“Don’t let your church be a cul-de-sac on the great commission highway.” @edstetzer #usmb2014
— Rick Bartlett (@rbb2nd) July 26, 2014
Showing posts with label FOLLOWING JESUS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label FOLLOWING JESUS. Show all posts
Thursday, July 31, 2014
STETZER QUOTE
From the US Mennonite Brethren National Conference. A quote from Ed Stetzer captured by my friend Rick Bartlett.
Thursday, November 21, 2013
WE NEED MOURNING WORSHIP SERVICES
I love going to worship on Sunday morning…except when I don’t feel like it.
I anticipate being in worship, singing songs of praise and adoration to the Lord and hearing a message from the Word of the Lord. But there are times I just want to be quiet and other times I just want to sit and cry. I have yet to go to a worship service that makes room for stillness or sorrow.
A number of years ago, I sat in a seminar with musical artist and theologian Michael Card as he explained how there seemed to be so little space given in our worship to sorrow and pain. It was as if worship was only meant to be uplifting and refreshing. For those experiencing loss, depression or distance from God, this continual diet of worship left no room for them. What language was there for them to seek God?
Michael suggested that we need to recapture the lost language of lament. Lamentation is the language of crying out to the Lord in our pain or sorrow and asking for His intervention or at least His perspective. When I consider that half of the book of Psalms from which we derive much praise language is written in the language of lament, this makes a lot of sense.
There have been some Sunday mornings when I have sat in worship, wishing someone would give me space to grieve. I have been asked if we could make space for quiet so that people could personally engage with God in whatever they are feeling. I think we need more mourning worship services.
I propose we set aside a few Sundays in the church year for lamenting. There are things we all can lament. We could lament our sin and penchant for wandering from the Lord and His call. We could lament the losses of the past season, be it a few months or a year. Maybe we could take a service and lament the passing of people in the congregation rather than just making it small part of our announcement or prayer.
To put this all in perspective, biblical lament does not focus solely on the circumstances of loss or pain. As Card points out, each lament rests on a fulcrum, a balancing point that starts heavy with the pain, but moves to expressions of faith and trust in the Lord. True lament cries and wails in sorrow, and then pivots to whispers and sighs of faith and confidence.
This finds its way into worship through prayers and songs of praise that rise from hurting souls that have found release into worship. As people find they can release their pain into the hands of the Father, they also can pivot to express their trust and confess their confidence that the Father has heard and accepted their cries – or should I say OUR cries.
This is my modest proposal. Can we make some generous room in our worship for lament?
For further reading:
A Sacred Sorrow: Reaching Out to God in the Lost Language of Lament (Michael Card, 2005)
The Hidden Face of God: Finding the Missing Door to the Father through Lament (Michael Card, 2007)
I anticipate being in worship, singing songs of praise and adoration to the Lord and hearing a message from the Word of the Lord. But there are times I just want to be quiet and other times I just want to sit and cry. I have yet to go to a worship service that makes room for stillness or sorrow.
A number of years ago, I sat in a seminar with musical artist and theologian Michael Card as he explained how there seemed to be so little space given in our worship to sorrow and pain. It was as if worship was only meant to be uplifting and refreshing. For those experiencing loss, depression or distance from God, this continual diet of worship left no room for them. What language was there for them to seek God?
Michael suggested that we need to recapture the lost language of lament. Lamentation is the language of crying out to the Lord in our pain or sorrow and asking for His intervention or at least His perspective. When I consider that half of the book of Psalms from which we derive much praise language is written in the language of lament, this makes a lot of sense.
There have been some Sunday mornings when I have sat in worship, wishing someone would give me space to grieve. I have been asked if we could make space for quiet so that people could personally engage with God in whatever they are feeling. I think we need more mourning worship services.
I propose we set aside a few Sundays in the church year for lamenting. There are things we all can lament. We could lament our sin and penchant for wandering from the Lord and His call. We could lament the losses of the past season, be it a few months or a year. Maybe we could take a service and lament the passing of people in the congregation rather than just making it small part of our announcement or prayer.
To put this all in perspective, biblical lament does not focus solely on the circumstances of loss or pain. As Card points out, each lament rests on a fulcrum, a balancing point that starts heavy with the pain, but moves to expressions of faith and trust in the Lord. True lament cries and wails in sorrow, and then pivots to whispers and sighs of faith and confidence.
This finds its way into worship through prayers and songs of praise that rise from hurting souls that have found release into worship. As people find they can release their pain into the hands of the Father, they also can pivot to express their trust and confess their confidence that the Father has heard and accepted their cries – or should I say OUR cries.
This is my modest proposal. Can we make some generous room in our worship for lament?
For further reading:
A Sacred Sorrow: Reaching Out to God in the Lost Language of Lament (Michael Card, 2005)
The Hidden Face of God: Finding the Missing Door to the Father through Lament (Michael Card, 2007)
Monday, May 27, 2013
MY AIM
My aim is to follow Jesus - to learn, live, love and serve as Jesus did...and invite others to do the same.
You probably read this at the top of my blog. If you did, one of those items porbably stood out among the rest. Most people I think would get the live, love and serve like Jesus, but what about learn?
I am indebted to Bill Hull (http://www.billhull.net/) for this idea.
When Jesus was hear, he learned to operate within his finite world after laying down his right to his infinite state of being as Lord of the Universe. Hebrews 5:8 tells us, "Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered." Jesus learned a whole new way of relying on His father.
So it is my aim to imitate Christ. I am not just trying to imitate Him in what He did, but also to imitate Him in character and style. I want to be like Him in how He learned so that I might also learn well.
You probably read this at the top of my blog. If you did, one of those items porbably stood out among the rest. Most people I think would get the live, love and serve like Jesus, but what about learn?
I am indebted to Bill Hull (http://www.billhull.net/) for this idea.
When Jesus was hear, he learned to operate within his finite world after laying down his right to his infinite state of being as Lord of the Universe. Hebrews 5:8 tells us, "Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered." Jesus learned a whole new way of relying on His father.
So it is my aim to imitate Christ. I am not just trying to imitate Him in what He did, but also to imitate Him in character and style. I want to be like Him in how He learned so that I might also learn well.
Sunday, May 26, 2013
IT IS WHAT IT IS
Max Lucado tells a story about a man who had a beautiful horse, the most beautiful in the kingdom. Through a series of events, the man looses the horse, gains it back with 10 more, has to care for his injured son who then cannot go off to war for the king. With each turn of events, the people around him find reason to judge his circumstances either blessed or curse depending on how they view event. With each turn, the man urges people to not judge the circumstance a blessing or a curse. Each circumstance was what it was. It was beyond anyone's understanding to decide if the event was a reward or punishment, a blessing or a curse.
This story came to my memory today as I sat and evaluated a number of events where things did not seem to be of much benefit to me or my family. It did not feel good to go through any of them. But was the outcome of any of them a blessing or curse? Was it for our best or was something at work keeping me from enjoying a good thing?
The wisdom of Max's story became apparent to me. I cannot tell if something is blessing or curse. I cannot tell if a good thing was kept from me or if I was kept from a disaster. I am left thinking that it is too wonderful for me to see beyond my circumstances or the circumstances of others to know what is really the best.
As I ponder this reality, another thought comes to mind. The Lord I serve does know what is the outcomes mean. He understands what He purposes and what He can make of each event, be it trial or victory. He told a group huddled in exile, wondering if they would ever see home again, "I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11)
He used a man named Paul to remind me that, "God works all things for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28)
These are well known Scripture passages to many who follow Jesus. They are comforting because we trust that He DOES have our best in mine. They are challenging because it means I let go of wondering and worrying what my circumstances mean. I continue to follow faithfully and patiently. The one who works it all for good and knows what the plan is will cause it all to make sense at the right time.
This story came to my memory today as I sat and evaluated a number of events where things did not seem to be of much benefit to me or my family. It did not feel good to go through any of them. But was the outcome of any of them a blessing or curse? Was it for our best or was something at work keeping me from enjoying a good thing?
The wisdom of Max's story became apparent to me. I cannot tell if something is blessing or curse. I cannot tell if a good thing was kept from me or if I was kept from a disaster. I am left thinking that it is too wonderful for me to see beyond my circumstances or the circumstances of others to know what is really the best.
As I ponder this reality, another thought comes to mind. The Lord I serve does know what is the outcomes mean. He understands what He purposes and what He can make of each event, be it trial or victory. He told a group huddled in exile, wondering if they would ever see home again, "I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11)
He used a man named Paul to remind me that, "God works all things for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28)
These are well known Scripture passages to many who follow Jesus. They are comforting because we trust that He DOES have our best in mine. They are challenging because it means I let go of wondering and worrying what my circumstances mean. I continue to follow faithfully and patiently. The one who works it all for good and knows what the plan is will cause it all to make sense at the right time.
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