At the heart of a vibrant church is a people characterized by vibrant worship.
I have found that almost every single mention of worship in scripture is coupled with an incredibly spectacular encounter with God. I challenge you to walk through scripture… you will come to the same observation. All sorts of people in all sorts of places worshipped, saw the hand of God move and had encounters with his power and presence that to the church in this day and age could very well seem like complete mythology.
The more I read these stories and heard about God’s move in communities all around the world today, the more I found that I was forced to ask the following questions:
Why was it that our worship services were so devoid of the evidence and corporate experience of God’s presence?
What did they know that we do not know or that we know only in part?
Through discussions with friends and through reading of scripture, I came across some interesting answers
The first one is that a relationship with God builds your love for him – your passion for him as we talked about last week - and your expectancy in worship. This great expectancy at what he is going to do germinates vibrancy in our individual and corporate worship.
I hope that for all of you reading this, it is obvious that experiencing God through worship has to be prefaced by a relationship with him and we have access to the father through his son Jesus – John 14. No one comes to the father except through me… Jesus says
Talking about vibrant worship and passion for Jesus before talking about a relationship with him is like putting the cart before the horse, because love blossoms through the growth of relationship.
Therefore, the better you know somebody, the more you know what to expect from him or her. I have found this to be true through reading scripture and through my own personal walk with God… and because our God is a wonderfully creative, adventurous and all powerful father, it only makes sense that spending time in his presence is something of great wonder and mystery. Encountering this wonder and mystery enables us to approach his presence with expectation and takes a dull and uninformed expression of worship to a place of passion, expectancy and vibrancy.
I find an interesting example of this expectation and passion for God in some of the psalms of ascent that David wrote in particular Psalm 120 – 122. David starts with a cry of distress in psalm 120, but his distress is transformed to a song of anticipation in psalm 121, and then the full expression of the expectation comes out in psalm 122. Why is the psalmist glad so soon after expressing his distress? I believe that the reason for this is that his relationship with God was at such a place of intimacy that there was more than just casual anticipation, but a real eagerness to meet with God because he understood that God was in control of every situation whether he was in distress or not. This fueled his worship and praise. Is it any wonder that scripture later speaks about David as a man after his own heart?
In trying to get myself to be more psyched up about worship, I felt like I was being disingenuous if I was not finding my passion for God from what he had done in my life. I have come to discover that if I am lacking in the relationship department with Jesus, I have one of 2 options when I come to lead the congregation at Woodvale in corporate worship. Either I can pretend that all is well and ignore any conviction or condemnation, or more often than not, I fall into the dispassionate category because I know that standing before God and pretending that all is well is a mockery of him.
Hebrews 4: 12 - 13
The reason I believe that vibrant worship is at the heart of a vibrant church is because vibrant worship is something that cannot be faked. Passionate, unrestrained, uncontained worship is not something that you arrive at in ignorance over what the transforming power of God can do. You see, anybody that has come in contact with God and is walking in a growing relationship with him is a force to be reckoned with. The bible is FILLED with examples of this.
I am further persuaded that the expression of vibrant worship has to start with the people that God has gifted and positioned to be participants in leading his people in worship. This means that EVERYBODY on the worship team – production, singers, instrumentalists – have to be walking in this before we can expect that the church will experience it as we do. In my first few postings on this blog, I mentioned to you all that the picture of worship at Woodvale is a giant mirror to the picture of worship on the worship team. If our desire is to see a vibrant church, we must become a people of vibrant worship… and this has to be spearheaded by the team that facilitates worship on a week-by-week basis.
This week, I invite you all to a season of examining the area of vibrant worship and the foundation of it all – your relationship with Jesus. If you are in a place of stagnation and therefore unable to find your passion for Jesus, please be honest with somebody in your small group or on the team and pray about it. I believe that victory in this area starts with being honest about your walk with God and sharing it with somebody that can stand with you and pray you back into a healthy relationship with your savior and creator.
Next week we shall talk about another answer that I came to when examining the disparity between examples of worship in scripture and what we see in our contemporary setting.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Passionately following Jesus
When I started writing this entry on passionately following Jesus, I did not know that Denis Ignatius was going to speak so well about the subject of passion over this past week's sunday night service before I wrote down my thoughts. It was just something that I was thinking about on my own and decided to share with the people that read this blog. If you are able to, please request through the church office a copy of last sunday night's message because he spoke really well about the subject of passionately following Jesus.
He stole my thunder (heh!) but for those of you that were not there, perhaps this blog shall give you an interesting starting point to think about the whole issue of passionately following Jesus...
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Anybody that moves to Ottawa soon begins to realize that because we are a city that is supposed to embody the culture of tolerance and inclusiveness (great values that in my opinion are now being distorted), it is extremely difficult to get anybody fired up about anything.
As a pastor and facilitator of worship, I have found that it is near impossible to get people fired up and passionate about something as polarizing as Christianity because you quickly get categorized as intolerant, fanatical or fundamentalist. It is sad, but it is true that in the church - that is supposed to be a living, breathing representation of the kingdom of God on this earth - it is unbelievably difficult to get people fired up about the person that they theoretically credit for every blessing in their lives.
Some church leaders were having a discussion one day that I happened to be a part of and one of them asked me what I thought about the word "passion" and the notion that the church is supposed to lead people to Jesus and to create passionate followers of him. I think that my answer took them by surprise...
My answer was that the church has forgotten what passion looks like. In my opinion, in the 21st century passion is best displayed by the group of men that crashed planes into the world trade center and the pentagon. Obviously what they did was a horrible, HORRIBLE act, but their dedication to their cause and their passion about it is undeniable.
As Christians, Jesus does not call us to crash planes into buildings... thankfully... but his call to his disciples and all that he spoke to when he walked this earth was not a call to a wishy-washy faith, but to a radically different lifestyle and set of beliefs that the world has continually rejected since he walked this planet as a man.
Our passion for him comes out of our relationship with him. As we grow in our relationship with Jesus and see him at work in our lives, we are inspired to share what he is doing in our lives with those around us. I think that this goes hand-in-hand with what I blogged about last week.
I have a bit of an unusual response to my weekly dose of telemarketing. Instead of hanging up on the telemarketer, I usually spend some time trying to determine whether they truly believe in what they are selling or not. I'm not very successful in getting an answer most of the time, but once, there was a guy who candidly let me know that the tone of his voice was the telling factor. If he was selling something he was passionate about, he would sound more animated than his monotonous, pre-rehearsed speech. He went on to tell me that in his office, many of them were selling products that they are not eligible for, or that they do not believe will transform your life the way they claimed they will.
As facilitators of worship we have to guard against being Jesus' dispassionate marketers because the congregation or people that we try to connect with him can see through our lack of passion and belief, and believe me, it is all downhill from there.
And now for some new age-ish quotes to end this week's blog.
“The more intensely we feel about an idea or a goal, the more assuredly the idea, buried deep in our subconscious, will direct us along the path to its fulfillment.”
- Earl Nightingale
"Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion"
- Hebbel
“Above all, be true to yourself, and if you cannot put your heart in it, take yourself out of it.”
- Unknown
He stole my thunder (heh!) but for those of you that were not there, perhaps this blog shall give you an interesting starting point to think about the whole issue of passionately following Jesus...
--------------------------------------------------------
Anybody that moves to Ottawa soon begins to realize that because we are a city that is supposed to embody the culture of tolerance and inclusiveness (great values that in my opinion are now being distorted), it is extremely difficult to get anybody fired up about anything.
As a pastor and facilitator of worship, I have found that it is near impossible to get people fired up and passionate about something as polarizing as Christianity because you quickly get categorized as intolerant, fanatical or fundamentalist. It is sad, but it is true that in the church - that is supposed to be a living, breathing representation of the kingdom of God on this earth - it is unbelievably difficult to get people fired up about the person that they theoretically credit for every blessing in their lives.
Some church leaders were having a discussion one day that I happened to be a part of and one of them asked me what I thought about the word "passion" and the notion that the church is supposed to lead people to Jesus and to create passionate followers of him. I think that my answer took them by surprise...
My answer was that the church has forgotten what passion looks like. In my opinion, in the 21st century passion is best displayed by the group of men that crashed planes into the world trade center and the pentagon. Obviously what they did was a horrible, HORRIBLE act, but their dedication to their cause and their passion about it is undeniable.
As Christians, Jesus does not call us to crash planes into buildings... thankfully... but his call to his disciples and all that he spoke to when he walked this earth was not a call to a wishy-washy faith, but to a radically different lifestyle and set of beliefs that the world has continually rejected since he walked this planet as a man.
Our passion for him comes out of our relationship with him. As we grow in our relationship with Jesus and see him at work in our lives, we are inspired to share what he is doing in our lives with those around us. I think that this goes hand-in-hand with what I blogged about last week.
I have a bit of an unusual response to my weekly dose of telemarketing. Instead of hanging up on the telemarketer, I usually spend some time trying to determine whether they truly believe in what they are selling or not. I'm not very successful in getting an answer most of the time, but once, there was a guy who candidly let me know that the tone of his voice was the telling factor. If he was selling something he was passionate about, he would sound more animated than his monotonous, pre-rehearsed speech. He went on to tell me that in his office, many of them were selling products that they are not eligible for, or that they do not believe will transform your life the way they claimed they will.
As facilitators of worship we have to guard against being Jesus' dispassionate marketers because the congregation or people that we try to connect with him can see through our lack of passion and belief, and believe me, it is all downhill from there.
And now for some new age-ish quotes to end this week's blog.
“The more intensely we feel about an idea or a goal, the more assuredly the idea, buried deep in our subconscious, will direct us along the path to its fulfillment.”
- Earl Nightingale
"Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion"
- Hebbel
“Above all, be true to yourself, and if you cannot put your heart in it, take yourself out of it.”
- Unknown
overflow of the Holy Spirit VS Abundance of experience
A friend of mine once challenged me about 2 things that at that time made for interesting spiritual and intellectual ruminating.
- He said that we should be careful that as worshippers we were engaging in ministry out of an overflow of God pouring into us and our deep relationship with him rather than from an abundance of experience.
- He also said that we should learn to tell the difference between a service that had a high because of musical excellence and a service that had a high point because of God's presence and power at work in his people.
At the time that he made these comments, we were on a worship team that somehow (please do not ask how) led worship at 3 morning services and one evening service. Because we played together a lot and because we were fairly good musicians, we were able to achieve really good sound (in our estimation) and over the 6 years that we did this, rack up sunday service experience that most people on worship teams elsewhere in the country and in the world would take years to accumulate.
I think that his challenge to us came out of an accurate observation about the fact that we had unknowingly (or even knowingly) come up with a formula for what worked at our church and with our congregation and all we had to do was hit the right buttons to see the "result" we were looking for.
The more I thought about his challenge, the more I came to realize that it was addressing an issue that christians who are involved in ministry over long periods of time have the tendency to take for granted. This is the issue/area of a growing relationship with Jesus. I know that I have spoken about various aspects of it over the previous entries, but as people that find ourselves at the frontline in spiritual matters because we choose to engage in ministry, we have to be sure that our walk with God is right and that our ministry and warfare is not resting on the shaky foundation of experience, but on the solid rock of our relationship with Jesus.
I also found that in my life I had began to treat my time in service and ministry as a substitute for the time that I should have spent in personal relationship-building time with God. This is especially true for churches like the one to which we belong that maintain a very high number of activities and demand lots of time and commitment from their volunteers.
Time spent in ministry is not a substitute for time spent in your prayer closet or in your personal bible study...
God is also more concerned about your spiritual growth and relationship with him than he is about whether you are involved in ministry or not.
As the leader of the worship ministry at woodvale, I am working hard to promote excellence as a cornerstone value. However, even for myself, I have to remember that excellence without the infusion of the work of the Holy Spirit yields no lasting result. The result may be a great-sounding worship set, but because our mandate is to CONNECT PEOPLE WITH GOD, we fall way short of our primary objective. Obviously excellence is needed in what we do because God is not honored by the lack thereof, but it is not an end in itself and so I extend the challenge to us all about this.
Do you bring your gift of worship leading before the congregation and God himself based on your experience or on your music ability... or do you allow Jesus to inspire the gifts that he has given you to connect the people that you lead in worship to a God that wants to touch and transform his people?
- He said that we should be careful that as worshippers we were engaging in ministry out of an overflow of God pouring into us and our deep relationship with him rather than from an abundance of experience.
- He also said that we should learn to tell the difference between a service that had a high because of musical excellence and a service that had a high point because of God's presence and power at work in his people.
At the time that he made these comments, we were on a worship team that somehow (please do not ask how) led worship at 3 morning services and one evening service. Because we played together a lot and because we were fairly good musicians, we were able to achieve really good sound (in our estimation) and over the 6 years that we did this, rack up sunday service experience that most people on worship teams elsewhere in the country and in the world would take years to accumulate.
I think that his challenge to us came out of an accurate observation about the fact that we had unknowingly (or even knowingly) come up with a formula for what worked at our church and with our congregation and all we had to do was hit the right buttons to see the "result" we were looking for.
The more I thought about his challenge, the more I came to realize that it was addressing an issue that christians who are involved in ministry over long periods of time have the tendency to take for granted. This is the issue/area of a growing relationship with Jesus. I know that I have spoken about various aspects of it over the previous entries, but as people that find ourselves at the frontline in spiritual matters because we choose to engage in ministry, we have to be sure that our walk with God is right and that our ministry and warfare is not resting on the shaky foundation of experience, but on the solid rock of our relationship with Jesus.
I also found that in my life I had began to treat my time in service and ministry as a substitute for the time that I should have spent in personal relationship-building time with God. This is especially true for churches like the one to which we belong that maintain a very high number of activities and demand lots of time and commitment from their volunteers.
Time spent in ministry is not a substitute for time spent in your prayer closet or in your personal bible study...
God is also more concerned about your spiritual growth and relationship with him than he is about whether you are involved in ministry or not.
As the leader of the worship ministry at woodvale, I am working hard to promote excellence as a cornerstone value. However, even for myself, I have to remember that excellence without the infusion of the work of the Holy Spirit yields no lasting result. The result may be a great-sounding worship set, but because our mandate is to CONNECT PEOPLE WITH GOD, we fall way short of our primary objective. Obviously excellence is needed in what we do because God is not honored by the lack thereof, but it is not an end in itself and so I extend the challenge to us all about this.
Do you bring your gift of worship leading before the congregation and God himself based on your experience or on your music ability... or do you allow Jesus to inspire the gifts that he has given you to connect the people that you lead in worship to a God that wants to touch and transform his people?
Monday, January 14, 2008
A matter of importance.
Far be it from me to speak from a high horse about the issue of accountability. I find that my tendency to be introverted and go about my own way causes me to be the kind of person that resists being in situations that require constant accountability. Canada is an excellent country for people like me to live in because I can live as an island for weeks on end without needing too much human contact. And yet I am reminded of Proverbs 27 verse 17 which talks about one man sharpening another just as iron sharpens iron. Accountability structures keep us on our toes and they help to keep us focused on what is important. Accountability with other people keeps us from navel gazing and shrinking our world so that all that is important is our narcissistic view of life, Christianity and ministry.
I'm so glad that I live in a country where time is valued and everybody tries to make it a point to let me know if they are not going to be able to honor the commitment of time that they made when they volunteered to join the worship ministry. Having lived and worked in a country where time and volunteer commitments were not treated with respect, I am thankful to be working in Canada and at Woodvale where everybody is so conscious of that aspect of things.
Over and above being accountable for our time, though, it is of increasing importance to me that each one of us is in a group that allows us to grow and develop relationships of spiritual accountability. At Woodvale we call these groups "Small groups" and the importance of the members of the worship ministry belonging to one cannot be overstated. A small group that works well is one where true spiritual growth happens; spiritual and physical care happens, and people take a genuine interest in one another.
Because you are all members of a rather large worship ministry group, the place to form deep authentic relationships is not at our jam-packed worship rehearsals or even at our large celebration services. The place to debate spiritual issues and to spur each other on to deeper levels of knowing Jesus is not at the 3 hours of volunteer-intensive time that we spend at the church. While the celebration service is a great place to receive encouragement and teaching (if you are not distracted by the noises all around you), the best place to receive prayer, ministry, healing, restoration, deliverance, etc... is with a group of people that you can be more open and intimate (I can hear the guys groan at the mention of the word "intimate") with.
This posting is not about some profound spiritual revelation, but more about my deep seated desire to see all of us connect to the church at a level that is more than our volunteer commitment of time and/or talent. This is not just a suggestion, but a matter of great importance both personally and to the worship ministry at Woodvale. We need to make sure that we are not trying to pour out of our ministry from a well that has long ran dry, but are continually refilling our tanks through the times that we spend in personal and group spiritual development.
Think about it... and ACT ON IT!
I'm so glad that I live in a country where time is valued and everybody tries to make it a point to let me know if they are not going to be able to honor the commitment of time that they made when they volunteered to join the worship ministry. Having lived and worked in a country where time and volunteer commitments were not treated with respect, I am thankful to be working in Canada and at Woodvale where everybody is so conscious of that aspect of things.
Over and above being accountable for our time, though, it is of increasing importance to me that each one of us is in a group that allows us to grow and develop relationships of spiritual accountability. At Woodvale we call these groups "Small groups" and the importance of the members of the worship ministry belonging to one cannot be overstated. A small group that works well is one where true spiritual growth happens; spiritual and physical care happens, and people take a genuine interest in one another.
Because you are all members of a rather large worship ministry group, the place to form deep authentic relationships is not at our jam-packed worship rehearsals or even at our large celebration services. The place to debate spiritual issues and to spur each other on to deeper levels of knowing Jesus is not at the 3 hours of volunteer-intensive time that we spend at the church. While the celebration service is a great place to receive encouragement and teaching (if you are not distracted by the noises all around you), the best place to receive prayer, ministry, healing, restoration, deliverance, etc... is with a group of people that you can be more open and intimate (I can hear the guys groan at the mention of the word "intimate") with.
This posting is not about some profound spiritual revelation, but more about my deep seated desire to see all of us connect to the church at a level that is more than our volunteer commitment of time and/or talent. This is not just a suggestion, but a matter of great importance both personally and to the worship ministry at Woodvale. We need to make sure that we are not trying to pour out of our ministry from a well that has long ran dry, but are continually refilling our tanks through the times that we spend in personal and group spiritual development.
Think about it... and ACT ON IT!
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