I was invited to a church choir concert tonight.  The concert was at a church that we used to attend a few years ago.  We felt God releasing us from what we doing there and calling us to the church that we attend now.

We left that church with mixed emotions.  One of the emotions that we experienced when we left was the emotion and feeling of loss.  Loss of the blessing of watching a person with a true gift of God use it to bring glory and honor to Him.  While at that church we had an opportunity to observe one of the finest Ministers of Music or Worship Leaders that I have ever known.  He leads worship with such a passion that it is hard to put down in words.  It is a blessing just to watch him lead the choir and exhort them to sing with their whole heart.

I sat in the congregation tonight and just basked in the glory of God as we listened to some new music and some old standards of the church sung by the choir.  I was deeply moved by some of the music.  I watched with a sense of awe as the director led the choir tonight.  He was leading.  And they were following.  And God was getting the glory.

Thank you Mark Terry for all that have done and are doing for the Kingdom.  I always feel like I have worshiped when you lead in worship.

Last Sunday found us in the 15th chapter of Exodus. The week before the Children of Israel were miraculously delivered from the advancing army of Pharaoh. God parted the waters and Moses and the people walked across on dry land. Not wet, sticky, messy, get stuck between your toes mud. But dry land. What an amazing deliverance.

It is in this passage that God places a test before the people. This is not the post to debate whether or not God tested His people back then, or tests us today. All I know is that the Bible says that God said to them “if you will listen… do… and obey…”, then God would do something.

Whenever God tells us what to do we always have a choice. And that choice really demonstrates a lot about us and about our character. If we obey then we see God’s hand upon us and our faith in Him grows. The next command will be easier to obey because of our obedience to the last command.

But many times we do not obey. At least not right away or not cheerfully. This is certainly true of the children of Israel. God had delivered them from bondage, slavery, Egypt, Pharaoh and his armies. And the bulk of the 15th chapter of Exodus is all about the spontaneous worship that erupted from the mouths of the people. They celebrated the horse and the rider being thrown into the sea. They sang praises to God as Miriam leads the ladies choir in echoing the praises of the people.

They leave the worship service and go three short days into the wilderness of Shur. And there they found no water. Their physical natures were being tested a little due to their thirst. They began to murmur and grumble about the lack of water. And that brought about a question about their spiritual nature.

Were they going to be a worshipping people who occasionally murmured? Or were they going to be a murmuring people who occasionally worshipped?

That question is relevant to me today. And it is relevant to you.

What is my spiritual nature?

Am I a person who truly “listens, does, and obeys” but someone who occasionally doubts and murmurs when God does not respond immediately and as I think He should? Or am I a person who consistently doubts, grumbles and murmurs about my lot in life and who only occasionally stops and worships the God of all creation?

But I think that if we provide spaces where we can truly express ourselves to God and to others, people will flock to worship with us. This is one reason that a lot of people are wary of “church” – they can’t find authenticity where they want to worship. They see right through the hype – OR, even if what they see in the worship of others is genuine, they know that they themselves couldn’t be genuine in whatever box or paradigm has been set up and established (including “contemporary” music). I will continue to maintain that the lack of 20-30 somethings in church has little to do with style and everything to do with authenticity.

Jesus talks about this in a passage that is formational for me. When he’s sitting with the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4, she’s going on about where and with whom to worship and how she – as a Samaritan – knows what she’s supposed to think and how she knows what Jesus – as a Jew – is supposed to think, and Jesus interjects about “true” worship – “This is the time when the true worship is found when people worship God in spirit and in truth. This is what God is, and it’s what God wants from those who worship him.” (that’s the JDS version)

For simplicity, “in spirit” – with all the life within you and “in truth” – like you mean it. We most often confuse this with “doing it well”. God doesn’t ask us to “do it well.” He asks us to do it with all that’s in us (spirit, pneuma, life) and he asks us to do it honestly, like we mean it (in truth). When we strive to “do it well”, we don’t allow room for mistakes. Mistakes are part of being honest. When we don’t allow for mistakes, we make it hard to be honest. — Jeremy Scott

This is not hard for me to get cognitively. But it is a dissonance. Maybe it has something to do with the difficulty some of us have with dressing “casual” when we come to worship. We were taught that “excellence” is the sign of true worship to God.

What is scary for me is I believe that we are headed down the same segregated landscape for the church as we have faced in Protestant churches for generations. Instead of being divided by race or socioeconomic group – as the church growth folks said was necessary, we are divided by generation and taste. I long for the true body of Christ to be willing to be in the same room together – more than that, to be willing to do life together. The church is the only place in our culture where true intergenerational community can happen, but I am afraid we are settling for far less. — Mike Schutz

I think I understand the conflict and tension between worship and propaganda. Heaven knows we have seen enough of that in the church. But, I don’t get the worship and art thing. Art is almost always about how the artist feels and what the artist experiences. Isn’t that quite the opposite of worship? Isn’t worship focusing on God and who He is and what He has done? — Me

Preaching, music and drama are all arts we use in worship. But there are more ways to express how God is at work in the world than the language based forms we often see in traditional worship settings. — Ryan Scott

I think there are a few other things that trouble me. For instance when he says:

“I’m telling the truth as I see it.” — Truth is not defined by how I perceive it.

“The truth today might be that I don’t even feel that God is real” — Truth is not equivalent to feelings. Yet Brian elevates it to that level. That is dangerous.

“The Bible can handle that” — Of course it can. But that does not make it acceptable for us to feel that way or act on those feelings. The Bible can handle all sorts of human and sinful behavior, but that does not make it acceptable for me to act in those ways.

“So doubt is part of this thing” — Again, maybe it is part of the process and is somewhat inevitable in our growth and maturity, but that does not make it right and acceptable. Jesus goes on in the same story that McLaren quotes and says to “Doubting” Thomas in John 20:29 “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

I am not discounting everything that Brian McLaren says. But we need to be careful with and examine some of the implications to extending his thought process to some logical conclusions. — Me

I get that part. I even get it when we use interpretive dance and all that stuff. I am just a little uneasy about terming it “art”. Art has intrinsic and residual value once it is completed. A painting grows in value as it sits on your wall. Worship is not like that. I cannot nail a worship experience to my wall today and come back and gain anything from it next week. I can draw strenght and encouragement from the God who inspired it. But I cannot gain anything from it in an iconic sense as is seen in the Roman Catholic traditions.

Bottom line, I need my worship to be fresh and new every day and every Sunday. — Me

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin Bowser “I’m telling the truth as I see it.” — Truth is not defined by how I perceive it. “The truth today might be that I don’t even feel that God is real” — Truth is not equivalent to feelings. Yet Brian elevates it to that level. That is dangerous.

This is essentially a major difference between modern and postmodern thinking. Obviously we can agree that the absolute truth is God.

However, we’re incapable of ever really understanding that truth. We have to use our own understanding and perception to make those judgments. It’s why we have theological disagreements and various denominations. Everyone thinks they have truth.

Ultimately truth is our perception. Now through study, community, tradition and other sources we may come to understand that what we once thought was truth, was far from it, but for people, perception is truth.

The point of the video is that worship is the interaction of our perception of truth, with the ultimate truth of God.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin Bowser Art has intrinsic and residual value once it is completed. A painting grows in value as it sits on your wall. Worship is not like that. I cannot nail a worship experience to my wall today and come back and gain anything from it next week.

I agree with this. I’m not sure that’s exactly what McLaren is saying though. He’s not saying worship is art in itself. He’s talking about using art as an expression of worship. If someone paints during a service, the worship of that painting is attached to the painting for the life of the art. It’s not that the service itself is art, but it utilizes various art forms to express our worship of God. — Ryan Scott

So what does Abram do after his little jaunt down into Egypt? In Genesis 13, he comes back to the fertile land of the promise and he builds an altar. Abram finds himself in a situation that is very familiar to many of us. He finds himself in a location, and a spiritual condition, where he does not feel God’s presence as near as he once did. So Abram does what makes sense. He goes back to the place where he last felt close tot he presence of God. And further he returns to the lifestyle that he was living prior to his sojourn in Egypt.

Abram did what he should to rekindle the fire of God’s presence within him. He did not beat himself up for his recent sin. Instead he got busy by getting back on the journey and adventure that God had called him to. He went back to living in a tent as a pilgrim, back to worshipping at the altar that he had built before, and back to calling upon the name of the Lord.

Here is a model for you and I to follow when we find that we too have wandered from God’s presence and found ourselves mired in sin. First, get out of the place of sin. Second, return to the place and the activities where we last felt God’s presence.

This I know for sure. If we are feeling afar off from God, rest assured it is not God who has wandered from us. It is always us who have wandered from God.

Weak and wounded sinner
Lost and left to die
O, raise your head, for love is passing by
Come to Jesus
Come to Jesus
Come to Jesus and live!

Now your burden’s lifted
And carried far away
And precious blood has washed away the stain, so
Sing to Jesus
Sing to Jesus
Sing to Jesus and live!

And like a newborn baby
Don’t be afraid to crawl
And remember when you walk
Sometimes we fall…so
Fall on Jesus
Fall on Jesus
Fall on Jesus and live!

Sometimes the way is lonely
And steep and filled with pain
So if your sky is dark and pours the rain, then
Cry to Jesus
Cry to Jesus
Cry to Jesus and live!

O, and when the love spills over
And music fills the night
And when you can’t contain your joy inside, then
Dance for Jesus
Dance for Jesus
Dance for Jesus and live!

And with your final heartbeat
Kiss the world goodbye
Then go in peace, and laugh on Glory’s side, and
Fly to Jesus
Fly to Jesus
Fly to Jesus and live!

Chris Rice – Untitled Hymn (Come To Jesus)