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.

Worship Debrief – People Matter: Communities – Connecting with Western New York (Sept. 26-27)

The Gospel tells us that Jesus went to His hometown to they synagogue and was asked to read from Scripture. He opened the scroll to Isaiah and quoted the following: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (as recorded in Luke 4: 16-21) Jesus came to help people. But who?

• “The Poor” – those who have not. This can be those in material poverty, moral poverty (lack of integrity), or spiritual poverty
• “The Captives” – those who are imprisoned: physically, by circumstances, or by secrets from their past
• “The Blind” – those in the dark. Again this can be physical blindness, relational (hurting others and don’t know it), or spiritual (eyes closed to God’s grace.)
• “The Oppressed” – the kicked around. Oppression can be political, gender based (as in, domestic violence, rape, abuse), or spiritual.

We have all of these right here in our communities in Western New York…and God calls us to share with them the grace we have found in Christ. Here’s what we learned from Jesus’ example:

• “Preach good news”: tell others they are not an accident and that God loves them.
• “Proclaim liberty”: tell others the truth of God’s word
• “Provide recovery of sight”: Shine the light of God’s truth in their lives.
• “Release the oppressed”: through prayer and God’s word, effect their beliefs so they know that they matter to God.

If you were in service, you were asked to write down the name of someone you could reach out to this week. I challenge you to stay in prayer for that person and ask God for 1) opportunities and 2) boldness to share His truth, mercy, and Grace.

Saturday, 9/26 – 7:00pm:

•          Small crowd…and yet they sing. Love that!
•          Drama in all four services this weekend. Thanks to Karen Cassidy (our drama coordinator) for stepping in for this service!
•          Zach, filling in the sound board, did great with the addition of the drama.

Sunday, 9/27 – 11:15am:

•          As mentioned, we had a drama in all four services. Thanks to Glen & Kim Gordon and David Cascio for their service in this ministry this weekend! In the drama, Adam (me) connects with 3 other church members and invites them to an Evangelism workshop…with varying, but similar reactions.
•          Following the 8:45 service, Carla Stone came up to me all excited and asked if the drama was about something that would be happening in real life: getting an Evangelism Team together. While I know of no plans for this right now, it’s a great thought!
•          Missed Marcus on guitar, but enjoyed having Annie and Jennie Morris stepping in on vocals. The nice, full vocal sound covered some of what was missing in the instruments…at least I thought so!
•          Thanks to Sue Steege and Kingdom Quest for the use of their microphones for the drama.

Worship Debrief – People Matter: Connecting with Families (Sept. 19-20)

I’m willing to bet that most of us consider our families a blessing…on most days…in most circumstances…if and when we really think about it…but not too much…and…

We have all been given a family. And, let’s face it. None of our families are exactly alike or have exactly the same composition. But whatever your family looks like, God set it up to be the foundation for our lives. In the beginning when Adam was given Eve and they were told to multiply on the face of the earth, God laid out the framework which would shape the lives of every person ever to be born.

While a family has many purposes, Pastor outlined 3 from the scriptures that we looked at on this second week of the People Matter super-series:

1 – A family is to be a shelter for storms. It is to be a place of security.
2- A family is to be a learning center for life. Through the family we can learn that:

• God wants us to learn about relationships
• God wants us to learn about values
• God wants us to learn about character
• God wants us to learn to know and love Him

3 – A family is to be a launch pad for ministry.

Many of us may feel that our family is/was not any of that. But through God’s grace, that can begin to change today. 1 Corinthians 16: 15 reads: ”You know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints.” If we let God begin to work in our hearts, then it will (eventually) spill over and work in the hearts of those we love. Maybe you can be the Stephanas of your household!

Saturday, 7/25 – 7:00pm:

•          We joked before we started about how people sit all across the sanctuary during this service. When you think of the church as a family in and of itself, that seems kind of…ironic.
•          Even with a small crowd, I could hear people singing. So great to be part of a congregation that loves to worship!
•          We had taken Tuesday off to be with a band member who had lost their brother. And God honored that ministry by equipping the band to come in relatively cold and lead without a hitch. God is good!

Sunday, 7/26 – 11:15am:

•          As with the Saturday night group, our band came in cold this morning as we were supporting our fellow member in their loss. Again, they lead without a hitch and God reminded us that He equips us to do His work when we are faithful to His leading!
•          Need to resolve the battery issue with our handheld mics. The altar mic was out again at prayer time. Fortunately, I noticed the problem before it was too noticeable.
•          The children’s message…with kids surrounding and praying for Sue as she celebrates 25 years here at FTLC was Awesome. Thanks to Christine Hartnett and Lisa Cross for doing such a great job with it!
•          Tweaked the narthex speaker a little bit because the volume seemed really low. While we’d love to have you in the sanctuary with us for worship, if you happen to be outside during the service please let me know if it’s a little easier to hear.

The family is such a sensitive topic because we all – in one way, shape, or form – have a family. I’d love to hear how God was speaking to you this past weekend.

Worship Debrief – People Matter: Individuals – Connecting with God (Sept. 12-13)

So…what was your first car? That was Pastor’s question to us as he started his message this past weekend. 10 to 1, it was a beater…and if you were in high school or college, it was probably regularly running on empty! There are many – way too many – people in our communities, and even in our church(es), who are running on empty. We need to connect (or re-connect) with God.

The trick is, connecting with God is not something we can DO. It is Jesus who connects us. In His word Jesus says: come to me, follow me, be with me. Our problem is that we try to connect with God ourselves – like a duty we have to perform – and it doesn’t work. Pastor put it this way:

Feeling I’m not doing enough is a performance based faith that leads to feelings of spiritual emptiness. [But] Jesus offers us an invitation to connect.

So, how do we connect with God? Here’s three principles:

1. Stop feeling like a failure! (or: Stop feeling guilty!)
2. Start seeing ourselves as God’s friend
3. Look for opportunities to connect – natural ways, because of love; not a checklist out of duty!

Saturday, 9/12 – 7:00pm:

•          We had Matt back! It’s always good to have the regulars back.
•          Small(er) crowd, but seemed into worship. It was a good set of songs, too!
•          So, how did God meet with you during worship this week? How did God show you that you matter to Him?

Sunday, 9/13 – 11:15am:

•          I want Sue Steege’s first car!!! (does that violate the 10^th commandment, even if she doesn’t still have it???)
•          We had some mic issues with the prayer partner this week. Not sure what they were – mic seemed to be working after the service – but will try to get it corrected by next week.
•          It’s great having 3 guitars in this band. It’s a challenge to arrange the music, but they give a really full sound.
•          Our theme is People Matter. Did you come away from worship knowing that you matter – first of all, to God; and secondly, to us? 

It’s not about ritual, it’s about a relationship
It’s not about performance, it’s about presence
It’s not about guilt, it’s about grace
It’s not about form, it’s about friendship

IT’S ALL ABOUT GOD!

Worship Debrief – God’s Will Be Done (Sept. 5-6)

OK…who here has not experienced the willful defiance of a two-year old that is not getting his/her way? (for me, that’s every day!!) How about that feeling that, just once, we’d like to be in control of our lives?

Moses learned the hard way that when we try to take over and make things work without God’s guidance and instruction, things can go a little bad. Or, maybe a lot bad! God gave us our will, but our sin has turned it into a lever that can pull us into trouble. This weekend, we looked at Moses’ experiences and what we can learn from them as we pray “God’s Will Be Done” … and mean it!

There are three aspects to willfulness and the cue us into when we are leaning on our own will rather than God’s:

1. A lack of dependence on God…and the number 1 sign of this is a lack of prayer.
2. Asking: Can I get away with it?
3. Acts of submission to other people – that is, if there’s no submission to others (e.g.: a church (membership) or life group), then there’s probably no submission to God.

So, here is the challenge for the coming week: Make this week an experiment in the prayer of surrender! Daily, as often as you think it, pray “Your will be done, not mine”…and see what happens!

Saturday, 9/5 – 7:00pm:

•          Yes, Tom filled in for Matt again on drums. I love having flexible people in this ministry!
•          If you stayed for our closing song, “Arise, Praise His Name,” then I’m sorry. It was pretty bad! Wrong key, wrong tempo, we were not together… If you missed it, then good choice!

Sunday, 9/6 – 11:15am:

•          Tom again on drums – filling in for Jubal this time. We’re just trying to get everyone confused with who’s playing in what band.
•          Speaking of who’s in the band, we had a lot of vocalists this morning. It’s great to have all the teens involved, but I’m going to have to get more mics!
•          I actually kind of liked Pastor’s children’s message. Kids are naturally willful, so trying to get them to see what it looks like can be a bit tricky. I know…I keep trying with my own kids!
•          It was mentioned to me that my mic was hard to understand when I was speaking…at least when the band was playing. As Worship Assistant, that’s not necessarily a good thing. Did anyone else catch any similar sound issues?

Worship Debrief – Lessons in Gratitude (Aug. 29-30)

Thank you, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU…

I’m practicing for a “No-complaining” day that we were all challenged to take following the message this past weekend. We live in a culture that likes to complain…and complain a lot. Just think about how often you’ve complained about traffic, your co-workers, the government, your family…you name it. Gratitude is a practice that we need to regularly participate in. It’s a choice!

To learn our lesson, we looked that the Israelites as they wandered through the desert. God provided for them regularly all that they needed. Still, there were four mistakes that the children of Israel made that led to their destruction:

1. Idolatry
2. Sexual Immorality
3. Testing of Christ (that is: Willful Defiance)
4. Grumbling

Scripture teaches us that gratitude is a result of a certain kind of character, which we must develop.

• Who do I make responsible for the joy and gratitude factor in my life? Me!
• When am I going to practice gratitude? Today…right now!
• What should I be grateful for? Everything.
• What about when I’m disappointed? Practice “Defiant Gratitude”…be grateful anyways.

Saturday, 8/29 – 7:00pm:

•          Thanks again to Tom for filling in for Matt on drums.
•          It was great to have both Elisa and Barb singing together!
•          I like that, with such a small congregation at this service, we can still laugh at the idea of a “25^th Anniversary Sue Steege” doll.
•          We’ve taken to doing a closing song while the congregation leaves…which can take as little as 30 seconds. Sometimes, however, some people stay to listen/worship more. Thanks for making it fun!

Sunday, 7/26 – 11:15am:

•          Thanks to Jubal for filling in the drums this morning.
•          We had Jake take the lead for one of the verses on “God of Wonders” at the beginning of the service. Did you know that he’s got a regular gig on Friday nights at the Good&Rich coffeehouse in Clarence?
•          Children’s message was interesting in that I took Joel up with the rest of the boys. Whenever Sue sent the kids to say “Thank You” to someone, Joel went with them…away from where I was. When she dismissed the kids, Joel again went the wrong way and Sue had to direct him back to me.

So, what in our worship particularly helped you draw close to God? What did not? Share your story in the comments below!

Worship Renewal 1 – Review Worship Practices

I want to begin to dive into the 7 Steps to Worship Renewal that were introduced last week. So, here we go!

Most of us would agree that God deserves our very best. The question is: are we giving it to Him? In the first Step to Worship Renewal, Michael Neale – Worship Pastor at The People’s Church in Franklin, TN and speaker at Seminars4Worship – discusses reviewing our worship practices to see if they need to be changed or revamped. The idea is not to throw away the old for the new (if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!) but rather keep our practices from becoming, as the author says, “stagnant, indifferent, comfortable, lazy, apathetic, and ineffective. Even the most creative ideas can become dead orthodoxy if overused and never refreshed.” When we stay in our worship environment, we get used to it and it becomes commonplace. We don’t notice the special-ness of what may (or may not) be happening…and we are not renewed!

Mr. Neale has a rather long “laundry list” of questions to ask ourselves regarding our worship practices. While there’s too many to list them all, I wanted to dive into a few and see what came out. So…here’s your chance to jump into the discussion!

• Are people fully engaged in what is happening in our corporate settings?
• Are there historical practices of worship that could be revisited?
• When was the last time we visited a church that is very different from ours? (yeah, I know…this is considered taboo in some Lutheran circles.)
• Are the songs we’re singing actually being sung in the congregation?
• Are we seeing lives changed as the come to faith in Christ?

Please don’t feel you have to respond to all the questions. But I would encourage you to share whatever jumps out at you as you ask them.

Worship Debrief – Revealing Jesus (Aug. 22-23)

Again, we heard from Jason as he followed up last week’s message from the Work Camp themes. Last week we saw “Jesus Revealed,” and this week we looked at “Revealing Jesus.” It was basically a look at Peter and the journey that he took from realizing who Jesus was to boldly proclaiming Jesus as Savior.

In another look at last week’s theme, we saw that Peter, James, and John were part of Jesus’ inner circle – they knew Him. Therefore they were the three that Jesus chose to reveal His true self too when he was transfigured on the mountain. While Peter wanted to stay on the mountain, Jesus was preparing him to go and tell others.

Scripture gives us a great example of how Peter was transformed by Jesus. Following Jesus’ ascension in the book of Acts, we start to see Peter preaching rather than just sitting on the mountain. He is bold rather than fearful, and we can learn our lesson from him. We all, at some point, started a relationship with God and climbed (or are climbing) to a mountain-top in our journey where everything about God is alive to us. We are learning, living, and listening to God. But then things start to go downhill and we are faced with a choice: abandon our walk with God, pretend everything is OK, or plunge down into the dip and see what happens. It’s in that dip that we are best able to reveal Jesus, because others will see our faith when it doesn’t make sense and begin to wonder where it comes from.

Saturday, 8/22 – 7:00pm:

•          Thanks to Tom for filling in for Matt!!
•          This is what happens at this service sometimes: 6:59 – sanctuary is empty (or nearly so.). 7:00 (start time) – one or two people filter in. 7:03 – the congregation jumps from 2 to 20. I don’t think this will ever cease to amaze me!
•          Great time of worship tonight with a bunch of familiar faces.
•          Thanks also to Joe for filling in on sound.
•          As you may have heard, the church flooded again last week on Thursday with the thunderstorms that rolled through. Quirks of the night: the fan drying the carpet at the base of the balcony stairs made a sound that sounded like feedback; and the emergency light by the elevator was sounding like a noisy fan. Things that make you go “Hmmm…”

Sunday, 8/23 – 11:15am:

•          Welcome to Jada Barnes, who was singing with us for the first time this weekend. We are going to have quite a crew when Annie and Jennie Morris get back!
•          Sue’s children’s message was great, as always, but I was amazed at how insightful the kids were when she asked them what kinds of things get them down. There were some great answers!
•          I don’t know how visible it was to everyone, but Jason’s use of the whiteboard during the message was a nice change. Even though we had the diagram on the sermon notes, his use of the board was effective.
•          Funny story: I had to make sure that I got Jason’s mic back from him after the service. Apparently, the headsets that we use are very comfortable – Jason wore his out of the building after services both last Sunday and this past Saturday!

Worship Debrief – Jesus Revealed (Aug. 15-16)

As with last year following Work Camp, Jason is bringing us a couple of messages based on the theme of this year’s camp. This week was, essentially, part 1 – Title: Jesus Revealed – and looked at the preparation for and reaction to Jesus’ life. We saw that:

God prepared the world for Jesus! Alexander the great brought a common language to the world (Greek) and the Roman Empire built roads for easier travel, both of which were instrumental in the spreading of Jesus’ message. In addition, it was the census called by Caesar Augustus that brought Joseph and Mary from Nazareth to Bethlehem for Jesus’ birth as prophesied.

God prepared His people for Jesus! He promised a Messiah and reminded His people of His saving work. God also provided the method of Jesus’ birth as confirmation that He would be the Messiah and foretold what Jesus would do.

God’s people missed Jesus! When Jesus revealed Himself in the temple, at first the people were amazed. But then that amazement turned to disbelief and the people demanded proof. When Jesus didn’t give it to them, the lack of proof led to anger.

We need to fix our eyes on Jesus! Fixing our eyes on Him means praying for eyes that perceive and ears that understand. We test what we hear against the scriptures and submit to God’s teaching.

Saturday, 8/15 – 7:00pm:

•          What fun this week! We had almost as many people as the 5:30 service (which was very light this weekend) and we also had several youth in worship with us.
•          Jason had the podium pushed too far forward in the aisle, so when Michelle came up to read, the mic wouldn’t quite reach.
•          Jason did great with the message as usual.
•          Did I mention that we had almost as many people as the 5:30 service?
•          Great time after the service praying with the youth for Jennie Morris and a surgical procedure she is having this week. These are now being dubbed “Prayer Parties!”

Sunday, 8/16 – 11:15am:

•          We keep trying some new things with this band! Jake and I were switching guitars throughout the service. Not sure I want to do it again (a bit of a logistical distraction) but it was an interesting experiment!
•          A big “Thank You” to Cathi Doebler from the other band for filling in this morning while Sue Garvey was away!!!
•          Had a slight glitch with the wireless mic on the altar…forgot to make sure it was on and the battery was good before service. Fortunately, the battery in my monitor pack also died and I was already heading that way to get a new one. Getting Brian amplified again was no problem. God is good!
•          I think the sanctuary cleared out faster during the closing song this morning than it did on Saturday night. That has to be a first!

Worship Debrief – Just Keep Running (Aug. 8-9)

We continued to look at Moses this weekend and focused on his persistence in the face of a situation that just kept getting worse. What was the situation? It was his God-ordained mission to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. From his encounter with God in the burning bush on the mountain, Moses went back to the Israelites in Egypt. They believed him at first, but when Pharaoh became more than uncooperative, their faith in Moses and God waned significantly. Still Moses persisted, and we can learn from his example.

When things get rough, it’s easy to want to quit. Like all runners, we hit “the wall” – that point in the race where we don’t think we can go any further. But God can get us past the wall if we let him. From Moses, we learn two things that help us to “Just Keep Running”:

1. We must persist in prayer! No matter what, we need to keep talking to God about the situation.
2. Remember, we don’t run alone! We have other believers around us who will encourage us and spur us on to keep going.

Saturday, 8/8 – 7:00pm:

•          Joseph, a young boy in a wheelchair who is a regular at this service past away suddenly last weekend. He will be missed and it was privilege to support his family this past week.
•          Even greater, his mother and grandmother (who would bring him) brought their extended family to the service. While I joked to the band about them doubling our attendance, it was great that they could join us and worship in their time of mourning.
•          There doesn’t seem to be much for me to write about this service. I really enjoy this time of worship and it usually goes well (we have a great team!) Let me know what you like about our worship on Saturday nights.

Sunday, 8/9 – 11:15am:

•          Thanks to Tom for filling in while Jubal was away this weekend!
•          Welcome to Candace Barnes on vocals! Her first week singing with the group and we are looking forward to her continued contribution.
•          Sue Steege was a way this weekend, so I got to fill in as Worship Assistant (last minute) and the band’s Sandra Rice took over the children’s message. It was a lot of fun and she had a great way to show the kids how to stick in there, even when they didn’t have all the information they needed.
•          If you thought it was getting warm at the end of the service, you were right. The clock on the thermostat that controls the A/C in the sanctuary is off by about 50 minutes. That mean the program turned the A/C off about ½-way through worship. We’ll get that corrected!