Scott Wesley Brown: Unified Worship

When I was in high school, one of my best friends was a huge fan of the popular touring band TRUTH. In the 70's the group was comprised of 6 vocalists (3 guys, 3 girls), full rhythm section (keyboard, guitar, bass, drums), and a full horn section (varied from just brass to the inclusion of a woodwind man). His enthusiasm for their music rolled over into the formation of a local band of high-school students attempting to do the same kind of thing. We were from a variety of churches in my hometown (mostly Baptist, but a few Methodists and a couple of Assembly of God / Pentecostal - types). We had the records and the published choral folios that went along with them, and a couple of us trumpet players stayed up until all hours transcribing the brass parts from the records. We borrowed sound equipment from my home church and pooled our resources to buy microphones and cables. Perhaps the highlight of our short career was getting to open for Scott Wesley Brown (he was just getting national recognition at the time).

Following a link from Don Chapman's site, I happened upon a recently published blog on on Unified Worship at http://www.worship.com. The subject caught my attention -- partly because it seems that it may resonate with the yearnings of my own heart for us to be less divided by superfluous issues (i.e. "style") in the local church, and also because our people will be led in ONE combined worship service this Sunday morning (7/29) while most of the leadership staff is away (pray for those that remain). It also caught my attention because it was written by none other than Scott Wesley Brown.

I only skimmed the article this morning because I don't have time to read it in depth (pastoral visits to make with the senior pastor out of town ... truckload of stuff to do before leaving for vacation myself) but I saw enough to know that it is likely good food for thought. He mentions South Africa ... a nation that holds a special place in my heart because of an experience I had there in the Fall of 1999 which also involved helping to moderate a conference session on worship at the BUSA meeting in Bloemfontein.

Anyhow, for my few readers (and you really are few, but I love every one of you) whose leadership DNA pushes you to wrestle with worship issues, I present this link. May it cause you to think deeply and grow. I look forward to reading the article myself, and perhaps commenting on it in the future. Meanwhile, I gotta go ...

Peace

As I was helping my parents get things ready to be removed from the house by the disaster recovery company, I found some books in the attic that they had set aside to give away some time ago, but had inadvertently forgotten. Among those books was a 30-page booklet entitled “The New Super-Spirituality,” published in 1972 by the late Christian apologist and philosopher Francis A. Schaeffer. The primary subject matter is Schaeffer’s analysis of developments in sociological and spiritual trends of the 1960s and early 1970s, along with his recommendations for how the church should respond. Intrigued, I put it in my briefcase to read when time allowed.

I found a little time Tuesday morning to read the booklet. While I disagree with some things Schaeffer said in the booklet, there were some observations that I found particularly cogent. Here’s one:

The world has a right to judge whether we are Christians or not by the way we show an observable love to all true Christians, and therefore our love for each other as true Christians must be evident to the world. Furthermore, Christ tells us in John 17 that the world has a right to judge whether the Father has sent the Son on the basis of whether the world sees love among all true Christians. (p. 24)

Do we realize that the biggest obstacle standing in the way of faith for many unbelievers is the behavior of His followers … especially our behavior toward one another? Remember the Bob Roberts Jr. quote that I shared with you back in June:

The church has been stripped of its power and influence in the West today, not because it has lost its wealth and position in society -- it hasn’t -- but because the church has lost credibility. … We cannot consistently live the message we herald to the world, but never have we been more effective at religious marketing of products that help us appear as if we are living it. As a result, the growing perception is that the church is religious but not spiritual. It has style but not enough substance.

We will ordain two new deacons this Sunday morning and set aside the full class for service in 2007-08. When I read the scriptures I am reminded that the office of deacon is one of service … instituted to help restore and preserve peace among people who were wrestling with division. The anthem planned for 11:00 worship this Sunday (Pepper Choplin’s “Give Us Peace”) is a prayer for peace … a peace in which we must participate by rising above hatred, fear, and pride. That’s enough to think about for now.

Give Us Peace - words and music by Pepper Choplin
© 1998, Pepper Choplin

Give us peace that will reach across the river that is raging wild.
Give us peace that as brothers and sisters we'll be reconciled.
Give us peace.

Give us love that will melt away the anger in a troubled land.
Give us love 'til we change the fist of hatred to a gentle hand.
Give us love. O give us love ...

Let us sing together, join the rhythm of our soul
So that peace and hope and love will take control.
Give us peace and love.
Let us raise our voices to sing a peaceful song
Until hate, and fear, distrust and pain are gone.

Give us joy as we celebrate the goodness in everyone.
Give us joy. If we learn to sing together we have just begun.
Give us joy. O give us joy.

Let us sing together, join the rhythm of our soul
So that peace and hope and love will take control.
Give us peace and love.
Let us raise our voices to sing a peaceful song
Until hate, and fear, distrust and pain are gone.

Give us joy as we celebrate the goodness in everyone.
Give us joy. If we learn to sing together we have just begun.
Give us joy ...

Give us hope, give us love to rise above all hatred, fear, and pride
As we reach out to the other side
And we'll find peace, sweet peace.

We'll find peace.

Misunderstood.

Every February one of our WMU circles (Women's Missionary Union, for those outside the Southern Baptist tribe) hosts a staff appreciation dinner. This dinner is not just for the "ministerial staff," it's for the whole team (preschool staff, nursery workers, custodians, support staff ... everyone). The dinner is their way of letting us know that what we do is appreciated. It is a wonderful ministry to the staff and we appreciate it more than words can express. They always include some games as a part of the evening. Sometimes the games are just silly things that remind us not to take ourselves too seriously. Sometimes they help us to get to know each other a little better.

This past February, one of the games was an "identify the person" kind of thing with us having written down interesting or little-known facts about ourselves on cards, then everyone trying to identify who wrote it as they were read. One of the identifiers was "What are you afraid of?" I wrestled with what to put on mine. Not knowing the kinds of things everyone else was putting (snakes, rodents, driving off of a bridge, water, stinging insects, etc.), I wrote something a little more personally revealing: "being misunderstood." I work very hard at communicating clearly and at trying to understand what the other person may be saying as well. More important, I guess, is trying very hard not to say what I don't mean, or what I don't want to mean, and I think there is a difference (and some psychologist would have a field day with the id, ego, super-ego implications of that statement). If you don't understand what is meant by that parenthetical, just forget it and read on.

If you read my blogger profile, you understand that I serve in a multi-congregational church divided by preference of worship style (most easily identifiable in the style of music preferred by our two congregations). Ministry in a situation with multiple services with multiple worship styles is a minefield for being misunderstood ... and the mines go off even when you don't step on them.

Last night (3/14) after choir rehearsal, the chair of our Worship Committee approached me with a question. One of our 11:00 traditional worship attendees told her that someone told her that I had said (can you tell the rumor mill generated this one?), "The 8:30 (contemporary) congregation comes to worship, while the 11:00 (traditional) congregation comes to complain." I am as grateful as I can be for the maturity our Worship Committee chair showed in response to such a rumor. After I responded she asked for permission to call the individual she had heard it from with my response. I am frustrated that someone would misunderstand me so. I am heartsick that someone would believe that I would say such a thing.

As I have thought about the situation, I have a vague recollection of hearing that sentiment voiced in a conversation. Whether it was a conversation that I just overheard or one in which I was involved (however marginally), I cannot say for certain. My memory for details of conversations (even important ones) can be rather foggy. I am certain, however, that I did not say what I was accused of saying. Truth be known, both congregations complain equally -- only about different things. It's enough to break the heart of God. People are going to hell without Jesus and we are fussing about furniture ... or musical style ... or whatever else we get upset about.

I guess one of the things that bothers me most is that my heart in this thing is all about bringing the body of Christ together. I have a deep love for heartfelt worship in many style contexts, not just the two that we use most often where I serve. I want to see our people honor and respect each other regardless which service they prefer. I want to see our people open their eyes beyond themselves and see the world through God's eyes with God's heart (and lest I be misunderstood here, I'm not that good at doing that myself).

Jesus said that one of the things that will show people that we belong to Him (and that belonging to Him is a very desirable thing) is how we treat each other. When we say stupid stuff about others in the body, the world outside the body hears it loud and clear. Our actions (and our words) are screaming stuff that is not true about what it means to follow Christ. We are being misunderstood ... and it's probably our own fault. Maybe we need to think about not saying what we don't want to mean. May God grant us grace and redeem our thinking (renew our minds) so that when we talk we actually mean what He wants us to mean. May God also grant grace to those who have decided, based on what they have seen in us, that Jesus Christ is not for them. Heaven help us all.