Momo's Musings

A Sacrifice that Costs Me ... What?

2012-01-25T17:17:00.001-05:00

Second Samuel 24 has this account of God punishing Israel with a plague after King David ordered a census of the fighting men. Though I have known this story for years, my understanding of what got them into the situation is still not completely clear … because the scriptures are rather vague about that part (read it yourself and you’ll see). I’ve studied it in multiple translations and have heard it preached multiple times. I’ve read and heard a number of opinions that all make sense; but they are all plausible conjecture at best – neither contradicted nor explicitly supported by the text. We’ll pick it up in the GNB where it becomes very clear.

18 That same day Gad went to David and said to him, Go up to Araunah's threshing place and build an altar to the Lord. 19 David obeyed the Lord's command and went as Gad had told him to.
20 Araunah looked down and saw the king and his officials coming up to him. He threw himself on the ground in front of David 21 and asked, Your Majesty, why are you here? David answered, To buy your threshing place and build an altar for the Lord, in order to stop the epidemic.
22 Take it, Your Majesty, Araunah said, and offer to the Lord whatever you wish. Here are these oxen to burn as an offering on the altar; here are their yokes and the threshing boards to use as fuel. 23 Araunah gave it all to the king and said to him, May the Lord your God accept your offering.
24 But the king answered, No, I will pay you for it. I will not offer to the Lord my God sacrifices that have cost me nothing. And he bought the threshing place and the oxen for fifty pieces of silver. 25 Then he built an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. The Lord answered his prayer, and the epidemic in Israel was stopped.

I highlighted the part that has caused this story to stick in my mind for all these years. It’s the basis of the primary thought in my philosophy of Ministry through Music:

The worship of God and the communication of the message of the Gospel are worthy of nothing less than the very best and highest art that we can possibly muster (regardless the “style” definition with which any of it can be tagged).

It is because God is worthy of more than we can possibly give that we devote our time and effort to learning and refining music for the purpose of leading our people in the worship of God and communicating the message of the Gospel. If it’s just about “what I like” or “how it makes me feel,” then showing up just when it’s convenient or when we feel like it is fine. But if it’s about giving God the glory due his name, then it’s worth any cost, any inconvenience. Scripture calls it a “sacrifice of praise” for a reason.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Our Lives in Ruins

2012-01-19T11:12:00.001-05:00

I’m not dropping this for any desire for big notice, but it is ever on my mind that I will be 50 years old in less than 3 months. I remember when I hit 40. It was on a Sunday, and a certain choir member or two saw to it that it would be a birthday to remember … from the black crepe paper and such hung the choir room all the way to the black rose sitting in the middle of my desk in a Coca-Cola can that had also been spray-painted black. I remember telling Dad that I had always thought that I would feel more “grown-up” by age 40 than I actually did. He replied that we never feel as grown-up as we think we ought to.

To our choir members in their 90s (as of last week we now have 3 ... and they are among our most faithful and spiritually alive): I admire you and hope to be doing at least as well as you when I am in my 70s.

I hit 40, but it feels like 50 will hit me. Thinking in that vein, I’ve been meditating on this essay my son Taylor posted on his blog last week:

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Keeping Christ in ...

2012-01-12T16:14:00.000-05:00

During December there were a lot of e-mails and what-not floating around about keeping Christ in Christmas. We see most of these … or an updated version of the older ones … every year. And most of them are well-meaning, but (in my opinion) based on an uninformed idea that someone is trying to “EX Christ out of Christmas” by replacing “Christ” with “X”. I say that this idea is “uninformed” because I don’t want to be uncharitable by using a harsher term. I will use a harsher term if, after hearing my explanation, people continue to be unnecessarily belligerent when they see “Xmas” in print.

We need to understand that the word “Christ” in the Greek language starts with the Greek letter CHI, which is the ancient source for the letter X in the Roman alphabet (which is the alphabet that English and most of the other Western languages is written in). Further, you may be familiar with the acronym IXθΥΣ (Romanized to Ichthus – which means fish in Greek and is the reason Christians have used the fish symbol from the very earliest days of the faith). IXθΥΣ is an acronym consisting of the first letters of the Greek words translated Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior. The Greek letter CHI (X) has stood for Christ since the first century, and theology students use it as shorthand in note-taking in colleges and seminaries even to this day (just as they use THETA (θ) as shorthand for God).

I saw one in December that I had never seen before, and it bothered me greatly because it took well-meaning ignorance to a nasty conclusion. It was a music video encouraging people to make a big stink over boycotting businesses that substituted “Happy Holidays” for “Merry Christmas”, and to do so with a curt and not at all kind explanation of why you were leaving and not planning to come back. I guess the fact that it was a very slick, professional-quality production increased my level of ... disappointment ... that people who claim to follow Christ would encourage such ungracious behavior. The song encouraged Christians to take offense at something that really shouldn’t be worried about … and to do so in a way that is sure to give offense. Apparently they were unaware (or chose to ignore) the fact that the word “holiday” has its root in the term “holy day” … a category in which I believe Christmas firmly resides.

A twitter feed I follow clearly stated that there are people who get all bent out of shape about “keeping Christ in Christmas,” but fail to remember to keep Christ in Christian. To take a cue from the words of Paul in Ephesians 4 … you shouldn’t have learned Christ in this way.

This MUSING may seem a few weeks late (and I guess it is from a certain perspective) … but keeping Christ in Christian is year-round.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

A New Look at a Not-So-Old Hymn

2012-01-05T12:04:00.000-05:00

Occasionally someone will ask me to name my favorite hymn. It’s a question that usually makes me a little uncomfortable because it's usually a loaded question, often coming in a context that implies judgment of my competence as a Worship Pastor on the basis of how I answer the question. My best answer is that it depends on who is singing it, when, and why.

Noted British hymn scholar and theologian Erik Routley asserted that a good hymn must be well written, well chosen, and well sung. In this, the first week of a new year, one hymn that my mind has been singing (praying, perhaps?) is this text by Harry Emerson Fosdick. This is the version of the text that is in the 1991 Baptist Hymnal.

God of Grace and God of Glory

God of grace and God of glory,
On Thy people pour Thy power;
Crown Thine ancient church’s story,
Bring her bud to glorious flower.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
For the facing of this hour,
For the facing of this hour.

Lo! the hosts of evil round us
Scorn Thy Christ, assail His ways!
Fears and doubts too long have bound us,
Free our hearts to work and praise.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
For the living of these days,
For the living of these days.

Cure Thy children’s warring madness,
Bend our pride to Thy control;
Shame our wanton, selfish gladness,
Rich in things and poor in soul.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
Lest we miss Thy kingdom’s goal,
Lest we miss Thy kingdom’s goal.

Set our feet on lofty places,
Gird our lives that they may be
Armored with all Christ-like graces
In the fight to set men free.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
That we fail not man nor Thee!
That we fail not man nor Thee!

As I researched that hymn, I learned that Fosdick wrote it in the summer of 1930 for the opening of the Riverside Church on October 5, 1930. So in the timeline of church music, it is comparatively recent. Well written? Check. Well chosen? Depends on context. Well sung? That’s our job.

BTW: if you’re leading a spoken prayer following that hymn, PLEASE do not begin, “Let us pray …”. To sing that hymn well, one must pray the text while singing. Better, then, to say, “Let us continue in prayer …”.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

The Stocking Gifts

2011-12-22T13:46:00.000-05:00

These next 12 months will be a year of firsts for my family. Many of you reading this know exactly what I mean. For the first year following the death of a loved one, every significant event will be the first … whatever … without them. We are in that year, and heading toward the first Christmas since Dad passed away in August.

Christmas will always bring up some memories of Dad that will bring laughter and tears at the same time. He was without a doubt one of the most giving people I have ever known … but he never made a big show of the giving. His focus was always on the recipient of the gift rather than on the fact that he was giving it. We could always count on seeing Mom melt into a puddle of tears upon opening one of her gifts from Dad. I have only given Dawn a very few gifts in our almost 25 years of marriage that have made her cry. Dad did it every Christmas.

When children reach a certain age, Santa Claus passes the filling of Christmas stockings on to the parents. My sisters and I learned about this phenomenon when we were all three in our teens and we began to see a change in the kinds of gifts we found in our stockings. The usual candy and trinkets were joined by three or four new things with cute little notes attached in Dad’s handwriting explaining why they were in there. Almost all of them were humorous, like the eyebrow pencil I found in my stocking the first time I tried to grow a moustache (my face didn’t produce a “decent” one until I was about 22 or 23). The good-natured teasing and the laughter that the stocking-gift notes brought came to be one of the things we most anticipated about Christmas morning. It was also Dad’s gift of knowing, understanding (usually), and caring (always) about our lives.

One of the miracles of Christmas is that our God actually steps into the lives of those who worship Him and gets involved in the things that matter to us. He did it at Christ’s birth, and He continues to do it by His Holy Spirit in our lives. While other world religions have deities that demand and dictate to their followers, the one true God pours himself out into the lives of those who would accept His love through His gift of Jesus Christ.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Lessons I Learned This Week

2011-11-21T16:43:00.000-05:00

Two lessons learned a couple of weeks ago, actually. But I wrote this the Wednesday following the lessons learned.

I learned two lessons this week that I want to share with you. The first one lifted my heart … the second made me repent.

I received a phone call Monday afternoon after staff meeting that appeared to me to be one of my least favorite kinds of calls: a “cold call” either from a sales rep or from a booking agent for a Southern Gospel group. It was a “cold call”, but far from the typical one. It was not a booking agent or a sales rep for a publisher or media producer; it was a composer/arranger whose music I have known for some 20 years or more. While we were on the phone I took a “Golden Rule” opportunity, which I paraphrase this way: do for others what you would like for others to do for you.

A couple of this gentleman's anthems have been among my personal favorites for the FBC Sanctuary Choir for years. I would share the titles with you in this post, but out of respect for his privacy I want to preserve his anonymity ... you'll see why soon.. As we talked, I took the opportunity to thank him for his work and went so far as to tell him that in my mind, were I to choose a “signature piece” for this choir, it would be this one particular title. He warned me before it happened, but my simple words of appreciation moved him to tears, affecting him more deeply than just revealing emotion in the tone of his voice. On the contrary, he sobbed deeply and unashamedly. Life has him at a very tender spot right now with some health issues in his family too private to share openly; but he shared them with me asking for prayer. Something I must have said gave him permission to be vulnerable and to trust me with something very sacred. Lesson: ALWAYS take the opportunity to say thank you … and go into specific detail when you do. The person you say it to may need that affirmation more than you can imagine.

The second lesson I learned yesterday (actually, November 8th). The Laurens Baptist Association has a women’s dinner every Fall. This year it was in our turn to host, and they asked First Light to share. Great! More time away from family. Wanting everything to be right for the event, I spent a good deal of time yesterday afternoon getting the sound system untangled and re-routed for optimal functionality (pulled a muscle in my back in the process). Worried over stuff here, I forgot to fill up the lovely wife's car before her trip to Greenwood. Frustrated and irritated, I made the comment to a trusted friend that I hoped that we didn’t have to host this thing again for a good long while.

During the event, as Edna Ellison spoke and asked us to consider whether we were living our lives as acts of worship, the Holy Spirit convicted me and I had to repent. My attitude toward the event was bad and worse. On the surface I was all smiles and politeness. Underneath I was bitter and resentful. Several times during her talk, Ellison asked, "Are you worshiping while I'm talking?" Or, "Are you still worshiping or has your mind drifted to something else?" Lesson: Romans 12:1 service to others is only worship if you give it freely without bitterness.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Words of Wisdom from The Daily Office - Part 10 (final)

2011-10-27T16:16:00.000-04:00

A twitter feed I follow posted a link yesterday to a blog with the following quote from a book entitled The Church that Never Sleeps:

Sometimes God will allow tough times to come at you immediately when you're following a dream because He wants to find out up front if you can withstand them.

That makes sense only if you don’t think about it. If God is omniscient (all-knowing), then what in the world does He need to find out? He already knows! Unbound by time, He already knows the outcome of every big endeavor every believer who will ever walk the face of the earth will undertake … and whether they can withstand the tough times. It’s a nice thought, but it unintentionally denies God one of His key attributes.

There may be some who are wondering how long I will continue just parroting the words of others rather than coming up with something original to share in my Musings. I sometimes wonder that myself. (The above thought was original, by the way.) Solomon was right, though, when he wrote in Ecclesiastes that there is nothing new under the sun. To think that a profound thought that comes to me has never come to anyone else is a bit arrogant. But that doesn’t keep me from trying to think deeply. Reading the deep thoughts of others helps.

Today’s entry will be the last that I will share from Peter Scazzero’s devotional book The Daily Office. This one was written by Lynn Baab in her book Sabbath Keeping: Finding Freedom in the Rhythms of Rest:

The Sabbath teaches us grace because it connects us experientially to the basic truth that nothing we do will earn God’s love. As long as we are working hard, using our gifts to serve others, experiencing joy in our work along with the toil, we are always in danger of believing that our actions trigger God’s love for us. Only in stopping, really stopping, do we teach our hearts and souls that we are loved apart from what we do.

During a day of rest, we have the chance to take a deep breath and look at our lives. God is at work every minute of our days, yet we seldom notice. Noticing requires intentional stopping and the Sabbath provides that opportunity. On the Sabbath we can take a moment to see the beauty of a maple leaf, created with great care by our loving Creator …

Without time to stop, we cannot notice God’s hand in our lives, practice thankfulness, step outside our culture’s values or explore our deepest longings. Without time to rest, we will seriously undermine our ability to experience God’s unconditional love and acceptance. The Sabbath is a gift whose blessings cannot be found anywhere else.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Words of Wisdom from The Daily Office - Part 9

2011-10-26T13:29:00.002-04:00

From my rehearsal notes: Wednesday, October 19 -- we're almost caught up and current! Woohoo!

As we loaded the CHS Band equipment up after they played their show in Chesnee last Saturday, we discovered that one of my tires was not completely flat, but it was dangerously low. We successfully pumped the tire back up and it held all the way back to Clinton (thanks be to God), but further examination revealed that all four tires were suffering from a case of dry-rot. First thing Monday morning my horse got new shoes.

The old tires still had a good deal of tread wear left in them, but they were 9 years old and the truck was never kept in a garage or carport. Constant exposure to the UV rays of sunlight with no shelter breaks down the structural integrity of the tires. There’s a parallel in our lives. Our souls were created with a need for Sabbath rest (shelter) on a weekly basis. When I don’t observe Sabbath (and I usually don’t do so very successfully), I abuse my soul and run the risk of spiritual dry-rot.

As was last week’s quote, this week’s quote is from a book by Wayne Mueller – Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in Our Busy Lives.

Sabbath is not dependent upon our readiness to stop. We do not stop when we are finished. We do not stop when we complete our phone calls, finish our project, get through this stack of messages, or get out this report that is due tomorrow. We stop because it is time to stop.

Sabbath requires surrender. If we only stop when we are finished with all our work, we will never stop – because our work is never completely done. With every accomplishment there arises a new responsibility. If we refuse rest until we are finished, we will never rest until we die. Sabbath dissolves the artificial urgency of our days, because it liberates us from the need to be finished.

We stop because there are forces larger than we that take care of the universe, and while our efforts are important, necessary, and useful, they are not (nor are we) indispensable. The galaxy will somehow manage without us for this hour, this day, and so we are invited –nay, commanded – to relax, and enjoy our relative unimportance, our humble place at the table in a very large world.

Do not be anxious about tomorrow, Jesus said again and again. Let the work of this day be sufficient.

Sabbath says, be still. Stop. There is no rush to get to the end, because we are never finished.

As I wrote last week, I share this stuff with you because I need it as desperately as anyone.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Words of Wisdom from The Daily Office - Part 8

2011-10-23T16:46:00.000-04:00

Blogger's note: This entry is from my rehearsal notes from October 12. Enjoy!

As you know, your church staff spent last Thursday and Friday at the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta. What started in 2001 as a conference to equip and inspire young leaders (about 1500 attended the first one) has grown to a massive scale over the past 11 years. There were 13,000 in attendance in Atlanta this year – and there are additional conferences in the Catalyst “brand” across the US now as well. I’m not one who really enjoys huge crowds and high-adrenaline atmospheres (which has been a large part of the Catalyst experience, especially in recent years), but to learn from the teachers they bring in is worth the personal inconvenience and discomfort.

This year, however, there was a deliberate effort not to try to blow the top off the adrenaline meter with the music in the main sessions (there was still enough of that outside the venue … you’d have to go to one in order to understand). My adrenaline-bruised soul found it a welcome change. Wayne Mueller put it this way:

… we can work without stopping, faster and faster, electric lights making artificial day so the whole machine can labor without ceasing. But remember: No living thing lives like this. There are greater rhythms that govern how life grows … seasons and sunsets and great movements of seas and stars … We are part of the creation story, subject to all its laws and rhythms.

To surrender to the rhythms of seasons and flowerings and dormancies is to savor the secret of life itself.

Many scientists believe we are “hard-wired” like this, to live in rhythmic awareness, to be in and then step out, to be engrossed and then detached, to work and then to rest. It follows then that the commandment to remember the Sabbath is not a burdensome requirement from some law-giving deity – “You ought, you’d better, you must” – but rather a remembrance of a law that is firmly embedded in the fabric of nature. It is a reminder of how things really are, the rhythmic dance to which we unavoidably belong.

As I write this, it is approaching 3:00pm on Wednesday … my busiest day of the week. My soul is compressed by the must-get-done-before-this-evening-ness of life. I don’t share this stuff with you because I think I have a handle on it. I share it with you because I need it as desperately as any of you. God is not honored by my frantic pace; His work in my life is diminished by it. And I am not alone.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Words of Wisdom from The Daily Office - Part 7

2011-10-19T18:23:00.001-04:00

I have returned to the ongoing discussion thread of the past few weeks. Week 6 of the Daily Office study focuses on helping us to establish a pattern of stopping during our day to remind ourselves of the presence of God in our lives and in the goings on around us. If I had been writing the book, I probably would have put this first … but I think it is very effective coming where it does in the pattern of recovery of spiritual health. Sabbath-taking (talking about brief sabbaths throughout the day as well as taking a Sabbath rest during the week) is a lost art in this day and age. We just don’t know how to do it … and I mean myself when I say “we.”

In New Seeds of Contemplation, Trappist Monk and theologian Thomas Merton wrote:

Every moment and every event of every man’s life on earth plants something in his soul. For just as the wind carries thousands of winged seeds, so each moment brings with it germs of spiritual vitality that come to rest imperceptibly in the minds and wills of men. Most of these unnumbered seeds perish and are lost, because men are not prepared to receive them: for such seeds as these cannot spring up anywhere except in the good soil of freedom, spontaneity and love.

This is no new idea. Christ in the parable of the sower long ago told us that “the seed is the word of God.” We often think this applies only to the word of the Gospel as formally preached in churches on Sundays. But every expression of the will of God is in some sense a “word” of God and therefore a “seed” of new life. The ever-changing reality in the midst of which we live should awaken us to the possibility of an uninterrupted dialogue with God.

We must learn to realize that the love of God seeks us in every situation, and seeks our good.

As I read that back on July 21, I was blown away by the fact that God seeks me in EVERY situation … even the ones that feel totally devoid of the presence of God. God is not limited by our perception of His presence. He is always there. In the words of Carl Jung: “Bidden or unbidden, God is here.” Another way of saying it might be this: “God is here whether I want Him here or not.” Or maybe this (and I really take comfort in this):

“Even if I forget to invite Him, God comes anyway.”

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Words of Wisdom from The Daily Office - Part 6

2011-10-17T11:25:00.000-04:00

Still sharing gems from Peter Scazzero’s The Daily Office. I would have found the following prayer meaningful even if I didn’t have an Irish Catholic brother-in-law named Patrick.

Prayer of St. Patrick

I arise today
Through God’s strength to pilot me;
God’s might to uphold me,
God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s eye to look before me,
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to speak for me,
God’s hand to guard me,
God’s way to lie before me,
God’s shield to protect me,
God’s hosts to save me
From snares of the devil,
From temptations of vices,
From every one who desires me ill,
Afar and anear,
Alone or in a multitude.

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ in the heart of every mane who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me,

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through a confession of the Oneness
Of the creator of creation.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Words of Wisdom from THE DAILY OFFICE - part 5

2011-10-12T14:30:00.000-04:00

Blogger's note: Still catching up on posting. This entry is from my rehearsal handout from Wednesday, August 31.

I find it interesting (though not at all welcome) that today finds us with two choir members out of town to look after parents with age-related health issues. We will be careful to lift them up in our prayers not only now, but in the days to come. Your prayers for me and my family in a similar situation were life-blood to us.

Even though it has taken me more than 8 weeks to go through Peter Scazzero’s 8-week spiritual journey, The Daily Office, it may be about time to let this be the final Musings in the series … next week’s Musings will tell you whether I decided to end it here or not. Here are some of the things I found noteworthy enough to copy into my journal:

We want to follow Jesus into the abundant life of resurrection. But we are less than enthusiastic about following him into the Garden of Gethsemane. ~ Peter Scazzero.

Catastrophic loss by definition precludes recovery. It will transform us or destroy us, but it will never leave us the same. There is no going back to the past. … It is not therefore true that we become less through loss – unless we allow the loss to make us less, grinding our soul down until there is nothing left. … Loss can also make us more. I did not get over the loss of my loved ones; rather, I absorbed the loss into my life … until it became part of who I am. Sorrow took up permanent residence in my soul and enlarged it. … One learns the pain of others by suffering one’s own pain, by turning inside oneself, by finding one’s own soul. … However painful, sorrow is good for the soul … the soul is elastic, like a balloon. It can grow larger through suffering. ~ Gerald Sittser

Getting off our thrones and joining the rest of humanity is a must for spiritual maturity. We are not the center of the universe. The universe does not revolve around us.

Yet a part of us hates limits. We won’t accept them. This is one of the primary reasons grieving our loss biblically is such an indispensable part of spiritual maturity.
Embracing our limits humbles us like little else. ~ Peter Scazzero

We should bring to God what is in us, not what ought to be in us. The “oughts” will keep us from telling the truth. They will also keep us from feeling the truth. Especially the truth about our pain. ~ C. S. Lewis

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Oh, to Be a Fly on the Wall This Evening!

2011-10-05T16:18:00.000-04:00

As you read this, Larry and I will be driving together to a conference in Atlanta. You will be led in rehearsal this evening by two of the finest musicians I have ever known: Dawn Driggers and Dr. Charles Gaines.

Dr. Gaines is professor emeritus of music at Presbyterian College. He holds the Bachelor of Music Education and Master of Music degrees from Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois, and the Doctor of Sacred Music degree from Union Theological Seminary. He is the founder and former conductor of the Laurens County Chorale, and is the founder and conductor of the Greenwood Festival Chorale. Since Dawn began accompanying the Laurens County Chorale, and a couple of years later, the Greenwood Festival Chorale, Chuck and his wife Jean have become dear, dear friends of ours; but it took me a couple of years before I was comfortable calling him “Chuck” instead of “Dr. Gaines.”

Dawn holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree (cum laude) from Samford University in Birmingham, AL. Music Ed was typically a 5-year degree program at Samford, but Dawn finished it in 4 (and added 16 hours of foreign language). Although she is best known locally as a pianist and accompanist, her undergraduate degree was not in piano but in voice.

At Samford there were three ways to cover the requirement of a senior vocal recital:

Studio Recital (performed before faculty and invited guests)
Degree with Recital (aka DWR – a 30-minute public Senior Recital)
Samford Performing Arts Program (aka SPAP – a 30-minute public Junior Recital and a 60-minute public Senior Recital)

Only the best vocal students were allowed to do DWR or SPAP. I hated the way I sang in college (and so did most of the voice faculty), so I just did a studio recital. Dawn, on the other hand, was a SPAP student. Looking back, she sometimes wonders if she had been in her right mind to try to do all that she did. The fact that she also fell in love with and agreed to marry me confirms that she was … indeed … crazy. In addition to accompanying the Laurens County Choral and the Greenwood Festival Chorale, Dawn also teaches piano and voice privately in our home, and accompanies and teaches voice to music minors and secondaries at Newberry College.

So why would I like to be a fly on the wall this evening? The shoe is on the other foot. Dawn is conducting … with Chuck accompanying. You’re in for an interesting (and productive) rehearsal.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Words of Wisdom from The Daily Office - Part 4

2011-10-04T10:53:00.001-04:00

Readers of my blog may be aware that I try to write a half-page column every week for my Wednesday evening rehearsal(s). I'm aware that only a small percentage of my choir actually reads them. Their available time is as limited as anyone's. Most of the month of August I was in my hometown at my Dad's bedside in the hospital as he traveled the last few days of his journey through life. I was blessed to have people filling in for me at church giving me the freedom to receive the blessing of having that time with Dad. I was able to plan the rehearsal and write the column for the second Wednesday that I was away. This entry is from that rehearsal on August 10. I'm gradually catching up with getting them uploaded to the blog. I could do them all in about 10 minutes, but I like the idea of something new every few days better. That's how I would want to read it if I were following the blog. To my one blog follower: I don't even know you, but thanks.

The past few days have been anything but boring for me. I can’t tell you how much your prayers and words of encouragement that have been passed along to me mean. Long story short with Dad … nothing is headed in any direction quickly, and his condition keeps sending very mixed messages concerning prognosis. A setback in one area will have us concerned that the end might be near, then 10 minutes later he will respond better to physical therapy than he has the two previous days (that’s just a for instance from this morning). As far as prognosis, it’s anybody’s guess. He could last weeks to months like this, or he could take a turn suddenly and be gone in a few hours. What we do know is that he will not again be healthy enough for anything other than a full nursing care facility.

Mom and the sisters have mentioned concern that all this weight is on me, but I am holding up fine (except for a little loneliness at the house between supper and bedtime). One thing that I think is going on is that the discipline of following Peter Scazzero’s The Daily Office has given me a grounding that has enabled me to bear up under the load. It really doesn’t feel like a burden at all. It’s just what I need to do right now.
In addition to the above, I am deeply blessed with a wife and sons who have taken up the slack at home (and some at church) in order to enable me to be here looking after Mom and Dad. Added to that blessing is a church family that has blessed my presence here in such wonderful way. Words fail to express how deeply moved I am to be the recipient of such grace.

From The Daily Office, a quote from Chaim Potok:

“One learns of the pain of others by suffering one’s own pain, by turning inside oneself, buy finding one’s own soul. And it is important to know of pain. It destroys our self-pride, our arrogance, and our indifference toward others. It makes us aware of how frail and tiny we are and of how much we must depend upon the Master of the Universe.”

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Kyle Matthews song: The One Who Loves Me Most

2011-09-28T16:46:00.000-04:00

We’re taking a brief hiatus from the words of wisdom from The Daily Office, but the content is related. As you may know, I’m teaching Emotionally Healthy Spirituality on Sunday evenings right now. Observing The Daily Office is a part of that study. Last Sunday evening was the second of 8 sessions. As discussion progressed, a song written by my friend Kyle Matthews was so strongly related to the topic of discussion that I wished I had had my iPod with me to share it with the class. I think it was the bridge (in italic bold below) that was the clincher for connecting it with what we were talking about.

The One Who Loves Me Most

Kyle Matthews

Mama believes there’s still a child in me.

Papa can see the man I’ll one day be.

My sister knows my dumb mistakes.

My brother knows how much I’ll take.

But the One who loves me most knows me best.

The One who’s most proud of me now knows my regrets.

And there is no audience I must impress,

’cause the One who loves me loves me most and knows me best.

The junior high girls remember me, the flirt.

My bride to be can tell you how I splurged.

The wife who walks me through the years

knows my dreams, feels my fears.

But the One who loves me most knows me best. …

And I’ll never be all that people want from me.

So, I’ll hold on to the love that gives me all I need

to face the temptations of people’s expectations.

’Cause the One who loves me most knows me best.

The One who’s most proud of me now knows my regrets.

And there is no audience I must impress,

’cause the One who loves me loves me most and knows me best.

Used by permission. CCLI No. 157134.

I'd love to tell you that you can locate the CD that this song is on ("This Is Not Normal") and get it quickly, but it's out of print. You might be able to find it on eBay, but people who have Kyle's music usually keep it. I'll let you borrow mine as soon as the last guy who borrowed it brings it back.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Words of Wisdom from The Daily Office - Part 3

2011-09-28T11:20:00.000-04:00

NOTE: Still catching up from the hectic summer. I know I had promised to upload one every few days. Let it slide, please. If you're getting this on facebook, please follow the "view original post" link to my Blogger site so that the counter will tell me how many are actually reading this thing. Thanks.

If you’ve been paying attention for the past few weeks, I’m sharing some of the nuggets of wisdom that I have encountered as I follow one of the suggestions Blake gave for us as a congregation to do during his sabbatical: going through Peter Scazzero’s The Daily Office as a personal devotion book. I’m drawing what I share with you on Wednesday nights from previous weeks’ journal entries. From week 3, day 2: wisdom from Thomas Keating.

The Spirit intends to investigate our whole life history, layer by layer, throwing out the junk and preserving the values that were appropriate to each stage of our human development … Eventually, the Spirit begins to dig into the bedrock of our earliest emotional life … Hence, as we progress toward the center where God is actually waiting for us, we are naturally going to feel that we are getting worse. This warns us that the spiritual journey is not a success story or a career move. It is rather a series of humiliations of the false self. (Intimacy with God, pp. 82-84)

Each session poses a question, and the one following the Keating quote was this: What false self are you struggling with that Christ wants you to die to so that you can truly live?

The fact of the matter is that we all project a self that is the one we want others to see … and most of us have been doing it for so long that the habit of doing so has become so deeply ingrained in us that we aren’t even aware that we’re doing it. That’s what makes going down to that bedrock such a difficult thing. And if you think you don’t do it … you’re probably wrong.

It’s not just that we hide the stuff that we know about ourselves that we know (or fear) would meet with disapproval in the eyes of those whose opinions we value. Some of us openly display a caustic and abrasive pattern of behavior that irritates others in order to keep them at a distance. If they can’t stand to be close, they won’t get close enough to see what we don’t want them to see. And we bury our true self so deeply that it even hides from us.

I know I haven’t filled up the page, but …

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Words of Wisdom from The Daily Office - Part 2

2011-09-15T17:09:00.001-04:00

Blogger's Note: This writing dates from July 20, 2011. A family emergency in early August (culminating in my father's death) has me way behind in keeping the blog updated. Though I succeeded in publishing the Musings almost weekly for my Wednesday evening rehearsals, I did not succeed in uploading them to the blog. I will post one every few days until I am caught up. [End of note. On to the blog!]

One of the suggestions my Pastor Blake made for us as individual members of this body during his sabbatical was to secure a copy of Peter Scazzero’s The Daily Office and go through it as a personal devotion book. I have been pretty much on time so far, but it has taken me 2 weeks to get through week 5. I promised a few weeks ago to share some of the inspiration in my Musings I’m going back over previous weeks’ journal entries and finding it interesting … in light of how the past couple of weeks have been, consider the following from Eugene Peterson (The Contemplative Pastor: Returning to the Art of Spiritual Direction):

I am busy because I am vain. I want to appear important. What better way than to be busy? The incredible hours, the crowded schedule, and the heavy demands of my time are proof to myself and to all who will notice – that I am important. If I go into a doctor’s office and find there is no one waiting, and I see through a half-open door the doctor reading a book, I wonder if he’s any good.

Such experiences affect me. I live in a society in which crowded schedules and harassed conditions are evidence of importance, so I develop a crowded schedule and harassed conditions. When others notice, they acknowledge my significance, and my vanity is fed.

I am busy because I am lazy. I let others decide what I will do instead of resolutely deciding myself. It was a favorite theme of C. S. Lewis that only lazy people work hard. By lazily abdicating the essential work of deciding and directing, establishing values and setting goals, other people do it for us.

And from Parker Palmer (Let Your Life Speak):

When I give something I do not possess, I give a false and dangerous gift, a gift that looks like love but is, in reality, loveless – a gift given more from my need to prove myself than from the other’s need to be cared for.

One sign that I am violating my own nature in the name of nobility is a condition called burnout. Though usually regarded as a result of trying to give too much, burnout in my experience results from trying to give what I do not possess – the ultimate in giving too little!

Burnout is a state of emptiness, to be sure, but it does not result from giving all I have; it merely reveals the nothingness from which I was trying to give in the first place.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Words of Wisdom from The Daily Office

2011-08-31T14:06:00.000-04:00

Blogger's Note: This writing dates from June 22, 2011. A family vacation, absence of a coworker for a week, and family emergency (culminating in my father's death) has me way behind in keeping the blog updated. I must say that the coworker who was out for a week (on a ministry-related task) more than made up for his absence in filling in the gaps for me during the three weeks I was away with my Dad. I can never thank him enough for that. Anyhow, though I succeeded in publishing the Musings almost weekly for my Wednesday evening rehearsals, I did not succeed in uploading them to the blog. I will post one every few days until I am caught up. [End of note]

One of the suggestions Blake made for us as individual members of this body during his sabbatical was to secure a copy of Peter Scazzero’s The Daily Office and go through it as a personal devotion book. Having read Scazzero’s Emotionally Healthy Spirituality and currently reading The Emotionally Healthy Church, I was eager to do so … but finding the book proved to be a bit of a challenge. If you have looked for it but been unable to find it in an affordable listing on Amazon or Barnes & Noble, please see me. I had trouble at first finding it at a reasonable price (probably because they sold in lots of 10 or so), and I’ll be happy to help you get a copy of it.

I’m in week two of the book and it’s taking me into some important growth areas in my spiritual life. Consider the following from the book:

My response to Day 1 morning prayer – “If I am a temple (as scripture suggests … not suggests, but clearly states), then there are some money-changers’ tables that Jesus needs to overturn in my life.”
Mother Teresa on day 1 evening prayer – We all must take the time to be silent and to contemplate, especially those who live in big cities like London or New York, where everything moves so fast … I always begin my prayer in silence, for it is in the silence of the heart that God speaks. God is the friend of silence --- we need to listen to God because it’s not what we say but what He says to us and through us that matters. Prayer feeds the soul – as blood is to the body, prayer is to the soul – and it brings you closer to God. It also gives you a clean and pure heart. A clean heart can see God, can speak to God, and can see the love of God in others.
Scazzero’s suggested prayer on day 3 (?) talks about living so that my life is a gift to those around me. Oh, that that would be so for those who encounter me.
From Leighton Ford – When I am still, compulsion (the busyness that Hilary of Tours called “a blasphemous anxiety to do God’s work for him”) gives way to compunction (being pricked or punctured). That is, God can break through the many layers with which I protect myself, so that I can hear His Word and be poised to listen …
I can mistake the flow of my adrenaline for the moving of the Holy Spirit; I can live in the illusion that I am ultimately in control of my destiny and my daily affairs.
Blaise Pascal observed that most of our human problems come because we don’t know how to sit still in our room for an hour.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Humor has hijacked the day!

2011-06-15T21:06:00.000-04:00

I was going to do something introspective this week. I’ve read some interesting things recently that have sparked some new synaptic connections in my brain about the truths of God … but then I got this e-mail from local newspaper editor Larry Franklin this morning that gave me one of the biggest laughs I have had in a good while. Scripture says that a joyful heart is good medicine. This should bring joy to your heart.

Wife's diary:

Tonight, I thought my husband was acting weird. We had made plans to meet at a nice restaurant for dinner. I was shopping with my friends all day long, so I thought he was upset at the fact that I was a bit late, but he made no comment on it. Conversation wasn't flowing, so I suggested that we go somewhere quiet so we could talk. He agreed, but he didn't say much.

I asked him what was wrong. He said, 'Nothing.' I asked him if it was my fault that he was upset. He said he wasn't upset, that it had nothing to do with me, and not to worry about it. On the way home, I told him that I loved him. He smiled slightly, and kept driving.

I can't explain his behavior. I don't know why he didn't say, 'I love you, too.' When we got home, I felt as if I had lost him completely, as if he wanted nothing to do with me anymore. He just sat there quietly, and watched TV. He continued to seem distant and absent.

Finally, with silence all around us, I decided to go to bed. About 15 minutes later, he came to bed. But I still felt that he was distracted, and his thoughts were somewhere else. He fell asleep - I cried. I don't know what to do. I'm almost sure that his thoughts are with someone else. My life is a disaster.

Husband's Diary:

Boat wouldn't start … can't figure it out.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Did you find joy? Did you bring joy?

2011-05-26T17:01:00.000-04:00

I spent the better part of last week (Tuesday morning through Monday night) accompanying the Clinton High School Science Olympiad team to the Science Olympiad Nationals. I am so grateful to Mary Ann for filling in for me while I was away (your thank-you gift is coming, I promise). This year I coached Sounds of Music (an event that did not compete at the state level in South Carolina). In a few short weeks we had to design and build two musical instruments to compete in an event that most teams had been working on all year. My team placed a respectable 31st out of 60 teams.

It was a long trip: two days to get there and two days to get back. Video systems on tour buses are both a blessing and a curse. They do bring some distraction that can keep kids from getting on each other’s’ nerves quite so easily, but this can come at the expense of having to endure some pretty awful examples of cinema art. Just because a teenage girl likes it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a good movie. On the other hand, the Science Olympiad trips have enabled me to see (and enjoy) some movies that I have not seen before. One such movie on this trip was THE BUCKET LIST.

Aside from some coarse language (it’s a Jack Nicholson movie … go figure), the story is really quite good; heart-warming without excessive glurge. One of the stand-out scenes of the movie takes place atop a pyramid in Egypt. Citing what he said was the ancient Egyptian view of heaven, Carter (Morgan Freeman) forces Edward (Nicholson) to confront two important questions: Did you find joy in your life? Did you bring joy to the lives of others? While I firmly believe that heaven is ours based on a living, active, transformative faith in Jesus Christ, those two questions are important.

As I watched that scene, I was reminded of what the apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Church at Philippi (Pp. 2:1-4. NIV):

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

The interesting thing (and I didn’t come up with this on my own) is that when you’re in a fellowship in which everyone is looking out for the interests of everyone else, you never have to worry about your own. A place like that would have to be overflowing with joy.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Believing a Thing Rightly

2011-05-11T16:47:00.000-04:00

You do not believe a thing rightly until you act in accordance with it. (A. W. Tozer)

That was the statement that greeted me Monday morning via Twitter. One of the Twitter feeds I follow posts a daily quote from 20th century theologian A. W. Tozer.

I think we all have difficulty with believing things rightly, and it shows up in our actions … at least it does in mine. For instance: how many of us “believe” the statistical reports that state that texting while driving is 26 times more likely to cause a serious accident than is driving drunk … 26 TIMES more likely … yet still fudge on that for “just a quick yes or no response” to a question we just received on our phones if the traffic doesn’t seem too heavy? And we would all agree that having a serious accident is something that we would very much like to avoid. Acting in accordance with that belief, then, would mean that we would never even try to read a text while driving.

Another example: in high school and college I spent a good deal of time working in a hospital. It always amazed me to see the respiratory therapists light up cigarettes on their lunch break. Many of them spent the morning doing treatments on people whose lungs were horribly diseased and damaged due to years and years of smoking. I’ve seen what gets coughed up during those treatments and it’s nasty. Then they go to lunch and light up?

Do I “believe” that it is important to put away my shoes? I answer “yes” but if you went to my house right now you would probably find 3 pairs of my shoes that are not in my closet. Do I “believe” that it is important for my dresser top to be neat and tidy? I answer “yes,” but the condition of my side of the dresser would tell you otherwise. You get the idea. We are great “hearers of the Word,” but our doing is sorely lacking.

I had a teaching DVD running in the background last week while trying desperately to get some things organized. My desk is still in disarray (another point of dissonance between belief and behavior). Reggie Joiner was interviewing Mark Batterson and asked about how we increase our education about a certain matter in church life. Batterson responded that what we needed was not more education, but more application. “We in the church are already educated far beyond our level of obedience.”

That’s why I resonate so with the words of the Choristers’ Prayer. It’s not enough to sing the words. We must believe them. And the true test of belief is not verbal assent, but behavior. God help us all.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Only Love Can Do That (MLK)

2011-05-09T12:26:00.000-04:00

Blogger's Note: written for my choir rehearsal Wednesday, May 4.

U. S. forces have found Osama bin Laden, and he was killed in the raid. The leader of al-Quaida – an organization founded on an ideology of hatred and murder of non-Muslims (aka “infidels”) that saw its ultimate expression in the heinous acts of September 11, 2001 and countless other suicide bombings – is gone. What now?

I am thankful that Osama bin Laden will no longer be leading his followers to carry out such a hate-filled agenda. I admire the bravery and skill of those in our armed forces who carried out a dangerous and distasteful raid (if killing ever stops being distasteful, God help us all). Though I believe that Muslims are misled about truth and salvation, I am also grateful that those in charge had the wisdom to demonstrate respect for Islamic law in dealing with bin Laden’s remains. Though many would prefer for him to have been treated as al-Quaida treated those whom they captured and executed, to do so would deny the character I desire to be shown by those who represent my nation in military service. It was a stroke of genius to bury his remains at sea, thereby preventing a location which could be designated a shrine and a rallying point for his followers.

I honestly believe that the removal of bin Laden from leadership ultimately makes certain parts of our world a much safer place for peaceful people. Whether it means that immediately or not is yet to be seen. I know that my friend and pastor Blake Harwell is wondering what this means for where he will be conducting his sabbatical study this summer. Some of the deepest wisdom I have read in the past couple of days comes from a voice that some sought to silence in hatred: that of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I am grateful that his influence also lives on beyond his death and I am indebted to bloggers that included this quote on their blogs this week.

The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. You may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. You may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate, nor establish love. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr., “Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?” (1967)

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Almost ... Will Happen Soon

2011-05-04T11:30:00.000-04:00

I almost got to see my oldest best friend last Monday. He was my best friend in kindergarten and the friendship continued through elementary school. When we were in our early teens, he moved from Dothan to Mobile, but we still saw each other whenever he came to Dothan. His grandparents lived less than a quarter-mile from my house, and he always called me when he came. As he was finishing Birmingham Southern, I had transferred from Auburn to Samford, and he invited me to campus for a worship service. I don’t think I saw him again until my wedding when he stood up with me as a groomsman. We haven't seen each other or spoken since.

I say that I “almost” got to see him because he was in Greenville on business on Monday evening and Tuesday morning. We were going to meet in Simpsonville and stay up late catching up with each other. Then we realized that we are both almost 50 and that staying up like that would mean that we wouldn’t be worth killing the next day. We took a rain check.

Some may wonder if our friendship means that much, why has it been almost 25 years since we’ve seen each other or even spoken? I don’t know if I can answer that question. I had tried to look him up, but there are a dozen Andy Martins in the Birmingham phone listings. But let me tell you what a true friend he was to me growing up.

We got to know each other in kindergarten at Evergreen Presbyterian Church. We were the ring-leaders in imaginative play on the playground. We made up characters and had new adventures every day (I even remember the characters, but if you think I’m going to embarrass myself by sharing them here, you’ve got another thing coming). School, cub scouts, sleep-overs, you name it … I could count on not feeling left out if Andy was there. He was in the room with me when I called on the phone to ask the first girl to “go steady” with me ... and was the first to know when she broke up with me the next day after recess.

As we grew older, our interests diverged. We were both intelligent, but he was focused (not a hint of ADHD in him) and athletic while I was bookish, scattered, and could barely even figure out how to get my foot on the ball in kick-ball. He often went to Compass Lake with us, but he agreed to go only after I promised not to take a book or a musical instrument. It did not seem to matter to either of us that the other had strong interest in things that we ourselves didn’t find particularly engaging. Our friendship was just friendship … period.

Business promises to bring him back to Greenville several times over the next few months. You can bet we’ll figure out a way to get together ... because that's what friends do. That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

What Do We Leave?

2011-04-27T16:39:00.000-04:00

He’s more of an acquaintance than a friend; we like each other like friends, we just don’t know each other as deeply as a friendship would indicate. In seminary we had one class – Choral Composition – together. He was already a brilliant keyboardist and already a published arranger with many publications under his belt, but the class was required in the MCM curriculum. The son of an editor for the Music Division of The Baptist Sunday School Board (now known as Lifeway), he grew up about as Baptist as one can get. He didn't really need the seminary degree to be hugely employable (a large church in south Florida asked him to join their staff before he finished his last semester). He was already better at the nuts and bolts of church music than most seminary graduates with decades of experience. He makes his living now as a freelance composer and arranger for radio, television, and film. I love his work and admire his talent greatly.

In 2008, he posted a long essay on his blog outlining the top 10 reasons he was quitting the “institutional church.” Well over 20 pages long, it has all the form and content of a paper one would write for a graduate level course, including numerous citations from scripture and from noted scholars both historical and current. I have skimmed it enough (and been a part of the “institutional” church long enough) to understand some of his frustrations. He still loves Jesus and scripture and people who follow Christ. One could even say (as he does in the paper) that he loves the church (by which he means the church as depicted in the New Testament). He has just had it with “institutional churchianity,” which is to say those things that we do as followers of Christ in this day and age that are not specifically found (nor – for many of them – proscribed) in scripture.

I thought about my friend when I read the following in an article by Micah Smith in Relevant Magazine’s online resource this morning:

The problem comes when walking away from the Sunday morning service means walking away from people. From God’s people. From the endless beauty of a common knowledge of a greater good. From people who will serve with you, pray with you, believe in you and fight for you. At the end of the day, the mystery of the Church isn’t a worship song or a sermon. If it is, then, sure, walk out of the building, load up your iPod with church podcasts and worship bands, and never look back. But the reality is that sermons and songs aren’t all that you give up when you walk away. You also sacrifice a community of believers.

My friend insists (and I have no reason to doubt him) that he still finds Christian fellowship, just not as a part of an “organized” church. I understand where he’s coming from … I just can’t help but think that there is a community of faith that is missing what he has to offer … and vice versa.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

What Church Is All About - Part 2

2011-03-30T11:39:00.000-04:00

Last week I alluded to a song by Ken Medema that was a part of a musical (“The Gathering”) focused on church being a safe place for us to be honest about our brokenness and struggles in order for everyone to find help and healing. Medema’s words struck a chord in my teenage heart … and they struck it loud. I didn’t have room last week to share the words, but decided they were strong enough that it was unfair not to share them with you. Since I don't have copyright permission to print the words here, follow this link to them:

If This Is Not a Place

That's enough to think about for now.

What Church Is All About - Part 1

2011-03-23T16:17:00.000-04:00

A long time ago (back in the late 1970’s, I think), Word Music released a musical with Ken Medema’s songs called “The Gathering.” It was all about church being a safe place for us to be honest about our brokenness and struggles in order for everyone to find help and healing. We rehearsed but never performed it in my Youth Choir, but Medema’s words struck a chord in my teenage heart … and they struck it loud. I wish I had room to share Medema’s words with you (maybe later), but those words echoed back to me this morning as I listened to a podcast this morning.

In a message recently preached at Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan (yes, the one associated with Rob Bell ... get over it), Steve Argue (wouldn't you love to have that name?) made the following observations:

Every Sunday around the world the faithful gather to celebrate the resurrected Christ and in this corner of this time zone this faith community gathers as well, and you know who comes here? There are people that walk in here with smiles, and there are people that walk in here with puffy eyes because they’ve been crying all night. There are people that are walking in here that are just excited about the week that they had, and there are other people that walk in there and they are literally crawling to see if they can actually make it to the grey chair. There are people with hope, and there are people with despair. And somehow … as we all come together, we attempt to worship God together.

And in an authentic community, in a place where there can be safety and trust, we actually let our guards down to actually be honest with one another. And as this community, we say together, “We will sing together.” And there will be some of us in this community that will [say], “Today, I can’t sing.” And you know what we say as a community? We say, “That’s OK, because we are the community of God and we will sing for you.” There will be times that we … gather as a community and we will say, “We will pray.” And there will be some people … saying, “I can’t pray today.” And as a community of God we say, “That’s OK, because we will pray for you. That’s what we do.” And there will be people that will say …, “We will have faith,” and, “we will believe.” But there will be some of us here on this particular day going, “I don’t have the energy to believe. I have doubts that are plaguing my faith and I don’t know what to do.” And as the community that’s authentic with one another, we say, “That’s OK because we will believe and we will have faith for you.” That’s the church of Jesus Christ.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

I Have to Say This

2011-03-22T10:58:00.001-04:00

Rob Bell has been talked about a lot since his book LOVE WINS came out. I have not read it yet (nor have MANY of his detractors), but I have enjoyed his previous books and have been ministered to in my journey with Christ by his teaching via the podcast.
Bell has been publicly denounced (shunned?) by John Piper and other notable voices in the American church and Christian media because LOVE WINS apparently smells of a universalist view of soteriology. I wonder if any of them sought to sit down one-on-one with Bell before making such public statements.
Bell's writings have often been way "out there" in terms of the 20th century understanding of orthodoxy that shaped my background as a follower of Christ, but I never thought of him as a heretic. The kindest review of his book that I have read gives him the benefit of the doubt on the heresy front, saying that he articulated some of his points inaccurately or clumsily. I'm eager to read the book so that I can understand what has caused such a scandal.
But what I really want to know right now is whether any who have so publicly denounced him as a heretic have even attempted to go have coffee with him and talk
... and ask him to clarify the points on which they find themselves in such deep disagreement. If they haven't, does that reflect "the full and complete standard of Christ" (Ephesians 4:13, NLT)?

Notes from YouthCUE Knoxville 2011

2011-03-14T17:07:00.000-04:00

I am indebted to Mary Ann for filling in for me while I was away with the teenagers over the weekend. We ended up taking 12 of our Youth Choir members … and would have been able to take more had it not been for sports-related conflicts. Our teenagers are team players in every respect, and I applaud those who couldn’t go for their commitments to their team-mates.
YouthCUE has a lot in common with team sports. It always involves hard work, and each choir member plays a significant role as a team member. Each choir is expected at least to be familiar with the music beforehand, and Sunday afternoon’s concert is sung all from memory. We were in rehearsals for over two hours on Friday night, and most of the day Saturday (reasonable breaks were allowed, of course). Sunday morning we served as the worship choir for the 11:00 worship service of FBC, Knoxville.

Kyle Matthews came as a chaperone and bus driver for the FBC, Greenville group. Because I blew his cover (sorry, Kyle), YouthCUE asked him to lead the Sunday morning devotion for the participants, and to share a couple of his songs as a part of the worship service Sunday afternoon. I cannot recall all that he so artfully told us on Sunday morning, but his three points were:

The best things in this world are experienced together.
The deepest truths of life are best communicated through art.
Worship is important enough to require discipline.

Just before the service started Sunday morning, the organist who had been in rehearsal with us on Saturday assisted an elderly woman, bent over by age with arthritic hands, to the organ bench. I looked in the worship bulletin, found her name, and immediately assumed that Mary Eleanor Pickle had probably played piano some in her earlier years and was taking organ lessons to keep her mind and body active in her senior years, and that she had spent months preparing a piece that they were letting her play for the prelude. How sweet of them. As soon as she started to play, however, I learned how wrong my assumptions were.

Mary Eleanor Pickle is an extraordinarily gifted professional organist who has been playing organ for decades. Though her arthritic hands can no longer play quite as perfectly as they obviously once did, the joy of her heart translates through the instrument, encouraging even the most unmusical in the congregation to at least try to sing. Seldom have I heard an organ played more musically than she did. Because she disciplined herself to learn and practice her instrument, Mary Eleanor Pickle communicated deep truths of God through her art, and helped to bring a scattered group of people together in worship.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Busy-ness Is Really Violence???

2011-03-09T14:47:00.000-05:00

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Tony Campolo is professor emeritus of sociology at Eastern University, a former faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania, and the founder and president of the Evangelical Association for the Promotion of Education. His web site describes him as: “speaker, author, sociologist, pastor, social activist, and passionate follower of Jesus!” There are conservatives who think he’s way too liberal, and liberals who get mad at him because he insists on talking about Jesus and the Bible.

Campolo is a powerfully engaging speaker, and – agree with him or no – anyone who hears him knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that he spends a lot of time with Jesus (in prayer and study of scripture). I was listening to an interview with him yesterday afternoon on the way home from making a hospital visit yesterday afternoon. Someone asked what advice he would give to seminary students about preaching. The most important thing, Campolo said, was to wait on the Lord. Take time before you preach or teach to be still and open yourself to the work of the Holy Spirit in you.

That kind of waiting is hard in our day and time. We are too busy to be emotionally and spiritually healthy. Thomas Merton wrote:

There is a pervasive form of contemporary violence … activisim and overwork. The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of its innate violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything, is to succumb to violence. … It kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful.

To Merton’s words, Peter Scazzero adds: And in doing violence to ourselves, we are unable to love others in and through the love of Christ. Campolo said we all quote Isaiah 40:31 but very few of us ever practice it. Here’s how Eugene Peterson translates verses 27-31 of Isaiah 40:

Why would you ever complain, O Jacob, or, whine, Israel, saying, "God has lost track of me. He doesn't care what happens to me"? Don't you know anything? Haven't you been listening? God doesn't come and go. God lasts. He's Creator of all you can see or imagine. He doesn't get tired out, doesn't pause to catch his breath. And he knows everything, inside and out. He energizes those who get tired, gives fresh strength to dropouts. For even young people tire and drop out, young folk in their prime stumble and fall. But those who wait upon God get fresh strength. They spread their wings and soar like eagles, they run and don't get tired, they walk and don't lag behind. (The Message)

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Emotionally All Grown Up

2011-03-09T14:27:00.000-05:00

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I’m almost finished reading Pete Scazzero’s Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. It’s such a good book that I’ve volunteered to teach it as a class this Fall. Our churches are full of emotionally immature people. You will see people you know in this analysis of stages of emotional growth.

Emotional Infants
Look for others to take care of them
Have great difficulty entering into the world of others
Are driven by need for instant gratification
Use others as objects to meet their needs

Emotional Children
Are content and happy as long as they receive what they want
Unravel quickly from stress, disappointments, trials
Interpret disagreements as personal offenses
Are easily hurt
Complain, withdraw, manipulate, take revenge, become sarcastic when they don’t get their way
Have great difficulty calmly discussing their needs and wants in a mature, loving way.
Emotional Adolescents
Tend to often be defensive
Are threatened and alarmed by criticism
Keep score of what they give so they can ask for something later in return
Deal with conflict poorly, often blaming, appeasing, going to a third party, pouting, or ignoring the issue entirely
Become preoccupied with themselves
Have great difficulty truly listening to another person’s pain, disappointments, or needs
Are critical and judgmental

Emotional Adults
Are able to ask for what they need, want, or prefer – clearly, directly, honestly
Recognize, manage, and take responsibility for their own thoughts and feelings
Can, when under stress, state their own beliefs and values without becoming adversarial
Respect others without having to change them
Give people room to make mistakes and not be perfect
Appreciate people for who they are – the good, the bad, and ugly – not for what they give back
Accurately assess their own limits, strengths, and weaknesses and are able to freely discuss them with others
Are deeply in tune with their own emotional world and able to enter into the feelings, needs, and concerns of others without losing themselves
Have the capacity to resolve conflict maturely and negotiate solutions that consider the perspectives of others

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Humility and "The Game"

2011-03-09T14:18:00.000-05:00

A few years ago, teenagers in our local schools played something they called “The Game.” Anyone still playing “The Game” is obviously behind the times. The rules of “The Game” are simple: Don’t think about “The Game.” If you think about “The Game,” you automatically lose and you have to announce: “I lost The Game.” What's supposed to have made the game funny is that when you do that, it makes everyone who hears you think about “The Game” and lose, too. As I started writing this thing, I thought about (and lost) “The Game.”

Humility is kind of like “The Game.” One of the frustrating things about humility is that even the most humble person struggles to remain humble if someone praises their humility. It’s hard to know how to take someone complimenting your humility. C. S. Lewis wrote that “one is never so proud as when striking a position of humility.” Authentic humility and striking a position of humility are two different things. Authentic humility never strikes a pose. It just is. And a sure-fire way to make someone lose it is to tell them that you admire their humility.

During the passing of the peace one recent Sunday morning, another staff member asked me to cover the invocation that morning. We rotate responsibility for enlisting people to lead in congregational prayer, and since it’s an every 5 weeks thing rather than a more predictable rotation, it’s easy to forget whose week it is. I am always more than happy to cover for anyone on staff if they drop the ball on getting a lay-member to lead those prayers because I drop the ball more often than anyone else does. I covered the prayer without sweating it (I AM a professional, after all) and I was proud of my eloquence about our need to be humble in the presence of God. Then the Holy Spirit convicted me that I didn’t have the humility that I had just prayed about.

Here’s what I wrote:

My prayer this morning was eloquent and I was proud of it. Extemporaneous – yes – but I found words that expressed thoughts of humility that my spirit immediately negated with pride in how I expressed them. And I’m even proud of the fact that I recognize what that pride means about my lack of humility. The humility of admitting that I lack true humility makes me proud.
Humility – if you think you have it … you don’t!

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

No successful churches?

2011-02-19T19:13:00.001-05:00

The Biblical fact is that there are no successful churches.

There are, instead, communities of sinners, gathered before God week after week in towns and villages all over the world. The Holy Spirit gathers them and does his work in them.

In these communities of sinners, one of the sinners is called pastor and given a designated responsibility in the community. The pastor's designated responsibility is to keep the community attentive to God.

~ Eugene Peterson, from WORKING THE ANGLES.

We, the Pharisees -- Better than You!

2011-02-16T15:28:00.000-05:00

For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been sharing some nuggets of spiritual truth from Pete Wilson’s book: Plan B: What do you do when God doesn’t show up the way you thought He would? The title of chapter 9 comes from Ann Lamott’s assertion that the most powerful sermon in the world consists of two words: me too.

… when you’re struggling with a Plan B circumstance, when you are dealing with unmet expectations, when you’re hurt or doubting, questioning and crying, there’s nothing more healing than knowing someone else has been there. When you’re hurt or doubting, there’s nothing more comforting than hearing someone say, “I know what you’re going through.” When you’re questioning and crying, there’s nothing that helps more than being told, “I’m in it with you, too.”

Me too. (p. 121)

Sharing with each other in the middle of the struggle is where we find Christian community. But we think we have to get all prettied up to go to church. Growing up I hated going back to church on Sunday nights because back in the late 60’s and early 70’s it meant that I had to put back on those painful dress shoes and those itchy “nice” clothes. Even though the acceptable modes of dress have relaxed since then (and thank God they have), we still think we have to make our insides more presentable to go to church. In Luke 18 we see Jesus comparing the prayers of a tax collector and a Pharisee. Wilson unpacks it this way:

You see, it doesn’t take long in this story to figure out that the Pharisee hasn’t really come to the temple to pray. He’s actually come to inform God and everyone gathered that particular day of how good he is. He isn’t there to seek help and community with other sinners, but to remind them all how self-sufficient he is. (p. 132).

Previously he wrote:

So here’s the thing. We’re a lot more likely to encounter community in the circle of people who have been broken. But unless we can get the idea out of our heads that winning is the goal of life or the only thing that counts, we’re apt to miss the community it offers. Unless we can admit to ourselves that we, too, haven’t made it, we’re apt to miss the community. (p. 127)

I might also add that we’re also apt to deprive someone else of the community that they so desperately need.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

If You Want Me To

2011-02-02T14:21:00.000-05:00

We recently hosted singer/songwriter/teacher Kyle Matthews (http://www.kylematthews.com) for a multi-session event at my church. I've known Kyle for close to 20 years and continue to be a huge fan of his music and teaching.My pastor made fun of me for being such a fan, but I think as he listened to Kyle speak and sing the songs he has written, he came to understand a little more about what makes me such a fan. That is until Kyle made the comment about him taking a cigarette break (when he was actually serving his congregation by washing dishes after supper).

I've just finished pastor Pete Wilson’s book: Plan B: What do you do when God doesn’t show up the way you thought He would? As I was reading a few days ago, I was reminded of a song Kyle sang while he was with us. It’s all about Plan B moments in life.

If You Want Me To (Ginny Owens & Kyle Matthews).
1
The pathway is broken and the signs are unclear
And I don't know the reason why You brought me here
But just because You love me the way that You do
I'm gonna walk through the valley if You want me to

2
No I'm not who I was when I took my first step
And I'm clingin' to the promise you're not through with me yet
So if all of these trials bring me closer to You
Then I will go through the fire If You want me to

It may not be the way I would have chosen
When You lead me through a world that's not my home
But You never said it would be easy
You only said I'll never go alone

3
So when the whole world turns against me and I'm all by myself
And I can't hear You answer my cries for help
I'll remember the suff'ring that Your love put You through
And I will walk through the darkness if You want me to

4
'Cause when I cross over Jordan I'm gonna sing, gonna shout
I'm gonna look into Your eyes and see You never let me down
So take me on the pathway that leads me home to You
And I will walk through the valley if You want me to

Contrary to what we might think, doubt is a sign of belief, not unbelief. Wilson writes, “Actually, if you think about it, an unbeliever doesn’t have to wrestle with doubt anyway. He can’t really doubt something he doesn’t believe in the first place.”
That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

"Things" and God

2011-01-17T14:41:00.000-05:00

Before the Lord God made man upon the earth He first prepared for him by creating a world of useful and pleasant things for his sustenance and delight ... They were made for man's uses, but they were meant always to be external to the man and subservient to him. In the deep heart of the man was a shrine where none but God was worthy to come. Within him was God; without, a thousand gifts which God had showered upon him.

But sin has introduced complication and has made those very gifts of God a potential source of ruin to the soul.

Our woes began when God was forced out of His central shrine and "things" were allowed to enter. Within the human heart "things" have taken over. Men have now by nature no peace within their hearts, for God is crowned there no longer, but here in the moral dusk stubborn and aggressive usurpers fight among themselves for first place on the throne.

This is no a mere metaphor, but an accurate analysis of our real spiritual trouble. There is within the human heart a tough fibrous root of fallen life whose nature is to possess, always to possess. It covets "things" with a deep and fierce passion. The pronouns "my" and "mine" look innocent enough in print, but their constant and universal use is significant ... They are verbal symptoms of our deep disease. The roots of our hearts have grown down into things, and we dare not pull up one rootlet lest we die. Things have become necessary to us, a development never originally intended. God's gifts now take the place of God, and the whole course of nature is upset by the monstrous substitution.

~ A. W. Tozer (The Pursuit of God)

Ministry Doesn't Have to Be Big to Be Important (part 2)

2010-12-01T11:57:00.002-05:00

BLOGGER'S NOTE: This post was written for my November 11 Wednesday evening rehearsals. Life has been running at break-neck pace the past couple of months. It has taken me until now to carve out a few minutes to upload my musings to the blog.

FACEBOOK NOTE: If you're reading this on fb, please take a moment to click the [View Original Post] link below so I can have a clearer picture whether people are actually reading this stuff online. I'm uncertain how many of my Wednesday ensemble members actually read what I write.

ON TO THE POST!

A few years ago I participated in a mentoring program at one of our local elementary schools. This particular school happened to be zoned in an area of our community that had a higher-than-the-local-average number of students from difficult home situations. The program was designed to make up for some of the family support deficit that these students lived under. The structure of the program was simple: Recruit people in the community to come for a half-hour one day a week and read with a 3rd grader that had been identified as “at-risk” according to certain¬ (mainly academic) criteria. Each at-risk student would have four mentors: one per day for four of the five days of the school week. The time commitment required of each mentor was minimal: 30 minutes per week; but the student ended up getting two hours of one-on-one instructional time each week. It was an elegant plan and I was honored to be a part of it.

This was the first time I had ever been put in a situation with a child who struggled with basic reading skills. I felt like a fish out of water. I didn’t have a clue how to teach a child how to read because I had never had to. My children taught themselves how to read, picking up the decoding of written language almost simultaneously with spoken language.

Though reading was the primary connection point, the program was also designed to increase the children’s contact with positive adult influence in their lives. They encouraged us to get to know the children a little more personally, so I would ask about home and family. Of all the boys that I mentored, only one could answer me when I asked how many brothers and sisters he had. He was the exception because he enjoyed a healthy home life with 2 loving parents and very involved grandparents as well. He just struggled with reading. Most of the students in the program struggled with school because their home situations provided little or no support for doing well in school. Some struggled for darker reasons than that.

One child in particular stands out in my memory. I could tell that he was too bright to need to the support of the “resource” class, but he had no patience for reading or anything else I tried to do with him in my half-hour. He would constantly interrupt asking if it was time to go back to resource yet … because that’s where he really wanted to be. I knew he was intelligent and his apparent lack of desire to learn frustrated me to no end. I would drive back to the church and ask God if what I was doing was making any difference in this child’s life.

As the football season began this year, I began hearing a familiar name over the PA as my young this student made key contributions to plays on the football field. I wondered how he was doing in school. The Lovely Wife was helping out some at the elementary school across the street from our house and told me of a nice-looking, very well-mannered CHS student that she had seen coming almost every afternoon to read with 2nd graders. His Friday attire showed that he was on the football team. She wondered what his name was. A couple of weeks ago I discovered that the young man that she had seen was my source of frustration years ago. As I was sharing the news with the principal of that elementary school (who now serves in senior administration in our school system), another of our choir members who is in administration at the high school told us that he has passed his exit exams and will graduate from high school. It has taken years for the groundwork that was laid by 4 men in this community to bear fruit. The impact on this young man may last a lifetime or longer. It wasn't big ... but it was important.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

John Ortberg on Grace

2010-12-01T11:29:00.000-05:00

BLOGGER'S NOTE: This post was written for my October 27 Wednesday evening rehearsals. Life has been running at break-neck pace the past couple of months. It has taken me until now to carve out a few minutes to upload my musings to the blog.

FACEBOOK NOTE: If you're reading this on fb, please take a moment to click the [View Original Post] link below so I can have a clearer picture whether people are actually reading this stuff online. I'm uncertain how many of my Wednesday ensemble members actually read what I write.

ON TO THE POST!

This morning I was listening to a talk given by John Ortberg at Catalyst West Coast. He said some things that expanded my understanding. I haven’t finished listening, but felt you might benefit as I did. Here are excerpts:

Spiritual transformation requires every bit as much grace as salvation does. ... When I am forgiven by God I'm still left with kind of a gap. Not between me and God -- God loves me, God forgives me. Now the gap is between me as I am right now -- the current version of me -- and the me that God had in mind when He created me. The theological language for this is sanctified me, or me 2.0. And here's the problem: a lot of people think that this gap -- the gap between me as I am right now and the me that God made me to be -- can be closed by human effort. What a lot of people don't understand is that it's not just that I am forgiven by grace; I can only be transformed by grace. ...

A lot of people when they hear the word "grace", automatically … just think [that] grace is nothing other than the offer of free forgiveness of sins. … [In] the New Testament when Paul says things like "I want you to grow in grace", he is not saying, "I want you to experience more and more forgiveness". Grace is primarily experienced in our lives as the power of God to do within us what we cannot do on our own. ...

… Grace is part of what enables us to be forgiven for our sins; but grace is much bigger than forgiveness. And you were not meant just to be forgiven by grace; you were actually meant to live on grace: to wake up and receive that first moment as an experience of grace; and then to receive grace through relationships; and to receive grace through eating; and to receive grace through reading; and to receive grace through working. That's why John Wesley used to talk about different practices as means of grace. They are to be conduits of grace because we were meant to run on grace; and when someone is living with God, they are experiencing grace.

Dallas Willard says: "Saints burn more grace than sinners ever could. Saints run on grace the way a rocket ship runs on rocket fuel." But now this understanding, which has always been held by people who go very far in learning to walk with Jesus, has been largely lost in the church in our day which has understood grace to be restricted to the forgiveness of sins. So people find out that they are to be forgiven by grace, but then they think that they are to be transformed by works.

So hearing the above made me start wondering if I experience limited spiritual growth because of a limited understanding of the role of grace in the life of the believer. That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Ministry Doesn't Have to Be Big to Be Important

2010-10-25T16:59:00.000-04:00

I had an interesting and rare experience while waiting with the husband of one of my choir members during her surgery last Friday. As we were sitting in the neurosurgery waiting area, one of the hospital chaplains came up asking if one of us could serve as a witness for a patient signing a healthcare advance directive document. A healthcare advance directive specifies what actions the patient desires to be taken (or not taken) in the event that they become incapacitated or unable to make their wishes known. Since it would only take a few minutes and we were not due to hear from the surgeon for at least another half hour, I was happy to do so.

I followed the chaplain to the room and there saw an Asian woman, obviously seriously ill, along with her husband and their daughter. The couple was not beyond their mid 70s best I could tell. It was quite clear that she was having some major neurological issues (it was the neurosurgery floor of the hospital after all). Though she was obviously clear in her head, she was not even able to make her hands move well enough to put a signature on the document. An advance directive is a good idea to have in routine healthcare situations, but the gravity of this woman's medical condition made it an imperative. The tension in the room was palpable.

The family looked Korean to me, and their name sounded Korean as well, so after signing that I had witnessed her signature, I took a little risk and asked. They were … from Seoul originally; but their English was quite good so it would be safe to assume that they had lived in the US for quite a number of years. I mentioned that I had been to Korea some 25 years ago and what a beautiful country I thought it was. I asked if it would be OK if I sang a song for them before I left. My trip to Korea was with the Samford University A Cappella Choir, and I remembered a folk song that we sang as a part of our concerts. I looked for it on YouTube, but it seems that the only Korean folk song on YouTube is Arirang. I'm not sure how to write the title in Korean or in the Roman alphabet, so I won't try. Even though it's not Arirang, every Korean I’ve ever met knows this song. I was touched that they sang along with me.

I’m not sure if there’s a neat way to wrap up the account of my experience to make a profound point, but there are a couple of things that I know. I’ll probably never see that family again, but I will never forget how singing a simple folk song from their childhood seemed to help them deal with a stressful situation. Listening to their pronunciation while we sang, mine was not as far off as I feared it would be … but my pronunciation really didn’t matter. What I did took very little effort, but was a very personal touch: singing with someone in their heart language.

My pastor's message is about ministry this week. I've been wondering what would happen if we looked at all of our encounters with other people this week as ministry opportunities.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Stuff That Destroys Personal Peace

2010-10-06T13:21:00.000-04:00

Boggarts existed in British folklore long before author J. K. Rowling, gave her own interpretation to them. In the Harry Potter world, boggarts manifest themselves as the thing feared most by the one tormented. To deal with a boggart, one should transform the manifestation into something silly, thus removing the fear.

Though boggarts are mythical, some of us move through life unnecessarily afraid of many things that will never happen and should have no power over us. E-mail and the internet have turned well-meaning, nice people into accidental fear mongers. Rowling’s solution for boggarts is a healthy way to deal with the unreasonable fears that may arise at reading some of this tripe. See it for what it really is and it loses its power.

In the spirit of laughing at fear, a friend sent me this earlier this week. Laugh, that the destroyers of peace may be destroyed:

As we progress toward the year 2011, I want to thank all of the Internet for the educational e-mails over the past year. I am totally messed up now and have little chance of recovery.
I no longer open a restroom door without using a paper towel, or have the waitress put lemon slices in my ice water without worrying about the bacteria on the lemon peel.

I can’t sit down on the hotel bedspread because I can only imagine what has happened on it since it was last washed.

I have trouble shaking hands with someone who has been driving because the number one pastime while driving alone is picking one’s nose.

Eating a little snack sends me on a guilt trip because I can only imagine how many gallons of trans-fats I have consumed over the years.

I can’t touch any woman’s purse for fear she has placed it on the floor of a public restroom.

I must send my special thanks to whoever sent me the one about rat feces in the glue on envelopes because I now have to use a wet sponge with every envelope that needs sealing. Also, now I have to scrub the top of every can I open for the same reason.

I no longer have any savings because I gave it to a sick girl (Penny Brown) who is about to die for the 1,387,258th time.

I no longer have any money, but that will change once I receive the $15,000 that Bill Gates / Microsoft and AOL are sending me for participating in their special e-mail tracking program.

I no longer worry about my soul because I have 363,214 angels looking out for me, and St. Theresa’s novena has granted my every wish.

I can’t have a drink in a bar because I’ll wake up in a bathtub full of ice with my kidneys gone.

I can’t eat at KFC because their chickens are actually horrible mutant freaks with no eyes, feet or feathers.

I can’t use cancer-causing deodorants even though I smell like a water buffalo on a hot day.

Thanks to you all I have learned that my prayers only get answered if I forward an e-mail to seven of my friends and make a wish within five minutes.

Because of your concern, I no longer drink Coca-Cola because it can remove toilet stains.

I no longer buy gas without taking someone along to watch the car so a serial killer doesn’t crawl in my back seat when I’m filling up.

I no longer drink Pepsi or Fanta since the people who make these products are atheists who refuse to put ‘Under God’ on their cans (but they really do support Planned Parenthood).

I no longer use Cling Wrap in the microwave because it causes seven different types of cancer.

And thanks for letting me know I can’t boil a cup of water in the microwave anymore because it will blow up in my face, disfiguring me for life.

I no longer go to the movies because I could be pricked with a needle infected with AIDS when I sit down.

I no longer go to shopping malls because someone will drug me with a perfume sample and rob me.

I no longer receive packages from UPS or Fed-Ex since they are actually Al Qaeda agents in disguise.

And I no longer answer the phone because someone will ask me to dial a number for which I will get a phone bill with calls to Jamaica, Uganda, Singapore, and Uzbekistan.

I no longer buy cookies from Neiman-Marcus since I now have their recipe.

Thanks to you all I can't use anyone’s toilet but mine because a big black snake could be lurking under the seat and cause me instant death when it bites me.

And thanks to your great advice I can’t ever pick up the coin dropped in the parking lot because it probably was placed there by a molester waiting to grab me as I bend over.

I no longer drive my car because buying gas from some companies supports Al Qaeda, and buying gas from all the others supports South American dictators.

I can’t do any gardening because I’m afraid I’ll get bitten by the Violin Spider and my hand will fall off.

If you don’t send this e-mail to at least 144,000 people in the next 70 minutes, a large dove with diarrhea will land on your head at 5:00 p.m. tomorrow afternoon, and the fleas from 120 camels will infest your back, causing you to grow a hairy hump. I know this will occur because it actually happened to a friend of my next door neighbor’s ex-mother-in-law’s second husband’s cousin’s best friend’s beautician.

Though Rowling’s solution for the boggarts is effective in the stories, the most effective solution for fear is truth. Jesus said that His followers would know the truth, and that the truth would set us free. So here’s the truth from the word of God:

But now, this is what the LORD says …: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.” (from Isaiah 43:1)

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. (1 John 4:18)

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? … No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35, 37-39)

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

An Audience of One (Kenny Lamm)

2010-09-22T15:38:00.000-04:00

Last week I quoted considerable content from this blog by my friend Kenny Lamm.

http://blog.ncbaptist.org/renewingworship/2010/09/09/an-audience-of-one

That's enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Why Can't We Be Friends

2010-09-13T11:25:00.000-04:00

You’ve probably seen this commercial on television several times by now. The opening scene shows a little roadside diner out in the middle of nowhere. A Coca-Cola truck is already parked there as the Pepsi truck pulls to a stop. Inside the diner we see a slightly chunky Coca-Cola guy already sitting at the counter with his half-eaten lunch and a Coke Zero as the slimmer Pepsi guy takes a seat at the counter a couple of seats away. Pepsi guy orders his meal (the special and a Pepsi Max) as he sits down and gives a friendly smile to Coca-Cola guy, who responds with a suspicious nod, chewing and swallowing his most recent bite.

As the music moves from the background to the foreground we recognize it as “Why Can’t We Be Friends” by the ’70’s rock-funk-jazz fusion band WAR. Coca-Cola guy, eyes front makes the first move to break the tension. “Good song,” he says. Pepsi guy, eyes still front agrees: “Great song.” As they make eye contact again … friendlier this time, Pepsi guy gets up, moves toward Coca-Cola guy with a hearty, good-to-know-you handshake, and takes the seat right next to him. A brief conversation about Pepsi Max leads to Coca-Cola guy trying Pepsi Max. As he follows his first sip with a deep draught, the cook behind the counter comments to the waitress, “I think he likes it.”

The ice is completely broken now and everybody is all smiles until Pepsi guy pulls out his smart phone and takes a video of Coca-Cola guy drinking the Pepsi Max. “What are you doing?” Coca-Cola guy asks. “YouTube,” he says, showing him the video he has just uploaded from his phone. It takes only a moment for Coca-Cola guy to realize what has just happened, and his countenance changes. In the final scene we see the Pepsi guy being thrown through the front window from the inside.

What in the world does that silly commercial have to do with anything? It’s a good analogy for how we tend to respond to our preferences for different styles of worship [music]. Pepsi Max and Coke Zero are on the market for the same reason, and if you’re really thirsty for a diet soft drink, either will probably fill the bill adequately. They would for me.

Pepsi and Coke are competing for market share, but our two worship services are not. Worship is not about market share, and we don’t compare our two services. Nor do we compare ourselves with other churches in our community. Our competition is not other churches, but anything people would do on Sunday morning OTHER than worship.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Further thoughts addendum:
As I have thought through the concept further after I wrote the above (9/7/10), it has become clearer to me that there is culpability on both sides of the issue. The more recent commercial begins with the tension and moves through an attempted resolution. While the Coca-cola guy threw the Pepsi guy out the window ... the Pepsi guy antagonized the Coca-cola guy by posting an embarrassing video on youTube. You'd better believe he knew what he was doing.

I'm also wondering if some of my writings on the Worship Wars actually perpetuate some of the animosity that style fundamentalists (of any stripe, whether "traditional," "contemporary," "blended," or any other label we might attach) tend to have toward one another. My heart's desire is that we let go of our prejudices and simply seek to encounter God. I have been fussed at by both (and more) "sides" of the issue for doing things that don't fit within sets of parameters of expectations that are far too narrowly defined to be reasonable. And most of my colleagues have as well. Maybe if we stop talking about unreasonably rigid opinions about worship and concentrate more on pointing our people toward Christ (in any and every "style") the issue will fade more into the background. I'm no so naive as to think it will go away completely. There is too much evidence that tension over worship style has been going on at least for the past 400 years for me to think that it's not always going to be a part of the landscape. One may easily interpret the conversation Jesus had with the woman at the well to include questions of worship style.

Since writing the above I have also seen the original commercial upon which this one was based. In the original, it's a snowy night outside the diner and the two guys commiserate about having to work Christmas eve and be away from family. In a gesture of good will (peace on earth???) the Coca-cola guy and the Pepsi guy trade cans. The Pepsi guy wants his back, the Coca-cola guy refuses and it is implied that it is he who gets thrown through the window by the Pepsi guy.

Art imitates life imitates art: There is also a news story from a few years ago about delivery drivers for Coca-cola and Pepsi getting into a very public fight outside a Wal-Mart in White Township, PA.

OK ... so that really should be enough to think about for now.

The peace of Christ to all.

Jesus Didn't Take the Wheel for Me

2010-09-02T15:09:00.000-04:00

Those who have known me for long know that I have some easily identifiable personality flaws. Lest one think that I’m proud of them, let me assure you that when it is brought to my attention that I am exhibiting one (or more) of these flaws I am most likely at least as frustrated by them as anyone else is. Up until my pastor's recent series on the Spiritual Gifts (from the list in Romans 12), I saw one of my personality traits as a flaw — OK … taken to an unhealthy extreme it IS a flaw — but have learned that it may be just how God wired me. Tempered and refined by the Holy Spirit, it is a manifestation of the gift of teaching.

I remember some of my kindergarten classmates thinking that when they squeezed the sides of their little paper cups that the rise of the level of liquid in the cup actually increased the volume of the liquid. “Do this. It makes it more,” they would say. I remember knowing that it wasn’t so and trying to tell them. I still do that kind of thing and it really annoys my family. It bothered me,though, that they thought something that wasn’t true ... not because I wanted to prove myself right (which is an unhealthy expression of the gift), but because I didn't want them going through life being wrong. Being wrong about some things can have disastrous consequences.

While it bothers me when people think things that aren’t true about life in general, it really bothers me when people think things that aren’t true about other people because those assumptions tend to destroy relationships. And if those assumptions get voiced and shared, before you know it a lot of people end up thinking things about someone that are not true.

It really, really bothers me when people think things about spiritual matters that are not true. One misconception that has persisted throughout human history is the idea that God shows earthly, material favor to the righteous. Biblical scholars call it the Deuteronomic Formula, and it goes something like this: If you do good, God will bless; if you do bad, God will curse. And blessing means health and wealth. That's one thing that keeps "Facing the Giants" from being a really good movie in my opinion. At the end of the movie, everything goes "right" for everyone who is seeking to follow God. The coach finally gets his spiritual priorities in order and his team starts winning. I don't have a problem with that, but it would have been truer to life if the infertility issue remained and he had to demonstrate faithfulness to God in the face of unresolved issues.

Taking my son back to college in Pennsylvania last Thursday, I had a minor fender-bender in Statesville, NC … driving his car. I was telling a friend about it Tuesday night when a reference to a song I have always hated came out of my mouth, “Jesus didn’t take the wheel.” Much as I would like for Him to have done this for me (and for the driver of the other car - a woman on disability following back surgery), He didn’t. OK, so I understand the metaphor in the song. I know what it means, and I’m all about people giving control of their lives over to the Lord (I'm in the ministry, for crying out loud). But sometimes accidents (and illness) just happen … even to followers of Christ. It's not "Love the Lord and everything in your life will fall into place." It's "Love the Lord and He will give you peace to deal with the things in your life that refuse to fall into place." And sometimes that peace is harder to come by than others.

Donald Miller does a much better job of unpacking this truth in his book: A Million Miles in a Thousand Years..Highly recommended reading.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Gifts Assessment

2010-09-01T14:25:00.002-04:00

Our senior pastor just finished a 7-part series on the Spiritual Gifts (as listed in Romans 12). I wish I had remembered the cartoon I shared with my choir members during the series ... but it was soon enough after for it to connect well with them. Since I don't have the rights to post it on my blog, I'll have to describe it to you. It’s not profound, but it will make you laugh (if you have a sense of humor).

There are a couple of guys sitting in what look to be living-room type chairs. The caption reads, “Mr. Norlander, as your gift assessment consultant, I have the task of connecting you with the ministry you have tested most gifted to perform. After much deliberation, it is my conviction that you’d serve the church best as a pew sitter."

That's enough to think about for now.

Don't Take This One Too Seriously

2010-08-18T16:09:00.000-04:00

From Wednesday, 8/11/2010

Last Sunday I used a “contemporary” thing in the “traditional” service … and some people fussed at me about it. It was calm and meditative (no guitars or drums), and the fact that it was written 28 years ago disqualifies it as “contemporary” in the purest sense of the word. I used it in the “contemporary” service as well. I also used the same hymn that opened the “traditional” service in the “contemporary” service (albeit an updated version as done by the David Crowder Band). I haven’t gotten fussed at about that yet … but it has happened in the past.

My motive in selecting what I did was to try to give both congregations similar content in worship while not straying too far from the “style” expectations of each. I was also trying to help both congregations learn how to bend a little without getting bent out of shape … to bend in the same direction, if you will. I won’t do it every Sunday, and sometimes I’ll do it more successfully than others. Our aim for the 8:30 service will always be very much in the “contemporary” direction. Likewise, our aim for the 11:00 service will always be very much in the “traditional” direction. But an inflexible adherence to rigid and narrow definitions of each will not serve either service well.

In my Wednesday night handout I printed a cartoon that was sent to me by several of my choir members. It showed a woman talking on an old-timey wall phone ... the kind with the earpiece that you held up to your ear and talked into the mouthpiece on the phone. She was saying, "They're putting choruses in hymnbooks and projecting hymns onto the screen. It's getting so I can't remember what I'm not supposed to like." I told my people it was supposed to make them laugh. I hope it did.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Prayer for new high school

2010-08-17T09:48:00.000-04:00

Last week I had the honor of participating in a community-wide prayer service for the opening of our new high school. The youth minister at the local Pentecostal Holiness Church did a masterful job of creating an ecumenical service involving pastors from a dozen or so local churches. Our senior pastor was out of town, so the request came to me. I thought it appropriate that our youth minister have the opportunity, but she had a schedule conflict that prevented her from being able to. That being the case, I was much more than happy -- honored -- to be able to participate in a very moving, meaningful service. There were welcomes from the mayor, the superintendent, and the principal ... then each minister in turn led in prayer for various concerns connected with the new high school. I was asked to pray for safety. Privately, my prayers are always extemporaneous ... as they often are for Sunday morning worship as well. For a public meeting like this, I prefer to write out my prayer (praying as I do so) in advance. The text of my prayer follows (with personal names omitted out of respect for the personal privacy of people whose professional position of leadership places their names in the public eye more often than I would want mine to be):

Eternal and all-powerful God, Creator of the universe and Savior of the world through Jesus Christ, rescue us from the anxiety that causes us to fear that our failure to say the right words to You at this moment might limit Your desire or Your freedom or Your power to protect all who serve, lead, teach, and learn in this place. Remind us that our trust is in You and in You alone and not in the words that we may speak (or fail to speak). Your word reminds us that You are a shield to all who take refuge in You (2 Sam. 22:31; Psalm 18:30). Father, when we think of the evil and unhealthy things that CAN happen on a high school campus, our hearts cry out to You, because You alone can protect us from the attacks of the evil one.

Hear our prayers for [the principal (by name)] and the administration of [this school]. We lift them up to You as we entrust the safety of our teenagers to their care. We ask that you would protect them and lead them into wise decisions and wise actions.

Hear our prayers for the teachers, coaches, and mentors who serve here, whom we trust not only with the molding and shaping of young minds, but also with the character development of valuable young men and women. Guard and protect them from any temptation to use their position of authority in any way that would harm another. Keep us mindful that you have so linked our lives with one another that all we do affects, for good or ill, all other lives: So guide these teachers, coaches, and mentors in the work that they do, that they may do it not for self alone, but for the common good of their fellow faculty members and the students whose lives they are shaping.

Hear our prayers for the support staff of [this school]. May you protect them and enable them to create an environment that enhances learning and healthy growth. May this place be clean, orderly and free from distractions. May the meals that are served here free the students from the distraction of hunger.

Father, we ask Your protection on this physical campus … on the classrooms, hallways, offices, common areas, parking lots, practice fields, gymnasiums, locker rooms, rehearsal rooms, art studios … that [this school]’s campus may be a place known for righteousness, excellence, safety, inquiry, and growth. From all that would harm our children and those who serve to lead and to teach on this campus, we ask Your protection.

O Eternal God, bless [this school], that she may be a lively center for sound learning, new discovery, and the pursuit of wisdom; and grant that those who teach {here} and those who learn {here} may find You to be the source of all truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.(Book of Common Prayer).

The last paragraph is almost a direct quote from the Book of Common Prayer. Language in the third paragraph of the prayer is borrowed and adapted from the Book of Common Prayer as well.

Why am I posting this? I don't know. Perhaps in hope that it will edify someone.

That's enough to think about for now.

There's More Than We Know

2010-08-05T10:37:00.000-04:00

This past Sunday was our 23rd wedding anniversary. So I did something I very rarely do … I took the day off. I planned to tell the lovely wife on Saturday that I wanted her to pack her bags for a simple overnight hotel stay and that she’d know where it was when we got there. It had to be nearby because the last performance of “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do” was Saturday night, and it would have been bad form to have ditched the cast party afterward.

On Saturday afternoon, we decided that since the stick boy (age 16) had to speak in both services and the 11-week-old puppy still needs constant supervision, it would be best for us to just have a relaxed Sunday morning (instead of me getting up at my usual 5:30am) and head out for the day. So my grandiose plans were demoted to run-of-the-mill status. The thing that really mattered to me was to spend the day giving my undivided attention to the woman who has put up with me and my relational cluelessness for 23 years of marriage (and the strange courtship that preceded it). So we looked after the dogs and made sure both boys could get ready on time to do what they needed to do, and then we set out to spend the day in downtown Asheville.

We had never been to downtown Asheville before, but we had heard that it was a pretty neat place to go … and we were not disappointed. We got there around noon, and started to scout the area to figure out where we should eat lunch and making plans for what shops seemed worth looking in after lunch. There were street musicians everywhere we turned. Some were quite good; others … well … bless their hearts. We saw one pathetic violin player in front of Malaprop’s Bookstore before we went to lunch at the Tupelo Honey Café (well worth the one hour wait). We went back by there after lunch and heard the same screechy sound only to find that it was a different guy playing just as pathetically. We decided that Malaprop’s must be the place of choice for sketchy violinists.

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around looking in the shops (I found Dawn a pair of dachshund earrings in one shop), then stopped in Kilwin’s for an afternoon ice-cream before heading to the car to come back home. On the way out we discovered that we had missed a huge section of the downtown market area. We had made a quick circuit of the area we saw before lunch, then after lunch that’s where we stayed. We hadn’t picked up a map until we were just about ready to go home, so all we had seen was all we thought there was. But we were wrong, and by the time we had discovered that we were wrong, most of the shops were closing.

I got to thinking about that and realized that sometimes we’re that way about spiritual matters as well. That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

2010-07-28T16:43:00.000-04:00

I have a small journal that I use to record poems (mainly hymns) that feed my soul spiritually. Every now and then I remember that I have it and add to it. When I do, I read over the previous entries. As I added the poem that I shared with you last week I ran across the following by Slovak-American hymn writer Jaroslav J. Vajda.

God of the sparrow
God of the whale
God of the swirling stars
How does the creature say Awe
How does the creature say Praise

God of the earthquake
God of the storm
God of the trumpet blast
How does the creature cry Woe
How does the creature cry Save

God of the rainbow
God of the cross
God of the empty grave
How does the creature say Grace
How does the creature say Thanks

God of the hungry
God of the sick
God of the prodigal
How does the creature say Care
How does the creature say Life

God of the neighbor
God of the foe
God of the pruning hook
How does the creature say Love
How does the creature say Peace

God of the ages
God near at hand
God of the loving heart
How do your children say Joy
How do your children say Home
©1983 Jaroslav J. Vajda. Used by permission. CCLI No. 1357134.

You don’t need me to tell you that this is good poetry, but you may need me to remind you that good poetry is worth the time to take it in slowly. That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

The Seamless Robe that Jesus Wore

2010-07-28T16:41:00.000-04:00

The first year we did Sunday Nights in the Neighborhood, it was just among the Baptist churches in our area. Last year our local pastors broadened it to include our brothers and sisters in Christ from other denominations as well. How refreshing that, while maintaining our individuality as congregations, we can agree on the essentials and celebrate our unity in Christ … at least for a few Sunday nights each summer.

Last Sunday night while a Baptist preached in the stoic, gothic beauty of First Presbyterian Church, I was looking for a possible closing hymn (which we don’t normally have with Sunday Nights in the Neighborhood, but the Methodist leading the music suggested that we might need). I happened upon the following text attributed to John Greenleaf Whittier.

Forgive, O Lord, our severing ways
The rival altars that we raise,
The wrangling tongues that mar Thy praise.

Thy grace impart, in time to be
Shall one great temple rise to Thee,
One Church for all humanity.

White flowers of love its walls shall climb,
Soft bells of peace shall ring its chime,
Its days shall all be holy time.

A sweeter song shall then be heard,
Confessing, in a world’s accord,
The inward Christ, the living Word.

That song shall swell from shore to shore,
One hope, one faith, one love restore
The seamless robe that Jesus wore.

Because I found parts of this text (but not the whole) to be quite profound, I searched the internet for the text to see if there were more stanzas that might strengthen the weaker stanzas, but couldn’t find anything in the exact form as above. Some of the key phrases are in a hymn that Whittier wrote for the dedication of a chapel near Mt. Shasta … but that text is significantly different. It makes me wonder who edited this for the hymnals in which it appears, and how much is really Whittier.

So what grabbed me? Look at the first stanza. It doesn’t matter how eloquent we are in our words of praise to God, anything that we do that results in disunity in the body of Christ vandalizes what could be a magnificent work of beauty.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Yeah ... what she said.

2010-07-28T14:44:00.000-04:00

It's been a while since I've read the worship.com blog. Spent a scant few minutes skimming the content this afternoon after a working lunch with a couple of young men in our fellowship who are helping me to keep current in my ministry thinking. I resonated strongly with the content of this entry:

http://blog.worship.com/worship/2010/06/vintage-faith-new-life-from-an-ancient-text.html

Makes me want to look up the Heidelberg Catechism and see what it says.

That's enough to think about for now.

A Difference of Opinion

2010-07-20T11:46:00.000-04:00

I have a vivid memory of attending a concert by The Cardiff Polyphonic Choir, from Wales, while I was an undergrad at Samford. Choral music is very important in Welsh culture. Each town has at least one choir, and they often compete with each other. The Cardiff Polyphonic Choir was not made up of professional singers, but of regular townspeople who were spending their own vacation time (and their own money) to tour the United States with the choir.

I have long loved the English choral sound. Though the sound of this Welsh choir was a bit coarser than that of John Rutter’s Cambridge Singers, I was captivated by it. As each piece ended, I wanted desperately to savor every last vibration that remained in the concert hall. But there was a young woman sitting a few seats down on the row in front of me who, at the end of each piece, scarcely waited half a second before breaking out in enthusiastic applause. The first couple of times it happened it was annoying. I wanted to let the sound settle in my soul, and what she was doing was making that impossible. After about the fifth or sixth piece, I gently tapped her on the shoulder and asked if she could please wait until the piece was completely over before applauding. I don’t know how impertinent I was with my request. I certainly felt that she was impertinent in the timing of her applause … so if my request was impertinent, then so be it.

That’s how I felt until intermission when she politely asked me … in a distinctly Welsh accent … if it was customary in my country to wait so long before applauding. I stammered an embarrassed apology and tried to explain my reasons for my request. I learned that she was a member of the choir but was unable to sing that evening due to some voice problems. She then explained that to a Welsh choir, immediate applause indicated a deeper appreciation than delayed applause. She wanted the applause to start early because she knew what it would mean to the choir members. I wanted the applause to wait because I wanted to savor every last sound the choir made.

Each of us assumed that the actions of the other indicated a lack of depth in appreciating the music … when just the opposite was the case. Neither of us understood the other until we actually had a conversation. I’m still embarrassed when I think about that incident … but it reminds me that I can’t possibly know what someone else is thinking until I actually talk with them. And whenever I assume that I know … I can be very, very wrong.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Alaska Bound

2010-06-23T11:10:00.000-04:00

I’m trying very hard not to gloat as I write this. Actually … that’s not a true statement. I’m not gloating because I am scrambling to get everything done before going very away for a little over a week … and once I get back into town I will face a mad scramble to get ready for Sunday morning in a little over a day.
I will not post this publicly until after I’m home, but we are leaving for Charlotte before the sun comes up in the morning to catch a flight to Seattle. Friday we will board the Celebrity Infinity for an Alaskan cruise. My parents, my sisters, my brother-in-law, and my niece and nephew will be with us as well (courtesy of my mother’s inheritance from my grandmother). It’s been about 3 years since we’ve all been together. Getting together is hard when you’re all scattered about like we are.

Joanne Harwell (Blake’s mom) sent me a piece of music last week that she thought I might be interested in looking at. All I’ve had time to do so far is just to read the text … but the text is the most important part of any choral music for worship. If the text is lousy, then the piece is lousy … no matter how spectacular the music is.

The text is John Claypool’s benediction, and goes like this:

Depart now in the fellowship of God the Father
and, as you go, remember:
By the goodness of God you were born into this world.
By the grace of God you have been kept all the day long,
even unto this hour.
And by the love of God fully revealed in the face of Jesus,
you are being redeemed.

I’m really looking forward to reading through the choral setting of a marvelous, humility-provoking text.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

A New Book! A New Book! A New Book!

2010-06-09T15:40:00.000-04:00

Blogger's Note: from my Wednesday evening rehearsal handout 6/2/10

You all know that I always have at least one book in progress. Dawn commented in the first few months of our marriage that she thought I would pay her more attention if she had words printed all over her. She still thinks that. I am a pretty insatiable reader. Once I’ve finished one book I’ve several others waiting to be read.

Much as Dr. Gouge would not expect me to understand a chemistry text book, I wouldn’t expect someone who is not in my line of work to connect deeply with some of the stuff I read. There are other books that people have recommended for me that I don’t connect deeply with either. As a staff we’re working through Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore. I highly recommend this story of the friendship of a homeless black man and a millionaire art dealer to absolutely anyone. When we finish with it in our staff discussions (this Monday), it’s going home to my family for required reading.

Having just finished Alan Roxburgh’s Missional Map-Making: Skills for Leading in Times of Transition, I’m starting on Francis Chan’s Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God. I’ve not gotten far into it yet, but in his preface there was one sentence that grabbed me by the throat. It follows a paragraph that has some necessary set-up. Chan writes:

God put me in Simi Valley, California, to lead a church of comfortable people into lives of risk and adventure. I believe He wants us to love others so much that we go to extremes to help them. I believe He wants us to be known for giving – of our time, our money, and our abilities – and to start a movement of “giving” churches. In so doing we can alleviate the suffering in the world and change the reputation of His bride [the church] in America.

Most of you who read this probably love the church. It may surprise you to learn that there are many in America who do not hold the church in high regard, but it’s true. Here’s the sentence that grabbed me by the throat:

We need to stop giving people excuses not to believe in God.

Think about that a minute. The obvious question that comes to my mind is this: What is it about how we are living as followers of Christ that gives people excuses not to believe in God? I started to make a list, but then I decided that the log in my own eye might be clouding my vision. Instead, I think each of us needs to make that question personal: Is there anything that I am doing (or not doing) that gives anyone who knows me an excuse not to believe in God?

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

A Parable and a Prayer

2010-05-06T17:07:00.001-04:00

The Parable: In a town very similar to ours – small southern college town – there was a church very similar to ours – Baptist, running between 300 and 400 in Sunday School, with people almost as warm and friendly as our people, giving to missions both through the SBC and the CBF, with two different “styles” of Sunday morning worship. It’s difficult for a new-in-town business-person (we’ll call her Faith, just to help the story to flow) to remain anonymous in a church like that in a town like that … nor did Faith want to remain anonymous. She joined after having visited for several weeks, not because it was good for business and she wanted to be seen in church, but because she knew that she had found a place where she could be encouraged in her journey and give the same grace-gift to others.

A few months later, conversation with a new acquaintance out in the community turned to the subject of church (as it often does in a town similar to ours). Her new friend asked Faith if she had found a local church to connect with. Faith replied that she had joined XYZ Baptist Church and had been an active member there for the better part of a year. She talked about how warmly she had been received into the fellowship, and how at home the people had made her feel. The new acquaintance was surprised to learn that since she also was a very active member in the same church, so she asked Faith which worship service she attended. Faith’s answer was met with a look of prejudicial pity and a curtly derisive, “Oh … I’m sorry;” as if there were something wrong with preferring the “other” style of worship.

The Prayer: What I hope and pray for with our people is not an either/or, but a both/and when it comes to “styles” of worship. We need to understand that it is not like a coin that has two sides, but rather like a many-faceted geometric solid, bigger and more varied than we can possibly imagine. Impoverished are we who limit ourselves to just one or two of the myriad facets ... in ALL of which God may be glorified. It breaks my heart that some of our people deliberately choose poverty in this area … that they refuse to even think about seeking to understand and experience something different from a certain “style.” True, we will spend most of our time in a select few of those facets (those places that feel like home) … that’s normal and healthy. But please let us be open to traveling to those places that feel like home to others ... and let us also resolve to treat others as honored guests when they travel to those places that feel like home to us.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

An Offering of Worship

2010-03-25T10:54:00.002-04:00

1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. (Romans 12:1, NIV)

I love that verse because it reminds us to think about worship in much broader terms that we often do. I cringe every time I hear people say “worship” when they only mean music, or a feeling interpreted as a sign of the nearness of God (usually evoked by a certain type of music). Romans 12:1 teaches us that worship is not a state of human emotion but an act of sacrifice … and not about receiving but about giving. Worship is about offering up whatever we do, 24/7, to God as a sacrifice.

If you read these things (and I know that some don’t), you know I’ve been reading Harold Best’s Music through the Eyes of Faith lately. Here’s how Best unpacks this truth for us who make music in church.

… for the true Christian, all of life, not just fractions of it, is a continuum of action upon action, faithfully and knowingly made into offering after offering. Therefore, all things done, whatever they comprise – all work, all handiwork, all of everything – can only be one act of worship after another. (p. 149) …

The issue is not whether the music has merit or power, but whether the worshipers are making an offering. If they can’t worship until the right music comes by (and what if it doesn’t?), then they are essentially preferring the gift to the giver, or making God’s presence contingent on the quality or effect of the gift. (p. 150) …

Being moved by music is secondary to worshiping God. The Spirit is always free to direct our worship, whether the music moves us or not. It is only when being moved by music is coupled to a preceding passion for God that we are truly moved. (p. 152) …

Aesthetic excitement, at whatever level and from whatever source, is as much a part of being human as loving is. Ecstasy is, in itself, an offerable act. So instead of assuming that worship is the same as ecstasy, we must assume that if we do become ecstatic, this emotion itself is to be offered up as an act of worship, instead of being substituted for or equated with it. The danger lies in assuming that ecstasy is a prerequisite of worship or equal to it. Aesthetic ecstasy is, quite simply, aesthetic ecstasy. The importance of aesthetic ecstasy for the worshiper is that it should take place within an already ecstatic heart, made that way by the overwhelming love of God, whether music is present or not. (p. 152)

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

As Grain on Scattered Hillsides

2010-03-18T11:03:00.004-04:00

Last week I attended the premiere for the Celebrating Grace hymnal. I love looking through new hymnals (and older ones that are just new to me) to find new (or just new to me) texts. Well written devotional poetry set to music touches me and enriches my faith. Consider this “new” hymn by Ruth Duck.

As Grain on Scattered Hillsides
© 1992 GIA Publications, Inc. Used by permission. CCLI No. 1357134

As grain on scattered hillsides, when gathered, makes one bread,
God, gather all your people as one in Christ our head.
We come from many places, and we are not the same,
Yet your strong love has called us to meet in Jesus’ name.

A grain of wheat is fruitless until in earth it lies;
Then, dying to its old life, it bears and multiplies.
So may we die to hatred, to all our hurtful ways,
Reborn to common living, to love, to work, to praise.

Like yeast that brings new ferment so lifeless dough may rise,
Your Spirit is the leaven of life that satisfies.
As salt enhances flavor, enriches, and preserves,
May earth rejoice to savor a church that heals and serves.

O Christ, our risen Savior; O Spirit, holy dove,
Come now and move among us; make us a sign of love.
Come, knead and blend each texture with strong and gentle hands,
That we may be one body, one loaf in many lands.

I’m not a particularly good poet, but my wife gave birth to one, and I can recognize good poetry in a heartbeat. This is good stuff, full of healthy thoughts for us as the people of God. Let these truths burn deep into your soul.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Prorating Grace

2010-03-10T18:58:00.001-05:00

I spent Sunday evening in an amazing corporate worship gathering at Second Ponce de Leon Baptist Church in Atlanta celebrating the premiere of the new Celebrating Grace: Hymnal for Baptist Worship. Imagine the singing in a worship gathering in which the pews were filled with a high percentage of women and men with masters degrees and doctorates in (church) music, and the combined forces of multiple church choirs, accompanied (in various combinations) by a massive pipe organ, grand piano, brass choir, solo woodwinds and strings, guitar and percussion, or simply the sound of the gathered voices. If you weren’t there it’s hard to imagine, and equally hard to describe. Monday there were reading sessions and workshops … and fellowship with ministry colleagues I rarely get to see. Someone has already asked if it was traditional or contemporary (as if those are the only ways to think about worship music). Answer: both and neither. But that’s not what this Musings is about.

At gatherings like this, there are people from related organizations, some commercial, some academic, some affiliational, who come and set up exhibits. In order to encourage attendees to visit the exhibitors, we were issued a “passport” on Monday morning that we were to get stamped by each vendor. The passports were our ticket for the prize drawings during lunch. I’m always up for a freebie, so I made my way to all of the vendors and got my passport stamped at each in order to be eligible.

About halfway through lunch, they asked if everyone had turned in their passports for the drawings and went around gathering them from those who hadn’t turned them in yet. Then they started handing out blank passports to those who had not gotten one and visited the vendors so that they, too, could be included in the prize drawings. What?! You mean I went to all that trouble in those hot, crowded rooms where the exhibitors were set up in order to get my passport properly stamped, and all those who were too lazy to do the same have the same chance as I do to win a door prize?! I was angry for a moment, then truth hit me and I told my table-mates, “I feel like one of the workers hired first thing in the morning.”

Do you remember that parable? The workers hired later in the day … even those who worked only an hour … got the same pay as those who had worked all day … and guess who was upset about it! We understand why they were upset. The others didn’t work as long or as hard (or as well) to earn their pay. The story is about grace, and God doesn’t prorate grace, but gives it freely to all who are undeserving … and ALL of us are undeserving. I didn’t win a door prize (mine probably went to someone who didn’t earn it), but I came home with a pretty decent illustration.
That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Feeling How We Act (Not Vice Versa)

2010-03-03T21:42:00.002-05:00

In Malcolm Gladwell’s NY Times best-seller Blink!, he relates the story of psychologists Paul Eckman and Wallace Friesen, who spent 7 years in an exhaustive study of the psychophysiology of facial expression. (Sure, it’s not something you or I would do, but remember that these are scientists and not normal people.) We know that our faces reflect our emotions. It happens in more detail than we are aware, and some people have better natural aptitude in reading the faces of others; but these skills can be studied and learned.

Eckman and Friesen isolated each facial muscle and studied how each muscle reacted both by itself and in combination with other facial muscles in response to changes in the emotional state. They spent hours and hours observing each other and trying to consciously control their own facial muscle movements. The result of the study is a 500 page scientific paper outlining something called the Facial Action Coding System (FACS), a valuable tool for psychological evaluation. In the course of the study, they encountered a phenomenon that has huge implications.

During the time when they were studying the facial expressions associated with anger and distress, they found themselves feeling absolutely horrible following their … um … expression sessions. So they began to monitor their body reactions during the studies as well and discovered that simply making the facial expressions associated with certain emotions caused the autonomic nervous system to respond as if the emotion itself were really present, not just the facial expression. In short, making angry faces actually made them angry. Making sad faces actually made them sad. Making happy faces actually made them happy. Actions produced feelings.

It got me to thinking: several weeks ago I shared a quote from theologian Eugene Peterson that concludes that worship is more about acting ourselves into a new way of feeling than it is about feeling ourselves into a new way of acting. Far too many of us enter a worship service with an agenda that places a burden on those who are leading to make us feel worshipful. If that agenda is not met (whether reasonable or not), then we find it hard to worship and easy to blame those who failed to meet said agenda: They interfered with MY worship. However, if we come into the worship service with a heart that is already determined to behave worshipfully regardless the circumstances, we will almost certainly find the experience to be worshipful. We often find what we expect to find. The mindset with which we approach the corporate worship gathering has a profound impact on our experience in that gathering.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

The Olympics: Citius, Altius, Fortius

2010-03-02T16:02:00.001-05:00

I love the Olympics … the Summer Games and the Winter Games … and I love the fact that we now have Olympics to watch every two years with the alternating schedule. I don’t know why, but I tend to find the Winter Games particularly fascinating … perhaps because I grew up in southeast Alabama … a place where the winter sports are hard to find and hard to participate in. I’m almost 48 years old and I’ve never skied on anything I couldn’t swim in.

There are dozens of fascinating stories about the athletes competing in the games every year. In what I have seen thus far, NBC has done a stellar job in producing the human interest stories that, truth be known, are more than just filler. There are stories of hard work come to fruition and stories of hard work that didn’t. There are stories of athletes overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds in order to achieve and stories of athletes that had it all going for them and fell short. There are even commercials that tell stories of Olympic athletes.

We are avid viewers of the Winter Games, and have been as long as we have been married. We are fascinated by the newer events that have been added such as the snowboarding events, ski-cross, and freestyle. The Nordic events have been particularly fun to watch this year because the US has finally produced a team that is able to hold its own against the Scandinavians. Speed skating (both short-track and long) is almost always exciting. Then there are a couple of Winter Olympic sports for which we have a tough time summoning interest. My family in Connecticut will have to forgive me for not caring much about watching ice hockey; and though I find the strategy intriguing, watching curling can be almost as interesting as watching paint dry.

There will be some who might threaten to take my man card for this, though (try it … I dare you!): I like to watch figure skating. The Lovely Wife got me interested in it 20 years ago. Since Michelle Kwan is no longer competing our interest in the sport has waned a bit, but there is one thing that makes it worth watching to me: the voice commentary of Scotty Hamilton. It doesn’t matter who the skater is or from where, he is excited when they do well and empathetic when they don’t. His enthusiasm is contagious and it comes out in everything he says. He's fair, though, and calls a spade a spade ... but without malice or prejudice. I want to be around people like that ... so I want us to be people like that.

Ephesians 4:29 says: Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Ash Wednesday - Psalm 51 - Leslie F. Brandt paraphrase

2010-02-17T18:53:00.003-05:00

Today is Ash Wednesday. Most Baptist churches (the one I grew up in included) only observe certain parts of the liturgical calendar. Lent was not included in the rhythm of worship in my home church, but I am growing in my appreciation for this spiritual discipline. My Lenten fast this year includes desserts, between meal snacks of any kind, and soft drinks.

From Psalms / Now here is Leslie F. Brandt’s paraphrase of Psalm 51, an important passage of scripture for Lent. Unfortunately, blogspot's limitations make it difficult to render the printed structure the way it is in the book. The content is the most important thing. It works OK as prose.

O God, may the measure of Your eternal love be the measure of Your mercy. And may the measure of Your mercy be sufficient to blot out my great sins and cancel out the guilt of my wrongdoing.

I have failed, O Lord, and my failures weigh heavily upon my heart. I cannot share them with my brother lest they weigh too heavily upon him and may even threaten my relationship with him. But You know what they are, O God, and how far I have fallen short of Your standards and expectations.

I am only human, Lord. It was not by my choice that I was propelled into this fractured world. The weaknesses that plague me are not all of my doing, nor can I handle them by my strength alone.

I know that nothing can be hidden from You. I can only acknowledge my indictment and accept Your loving forgiveness. Purge me of my guilt, O Lord; heal the hurts of those who have been afflicted by my failures.

Revive my flagging spirit, O God. Restore to me the joy and assurance of a right relationship with You. Reinstate me in You purposes and help me to avoid the snares and pitfalls along the way.

It is only then that my tongue will be set free to sing Your praises and my hands to perform the tasks You have set before me. It is only then that I can relate deeply and meaningfully to my brother and communicate to him the message of reconciling love.

I bring You no oblation or sacrifice, my God, only a foolish and self-centered heart. I do come to You with a sincere desire to be Your servant, to walk in Your course for my life, to receive Your love and channel it to my fellowmen about me.

I thank You, God, that this is acceptable to You and that I will remain Your son forever.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Giving Up Fancy for Authentic

2010-02-11T16:06:00.002-05:00

I don’t remember what we were watching when I heard it, but it was last week and it had to have been on the Food Network or the Travel Channel. During the course of the program, someone mentioned an interesting fact about food and hospitality in Asian cultures. When I heard it, my mind immediately went back to my experience traveling in South Korea with the Samford A Cappella Choir some 25 years ago. It was a fascinating trip and one that forever sealed South Korea in my mind as a place to which I would love to return some day. Dr. Billy Kim, pastor of Central Baptist Church in Suwon, and president of the Far East Broadcasting Company, helped organize the trip for us. His daughter, Mary Kay, was a graduate student at Samford at the time, and a member of the choir.

On several occasions during the trip, we were hosted for meals at which were served what we had been coached to call “very interesting” food. Among others, our hosts for these various occasions included the president of Korean Airlines (who helped us with our air travel expenses), the chancellor of Hanyang University (who I think also owned the hotel we stayed at in Seoul), the governor of Incheon province. I can’t remember everything, but at more than one of these the fare included such things as octopus, squid, and jelly fish. Mary Kay tried to explain to us that this was not normal Korean food, and that all this fancy, strange food was a Korean way of showing honor to the guest. When toward the end of the trip we finally had a real authentic Korean meal, there was a good bit of it (kimchi NOT included) that I found to be quite good.

I’m not criticizing our Korean hosts. What I heard explained on television last week reminded me of a wonderful trip and deepened my appreciation for their hospitality. It seems that, the fancier and more exotic the food, the greater honor to the guest. I understand it better now, but I really wonder what it would have been like if we had had more “normal” Korean food at those occasions. Not knowing our culture, they honored us in the way that was most meaningful to them. Not knowing their culture, we honored them by being appreciative guests. But what we experienced was not as authentic as it might have been. No, we wouldn’t have been served dog. According to Mary Kay, only Korean “rednecks” ate dog.

So what does this all mean? I’m not really sure, but I think it says something about the importance of remembering to be authentic when we’re tempted to try to be impressive … about the importance of being personal rather than profound (some of us can do both … I’m not sure I’m one of them) … of seeking more to be real than “relevant” … and of giving one another the grace that says, “You are more important that I.”

[Here's where I usually end ... but ... ]

More food for thought: After I had written the above (yesterday), I was reading again this afternoon in Harold Best's Music Through the Eyes of Faith (big surprise) and encountered a sympathetic vibration in the section on personal excellence. Best starts with an amplified list of what excellence is NOT (here are the unamplified points):

Excellence is not perfection.
Excellence is not being better than somebody else, nor is it even being like him, her, or them.
Excellence is not winning, although it may include it.
Excellence is not on-again-off-againism.
Excellence is not assuming that my way of doing things is automatically excellent simply because I intellectually agree that I need excellence.
Excellence is not just practicality and favorable results.

After a lengthy, itemized and amplified description of what excellence is not, Best answers the obvious question. If excellence is not all of those things, then what is it?

Excellence is authenticity. Excellence is temperance in all things. It is servanthood. It is loving-kindness. It is sojourn. It is esteeming another better than oneself. It is meekness, brokenness, personal holiness, greatness of soul. It is peaceableness, gentleness, perseverance, hunger and thirst. Wherever we are in the quest of these, there is more. Excellence is for everybody. It is commanded and we must pursue it. it is a process, not an event. And, in the final analysis, there are no earthly measurements for it. The pursuit of it is entirely personal and the final judge as to its validity will be a God whose wise creatorhood, sustenance, and expectations are worth far more than blue ribbons, accolades, recording contracts, or Grammys.

Now that's really enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

The Law and Sin (applied to Music)

2010-02-11T15:59:00.003-05:00

The Toothpick (freshman English major at Messiah College in Grantham, PA) just finished a class called From Script to Screen, which (as I understand it) examined how screenwriters adapt stage plays for film. Now he says it’s hard to watch a movie without focusing on critical details. Every college music major experiences something similar in regard to listening to musical performances and recordings, but I’m happy to say that enjoyment returns. Harold Best likens it to what Paul wrote in Romans 7 concerning the law and sin.

Everybody loves music in one way or another. Everybody has a sense of quality, even though it may not always be that finely tuned. And music is everywhere. In some way, everybody makes and receives music. The few who do not are to be pitied.

So here are all these music makers, enjoying what they like and liking what they enjoy. …

Suddenly all of this is interrupted with the law, the aesthetic law, the laws of those with refined taste and musical etiquette, the laws of the specialist, the connoisseur, the intellectual informer. And the people who have been alive all along, making music without knowing these laws, are confronted with the lawgivers who point up their ineptitude, their omissions and commissions, and the life goes out of the riot and celebration. To paraphrase [Ro. 7:10-13] these aesthetic laws, which were designed to result in aesthetic life, turn around and take life away.

And yet these aesthetic laws are good. The aesthetic standards themselves do not lead to our aesthetic downfall. Instead, our aesthetic weaknesses have to be revealed in order that they can be seen for what they are. But the aesthetic laws cannot be applied from the outside. Well-meaning but legalistic aesthetes cannot try to raise musical standards by applying aesthetic canons [rules] or assuming that people “ought to have enough common sense” to change once they hear the aesthetic canons [rules]. The result of this is that people may stay defeated, even though they keep trying to work things out; or they may assume that the whole exercise is silly, turn their backs on it, and go their way.
…
In our spiritual lives we do not immediately attain maturity. We stumble, we fall, and we confess. We get up and continue to press on. So with music and art; there is no immediate leap into aesthetic finesse. We make music only to discover that it is not as well done as it could be; we choose a composition only to discover that there is a much better one. There is no aesthetic lapse that is too low or too grievous. Only those who do not want to change will not change. [emphasis mine] It is that simple. Great music is for everybody, not just the elitists, just as the gospel is for everybody, not just the righteous. The discernment of it comes gradually. It is learned, and everybody can learn if they want to.

(~ Music through the Eyes of Faith, pp. 87ff)

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

No Wonder They're Confused

2010-01-20T17:59:00.001-05:00

I listen to podcasts to help keep me alert in the car. Sometimes I listen to them while doing work in my office that does not require concentration (like cleaning and neatening). Most of the podcasts I listen to are sermons from people like Andy Stanley, Rob Bell, Francis Chan, etc. Right now I’m almost through listening through a series of messages from Mosaic, a faith community in Los Angeles led by Erwin McManus. This morning as I was neatening up my desk some, I opened up iTunes and started listening to the sixth message in the 7-part series on the miracles of Jesus as recorded in the Gospel of John.

1As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

3”Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. 4As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” (Jn. 9:1-5, NIV)

The disciples were just thinking as most people in that time did; namely that any suffering that anyone experienced was a result of someone’s sin … usually their own or that of their parents. McManus notes that it didn’t occur to any of Jesus’ followers to ask Him to heal the blind man (which, by the way, He did). Here they were walking and talking with the embodiment of God’s love, mercy, and grace … and all they could do was to use the blind man’s suffering as a point of conversation. McManus goes on to note:

This conversation exposes what is in so many of our hearts all too often: an inclination to judge and condemn the world, to try to attribute blame rather than to act with compassion and mercy and kindness.

In light of some very public (and very embarrassing) statements that a prominent televangelist made in the wake of the first earthquake in Haiti, what McManus then said caught my attention.

It’s funny how thousands of years later we’re still in the same rut. You still hear people who represent Jesus talking about famines and diseases and tsunamis and droughts and plagues as if they were God’s punishment on humanity, His acts of vengeance and violence. No wonder the world is confused about who Jesus is.

So here’s the question: What do people think about Jesus based on what we, His followers, say and do? Do we confuse them, or clarify the issue?

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

He Is Still Our Father

2010-01-09T19:19:00.002-05:00

Reeling from the fatigue of spending 2 consecutive days driving in a minivan taking the Toothpick back to college, I didn’t really want to get up when I did this morning; but duty beckoned and I eventually succeeded in getting my lazy rear end out of bed. My sluggishness meant that by the time I got down to the kitchen the Lovely Wife had already fixed the Stick-boy’s breakfast (I used to do this all the time, but she does it more often than I do now) and had almost finished fixing his lunch (which I still usually do). The only thing she lacked on his lunch was to fill his juice bottle; and the only reason for that was that she couldn’t get the new one open. Opening a stupid, plastic juice bottle was the only thing that kept me from feeling totally useless this morning. I stayed awake to have my quiet time while the Stick-boy took his shower.

I finished reading through Isaiah this morning, encountering the last few verses of chapter 63 (15-19) that I have read before, but not in the New Living Translation. I found in this passage a prayer of deep longing for God’s presence that exposes a similar need in our lives as well.

15Lord, look down from heaven;
Look from your holy, glorious home, and see us.
Where is the passion and the might
you used to show on our behalf?
Where are the mercy and compassion now?
16Surely you are still our Father!
Even if Abraham and Jacob would disown us,
Lord, you would still be our Father.
You are our Redeemer from ages past.
17Lord, why have you allowed us to turn from your path?
Why have you given us stubborn hearts so we no longer fear you?
Return and help us, for we are your servants,
the tribes that are your special possession.
18How briefly your holy people possessed your holy place,
and now our enemies have destroyed it.
19Sometimes it seems as though we never belonged to you,
as though we had never been known as your people.

Do you catch the passion in the prayer? It’s a confession of our brokenness and poverty before God. We still belong to God because He will not disown us, but the stubbornness of our hearts causes us to experience life as if we didn’t. And those who doubt God’s love and mercy are watching.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Now Thank We All Our God

2009-11-19T14:24:00.002-05:00

Martin Rinkart was a pastor in the city of Eilenberg, Saxony during the 30 years war (1618-1648). A walled city, Eilenberg served as a haven for refugees trying to escape the horrors of war. Severely attacked at least 3 times during the war, it also suffered famine and pestilence because of the war. At times Rinkart was the only pastor in the city. During the pestilence of 1637 he conducted about 4500 burial services, including that of his wife. From the midst of such horrendous conditions came one of the most victorious hymns of our faith … most often sung only once a year. Catherine Winkworth crafted the most commonly used English translation:

Now thank we all our God
With heart and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things hath done,
In whom His world rejoices;
Who, from our mothers’ arms,
Hath blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love,
And still is ours today.

O may this bounteous God
Through all our life be near us,
With ever joyful hearts
And blessed peace to cheer us;
And keep us in His grace,
And guide us when perplexed,
And free us from all ill,
In this world and the next.

All praise and thanks to God
The Father now be given,
The Son and Him who reigns
With them in highest heaven,
The one eternal God,
Whom earth and heav’n adore;
For thus it was, is now,
And shall be evermore.

This story both shames and encourages me. In a situation that would easily have driven me to despair, Rinkart's faith shone brightly. I gotta stop whining.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

I Dare You to Read This with an Open Mind

2009-11-13T15:05:00.002-05:00

Challenging article for churches striving to maintain "relevance" in a rapidly changing and increasingly diverse cultural casserole. I dare you to read it with an open mind.

http://www.mygazines.com/issue/4076/64

That's enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

The Star-Spangled Banner

2009-11-11T17:29:00.003-05:00

In 1979 my high school concert choir toured Mexico, singing in schools and competing in a choral festival. One school began their assembly by singing the Mexican national anthem, proudly and with gusto, to a recording on the PA system. Then they played our national anthem for us to sing … all four stanzas, and we knew only the first. On Veterans Day I wonder how many you know.

1.
O say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight
O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

2.
On the shore, dimly seen thro’ the mist of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream
’Tis the star-spangled banner. Oh! long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

3.
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

4.
Oh! thus be it ever, when free men shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation,
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the Heav’n-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God Is Our Trust"
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

If I could remember more about the War of 1812 the meaning of the third stanza might be clearer to me. The fourth stanza reminds us why we honor and respect our veterans. Happy Veterans Day, and thanks for your service.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Worship Renewal ≠ Musical Style

2009-11-04T16:57:00.002-05:00

I came through college and seminary in the 1980s … what some refer to as the heyday of the “church growth movement.” Polls were conducted and books were published to show frustrated leaders how to reach the un-churched and increase the numbers. One of the things that came out of the church growth movement was the idea of “worship renewal,” which during that era mainly meant making radical changes in the style of music used in order to get more people in the door. Many babies got thrown out with the bathwater in an attempt get on the church-growth bandwagon.

That’s not to say that there wasn’t a need for renewal in our worship practices. The church is in constant need of renewal because we who make up the church are in constant need of renewal. The problem with “worship renewal” in the 1980s was that far too much attention was focused on a change in musical style as the cure-all for a lack of spiritual depth and numerical growth. Church musicians were either given credit for this growth or were blamed for its absence. Here’s an interesting fact, though: according to Sally Morgenthaler, a 1996 study by the North American Society for Church Growth showed that after over a decade of the “worship renewal” music style change experiment, no county in the US had a greater percentage of churched people than it had 10 years earlier.

So what do we make of this 20+ years later? Graham Kendrick wrote this:

Our culture is addicted to the new and novel in a way that our fore-fathers could not possibly have imagined. The propaganda machinery of consumerism has trained us to switch from fad to fad, flick from channel to channel, even jump from church to church, in search of something new or better, or something that is more “me” or “us,” or cooler or more traditional, or “deeper,” or that the kids will like so that they don’t complain so much about having to get out of bed on Sunday morning.
Music is woven inextricably into this culture of choice and personal gratification, and when we arrive in church our taste antennae simply continue to function – we know what we like, and that is what we tend to want.
So let’s get it clear straight away, worship renewal is not about renewing our practices for the sake of newness, or to attract more people, satisfy popular taste, or compete with the other churches in town in coolness or spirituality. Let all things be done for edification, for building up the body of Christ as a dwelling place for God.
Worship renewal is first of all the renewal of people, transformed from within by the power of the Holy Spirit.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

A Litany of Confession

2009-10-30T14:13:00.002-04:00

You may see the article I was originally working on (which was about worship renewal and the church growth movement of the 1980s and 90s) in the coming weeks. It was prompted by what Graham Kendrick wrote in an article in a recent issue of Worship Leader magazine, along with Sally Morgenthaler’s foreword to a book on alternative worship that I bought on clearance at LifeWay yesterday. I just couldn't get it into a form concise enough to satisfy the space available (1/2 page 8.5 x 11) in the time I had to devote to it.

Instead of what I started to write, I want to share a litany Morgenthaler cited in her foreword to Alternative Worship: Resources from and for the Emerging Church. It comes from a Christmas Eve mass that was, according to her, “brilliantly contextualized for a rave community in Glasgow, Scotland.” To try to describe a rave to those who have never encountered that term in such a context before would be an interesting exercise that I choose not to engage in at the moment. That deep worship of God can happen in such a context strains my brain, but we must realize that the way we’re familiar with is not the only way, nor is it even the best way.

Leader: We confess that we live in an age that what a person has can be seen as more important than who they are. • In an attempt to have, we are in danger of losing our very selves. • In an attempt to have, we have left many on the margins of society.

All: Author of creation, we cannot see Your face • Have mercy on our blindness, send to us a sign of grace.

Leader: We confess that we run around seeking comfort and security, but we have failed to go on our own spiritual journeys. • In doing this, we have sacrificed relationships and justice for personal passions. We’ve been wrong, we’ve been deluded, we’re sorry.

All: Author of creation, we cannot see Your face • Have mercy on our blindness, send to us a sign of grace.

Leader: We confess that we live in an age where trust is in short supply; • Where the press tells us all that there is to fear and we hide in our fortress homes. • We have failed to foster compassion and left the vulnerable uncared for. • We’ve been wrong, we’ve been deluded, we’re sorry.

Say and receive these words of forgiveness:

All: God, who is both power and love, • Forgive us and free us from our sins • Heal and strengthen us by the Spirit • And raise us to new life in Christ our Lord.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Random Thoughts

2009-10-22T10:16:00.002-04:00

I have no deep theological thoughts to share with you this week. None from me. None from anyone else. The well is running dry ... probably because I'm not slowing down enough to allow the Source to fill it. It’s been a very weird week so far.

Friday night one of the CHS band students had an Ovation guitar with him. He had asked me during the summer if I was interested in buying one. Being an Ovation guitar fan, I asked him if I could take a look at it. I opened the case to find my guitar that was stolen from the church almost 3 years ago. Now I have my guitar back (but in significantly worse condition than when it was stolen), but my young friend doesn’t have a guitar any more. I had gotten over my anger at the thief, but now I'm angry at him all over again. It's like he stole another guitar from another person. And don't even get me started on the pawn broker whom I had approached a few days following the break-in asking him to be on the lookout for an Ovation guitar. I even provided him model and serial number with a picture of the thing, for crying out loud! But I'm being a good boy and allowing the local police detective handle all of that.

Then on Tuesday the StickBoy's very nice Yamaha Xeno trumpet was taken out of the case and dropped by someone who didn’t have permission, who didn't own it, and who probably won’t own up to it. This is the trumpet we bought him in order to provide an instrument he can have to use and enjoy for the rest of his life. There is significant damage that I’m hoping can be repaired without breaking the bank.

I'm upset about both of those things ... but in my mind I’m wrestling with whether these things are upsetting to me because I’m way too preoccupied with THINGS in my life. The guitar was a tool for ministry and was the only acoustic guitar I owned. I had to buy another one to replace it, for which the deacons kindly voted to reimburse me (so now do I owe the church back for the purchase of the new guitar?). We bought the trumpet in order to give the StickBoy an avenue for developing his God-given musical talent. But they ARE just things, after all. I only had one acoustic guitar ... and the StickBoy only has one trumpet (he's using mine until we can get his fixed). But do I treasure them too greatly?

“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where they can be eaten by moths and get rusty, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where they will never become moth-eaten or rusty and where they will be safe from thieves. Wherever your treasure is, there your heart and thoughts will also be." (Mt. 6:19-21, NLT)

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Screwtape on Churchgoing

2009-10-20T14:10:00.002-04:00

I am reminded of the story (fictional) of a gifted carpenter who had been marooned on a desert island for several years before he was finally rescued. Before leaving the island, he gave his rescuers a tour of what he had built in order to survive. “This is my house,” he told them as he showed them a well-constructed dwelling that he had built using the raw materials available on the island. “And over here,” he continued, showing them a reverently appointed chapel that looked like he had just finished it recently “is my church. I’m a Baptist.” Spying another, similarly sized building through the trees, one of the rescuers asked what it was. “Oh,” replied the castaway. “That’s where I used to go to church.”

Written in the form of letters from an elderly, retired devil (Screwtape) advising his young nephew (Wormwood) who is just learning “the business,” C. S. Lewis’s classic book The Screwtape Letters takes a look at temptation from the side of those who wish to interfere with the work of God in the lives of His creation. Each letter is Screwtape’s advice to Wormwood in ways to keep his “patient’s” faith in Christ from growing as it should. As you read the quote, keep in mind that when “the Enemy” is mentioned, it refers to God.

Surely you know that if a man can't be cured of churchgoing, the next best thing is to send him all over the neighborhood looking for the church that “suits” him until he becomes a taster or connoisseur of churches.
The reasons are obvious. In the first place the parochial organization [neighborhood church] should always be attacked, because, being a unity of place and not of likings, it brings people of different classes and psychology together in the kind of unity the Enemy desires. The congregational principle, on the other hand, makes each church into a kind of club, and finally, if all goes well, into a coterie or faction. In the second place, the search for a “suitable” church makes the man a critic where the Enemy [God] wants him to be a pupil.
—C. S. Lewis. (1898-1963) The Screwtape Letters. New York: Time Incorporated, 1961, p. 52.

NOTE: I am indebted to Chip Stamm, director of the Institute for Christian Worship at Southern Seminary in Louisville, KY for the C. S. Lewis quote.

The society we live in is so infused with consumerism that it’s hard to see. And it impacts the way we see everything ... even our church life. It is so easy to forget that church is not entertainment that we purchase but family in whom we invest; and that the investment is ourselves more than our money. That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Chew on this awhile

2009-10-12T11:45:00.002-04:00

After a brief hiatus in order to recover some psychological energy, I have resumed my reading of Harold Best's Unceasing Worship: Biblical Perspectives on Worship and the Arts. One of the primary underlying premises of the book is that worship is our response of countinual outpouring in response to God's continual outpouring of Himself toward us. As one beggar telling another where he found food, I share this paragraph from page 119.

We make and offer art because we worship, we should not make it to lead us into worship. We can carry the above concepts into the weekly corporate gathering. Since Christians come to such gatherings as continuous worshipers, it should now be obvious that it is erroneous to assume that the arts, and especially music, are to be depended on to lead to worship or that they are aids to worship or tools for worship. If we think this way, we fuel two untruths at once. The first is that worship is something that can start and stop, and worse, that music or some other artistic or human device bears the responsibility for doing the starting or the facilitating. The second is related to the first: music and the arts have a kind of power in themselves that can be falsely related to or equated with Spirit power, so much so that the presence of God seems all the more guaranteed and the worshiper sees this union of artistic power and Spirit power as normal, even anticipated. This thinking lies behind comments of this kind, "The Lord seemed so near during worship time." "Your music really helped me worship." And to the contrary: "I could not worship because of the music." These comments, however innocently spoken, are dangerous, even pagan. Senior pastors, ministers of worship and worship teams must do everything to correct them. If we are not careful, music will be added to the list of transubstantiation, turned into the Lord's presence. Then the music, not the Holy Spirit, becomes the paraclete and advocate. God is reduced to god and music is raised to Music. Thrones are exchanged, lordship reverts to its fallen hierarchy, and conditioned reflex replaces faith.

I have some thoughts related to what Best wrote that are not fully formed in my head just now, but they run along the lines of:

Do we get that worship is not something that starts and stops ... and more specifically that it's not tied to the music?
Do we get that all of life is to be lived as a continual response to God's outpouring of Himself in everything we experience?
Why does a "worship leader" have to be a talented musician?
Why can't a worship leader (in the spirit of Romans 12:1-2) be the director of a group of people responding to God's love by giving themselves to a mission project?

It's enough to make my brain hurt a little ... but I am convinced that these are thoughts that we need to be thinking.

The Voice of a Young Poet

2009-10-07T15:55:00.002-04:00

Sam Swofford came up through the children’s choirs at my previous church and began taking piano lessons from the lovely wife a couple of years before we moved to my current location nine years ago. Now a college student, he continues to pursue music and song-writing. You can hear some of his music at his MySpace page (click on the title of this entry and it'll take you there). Here’s one of his texts:

“The Eyes of The Lord”

Everybody’s tired, everybody hurts,
Everybody’s wondering why things work out for the worst.
Everybody’s dreaming of a heart that doesn’t break,
Everybody’s paying for the choices that they’ve made.

But if we all stand in line,
At the gates of heaven, we will find:

When you look into the eyes of the Lord,
There’s nothing left to hurt for, and everything to hope for.
Open up your eyes, look up to the skies, and cry, children, cry.
Oh, it’s a sight, Lord, a sight.
When you look into the eyes of the Lord.

Everybody’s hopeless, everybody’s cold,
Everybody wants to, but they know they shouldn’t go.
Everybody’s striving for bigger, better things,
But bigger’s not always better, and you find out the hard way.

But if we all stand in line,
At the gates of heaven, we will find:

When you look into the eyes of the Lord,
There’s nothing left to hurt for, and everything to hope for.
Open up your eyes, look up to the skies, and cry, children, cry.
Oh, it’s a sight, Lord, a sight.

When you look into his eyes, you’ll see:
The Christ is staring back at me.

Hallelujah, sing.
And when you’re completely broken,
the Christ is there; just get to know him.
He will set you free.
He will set you free,
When you look into the eyes of the Lord.

I haven’t heard this text to music yet, but it doesn’t matter. It moved me to tears just reading it out loud to the lovely wife this afternoon. There are a couple of lines that are just what I needed today. Way to go, Sam … and thanks!

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Continual Repentance

2009-10-01T11:21:00.004-04:00

Last week via facebook, I reconnected with Bill Haynes who was my youth minister when I was a young teen and who preached my ordination service some 22 years ago. The connection led me to his blog and his recent post of the following Puritan prayer (from a collection entitled Valley of Vision). Let the devotion of an ancestor in the faith instruct us in our daily walk.

O God of Grace,
You have imputed my sin to my substitute, Jesus
and You have imputed His righteousness to my soul,
clothing me with a bridegroom’s robe,
decking me with jewels of holiness.
But in my Christian walk I am still in rags;
my best prayers are stained with sin;
my penitential tears are so much impurity;
my confessions of wrong are so many aggravations of sin;
my receiving the Spirit is colored with selfishness.
I need to repent of my repentance;
I need my tears to be washed;
I have no robe to bring to cover my sins,
no loom to weave my own righteousness;
I am always standing clothed in filthy garments,
and by grace am always receiving change of raiment;
for You do always justify the ungodly.
I am always going into a far country,
and always returning home as a prodigal,
always saying, Father, forgive me,
and you are always bringing forth the best robe.
Every morning let me wear it,
every evening return in it,
go out to the day’s work in it,
be married in it,
be wound in death in it,
stand before the great white throne in it,
enter heaven in it shining as the sun.
Grant me never to lose sight
of the exceeding sinfulness of sin,
the exceeding righteousness of salvation,
the exceeding glory of Christ,
the exceeding beauty of holiness,
the exceeding wonder of grace.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Where Is Our Focus?

2009-09-23T22:04:00.002-04:00

Critics of what has become known as the Modern Worship movement (already an archaic term) say that it’s all about getting people emotionally hyped up. Unfortunately, there are enough “consumers” of the Modern Worship movement who make that accusation true by their own personal approach to worship. I recall a conversation with a friend in the ministry who told of one of his choir members who has to find a Beth Moore conference to attend every year. “I love the teaching, but I just have to have my Travis Cottrell fix.” Not a verbatim quote, but that was the gist.

Fix is an interesting word to use in the context of worship, having its origins in the drug scene of the late 20th century. The broader usage has tamed the word a little, but it still carries the connotation of addiction. Some say the addiction is OK, because in their minds they see themselves as addicted to Jesus. But there is reason to suspect that the addiction is actually to the feelings and emotions surrounding a certain type of worship experience rather than to the Lord of all creation. And it’s not just “Modern Worship” that produces such. I know people who are that way about Southern Gospel. Others think worship can’t happen without a majestic pipe organ. Does anybody need more examples to get my point?

I was reading this morning in Inside-Out Worship, a collection of essays on worship by some of the movers and shakers in the Modern Worship scene compiled by Matt Redman. Louie Giglio, founder of the Passion worship movement, wrote this:

Songs alone don’t change people. It’s the truth that sets us free. As lead worshippers, it’s essential that we immerse ourselves in His Word and allow His Word to reshape and contour our hearts. In fact, God only has one ultimate goal for us all – the goal of being conformed to the image of His Son (see. Rom. 8:29). To be conformed is a tough and arduous task, a journey that leads us to the anvil and the altar, moment by moment. It’s a process of transformation that results from consistently renewing our minds by God’s truth (see. Rom. 12:2)

If we’re not careful, we can quickly inhale the feelings and emotion we experience in corporate worship, only to go away with little lasting and substantive change in our souls. In other words, we are prone to joyfully utter the words of praise, while continually dodging the sword of the Spirit. As a result, our worship becomes a counterfeit shell while our hidden heart fails to embrace His truth for our lives.

So the question is whether we love God more than we love the way a certain type of music makes us feel. That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

The Community of Faith Is Family

2009-09-10T10:31:00.003-04:00

How wonderful, how beautiful
When brothers and sisters get along!
Psalm 133:1 (Msg.)

I have a friend from seminary -- an extraordinary musician, composer, arranger, producer -- who decided a couple of years ago to disassociate himself from "the institutional church." My friend grew up just as deeply immersed in church life as I did ... perhaps even more so because his dad was a minister of music whose career path led him to work in the Church Music division of the Sunday School Board in Nashville (now under the broader, more marketable name of Lifeway). He also served in church staff ministry positions, and has many published keyboard arrangements (many of them also with Lifeway). He wrote an extensive blog about his top 10 reasons for saying goodbye to "the institutional church," and though I have not studied it in depth, I have skimmed it deeply enough to know that his decision involved an extended period of prayerful study. While I understand most everything he wrote in the blog I would have trouble arriving at the same conclusion on the "what does this require me to do" front. I tend more toward the Augustinian quote about the church that I have heard Steve Brown repeat often on his "Steve Brown, etc." podcast. And, no, I'm not going to repeat the quote, but the gist of it is that for all her imperfections, I love the church ... even with her "institutional" distractions ... because she led me to faith in Christ.

I couldn't help thinking about my friend and his decision as I read the following from Eugene Peterson’s A Long Obedience in the Same Direction yesterday morning:

We can no more be a Christian and have nothing to do with the church than we can be a person and not be in a family. …
There are Christians, of course, who never put their names on a membership list; there are Christians who refuse to respond to the call to worship each Sunday; there are Christians who say, “I love God but I hate the church.” But they are members all the same … (p. 175)
But of course, the fact that we are a family of faith does not mean that we are one big happy family. The people we encounter as brothers and sisters in faith are not always nice people. They do not stop being sinners the moment they begin believing in Christ. They don’t suddenly metamorphose into brilliant conversationalists, exciting companions and glowing inspirations. Some of them are cranky, some of them are dull and others (if the truth must be spoken) a drag. But at the same time our Lord tells us that they are brothers and sisters in faith. If God is my Father, then this is my family.
So the question is not “Am I going to be a part of a community of faith?” but “How am I going to live in this community of faith?” God’s children do different things. Some run away from it and pretend that the family doesn’t exist. Some move out and get an apartment on their own from which they return to make occasional visits, nearly always showing up for the parties and bringing a gift to show that they really do hold the others in fond regard. And some would never dream of leaving but cause others to dream it for them, for they are always criticizing what is served at the meals, quarreling about the way the housekeeping is done and complaining that the others in the family are either ignoring or taking advantage of them. And some determine to find out what God has in mind by placing them in this community called a church, learn how to function in it harmoniously and joyously, and develop the maturity that is able to share and exchange God’s grace with those who might otherwise be viewed as nuisances. (pp. 175-6) …
Living together in a way that evokes the glad song of Psalm 133 is one of the great and arduous tasks before Christ’s people. Nothing requires more attention and energy. It is easier to do almost anything else. (p. 179)

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Blogger's note: Most of my blog audience (and I appreciate all 7 of you, even though you rarely comment) knows that my almost weekly blogs consist mainly of an upload of what I hand out to my people at my Wednesday night rehearsals. For those who encounter this post on facebook, the original posts are at www.momosmusings.blogspot.com. I can't remember how I got that automatic link set up, but it works ... and more people probably read it from facebook anyway.

My Wednesday evening hand-out did not include the introductory paragraph about my friend's decision, but I did talk about it in the portion of my rehearsals where I try to teach on the spiritual implications of what we do. As I did so, I included some things that you need to know him ... specifically that I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he loves Jesus, that his spiritual walk is one of active discipleship, and that he seeks to find and cultivate Christian community in non-"institutional church" ways. I deliberately omitted his name so that he may be as anonymous as he desires to be, but it would not surprise me to see a response from him on this point. It will be interesting to see what kind of dialogue (if any) this post may elicit. I've said enough (for now). Now you talk.

Music and Christian Snobbery

2009-09-03T11:51:00.003-04:00

Chip Stamm is Director of the Institute for Christian Worship and a professor in the School of Church Ministries (the tattered remnant of what was once one of the finest graduate Church Music degree programs in the nation) at Southern Seminary in Louisville. His Worship Quote of the Week blog is one that I visit from time to time. Last week he featured a quote from Dr. David Peterson, head of the Department of Ministry at Moore Theological College and Lecturer in Theology at the University of Sydney (Australia). The quote, to which Stamm gave the heading MUSIC AND CHRISTIAN SNOBBERY, could not possibly be closer to my heart in the debate over what kind of music is appropriate for worship.

We all know that music is a great encouragement to snobbery. You can either be a classical snob, or a rock snob, or a folky snob. Basically, what we do with our music is we say, “I love this kind of music; this is what really excites me, and I can’t bear that other stuff. I am not going to listen to your stuff.”

The sad thing is that Christians fall into this same worldly trap. We become so familiar with and comfortable with our particular styles of music that we end up saying, maybe overtly sometimes, “I am not willing to listen to your kind of music. I am not willing to sing one of your silly songs.” We get even more intense than that. We say, “Your music is not true worship. Your music is not honoring to God.”

This is one of those areas where Christians feel at liberty to be quite unrestrained and quite ungodly [emphasis mine, RMD] in the way in which we position ourselves and talk to one another when it comes to music. So if music is going to be a meaningful and effective part of our church life, we need to submit it to the Scriptures. We need to apply the Scriptures in a very rigorous fashion from the pulpit about this subject. It is not just
something for musicians to consider. I believe that as pastors of churches and as theological teachers, we have a responsibility to bring this, as with everything else, under the Word of God.

One of the biggest traps in this debate is the false assumption that God shares our preferences for musical style. Ryan Forbes, Pastor of Music and Worship at FBC, Decatur, GA put it this way: “One goal is always musical excellence, but we are kidding ourselves if we think we can impress God with a certain style of music or how wonderful we sound.” I have heard people on all 16 sides of the debate make judgments in favor of or against a variety of styles of music. When we look at Scripture, though, we find that one of the strongest statements God makes about music is found in Amos 5. There God essentially says that if we can’t learn to treat each other with dignity and respect, He would prefer for us to shut up.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Inspiration borrowed from Eugene Peterson

2009-08-30T19:54:00.002-04:00

Blogger's note: We took the Toothpick (6'1" in height ... weight between 125 and 130 ... and he never stops eating) to move in at college this past week. Wednesday evening's rehearsals were covered for me by others. This was the best I could do with the time crunch.

I’ve been reading Eugene Peterson’s A Long Obedience in the Same Direction recently. You may know Peterson as the source of the scripture paraphrase known as The Message. The first edition of this book came out in 1980. In 2000 he set out to revise it to bring it a little more up-to-date in light of the huge changes that took place in those two decades. He was surprised at how few things of substance he found it necessary to change.

Since I’m scrambling for all I’m worth to get a week’s worth of work done in two days before we take the Toothpick off to college, I hope you won’t think I’m lazy for just sharing with you a few quotes that I have found particularly insightful.

In worship, though we have come from different places and out of various conditions, we are demonstrably after the same things, saying the same things, doing the same things. With all our differing levels of intelligence and wealth, background and language, rivalries and resentments, still in worship we are gathered into a single whole. Outer quarrels and misunderstandings and differences pale into insignificance as the inner unity of what God builds into the act of worship is demonstrated. (p. 32)

I have put great emphasis on the fact that Christians worship because they want to, not because they are forced to. But I have never said that we worship because we feel like it. Feelings are great liars. If Christians worshiped only when they felt like it, there would be precious little worship. Feelings are important in many areas but completely unreliable in matters of faith. Paul Scherer is laconic: “The Bible wastes very little time on the way we feel.”(p. 54)
Worship does not satisfy our hunger for God – it whets our appetite. Our need for God is not taken care of by engaging in worship – it deepens. It overflows the hour and permeates the week. The need is expressed in a desire for peace and security. Our everyday needs are changed by the act of worship. We are no longer living from hand to mouth, greedily scrambling through the human rat race to make the best we can out of a mean existence. (p. 56)

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Permit Me a Moment, Please

2009-08-19T22:16:00.002-04:00

Today the Toothpick posted a facebook update: “1 week before I move!” His excitement awakens my trepidation. This time next week, we’ll be in a hotel room in Grantham, PA trying to get excited minds quieted enough to get a decent night’s sleep before move-in day at Messiah College on August 27. I’ve had that date memorized for months.

I collect quotes … some of them are posted on my “Quote Library” blog. Earlier this week, a friend who spent her summer in South Africa returned my journal from my 1999 South Africa mission trip to me. I didn’t fill the whole journal up, so I had used the back pages to record some quotes I found in a book at my parents’ house almost 10 years ago. One of those quotes kind of tugged at the dad in me, and is even more poignant now. At the risk of becoming mired in the goo of hyper-sentimentalism (trust me, I am generally well-balanced about these kinds of things), I share it with you:

WHAT IS A BOY?
A boy is a bank where you may deposit your most precious treasures – the hard-won wisdom, the dreams for a better world. A boy can guard and protect these, and perhaps invest them wisely and win a profit – one larger than you ever dreamed. A boy will inherit your world. All your work will be judged by him. Tomorrow he will take your place, run your country, your company, your town, your church. He deserves more of your attention NOW.

Next week is going to take us deeper into this strange territory for us. Though it’s a normal passage, annually travelled by parents everywhere, and already travelled by some of Toothpick’s classmates’ parents (note the proper placement of the apostrophes, people), we’ve never been here before. Toothpick’s peer circle will now include people we have never, and perhaps will never meet. We will no longer have the opportunity of daily conversation to keep us “in the know” about his experiences. Etc.

The past few weeks, kind people in town have been asking us the kinds of questions that kind people ask to parents about to send a kid to college. Among the things they ask is how we are handling it. So far we’re fine, but I have a feeling that I’m going to have the toughest time of the family. Bittersweet? Yeah, like that.

No real big point to today’s Musings, just a peek inside my heart … And that IS enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Would You Please Ask the Blessing?

2009-08-13T10:56:00.003-04:00

The practice of “saying the blessing” before meals is one that has been around in Christian circles for time immemorial. The first blessing I learned as a child was the ever familiar: “God is great; God is good; let us thank Him for our food. By His hands we are fed. Thank you, God, for daily bread.” The words were rote memory, and up until just recently sounded a bit childish to my “grown-up” ears. They are simple words, but the truths they express are anything but simplistic. And that prayer may actually be closer to the ancient practices if the faith than the blessings we consider more mature.

I remember each of my grandfathers pronouncing the blessing at family gatherings. Granddaddy’s blessing always went like this: “Gracious Lord, pardon our sins and make us thankful for these and all Thy many blessings, for Christ’s sake. Amen.” It was short and to the point, but it sometimes worried me that God might actually answer the “make us thankful” part by allowing us to do without for long enough to gain a new appreciation for what we previously took for granted. Daddy Jim’s blessing was often hard for us to hear (he wasn’t talking to us, after all). Perhaps one of my sisters can remember his usual form, but I can’t right now. Dad’s blessing form varied over the years, but was most often some variation on, “Father, for this food and for all Thy many blessings, we give you thanks. Amen.” He often also used the equally familiar, “bless this food to the nourishment of our bodies and us to Thy service,” in his blessing.

My friend Charles Roberts (a big Obama fan, but I claim him as friend anyway) posted a blog in early July that unpacked this practice and led me to think a little differently about what we do when we pray before a meal. Our Christian practice has its roots in the Jewish blessing before meals … but the interesting thing when you look at the Jewish form is that our Jewish forebears did not ask God’s blessing on the food, but rather saw the abundance of food as cause to bless God … or to proclaim God’s blessedness to each other may be more accurate. And they may have pronounced multiple blessings during the course of the meal.

There is another way of looking at what we do before meals that has its root in the Greek New Testament account of Christ in the upper room. What they did in the upper room was very Jewish, but it comes to our Western minds through Greece and Rome. The Greek translation of the Hebrew word baruch (blessing) is the root of our English word eulogy, which means to speak well of. The other important Greek word in that passage is eucharist, which means to give thanks (and which is why our Episcopal and Anglican brothers and sisters call it that). I remember being asked at a family gathering to “return thanks,” which meant to “ask the blessing.” That is not far from the ancient practice. Charles’s blog ends with the suggestion that maybe we should not “ask the blessing” but rather use the opportunity to bless God ... or to proclaim the blessedness of God to each other.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Meditation on Psalm 32:1-2

2009-08-06T10:54:00.002-04:00

I whacked the stick boy (child #2, age 15) in the mouth this morning. Just so that you will understand, let me tell you how it happened. I have recently subscribed to a free, e-mail based on-line guitar tutorial. Even though I’ve been playing for 35 years, there’s always more to learn. I had a few minutes before I needed to leave for work, so I thought it would check it out.

The stick boy heard the sound coming from the computer and came over behind me to see what it was. Those who know the stick boy know that he can’t just come and look without doing something interactive. So he’s behind me, looking over my head (still pleased with his newly acquired stature and the fact that it won't be long before he's the tallest in the family) and he blows a puff of air at my head while he’s satisfying his curiosity about what’s on the computer. Not realizing that his face was still so close to my head, I quickly moved my hand up to smooth my hair back down and felt the damp smack of the back of my hand against his mouth. It’s a sickening feeling when you know you’ve done something to injure one of your kids … even when it was totally accidental. But there’s a deeper connection with us. We’re both trumpet players. A bruised lip means painful playing … and the stick boy is in the middle of band camp ... with a new band director ... who is also a trumpet player ... and who doesn't know stick boy's capabilities yet.

His hand went over his mouth immediately after the injury and he assured me that he was OK … but I found it a little hard to believe. After a moment or two standing there recovering from the shock, he sat back down on the sofa, hand still covering his mouth, while I finished shutting down the computer. The tears still hanging in his eyes – not many, mind you … he’s brave – and the few that had made their way down his cheeks onto his chest supported my doubt. I know I annoyed him with my repeated questions trying to make sure he was OK. There was an odd mix of selfish need and altruism in my questions. I needed to know more than just whether he was physically OK. I needed to know that he was OK with me. As of lunch today, I’m still not sure he’s there.

Have you ever been there? Has your need of forgiveness, or of assurance of that forgiveness, ever been so deep that your heart couldn’t rest until you had it? As I drove to work, the first couple of verses of Psalm 32 kept echoing in my mind: “Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.” (NIV) It’s hard to be around someone when you know there’s still stuff between you. I wonder if that’s why some of our people find it hard to come back to worship after … well, after stuff happens. It’s uncomfortable until we know the blessed assurance of His forgiveness, so we just stay away and wonder why God seems distant. We must understand that He is so ready to forgive … much more so than we are or than we can imagine anyone to be.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you

I'm baaack ... again

2009-07-23T14:09:00.002-04:00

I just got back into town this afternoon at about 3:30 after a couple of days in Dothan helping Mom and Dad out. When were there over Spring Break in April, it became apparent to us that Mom is still working on getting things back in order after the fire. So while the boys were away at World Changers, the lovely wife (the organization expert) and I decided to take a couple of days (which was about all we had) to go down and see what we could do to support her in the process.

We left Clinton as soon after lunch on Sunday as we could (which is why we weren’t at the Sunday Nights in the Neighborhood thing), and drove the 7+ hours to Dothan. On Monday and Tuesday, while the lovely wife helped Mom with the office, I attacked a short list of stuff that I could do around the house (all one has to do is to look at my office to know that I wouldn’t be much help in the organizational process … except maybe to lift heavy things). The two of them working together made some significant progress, but there were several things that time did not allow them to get to. Meanwhile, I repaired a light fixture, hung a picture on a brick wall, and completely rerouted all the power and data cables for the computer in the office. Wires are one thing I CAN organize and make very neat. In addition, there were still some final things (photos, etc.) from my grandparents’ house to deal with.

In the last few years of her almost 98-year life, Grandmother repeatedly admonished us all not to allow the house to sit unoccupied. “Get what you want, get rid of the rest, then sell the house so that someone can use it,” she said. It has taken longer than we expected for the scattered-all-over-the-place family to claim and remove the heirlooms we wanted. That process can be filled with incredible friction and can spark generational resentment in some families. I’m grateful that’s not the case in mine. I think something my sister said explains why: “I already have the things I really want from my grandparents, and no one can take those things away from me. The rest is nice to have, but it’s really just stuff.” That's not exactly how she said it, but it’s close enough; and it reminds me of something else Grandmother said when my Dad was reluctant to sell the 1973 Oldsmobile station wagon that was the vehicle for so many wonderful family trips when I was growing up: “Keep the memories. Get rid of the stuff.” All 4 of my grandparents left us great memories.

The estate sale was completed over the weekend and we were asked to do a walk-through on Tuesday. The walk through the now empty house was bittersweet and strange. I could almost hear the memories saying, “We can’t stay here much longer. You have to take us with you.” So that's what we're doing. The stuff is gone, but what really matters can never be taken away from us.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

I'm baaaack ... sort of

2009-07-23T14:04:00.002-04:00

OK, so I’m only partially back. I’m still trying to remember what it is that I actually do around here.

So many people have asked me if we had a good vacation, and the answer to that is: in a word, YES. We definitely had a very good vacation. We put close to 5,500 miles on the van, and irritated the stuffing out of each other (some of the time) while doing it. I don’t care how much you like other people, you get in a small space with 3 of your favorite people in the world (which is what we did) and stay with them for hours on end for 4 straight days, somebody’s going to get on somebody else’s nerves. It just happens. But we did it because this was the last summer in our lifetimes that we could really count on being able to go somewhere for an extended period of time as a family … and that’s a sobering thought we’re still trying to wrap our brains around.

I’m trying not to be too terribly obnoxious about this, but we were away from Clinton for 18 nights and only had to pay for lodging for 4 of them. The first and third nights of our trip, we stayed with my cousin Calvin in Franklin, TN, then with my cousin (in-law) Patty’s 101-year-old mother in Laramie. Frank and Patty’s house in Jackson, WY was our home base for some 9 days, punctuated by one overnight in Yellowstone National Park. I lived with them during the summer of 1982 and worked as a van driver for Barker-Ewing Whitewater. It was so good to reconnect with them and for Dawn and the boys to get to know them. Frank (Ewing, in case you’re wondering) pioneered whitewater rafting on the Snake River back in the early 1960’s.

Our return trip took us through South Dakota where we saw Mount Rushmore and the Badlands National Park … and Wall Drug … before stopping in Burnsville, MN where we stayed with one of our teenagers from our youth group in Ohio and her family. She's now in her 30s, so I feel old. I performed their wedding 12 years ago. We had lunch in Minneapolis with 2 sisters (now in their early 20s) from a family that was in our North Carolina church, then drove to Madison, WI and stayed overnight with their parents. From Madison we drove to Indianapolis (actually, Westfield) and stayed with a couple who were also in my Ohio church. She was our publications secretary. How incredible it was to reconnect with dear, dear friends some of whom we haven't seen for 20 years or so.

I’m extremely grateful for the time away and for all who filled in for me while I was gone. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Tara and to Mary Ann who took the reins of First Light and the Sanctuary Choir and led each service well. I didn’t worry about things with y’all in charge. Huge thanks!

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Random Thoughts of Miscellaneous Import

2009-06-03T14:19:00.002-04:00

Written on 5/27/09
The lovely wife and I are about to share in an experience that thousands have shared before … but it’s taking us into uncharted emotional territory. It’s one thing when your child goes to preschool for the first time … or to middle school … or to high school. None of those developmental milestones changes life and family relationships quite so much as when he graduates from high school. This is the first time the lovely wife and I have traveled these waters … and though we know we will make it through, there is still a smorgasbord of emotion (some good, some not so good) associated with this leg of the journey. It’s all new and weird to us … every last bit of it. The next few weeks (and years) will be anything but boring.

Andrew Guuru from Kenya was with us Sunday morning. His accent made him a bit difficult to understand at times, but he said at least one thing that was tremendously clear to me. I hope you heard it. It was in the form of a Kenyan proverb: “If you want to go very fast, travel alone. If you want to go very far, take someone with you.” He then related that to between FBC Clinton and the village of Karima … and our partnership with God in it all. It is a two-way bridge. We have already provided them with a well, but there are things that money can’t buy that we will receive from them as well.

My final random thought comes from actress and comedienne Susan Isaacs in an interview I heard on Tuesday. She has just written a book called “Angry Conversations with God: a Snarky but Authentic Spiritual Memoir.” Susan has had roles in movies and sit-coms, but wrote this book out of her faith pilgrimage as a believer in Jesus Christ whose life fell apart (she said it was like a country music song without the really nice chord progressions) and how God really became real to her amid the mess. I don’t have the book, but the interview made we want to get it. And people who hear her and read her material begin to do the same. There were several things that she said in the interview that caught my attention, but the most profound was this (and she saved it for last):

The thing that I had to learn about God is that I had to learn to love Him for who He was, not what I could get out of Him. Because I realized that if it was a marriage, then I had married God for His money. … That was the moment I realized, “Wow. I’m a gold-digger.”

The marriage reference is from John Eldridge’s The Sacred Romance which she mentioned earlier in the interview. I’m going to add her book to my Amazon.com wish list. It will have plenty of company on the list, but I also have several books already in my possession that I need (and want) to read.

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Forms and Rituals

2009-06-03T14:15:00.002-04:00

While I was waiting for my oil change on Tuesday morning, I did some catch up reading in Music Ministry periodicals that I get. In the January/February issue of Worship Leader magazine, Darlene Zschech (of Hillsong Church in Australia) included a quote from Richard Foster’s 1978 spiritual growth classic The Celebration of Discipline. It has been probably 20 years since I read the book, but I do have it in my library. It was way over my head in spiritual depth back then. Reading this quote makes me want to pick up the book again. I’ll add it to my 2-foot high stack of books waiting to be read. Read what Foster said about worship:

Worship is our response to the overtures of love from the heart of the Father. Its central reality is found ‘in Spirit and in Truth.’ It is kindled within us only when the Spirit of God touches our human Spirit. Forms and rituals do not produce worship, nor does the formal disuse of forms and rituals. [emphasis mine] We can use all the right techniques and methods, we can have the best possible liturgy (a form and arrangement of public worship laid down by a church or religion) but we have not worshipped the Lord until Spirit touches Spirit. Singing, praying, praising, all may lead to worship, but worship is more than any of them. Our spirit must be ignited by divine fire.

Foster hit the nail on the head. There are those who mistakenly believe that the only way to encounter God is in the historic liturgical forms of certain churches. I personally love well crafted liturgical worship; and I have had some profound worship experiences that way. On the other hand, some people think that we must of necessity abandon old forms and patterns in order to worship God in spirit and in truth. I have also had some deeply moving worship experiences with very “non-liturgical” worship. It wasn’t the forms and rituals (which are present even in “contemporary” worship) that did it … it was the Spirit of God.

In the same issue of Worship Leader, Reggie Kidd (Professor of New Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando) noted that “While introducing the concept of Mere Christianity to his readers, C. S. Lewis acknowledged that the specific forms Christianity takes are myriad, confusing, and seemingly contradictory. Nonetheless, [Lewis] maintained, at the center of the Church’s life ‘each communion is really closest to every other in spirit, if not in doctrine.’ And this suggests that at the center of each there is something, or a Someone, who against all divergences of belief, all differences of temperament, all memories of mutual persecution, speaks with the same voice.”

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Eucharist

2009-06-03T14:08:00.002-04:00

I love words, and I love taking language apart to figure out what words mean and where they came from. One does not have to be in my presence long to bump into that quirky aspect of my personality. One of the words of our faith and practice that I have grown to love more deeply in recent months is “Eucharist.” It’s a more liturgical term for what we Baptists call “Communion” or “The Lord’s Supper.” Broken down to its Greek roots, charis means gift, and the prefix eu means good; so many scholars describe the Eucharist as God’s good gift to us. In the Gospels, we read how Jesus told His disciples that his body and blood were broken and poured out for the salvation of the world. That has implications for us, the church, as well.

Rob Bell, in Jesus Wants to Save Christians, interprets it this way:

God gives the world life through the breaking of Christ’s body and the pouring out of Christ’s blood. And God continues to give the world life through the body of Christ – who Paul tells his friends at Corinth is them.
They are his body. The body of Christ.
The church is a living Eucharist, allowing her body to be broken and her blood to be poured out for the healing of the world.
• • •
A church is not a center for religious goods and services, where people pay a fee and receive a product in return. A church is not an organization that surveys its demographic to find out what the market is demanding at this particular moment and then adjusts its strategy to meet that consumer niche.
The way of Jesus is the path of descent. It’s about our death. It’s our willingness to join the world in its suffering, it’s our participation in the new humanity, it’s our weakness calling out to others in their weakness.
To turn that into a product blasphemes the Eucharist.

In 2 Corinthians 1 Paul writes: “He comforts us in our troubles so that we can comfort others … So when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your benefit and salvation. For when God comforts us, it is so that we, in turn, can be an encouragement to you.” (NLT) Archbishop William Temple put it this way: “A church is an organization that exists for the benefit of nonmembers.” So the question is not whether we’re doing each of our very different worship services in such a way as to please the preferences of certain people. The question is “How is worship moving us to be God’s good gift … Eucharist … to those around us?”

That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.

Invisible

2009-04-22T17:51:00.003-04:00

This morning I was listening to Erwin McManus preach on the Mosaic podcast when a totally unrelated stream of thought grabbed me. Something Erwin said reminded me of a scene toward the end of The Princess Diaries in which the main guy character in the movie asks Anne Hathaway’s character why she chose him of all people to escort her to the coronation ball. Her reply: “Because you saw me when I was invisible.”

That reminder brought tears to my eyes as I remembered what happened at a youth retreat I led in 1986 as I was serving a church as a summer youth ministry intern. We were at Harrison Chilhowee Baptist Academy near Maryville, TN. There were probably 30 teenagers with us, but the key players in the story were a huge contrast in personalities. Jim (not his real name) was about 14. He was one of those kids that acted like a party just looking for a place to happen. He wore bright clothes (remember “jams”?) and had red hair with a personality to match. A couple of years older than Jim, Karen (again, not her real name) was a good, sweet kid. She was one of my favorites in the group, but she just kind of fit in without drawing attention to herself. Try as we might, we couldn’t ignore Jim … and the really agrravating thing was that he was so hard not to like. Karen was no less likeable, but she just easily disappeared in a crowd.

Thursday morning, Jim overslept and none of his bunkmates gave him the courtesy of waking him. Our daily schedule included “morning watch” before breakfast, and Jim’s absence was conspicuous. Because he tended to be obnoxious, I decided we’d return the favor in waking him up. I didn’t care if he didn’t like morning watch, he had to endure it just like the rest of the group. So I led the whole group in yelling toward the dorm to wake him up. It took several tries, but we finally roused him.

I had forgotten that Karen had overslept the previous morning and didn’t join the group until halfway through breakfast. When Jim wasn’t there, we yelled and woke him up … when Karen wasn’t there, we did nothing. So Thursday afternoon during free time, Karen went to the dorm, wrote a note, and swallowed more than half a bottle of Tylenol. Tylenol is not particularly toxic, but she did have to be taken to the local ER to remove it from her system. There’s more to the story than that, but the long and the short of it is that, though she was physically OK she needed some help (and got it) in order to get OK emotionally.

Some people want (and need) to be the center of attention, others really don’t … but nobody wants to be invisible. Some people will never know that they matter to God until they know that they matter to the people of God. That’s one reason we pass the peace of Christ in worship every Sunday. That’s enough to think about for now. The peace of Christ to you.