give fake injections), and doing logic puzzles.

But there you have it. Easter 2008.

Being a parent makes odd things happen to your traditions. Granted, new and sometimes better traditions arise as you are introducing a young one to the Savior and teaching her the faith; but others seem a bit more flexible, changeable, even disposable.

Alleluia!!!!!

I’ve been waiting to say that… er, type that.

The Lord is risen, indeed!

A blessed Resurrection Day and Easter Season to you all!

At the Cross

Before I begin today’s post, daughter Avery (age 3 going on 4), would like to say hi:

ity ifiu5o uydbbbbbbughgn7 75utyt ww9yo9ytyyyyuyioty8ubbbtyyyu8yy6u6u6u8uyytytty.

As you can tell, she was telling her friend Abby she’s excited see Horton Hears a Who! with her later today.

Now, for the post:

There are some awesome words that are said in the Anglican Church of Kenya. They have, from time to time, been a part of our worship at Church of the Good Shepherd in Davidson, NC:

All our problems:
We send to the cross of Christ.
All our difficulties:
We send the cross of Christ.
All the devil’s works:
We send to the cross of Christ.
All our hopes:
We set on the risen Christ.

Songwriting Workshop

My friend John and I once had the privilege of sitting in a classroom with Paul Baloche at an Integrity Music Songwriting Retreat.  They’re annual, and they travel around; if you get a chance, go on one.  Don’t go for the opportunity to get “discovered” as a songwriter, because the retreats don’t exist for that reason.  Go to be near God and to set aside several days for nothing but writing songs which glorify God.  Go to reflect, write and rejoice.

Since going, I have had a hunger to pass on what I learned there.  I finally got a chance to do that (only 4 years after the fact!).  You see, last week and this week, our worship team class at Highlands School has had very little to actually practice.  We didn’t play last Friday’s chapel and this Friday, being Good Friday, we are keeping it quiet and simple.

So I decided to do some songwriting experiments with them.

Lunch with the Pope

Okay… I’ve never actually had lunch with the Bishop of Rome. Let me get that off my chest right now.

I am actually not writing about the Pope at all, but his peeps.

Basically, here’s the deal: It was Friday of last week, and I was all ready for my Worship & Music class. Fridays, incidentally, are either in-class worship sessions or lecture classes; today was a lecture day. I had a rather informative – and dull – lecture planned on the eight elements that go into worship renewal (yes, Robert Webber again; I will quote him till you all promise to go and read him).

Before the lecture started, I was going over some much-missed questions on their recent quiz. The biggest misconception was about the parallel worship renewals of the liturgical and praise/worship traditions of the 1960s. I had explained that, out of both Vatican II and many pentecostal/charismatic churches, had come two simultaneous and independent movements of renewed worship (parallel worship renewals… hmmm… movement of God, anyone?).

Well, on the quiz, I had asked about the liturgical worship renewal movement, where it started and who it involved (who it involved was both the Roman Catholic and many other traditions). Most just answered “Catholic”. They got partial credit.

Anyway… I wanted to explain to them that, while the Catholic tradition had started the movement, many more parts of the Church took the cue from them, resulting in a massive movement of renewed and reinvigorated liturgical worship, worldwide.

Well, you know kids. They get ideas you never thought of. One of the more precocious of the girls in class piped up and said, “Um, Mister (they only call us Mister or Miss here; it’s endearing). A lot of people say that Catholics all worship Mary, but I don’t think that’s right.”

I hadn’t mentioned Mary. Not once. But there it was: an inspired, intelligent, admittedly tangential inquiry from a bright young mind.

The lecture was over before it had begun.

We talked… and talked… everyone of them had questions, opinions, suggestions, objections… wow, it was great.  Read on.

Odd…

I gotta say, writing all about the great experiences of worship I’m having lately seems weird – almost indecent.  But I also have this overwhelming joy that God has been giving me as our little English-Speaking community has gathered, gotten real, met with God in new ways and built each other up.

I also want to say that I want your ideas.  Please, send me comments with experiences of worship you’ve had, or links to blogs that tell of your worship life.

Rest in Prayer

Today, we had a prayer service.

As I’ve mentioned before, different people are invited to lead at church each Sunday.  Today was my day.  After having to speak at chapel (actually, getting to) and having my first Bring Your Own Worship gathering with my worship/music class, I went pretty much back-to-basics.  I decided to lean on the great traditions of my own churc during the Lenten season.  It was nice to trade in innovation for solid worship tradition.

I know: I sound lazy.  But sometimes, it’s better to go simple.

The prayer opened like my church back home probably did this very morning: A prayer of repentance.  I like how, during the season of Lent, we start with repentance.  It’s a) just a really appropriate thing to do, and b) a way of starting worship that really frees you up and makes you just more prepared to meet with the living God: “I’m forgiven.  Wow.  Great reminder.  Let’s worship this God who has totally washed away our sins!”