lift your hands! lift your voice!

Listening to Jesus Culture’s latest album…  And the worship leader is crying out “God we want to know you in a deeper way.  Lift your hands.  Lift your voice”…  And there’s really nothing wrong with those words.  It’s expected song-transition, worship leader cheerleading.  I’ve done it.  It’s part of the gig.  But it got me thinking… 

Are we teaching people that the way to know God deeper is to get in a corporate setting, lift your hands, and raise your voice?  Is that biblical? 

It seems to me that the road to knowing God in a deeper way is quiet, personal communion with Him, and obedience to what he’s already revealed.  At least that’s where I’m at right now.  My response to my hunger for God is not to find a loud room with lots of people that I can scream praises to with…  and I don’t want to teach people that. 

Though I love loud rooms with people to screaming praises to God together.  But those meetings aren’t as much about intimacy and discovering God as CORPORATELY PROCLAIMING praise to God.  Saying to God and the community around you that we are united in our faith, our confession, and making it a point to get together and affirm that.  It’s also a time of mutual encouragement.  A time to hear God’s word preached.  To be encouraged in your race of faith.  To be uplifted.  To feel the love of God through community with his people. 

So in a way, we do know God in a deeper way.  Maybe a different way.  There are benefits to corporate assembly that are unique to it…  I guess the issue I have is the idea that the apex, the highest form of God-seeking is corporate gathering.  Because the corporate gathering is only as good as the individual-divine relationships that make up the gathering.  If we never seek God outside of our corporate gathering, then what good are our corporate gatherings doing?  If we have nothing to offer one another, then why get together?  And if the Pastor is the only one with a relationship with God, we can receive what he offers us, but that should produce individual growth in us… if we really receive it.  And if that teaching isn’t producing that, we’re either not listening right, he’s not teaching right, or both.  If church is only a commercial for church, then it’s not what church is supposed to be.  Because the assembly itself is not just about the act of assembly. 

The assembly is a structure that should be a weekly accountability, coaching session, faith-builder, that provokes us to love and good deeds.  If love and good deeds don’t mark your church, what the heck are you getting together over?  Do you really think raising your hands and your voice really takes you to some mystical, ‘deeper’ place OUTSIDE of a daily, living, breathing relationship with God? 

Even more scary to me as a worship leader…  Is the STRUCTURE (not words, message, mission statement, printed material)…  Is the WAY WE STRUCTURE a worship service, and the nuance of what we say…  the thoughts that are communicated along with the words that we carefully craft…  Are we…  AM I misleading people with a false corporate roadmap to God?  If so, is it time for restructuring?  Do I need to change my tone?  Do I need to say something else?  Should we do something else? 

Do people know the amazing secret of the prayer closet?  Of personal relationship with God?  DON’T SETTLE FOR CORPORATE RELATIONSHIP!  Don’t believe that if you haven’t found fulfillment once a week that Christianity doesn’t work!  Don’t believe that if you haven’t found God here, you never will!  This is just the weekly pit stop!  The race is happening every day!  If you’re driving backward on the track but making all the prescribed pit stops, you’re still going to lose the race.  You’re still losing ground.  Those pit stops will help.  Good rest.  And slow down your horrible losing streak.  But never achieve the goal you’re expecting them to fulfill.  Just because your tires are wearing down, and the miles are going up, doesn’t mean you’re going in the right direction.  Turn around.  Repent.

So my friends, (and my soul)…  If you want to know God in a deeper way, go ahead…  lift your hands, raise your voice…  But don’t stop there.  Please.  You’ll never find the joy and satisfaction of a personal walk with Jesus, and may just be deceiving yourself into a counterfeit faith that has no positive future for you.

drama and choir.

I just sent an email to two of RMCC's finest- our Dramatic Arts Director (Joe Kneller) and our Choir Director (Laura Lindstrom, also my mother-in-law.)  I thought I'd post it in a blog, just for the record.  :)  I cut out the intro small talk and a few unnecessary lines, to get to the point...


I realized that I have allowed myself to be labeled (or maybe even labeled myself) 'anti-drama', or 'anti-choir' (which is why I copied you Laura)... 

Well, for the record, I'm not.  I am against tradition for the sake of tradition, and ministry that is more self-serving than other-serving.  And from what I've observed, that seems an easy trap for choirs and dramatic ministries to fall into.  BUT... wait... that should be bigger...

but!

I LOVE artistic expression that glorifies God and effectively communicates to people.  I love EFFECTIVE drama and choir!  I DO!  And I think both of you do that with your work, in drama and choir.

Joe- I love your approach to drama ministry.  I love that you produce a quality product, but with a relatively laid back spirit (or so it seems from my perspective).  I love your heart to minister, and the fact that you keep that in front of the people you lead.  I LOVE that you do recognizable plays like LWW and the Christmas Carol with an intentional outreach focus.  Love it.  I DON'T believe that the MEDIUM is no longer effective to any generation... and I think you're proving that at RMCC.  (But I do think there are a lot of places still doing it wrong, too)  But I'm proud to be a part of something that is done well for God's glory.

Laura- ditto for you.  :)  The choir you lead serves it's audience faithfully and effectively ever week.  While a 'church choir' would have a lot to overcome in the minds and hearts of younger folks, I don't think that any artistic expression is beyond God's use...  And I wouldn't be eternally opposed to an UNtraditional choir, if it were UNtraditional enough.  But for me it honestly is much more about the results than the medium itself.   I look forward to enjoying this play and working together on another Christmas season with you.  You're a wonderful co-worker, mother-in-law, and choir director.  I mean that sincerely.

I love that we're all parts of the Body, and we need each other...  And I think God smiles when we get together and do something for Him.  It's very cool.  Thanks for listening...er... reading...

PS- And if you're wondering, we are getting together for the Holidays...  If you're an RMCC'ite, you don't want to miss being a part of it!  :)

worship sets on redmountain.cc

One of my mini-resolutions for 2010 is to keep our worship sets online, so people can find the music we do for worship and enjoy it between services...

Our set lists and AmazonMP3 links are on redmountain.cc under Media, then Music.  If you're interested...

it's been a while...

since I posted anything on here... The other night I just opened up a blank word doc and started writing. This is all just stream of consciousness, but it's just stuff I've had floating around in my head, as I'm preparing to start a LifeGroup with a worship focus... Enjoy, think, and respond, if you so choose. :)

I believe in a God who cannot be manipulated. A God who knows the content of every man’s heart, the blueprints of every psyche… He knows your buttons, better than anyone, better than you.
And though God possesses emotions, (He’s no Dr.Spock), those emotions aren’t moved by the same fickle things ours are. Temporary circumstances, time, waiting, shortsightedness, lighting, music, outward beauty, emotional outbursts (positive or negative) from others…

He is moved not by worship that is beautifully poetic, aurally stimulating, visually stunning, well-orchestrated, well-performed, difficult to achieve, simple in form, or extremely complex (for those reasons). The worship SONGS that move us DON’T move Him, and he doesn’t have a favorite.

He is moved by hearts that are DEVOTED to Him. He is emotional about PEOPLE that he invested a great deal to save. He is passionate about seeing a dying world snatched from eternal flames by people who know Him enough to care about what he cares about.

He doesn’t celebrate achievements, perceived perfection, or great efforts as much as a repentant heart, or an obedient child.

He is not moved by the wording or content of a prayer (or song). He is moved by the one who prays it. He is not moved by the plea of the sinner, but by the faith, brokenness, and repentance that causes the sinner to make his plea... the heart behind the plea.
GOD IS HOLY. He is “other-than” us… He is not like us. We are made in His image, but exist mostly in a world limited by 5 senses. We prioritize our felt needs above what He would deem of utmost importance. We worry about things that God doesn’t think twice about, yet many times fail to consider the deepest passions of our Father’s heart. It must be heartbreaking for Him…
Yet He is not a God, a priest, a king, a friend unfamiliar with our fatal human-ness. He is well aware of our weakness and temporal tendencies. He is COMPASSIONATE on us, as we walk around trying to follow a fuzzy, dim picture of who we see Him as, and dreams for the day that we will finally see the big picture… As those who long for His return share the same dream.

We deceive ourselves if we think that our “WORSHIP”, our SACRIFICE of praise is more important or enjoyable to God than our faithfulness and obedience to Him. We DISTRACT ourselves from the LIFESTYLE God has called us to, if we PLACE TOO MUCH EMPHASIS OR IMPORTANCE on what we as a modern Christian sub-culture have deemed “worship”.

I believe in a God who is perfect. Every command, whether it seems fair to me or not, is at the same time just and full of love. I believe in a God who is a perfect Father. He disciplines those he loves. He is always watching and present… Yet doesn’t intervene in every situation, for the ultimate good of His children, His family. He provides, gives gifts, makes plans, and displays a pattern for us to follow. He sacrifices Himself.

He is idealistic. He is realistic. And has a plan to make the two co-exist. :) He is ultimately just. He will seek revenge, punish wrongdoing, reveal secret sins… Every human being should shudder with fear. But he is extravagantly loving and merciful as well. Willing to forgive and show mercy to us. Praise Jesus, our Redeemer, Mediator…

You don’t have to conjure the Spirit of God with drums, singing or shouting. He doesn’t come in SONGS and loud noises… But many times a still small voice. I am always, by nature I think, skeptical of my own emotional responses… Because I know how deceitful my heart is and how fickle my emotions are.

But the times in my life that God invaded the situation, in spite of chaos, in spite of my own carnality, in my moment of weakness and UNMISTAKEABLY reveals Himself in a still, small, voice. I’ll remember those moments more than amazing miracles… Because they are solid rock moments of my faith. Moments that were unmistakably… HIM.

So why have I decided to make a career of leading corporate worship at this point in my life?

First, I believe this is what God has for me at this point. But my motivation... I want people to MEET GOD, see themselves in the light of WHO HE IS (grace, holiness, mercy, justice, perfection, compassion, omniscience, omnipresence, forgiving, forgetting our sins) and corporately and individually pledge themselves in worship. With the END RESULT of LIFE CHANGE and a LifeStyle that is OBEDIENT and GLORIFYING of God.

I love music. It moves me. And it moves alot of people. It disarms people. It teaches people. It’s a powerful tool. It can create atmosphere and environment. It is THE EASIEST way for God’s people to simultaneously unite themselves in corporate prayer. It is the most repeated command in the bible.

I love worship. I long to be the worshipper God desires. I want to go deeper in my relationship with Him, and love leading a congregation of people who feel the same.
I want God to love coming to church. He’s never missed a service, and never will. But I want HIM to be glad He came.

I want to be a part of equipping the saints to be salt, light, ambassadors of Christ, of God’s Kingdom to the earth… To be citizens of heaven where worship is like American TV… It's never off the air. :)