Thoughts on Life and Worship

Adapted from my sermon on Labor Day weekend, 2012.   Thematic influence from Eugene Peterson in Practice Resurrection . Introduction When I was a kid, there would be a good chance that my family would be in church on Labor Day weekend.   You could probably label me, “a child of the church.”   If the doors were open, we were probably there.   There wasn’t any question whether or not we would be going to church on Sunday.   We always did.   Pretty remarkable for two parents who didn’t come from Christian homes.   I’ve got a hunch that since this is Labor Day weekend and you are here that a good lot of you grew up the same way.   But it’s not that way with everyone.   In fact, more and more so-called Christians are distancing themselves from the institutional church.   In the surprising blockbuster book, The Shack, the Christ character declares that he doesn’t really like religion and he didn’t create an institution.   J...

Those who theologize as they are reading the Scriptures (we all do, as a matter of fact) sometimes stumble as they encounter a seeming contradiction between Paul and James.   Paul: What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter?   If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness (Romans 4:1-5). James: What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?   Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food.   If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but do...

One of the themes that run throughout the New Testament is our union by faith with Christ in his death and resurrection.   It is this reality that is at the core of us having everything that we need for life and godliness (II Peter 1:3).   Paul prays that the Ephesian believers would grasp the fullness of this truth: I pray that you will begin to understand the incredible greatness of his power for us who believe him.   This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms   (Ephesians 1:19-20 NLT). Paul elaborates further in 2:6   For he raised us from the dead along with Christ, and we are seated with him in the heavenly realms – all because we are one with Christ Jesus. While I was preparing to deliver a sermon on this theme, I encountered Christ’s words John 10:18: No one can take my life from me.   I lay down my life voluntarily.   For I ...

Yes… and no. Early this morning, I finished reading John D. Witvliet’s essay, Theological Models for the Relationship between Liturgy and Culture in his excellent collection, Worship Seeking Understanding   (Baker, 2003).   Heady and academic stuff, as the title demonstrates.   But the concepts that he unpacks are important for every pastor and worship leader to encounter and grasp. There are some groups who resist the surrounding culture at all costs.   The Orthodox Church, along with certain Anabaptist sects (such as the Amish) are probably the most radical in this regard.   But there are other traditional groups who avoid cultural infiltration like it was the plague.   On the other side of the spectrum are evangelicals who will do most anything and everything in order to satisfy the god of relevance.   Neither pole on the spectrum is to be desired. Cultural influence, or inculturation, in corporate worship is unavoidable and should be, in so...

About a week ago I had a wonderful conversation with a man in our church that had just turned 90.   You wouldn’t have known it by his appearance and energy.   He seems fifteen years younger than his actual age.   He was reminiscing “about the good old days” back in the late sixties and early seventies when what folks experienced inside the church walls would literally overflow onto the streets and through the city.   There was a pervasive joy throughout the ministry.   Lives were being changed and people were coming to Christ right and left. I remember those days, though I lived in Southern California at the time.   The Spirit of God was moving throughout the land and almost anything you would do in ministry would bear fruit.   I’m fairly well-read in the history of Protestant awakenings and I am convinced that what we experienced in our country in the early 70’s was a sovereign move of God – a revival. It seems that evangelicals are always pr...

...and now, by request... I received one of those notes the other day.   The kind that worship pastors or leaders receive from time to time but on a regular basis: “Please, please, may we have more hymns!”   I received almost the same anonymous note in the same handwriting nearly six months ago.   Only this time, the author mailed it to me; again, anonymously.   My policy has always been to ignore anonymous notes because they are often intentionally hurtful and I have no way of interpreting (not knowing the context) or responding to them.   The intent of this older lady (I know the approximate age and gender because of the style of the handwriting) was certainly not hurtful.   But she is frustrated and persistent!   I only wish I had her name so that I could respond personally.   Lacking that opening, I have taken the note as an opportunity to share my sense of calling as a worship designer/leader/pastor. In direct response to her, I w...

God’s people have always assembled together on a weekly basis as a corporate spiritual discipline.   Post-exilic Jews met on the Sabbath to read and discuss their Scriptures in the synagogue.   The early church continued the weekly pattern but gathered on the first day of the week – the day of Resurrection – the Eighth Day.   The writer of Hebrews specifically warned us to “forsake not the assembling together as is the habit of some” (Hebrews 10:25). Why? Consider these facts about corporate worship: ·          For over 1500 years most Christians did not have a personal copy of the Bible.   How did they grow spiritually and how did the Church expand? ·          At the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, those who believed Christ was fully divine were virtually at an impasse with those who believed that Christ was less than fully divine.   The reality that the Church was a...