Several of you have written personally or on this blog stating your sympathies for me during this difficult time which I shared about in last week's blog. I thank you for your kind words.
There are also some in our team that are currently walking through the difficult time of losing somebody that they deeply care about and I would challenge us all to rise to support, and encourage them as well. I know that we are very good at doing this, but I would still like to encourage us to not grow weary in doing good to each other and supporting each other through tough times.
--------------------------------------------------------------
I love the Holy Week and Easter part of the church calendar much more than the Christmas part of the church calendar. I especially like it because we do not have the empty festivities, and misplaced attention that is so obviously present around the Christmas/Holiday season. Easter is a church celebration that has not yet completely lost it's meaning and even though it is threatened by the presence of the eggs and the bunny, it is relatively easier to find meaning in this season without the fluff, pomp and commercialization of Christmas.
Jesus' life, death and resurrection are the reason for the existence of Christianity and it is through him that we gain access to our almighty father. Writing this to the worship team at woodvale is pretty much stating the obvious.
Because I have been asking all of us on the team to place much emphasis on the role that we have to play - to connect people with God - I am particularly happy to be walking through this season with you all. It is a time in which we throw light on the immense sacrifice, the satisfaction of Justice against sin and the mercy and relationship that is extended to us by Jesus on the cross. It is a time through which we can better illuminate Jesus' victory over death and the grave by his resurrection and most encouraging of all, it is a time for us to focus on the hope that he shall return again JUST AS HE SAID HE WOULD!
The role that we are called to fulfill as facilitators of worship on a week-by-week basis is to take people on a journey that leads them from ALIENATION from God to INTIMACY with him. This is the journey that we have simply called "Connecting People With God"
Those of you that know me a little better than most know that I have a weekly date with my wife that we try extremely hard to never miss. Normally we are busy getting by from day to day with our busy jobs, and numerous commitments that pull us in every direction and so our dates are a way for us to create uninterrupted time where our focus is us and not anything else. Our dates usually start with the two of us passing the time with small talk about work and the people that we are mad with, etc.. Our body language is very telling at this point in the date because we are sort of leaning away from each other and focused more on the menu than on eye contact and intimacy. However as we become more relaxed and less stressed about what we needed to vent about, the conversation moves to more intimate conversation. If there was a difficult situation in our relationship that we had to discuss at the beginning of the date, by the end of our date (after we have fought about it), it is quite remarkable how I am able to cease to see her as my adversary through the fog of my annoyance and in forgiveness, restoration of intimacy, and humility start to see the beautiful, lovely, sexy woman that I married. By the end of our date evening we really do resemble a pair of giddy, giggly teenagers who (PG moment coming up!) cannot keep their hands off each other.
It is at times like these (the easter season we are in) that I think of God's letter to the church in Ephesus found at the beginning of the second chapter of the book of Revelation of John. God's charge against the church is that they have forsaken their first love. His instructions to the church are really simple: in order to return to their first love, they need to resume the things that brought about intimacy between God and his church. Just like my weekly routine that I have candidly shared that helps to restore intimacy between my wife and myself, I think that we are at one such significant moment in the church calendar where we need to realize our need to constantly restore our intimacy with Jesus.
How I pray that this Easter season shall be a chance for each one of us to fall in love again with Jesus who spared no expense to show us how much he loves us. How I pray that our worship shall be energized even more this weekend as we stand in his presence and thank him for the numerous times he has stepped in between us and certain danger and kept us safe. I sincerely pray that our recognition of God as our sustainer, provider, healer, redeemer and savior shall lead us back to the place of our first fearless and expressive love for him. My prayer is that in realizing again what an awesome Lord we serve, we shall be part of a journey (participating and facilitating) from alienation to a place of intimacy with God that we never experienced prior to this week.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Thursday, March 13, 2008
A man after God's heart
I apologize in advance for the weight of this week’s entry.
If you are a frequent reader of this blog, you know that I talk about personal circumstances and this week’s entry is no different.
Last week my cousin who incidentally was also my first boss after I completed my undergraduate studies passed away. He had been living in Johannesburg, South Africa for the past couple of years and had been battling leukemia. Because he was more than just a blood relation and a workmate, I have been really deeply affected by his passing.
I remember that early on in my journey as his assistant, a missions group in a secondary city in Uganda took a chance on us and asked us to help them set up an Internet Service Provider to help them raise a sustainable source of income for their missions. Because neither of us wanted to live in that city, we decided that we would commute to and from the city and this would take anywhere from an hour to several hours depending on the traffic. It was during those times sitting in our little company car that he challenged me about my understanding of how God works, how he communicates with his people, the charge he has for his people to advance the kingdom of God on this earth… but mostly about my intimacy with God.
These talks in the car about intimacy with God really spurred me into a time of accelerated growth in my relationship with Jesus because prior to our talks, I had not realized that I had made myself so busy ministering, evangelizing and serving that I had substituted my relationship with God with the things that I did in his service.
Since moving to Canada a few years ago, I did not have the chance to visit him at all or talk with him as much as I would have liked, but he always held a special place in my heart and mind as a mentor and good friend that had come alongside me and helped me to grow immensely in my walk with the Lord.
Even though I have been deeply saddened by the news of his death, I know that he is where he truly wanted to be – at the feet of Jesus. More to that, I am once again challenged about my intimacy with God…
I know that it is slightly morbid to speak like this in our sheltered society, but I’ll say it anyway: I would like that when my time comes, it shall be said about me as I say about Andrew that he was a man after God’s heart. I would like my story to be that I passionately pursued an intimate relationship with God and held absolutely nothing back from him. I can say confidently that my cousin, Andrew, was a man that worshipped not just through a bunch of songs on Sunday morning, but through the life that he led day-to-day… I hope that I can live up to his standard.
--------------------
I feel I should digress a little bit right here and say this:
I know that some of us in the choir have recently lost loved ones or there are people (family and friends) that we deeply care about who are going through difficult health situations. I would like you to know that my heart and prayers go out to you during these times and that I feel WITH you because I myself have walked through such difficulty several times. My prayer is that peace and joy that can only be explained by an intimate relationship with Jesus shall guard your heart and mind in these times and that the strength of the Lord shall carry you.
------------------------
My constant prayer lately is that what we do in service for the kingdom of God on this earth in these days that we live shall be more than just routine. My prayer is that we shall transcend the limits and boundaries of what we have ever thought or imagined in our walk with God – as individuals and as a congregation – as we obey him and put our lives in his hand. My desire is that people will look back at us one day and know without a shadow of doubt that we were a people that hungered and thirsted for God and refused to let anything stand in the way of us and the experience of his glory, power and work among us.
If you are a frequent reader of this blog, you know that I talk about personal circumstances and this week’s entry is no different.
Last week my cousin who incidentally was also my first boss after I completed my undergraduate studies passed away. He had been living in Johannesburg, South Africa for the past couple of years and had been battling leukemia. Because he was more than just a blood relation and a workmate, I have been really deeply affected by his passing.
I remember that early on in my journey as his assistant, a missions group in a secondary city in Uganda took a chance on us and asked us to help them set up an Internet Service Provider to help them raise a sustainable source of income for their missions. Because neither of us wanted to live in that city, we decided that we would commute to and from the city and this would take anywhere from an hour to several hours depending on the traffic. It was during those times sitting in our little company car that he challenged me about my understanding of how God works, how he communicates with his people, the charge he has for his people to advance the kingdom of God on this earth… but mostly about my intimacy with God.
These talks in the car about intimacy with God really spurred me into a time of accelerated growth in my relationship with Jesus because prior to our talks, I had not realized that I had made myself so busy ministering, evangelizing and serving that I had substituted my relationship with God with the things that I did in his service.
Since moving to Canada a few years ago, I did not have the chance to visit him at all or talk with him as much as I would have liked, but he always held a special place in my heart and mind as a mentor and good friend that had come alongside me and helped me to grow immensely in my walk with the Lord.
Even though I have been deeply saddened by the news of his death, I know that he is where he truly wanted to be – at the feet of Jesus. More to that, I am once again challenged about my intimacy with God…
I know that it is slightly morbid to speak like this in our sheltered society, but I’ll say it anyway: I would like that when my time comes, it shall be said about me as I say about Andrew that he was a man after God’s heart. I would like my story to be that I passionately pursued an intimate relationship with God and held absolutely nothing back from him. I can say confidently that my cousin, Andrew, was a man that worshipped not just through a bunch of songs on Sunday morning, but through the life that he led day-to-day… I hope that I can live up to his standard.
--------------------
I feel I should digress a little bit right here and say this:
I know that some of us in the choir have recently lost loved ones or there are people (family and friends) that we deeply care about who are going through difficult health situations. I would like you to know that my heart and prayers go out to you during these times and that I feel WITH you because I myself have walked through such difficulty several times. My prayer is that peace and joy that can only be explained by an intimate relationship with Jesus shall guard your heart and mind in these times and that the strength of the Lord shall carry you.
------------------------
My constant prayer lately is that what we do in service for the kingdom of God on this earth in these days that we live shall be more than just routine. My prayer is that we shall transcend the limits and boundaries of what we have ever thought or imagined in our walk with God – as individuals and as a congregation – as we obey him and put our lives in his hand. My desire is that people will look back at us one day and know without a shadow of doubt that we were a people that hungered and thirsted for God and refused to let anything stand in the way of us and the experience of his glory, power and work among us.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Week 12 - a life yielded
12 weeks since I started this blog. Who knew I had so much to say? Heh!
I thought that I should include a word of encouragement to the team this week... this is it:
I am pleased with the progress that we are making as a unit. So much has improved since I first started working here - the attitude to worship (perhaps because we've reduced the load on the teams), the preparation, the execution, and the expectancy about what God is doing and can do through us when we put our lives in his hand and allow him to use us as a conduit.
I especially want to thank the choir that have scheduled weekly practices and have done an exceptional job every single time since coming back in the fall of 2007
Encouragement like the one above is not meant to signal that the push to make things better is about to cease... the task of becoming a hotbed of worship and the experience of God's presence and power is still a work in progress - both in myself and in us as a team. The kind of worship that is so contagious that it spills outside the walls/confines of our local congregation into the streets and churches of ottawa is still a vision and not yet a reality. God has brought each one of us to this team for such a time as this to be a part of his plan and work at woodvale and so along with the encouragement is a charge to keep being faithful with the gifts, time, talent, and resources that God has given us in order that we may achieve greater levels of worship and communion with God and that through us, he may be glorified and worshipped like woodvale has never seen or experienced before.
There IS more than this!
------------------------------------------
In the fall of 2004, I was visiting a small baptist church that I eventually worked at and I was quite struck by the sermon that sunday morning and it served as one of the pivotal moments in my life and walk with Jesus. My buddy Rick Eby spent some time talking about the life of Stephen - the first recorded Christian Martyr in Acts chapter 6 and 7.
Stephen was a man full of the Holy Spirit, full of faith, filled with God's grace and walking in the power and authority of his relationship with Jesus. The bible says that through him, there were unmistakable signs that God was among them and yet in spite of every incredible thing that happened in his life and the obvious evidence of God's hand on him, he was martyred. However, if you track the story of the early church, Stephen's martyrdom started the era of the persecution of Christians and their scattering from Jerusalem, but their scattering was a good thing because it meant that they took the Gospel out of Jerusalem and even out of Israel and eventually to the ends of the earth as Jesus had originally charged them. God used Stephen powerfully in life and even more powerfully through his death because Stephen was a man full of faith that was yielded completely to Him.
*I have become convinced that the reason the influence, control, and evidence of the work of the spirit varies from person to person among those that follow Jesus is because we have varying levels of "yieldedness" to Him.
*I have also come to learn more and more that for many Christians, it is not that we do not know or even believe at some level, it is just that we don't live in the reality of our knowledge and belief or act like we believe what we say we believe.
The gist of Rick's message was boiled down to one tough question:
Are you willing to yield your life to God for whatever purpose he chooses... even if it means losing your life?
The obvious threat of physical martyrdom does not exist in Ottawa, but definitely social martyrdom exists in our post-christian society. Social martyrdom is not as terrifying as physical martyrdom... but it can be just as paralyzing because we all struggle with feeling like would rather be dead than admit we know Jesus... much less, have a relationship with him.
So I guess the re-phrased Ottawa version of the question becomes:
Are you willing to yield your life to God for whatever purpose he chooses... even if it means social martyrdom?
As a worship team, it is easy for us to walk around saying that we have yielded our life to God's purposes because we operate most of our ministry within the sterilized, christian friendly environment of our churches and Christian subculture, but things take on a whole different perspective when we are challenged to establish congruence between the people we are outside of our churchy-church communities and the people that we morph into in a hostile post-christian society.
-------------------------------
I do everything I do here at woodvale with the strong belief and conviction that one day in the not too distant future, the work that God has already started in this church will reach boiling point... and it will start to overflow and affect the communities and churches in this city. But before God entrusts us with that great responsibility of being a part of the revival of his people and his church, our yieldedness will be tested.
I do not presume to speak the mind of God, but I have come to understand in increasing measure that God is not interested using me when I insist on being in the drivers seat of my life and that leads to numerous Jonah-type situations. If you do not know what I am talking about, read the book of Jonah (in the bible... heh!) and you'll get the analogy. Yielding my life to him means allowing him to take control of my life, take me where he wants me to go (even to COOOOOOLD canada disregarding my deep dislike for cold and snow... :) ) and allowing him to SPEND my life as he sees fit.
A life yielded to God
A life spent as God sees fit
A life poured out in service to God
Isn't that the heart of worship?
I thought that I should include a word of encouragement to the team this week... this is it:
I am pleased with the progress that we are making as a unit. So much has improved since I first started working here - the attitude to worship (perhaps because we've reduced the load on the teams), the preparation, the execution, and the expectancy about what God is doing and can do through us when we put our lives in his hand and allow him to use us as a conduit.
I especially want to thank the choir that have scheduled weekly practices and have done an exceptional job every single time since coming back in the fall of 2007
Encouragement like the one above is not meant to signal that the push to make things better is about to cease... the task of becoming a hotbed of worship and the experience of God's presence and power is still a work in progress - both in myself and in us as a team. The kind of worship that is so contagious that it spills outside the walls/confines of our local congregation into the streets and churches of ottawa is still a vision and not yet a reality. God has brought each one of us to this team for such a time as this to be a part of his plan and work at woodvale and so along with the encouragement is a charge to keep being faithful with the gifts, time, talent, and resources that God has given us in order that we may achieve greater levels of worship and communion with God and that through us, he may be glorified and worshipped like woodvale has never seen or experienced before.
There IS more than this!
------------------------------------------
In the fall of 2004, I was visiting a small baptist church that I eventually worked at and I was quite struck by the sermon that sunday morning and it served as one of the pivotal moments in my life and walk with Jesus. My buddy Rick Eby spent some time talking about the life of Stephen - the first recorded Christian Martyr in Acts chapter 6 and 7.
Stephen was a man full of the Holy Spirit, full of faith, filled with God's grace and walking in the power and authority of his relationship with Jesus. The bible says that through him, there were unmistakable signs that God was among them and yet in spite of every incredible thing that happened in his life and the obvious evidence of God's hand on him, he was martyred. However, if you track the story of the early church, Stephen's martyrdom started the era of the persecution of Christians and their scattering from Jerusalem, but their scattering was a good thing because it meant that they took the Gospel out of Jerusalem and even out of Israel and eventually to the ends of the earth as Jesus had originally charged them. God used Stephen powerfully in life and even more powerfully through his death because Stephen was a man full of faith that was yielded completely to Him.
*I have become convinced that the reason the influence, control, and evidence of the work of the spirit varies from person to person among those that follow Jesus is because we have varying levels of "yieldedness" to Him.
*I have also come to learn more and more that for many Christians, it is not that we do not know or even believe at some level, it is just that we don't live in the reality of our knowledge and belief or act like we believe what we say we believe.
The gist of Rick's message was boiled down to one tough question:
Are you willing to yield your life to God for whatever purpose he chooses... even if it means losing your life?
The obvious threat of physical martyrdom does not exist in Ottawa, but definitely social martyrdom exists in our post-christian society. Social martyrdom is not as terrifying as physical martyrdom... but it can be just as paralyzing because we all struggle with feeling like would rather be dead than admit we know Jesus... much less, have a relationship with him.
So I guess the re-phrased Ottawa version of the question becomes:
Are you willing to yield your life to God for whatever purpose he chooses... even if it means social martyrdom?
As a worship team, it is easy for us to walk around saying that we have yielded our life to God's purposes because we operate most of our ministry within the sterilized, christian friendly environment of our churches and Christian subculture, but things take on a whole different perspective when we are challenged to establish congruence between the people we are outside of our churchy-church communities and the people that we morph into in a hostile post-christian society.
-------------------------------
I do everything I do here at woodvale with the strong belief and conviction that one day in the not too distant future, the work that God has already started in this church will reach boiling point... and it will start to overflow and affect the communities and churches in this city. But before God entrusts us with that great responsibility of being a part of the revival of his people and his church, our yieldedness will be tested.
I do not presume to speak the mind of God, but I have come to understand in increasing measure that God is not interested using me when I insist on being in the drivers seat of my life and that leads to numerous Jonah-type situations. If you do not know what I am talking about, read the book of Jonah (in the bible... heh!) and you'll get the analogy. Yielding my life to him means allowing him to take control of my life, take me where he wants me to go (even to COOOOOOLD canada disregarding my deep dislike for cold and snow... :) ) and allowing him to SPEND my life as he sees fit.
A life yielded to God
A life spent as God sees fit
A life poured out in service to God
Isn't that the heart of worship?
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Vibrant worship - Vibrant Church (Part 3)
At the heart of a vibrant church is a people characterized by vibrant worship
If you have not been walking this journey of discussing some of the aspects to the path of becoming a vibrant worshipper that is part of the heart of a vibrant church, perhaps it might be useful to you to look at the two previous posts and subsequent discussion comments on this blog-sermon-teaching thing so that you come on the page with where I am at today.
My whole journey recently as a worshipper has been driven in part by a question that sits at the back of my mind constantly: "Is there more than this?"
Part of discovering whether there is more is looking back at scripture and at the testimony of those gone before us to determine whether their experiences show a deeper level of connection with God and the acceptance of his work in their lives... which we have done over the past several weeks. The other is to look at obstacles and barriers that we have knowingly or unknowingly placed in between God and us.
Here are some of the barriers that I have found in my life as I journey in discovering a deeper place of worship... maybe you might relate to some or all of them.
Dishonesty
In speaking about worship being a lifestyle, I mentioned the fact that if we stand before God and offer up to him a sacrifice of worship and praise and yet our lives do not embody that sacrifice, our "worship" is reduced to flattery and mocks us. Your life has to line up with your words and the only way that happens is by keeping short records with God through repentance, through your relationship with him, and through your fellowship with believers like yourself who challenge you and spur you on in growth with Jesus. Please do not catch yourself in worship one day singing "you're all I want" and yet your life says anything but... 1 Samuel 16: 17.
We have settled for so little
Some of you know that for a long time I struggled with the prayer for people that led to a "slaying in the spirit" which manifests as falling backwards as somebody lays their hands on you. Partly because I was once forcefully pushed to the ground, but also as I grew up in Christianity, it seemed like a very uni-dimensional expression of the power of the holy Spirit. All around me, it seemed that all the intercessors and ministers were interested in was making sure that you hit the floor... I do not know what it was like for you, but it certainly felt like that for me. My skepticism was further exacerbated by the TV evangelists that made their way into my living room via my TV screen.
The same argument could be made about the worship services that I have attended over the years. The worship leaders, facilitators, and pastors had settled either for NOTHING happening in their services lest the boat is rocked too much, or a specific response (or list of responses) to worship. Worship had not happened until A, B, C, and D had been physically seen. Some people had gone so far as to arrogantly reduce worship to a genre of music that they loved without which worship had not happened... didn't you know that the only way to connect with God is through a power ballad?
We’ve come up with rules and regulations, which are fittingly called by many of us, a box, and not realized that God far supercedes our limited vision and tradition-prone nature. We actually live in a culture full of expression, art, poetry, and music that reflect the incredible creativity of the God of the universe. The ways in which God touches his people and reveals himself to them in worship cannot be reduced to a preset list of things that we have become comfortable with in our denomination and to approach worship individually or corporately with this attitude is to rob ourselves of the vast expanse of the riches of what God can do. Any wonder that our worship becomes programmed, stagnant and non-vibrant?
Authentic relationship
Is it possible that some of us did not have an authentic relationship with God in the first place? Perhaps it is one that we simply inherited by being brought into this earth in a christian home... but not really one that we have found for ourselves...
Could it be that we've been sucked into the culture of christianity so long that we've began to confuse religiosity, christian subculture, and christianese with an authentic relationship with Jesus?
Fear
Those of us that have walked with God and perhaps walked away from him may be very much aware about how being in his presence exposes all in us. Not that he cannot see it right now because nothing is hidden from him... but just like Isaiah in the 6th chapter of his book, we may find ourselves really aware of our uncleanness. Obviously if your relationship with him is anything but healthy, feeling exposed before him - the estranged lover of your soul - ignites fear and this may cause us to hold back from pressing in to his presence or leading those that we have been charged to lead.
It is possible that some of us do not know what will happen if we were to allow ourselves to completely, unashamedly worship and enter into God's presence. It is a very human response to the unknown... and truth be told, there are not too many good reports of what might happen... it always seems to dissolve into chaos and cacophony. Not a very popular thing in our reserved canadian culture, eh?
If we are completely honest, many of us are also very afraid of what the person in our house listening to us worship or the person in the pew sitting next to us, or looking at us on stage might think. What happens is that we then project this fear of what people might think on to the people that we lead in worship and we choke whatever God might have in store for us because everybody spends more time focusing on outward appearances than on connecting with God. I have come to realize more and more that the enemy has used this fear or apprehension to maximum effect in many of our lives and we need to break free of it in Jesus name.
--------------------------------------------
Removing the restraints that cause us to be dispassionate worshippers reluctant to experience the presence of God individually and corporately is key in transforming us into the vibrant worshippers that lie at the heart of a vibrant church.
So I say it again for the millionth time: At the heart of a vibrant church is a people characterized by vibrant worship. A person that truly comes in contact with Jesus has no option but to be radically transformed – the bible is FULL of examples of this – and realizing this has made me even more convinced that “Connecting people with Jesus” has to become the mission of the worship facilitation teams - the choir, the singers, the band, and the production team.
As we we journey forward together and as we look to God for vision and direction, lets all come before him with a slate that is wiped clean and allow him to take us on a wonderful journey of experiencing his presence and power. I have a strong sense that Woodvale is supposed to grow into a church or a community that is a wonderful representation of what unrestrained, uncontained worship is to be and I hope that for many of us, this journey starts today.
If you have not been walking this journey of discussing some of the aspects to the path of becoming a vibrant worshipper that is part of the heart of a vibrant church, perhaps it might be useful to you to look at the two previous posts and subsequent discussion comments on this blog-sermon-teaching thing so that you come on the page with where I am at today.
My whole journey recently as a worshipper has been driven in part by a question that sits at the back of my mind constantly: "Is there more than this?"
Part of discovering whether there is more is looking back at scripture and at the testimony of those gone before us to determine whether their experiences show a deeper level of connection with God and the acceptance of his work in their lives... which we have done over the past several weeks. The other is to look at obstacles and barriers that we have knowingly or unknowingly placed in between God and us.
Here are some of the barriers that I have found in my life as I journey in discovering a deeper place of worship... maybe you might relate to some or all of them.
Dishonesty
In speaking about worship being a lifestyle, I mentioned the fact that if we stand before God and offer up to him a sacrifice of worship and praise and yet our lives do not embody that sacrifice, our "worship" is reduced to flattery and mocks us. Your life has to line up with your words and the only way that happens is by keeping short records with God through repentance, through your relationship with him, and through your fellowship with believers like yourself who challenge you and spur you on in growth with Jesus. Please do not catch yourself in worship one day singing "you're all I want" and yet your life says anything but... 1 Samuel 16: 17.
We have settled for so little
Some of you know that for a long time I struggled with the prayer for people that led to a "slaying in the spirit" which manifests as falling backwards as somebody lays their hands on you. Partly because I was once forcefully pushed to the ground, but also as I grew up in Christianity, it seemed like a very uni-dimensional expression of the power of the holy Spirit. All around me, it seemed that all the intercessors and ministers were interested in was making sure that you hit the floor... I do not know what it was like for you, but it certainly felt like that for me. My skepticism was further exacerbated by the TV evangelists that made their way into my living room via my TV screen.
The same argument could be made about the worship services that I have attended over the years. The worship leaders, facilitators, and pastors had settled either for NOTHING happening in their services lest the boat is rocked too much, or a specific response (or list of responses) to worship. Worship had not happened until A, B, C, and D had been physically seen. Some people had gone so far as to arrogantly reduce worship to a genre of music that they loved without which worship had not happened... didn't you know that the only way to connect with God is through a power ballad?
We’ve come up with rules and regulations, which are fittingly called by many of us, a box, and not realized that God far supercedes our limited vision and tradition-prone nature. We actually live in a culture full of expression, art, poetry, and music that reflect the incredible creativity of the God of the universe. The ways in which God touches his people and reveals himself to them in worship cannot be reduced to a preset list of things that we have become comfortable with in our denomination and to approach worship individually or corporately with this attitude is to rob ourselves of the vast expanse of the riches of what God can do. Any wonder that our worship becomes programmed, stagnant and non-vibrant?
Authentic relationship
Is it possible that some of us did not have an authentic relationship with God in the first place? Perhaps it is one that we simply inherited by being brought into this earth in a christian home... but not really one that we have found for ourselves...
Could it be that we've been sucked into the culture of christianity so long that we've began to confuse religiosity, christian subculture, and christianese with an authentic relationship with Jesus?
Fear
Those of us that have walked with God and perhaps walked away from him may be very much aware about how being in his presence exposes all in us. Not that he cannot see it right now because nothing is hidden from him... but just like Isaiah in the 6th chapter of his book, we may find ourselves really aware of our uncleanness. Obviously if your relationship with him is anything but healthy, feeling exposed before him - the estranged lover of your soul - ignites fear and this may cause us to hold back from pressing in to his presence or leading those that we have been charged to lead.
It is possible that some of us do not know what will happen if we were to allow ourselves to completely, unashamedly worship and enter into God's presence. It is a very human response to the unknown... and truth be told, there are not too many good reports of what might happen... it always seems to dissolve into chaos and cacophony. Not a very popular thing in our reserved canadian culture, eh?
If we are completely honest, many of us are also very afraid of what the person in our house listening to us worship or the person in the pew sitting next to us, or looking at us on stage might think. What happens is that we then project this fear of what people might think on to the people that we lead in worship and we choke whatever God might have in store for us because everybody spends more time focusing on outward appearances than on connecting with God. I have come to realize more and more that the enemy has used this fear or apprehension to maximum effect in many of our lives and we need to break free of it in Jesus name.
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Removing the restraints that cause us to be dispassionate worshippers reluctant to experience the presence of God individually and corporately is key in transforming us into the vibrant worshippers that lie at the heart of a vibrant church.
So I say it again for the millionth time: At the heart of a vibrant church is a people characterized by vibrant worship. A person that truly comes in contact with Jesus has no option but to be radically transformed – the bible is FULL of examples of this – and realizing this has made me even more convinced that “Connecting people with Jesus” has to become the mission of the worship facilitation teams - the choir, the singers, the band, and the production team.
As we we journey forward together and as we look to God for vision and direction, lets all come before him with a slate that is wiped clean and allow him to take us on a wonderful journey of experiencing his presence and power. I have a strong sense that Woodvale is supposed to grow into a church or a community that is a wonderful representation of what unrestrained, uncontained worship is to be and I hope that for many of us, this journey starts today.
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