Worship Debrief – People Matter: All Over the World (Oct. 3-4)

(Author’s Note: This will be the final Worship Debrief and the final substantive post for Inside Worship until further notice. Inside Worship will be on hiatus after tomorrow as previously reported.)

Pastor put it this way this morning: Jesus didn’t hang on the cross so that we could come once a week and sing our pretty songs, attend snazzy Bible classes, drink coffee, and eat donuts! (I paraphrased that a bit!) Jesus told His disciples, and by extension us, to “Go into all the world and proclaim the Gospel to the whole creation” (Mark 16: 15) In order to do that, we must let God develop in us a heart like Jesus’. So, how do we do that?

1. We must care about what Jesus cared about! And what is that? Jesus cared about the whole world – about people everywhere. Jesus also cared about the church.
2. We must be indifferent to what Jesus was indifferent to. Our savior was able to pick and choose what He worried about and we should too. Specifically, Jesus was indifferent to impressing others and material gain.
3. We must get angry about what Jesus gets angry about. First, anger is not necessarily a sin. When our anger is born out of love and compassion for others, spurring us to action, it is a good anger. Jesus gets angry when the needs of children are unmet and when the suffering of others is ignored.
4. We must want the things that Jesus wants.

Saturday, 10/3 – 7:00pm:

•          Wow! We had a larger congregation this week – at least 28…not including the band, Pastor, or the tech team – and many were new faces! It’s amazing how this service manages to attract new people.
•          Not much else to say other than this seemed to be a nice flowing, smooth service this week.

Sunday, 10/4 – 11:15am:

•          We had a fun group of songs this morning. At least, they were fun for the band to play!
•          Pat Canfield – our Worship Assistant this morning – Sue Steege, our prayer partner, and myself played pass the microphone this morning. It went very smoothly, but it can be dizzying trying to track where is was.
•          Fortunately, we had the mic to pass. Unfortunately for the 8:45 service, the mic had been inadvertently placed in a box the band keeps their mics in following rehearsal on Tuesday. The tech person for the 8:45 service couldn’t find it and they had some minor issues.
•          The reason for the mic-passing game was that we had another drama this morning. It was a great illustration by Karen Cassidy and Joe Zimmerman that showed us how we as a church need to be giving out, not just taking in.
•          Sue talked to the kids (and us adults too) about the paintings hanging in the Sanctuary. They were painted by the Jesus Painter when he was here a couple of years ago and it was great to look into their meaning.

I will still be monitoring and responding to comments. So if there was anything about our services this weekend you would like to share – how they spoke to you, how you met God, etc. – please drop a note in the comments below. Thank you for reading, and I look forward to continued conversation.

Schedule Crunch!!!

Darcy started working as an Aide for our pre-school’s 3-year old program in September. It’s not a lot of extra money, but it will help and it allows both Isaac (4) and Joel (2) to attend more conveniently. However, we also had to tweak schedules a little to make it work. And that’s a requiring a little more adjustment than anticipated…at least for me.

On the whole, the mornings are great. Where before I was rushing to get out the door as others were just waking and getting ready, now we are all up and moving around the same time. There’s six of us, so it’s still a little crazy. But I’m now leaving a 1/2-hour later to get the older boys out the door. So I can help Darcy get the younger two in the car and get some things cleaned up before I leave. I’m not big into chaos, so it’s really great to have time with the family and still leave things somewhat orderly.

What I’m finding to be a problem, however, is the OTHER end of the day. Because I’m starting work 30 minutes later…I have to stay 30 minutes later. That shifts the evening schedule by 1/2 hour for me (the rest of the family is largely unchanged) and things are getting a bit crunched! So far, I’ve had at least one night every week where I feel like I’m running from one place to the next. If anything comes up during the day while I’m at Northtown, I’m supposed to make up the time (I’m paid by the hour)…and that is a thoroughly exhausting exercise!

All this is to say that we need to cut back!!! Or, at least, I do. Not sure what all that will entail, but I’ve decided that Inside Worship needs to go on Hiatus indefinitely. As much as I enjoy writing and connecting with whomever is reading, it’s becoming too stressful to keep up. So, the Worship Debrief this coming week will serve as my final post until further notice. I will continue to monitor comments and respond as I have time.

It’s been fun and I look forward to getting back to it soon. Keep in touch!

Worship Renewal 7 – Pray!!!

We’re down to the last step in Worship Renewal – Pray! It seems like a no-brainer to say that this should be the first step. But think about it this way: Before a concert, the bands that are playing do a sound check…with the band playing first sound checking last. The reverse order let’s you set up the pinnacle of the concert, then gives you the starting point. So it is with Worship Renewal – we’ve set up the concept and put the pieces in place. Now it’s time for the starting point.

Steve Fee hinted in the last section that worship renewal begins on the personal level. And for that to happen on a personal level, we must be in prayer. Kenn Gullicksen – leader and teacher from the Jesus Movement and founder of the first Vineyard  church in West Los Angeles – writes:

“We were created to experience an unbroken and intimate love relationship with our Father, and to live and serve from the overflow of that relationship. … We have been grafted into a vine/branch union, and prayer is the joint that connects the vine (Jesus) to the branch (us). Without prayer there is no life, let alone renewal. Prayer is the most important thing we do, or fail to do.”

Kenn gives us four ways to make this a reality in our lives:

• Show up – Choose to accept the invitation to rest, commune, and receive…and stop making excuses!
• Agree – Be honest, confess, repent, and ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart.
• Receive – Let God be your breath, His word be your daily bread, and let His mercy a grace flood your life
• Serve from the overflow – If you get to this point, you will be compelled to give away what you’ve experienced in Christ!

Kenn concludes: “Ultimately, then, prayer/abiding is our connection to the ongoing work of continual personal and corporate renewal.” Will you join me as we connect with a Holy, living God and seek God’s direction for First Trinity?