Thinking...

Romans 7

21So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

Recently during a moment of private worship and reflection, I was reminded of the above-mentioned scripture. I’ve found that the more I spend time in the presence of God, and have a “no holds barred” approach to him, the more I become aware of my shortcomings, but also of his grace and forgiveness extended to me.

I’m convinced that when a person meets with God, their lives are radically transformed and as they allow the encounter with him to affect and empower their lives, they become a force to contend with. I say this pretty much every week of my life these days. The thing that I realize I have neglected to elaborate is that the encounter with God has to be one in which everything is laid bare before him. Not just because we ALLOW him to, but because God’s presence and the presence of sin in our lives are mutually exclusive. Nothing is hidden from God and when his presence manifests itself in our personal or corporate worship times, everything is laid bare before him whether we think we can hide it or not.

Perhaps this realization inspired Paul to pen the words in Romans 7 mentioned above.

Because I work at Woodvale, my thoughts concerning worship and experiencing the presence of God always come back to the congregation that I am privileged to serve. In light of this realization, can I truly say that people are convicted of sin during the services in which I am a facilitator? Am I convinced that when conviction falls, people are made aware of the forgiveness and mercy extended to them?

The freedom from transgression made possible both by faith, and a sense of God’s grace and mercy is (in my humble opinion) the ignition point of a radical life transformation in any individual.

We are constantly working, praying and believing to see God move in an unprecedented way over our congregation at woodvale... at least I think that we are all on the same page about this. Our hope for the congregation we serve is not only that we shall experience God’s power during our services, but that the experience of his presence shall start a fire that cannot be contained in our church building walls. This experience would subsequently explode us out of our apathy and make us a living, breathing and potent representation of the kingdom of God in Ottawa.

My hope and prayer has recently transformed into a supplication that God would deal with our individual and corporate sinful nature that we may be set on fire for him in light of his grace, mercy and forgiveness.

To God be the glory!

noise

Noise

noise is an unwanted sound
which is why your parents call (called) the music you like noise

but noise isn’t just about sound
it’s about information
noise is whatever drowns out or interferes with or
conceals meaningful information
sound engineers, radio engineers speak of two things, signal and noise
the signal is the message, the meaningful part of transmission
the noise is all the unwanted stuff that interferes with your
ability to hear or decipher the signal
our lives are full of noise
too many messages that don’t add up to any coherent whole
all competing for our attention we can’t find the signal or make
any sense of our lives

and so we go into the desert to escape the noise

but then we can hear our internal noise
some of which is very gross especially during silent
Prayer and some of which is subtle but more deeply
Disturbing like tinnitus which is nerve damage to the
inner ear resulting in a permanent whistling
or hissing noise inside your head
that you can never escape
and that’s just the physical noise inside us
but our heads are full of mental noise
the thoughts that won’t stop chattering that stupid song that
you can’t get out of your head that nagging worry about
something you said or didn’t say
that hurt and anger that you can’t let go of, churning inside you
when you’re supposed to be concentrating on work that dumb
joke that keeps making you giggle on the bus so that people
look at you strangely…
and when you’re alone you can’t pretend any more that any of
these were necessary
so you try and put them aside to pray
and now you become aware of spiritual noise

all those things that compete with God
distracting your attention towards selfish or worldly concerns
drowning out your attempts to hear God’s voice distorting the
message or making you lose bits like a mobile phone passing
under a bridge
sin is a kind of spiritual tinnitus
the closer we get to God’s silence the more we are aware of
the unceasing whine inside ourselves
of want and need and hurt and self
trouble is we’ve lost the volume knob and anyway we’re scared of silence because without all the activity and distractions
we’ll have to face ourselves and God and we are frightened of
what we might find
but God longs to heal us
to still the oscilloscopes of our souls
turn the noise off
and give us peace
because only then
will we be able to hear
the music of heaven

- Steve Collins

Woodvale's first ever master class

The first ever instrument and vocal master class of Woodvale's Worship Ministry



Date: October 11, 2008
Time: 10 am - 12 pm
Location: Woodvale Pentecostal Church - 205 Greenbank Road Ottawa, ON

I have a dream...

I have a dream of a church in which the presence, power and work of the Holy Spirit abounds

I carry within myself a vision of a congregation that strips itself of anything that detracts from a full and meaningful encounter with the transcendent and all-powerful God that we serve

I dream of a people that make the most of every corporate worship encounter – running to God as a response to the hunger for him that he has placed inside each one of us.

The time has come, and is upon us even at this moment, where personal preference is stripped away in the face of a desire to reach an emerging and increasingly skeptical post-modern generation, hungry for spirituality, but put off by the disunity and subsequent hypocrisy of a church divided over triviality.

I have a dream of a church that recognizes the difference between being Canadian and being Christian; a church that recognizes that although we are IN the world, we ARE NOT of the world; a people that are determined to make our corporate worship experience more than a gathering of apathetic Canadians, but rather an explosive encounter with radical Christ followers

I carry within my heart a vision of a congregation that distinguishes itself in its desire for the work and power of Jesus, so much that the churches of this city, region, nation and even of the world come to us to be inspired by what we do

I dream of a time when the most important concern of the church is whether people have met with God and not anything else of lesser importance; a time when we can truly say that we are comfortable with the implications of existing in a multigenerational, multiethnic congregation and the inevitable varying expressions of worship and corporate gathering.

I have a dream… a dream… of Woodvale pervaded by the presence of Almighty God.

Therefore…

We must always strive to have a worship encounter that pays tribute to our heritage while at the same time refusing to create sacred cows out of expressions of worship that have run their course and are no longer useful or meaningful in worship except for nostalgic reasons

We can never settle for the lack of excellence and preparation that leads to a sacrifice of worship that does anything but honor God

We must never be satisfied to attend weekly services and ministry meetings that are devoid of the work, power and pervading presence of the Holy Spirit

We can never be satisfied with an apathetic approach to experiencing God and his power

We have to continue the relentless pursuit of God’s picture for our preferred future and always remember that each one of us holds within us a piece of what it looks like and is vital to the completion of his vision for Woodvale.

Revelation 5: 11 - 13

11Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. 12In a loud voice they sang:
"Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise!"

13Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing:
"To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever!"