Worship

You ever go on to youtube looking for one specific video/song and 20 minutes and 8 'suggested videos' later you find yourself watching 'Charlie bit me: The Remix' again?  Don't deny it.  You know what I am talking about.

So, the other day I went on youtube and I somehow found myself watching a video that mocks many modern evangelical services.  While I don't think the video intends to be malicious towards anyone, I believe the video exposes a truth that causes unrest in within me.  I believe that many of us evangelicals have, somewhere along the line, lost what it means to worship.  And the simple truth I am beginning to realize is this: we can only love God and love others to the extent and to the depth in which we worship God... We can only embody the way of Christ to the extent and the depth in which we offer ourselves to God in worship.   I'll say that again in the negative: We cannot expect to see the rich fruit of Christ in our life if our devotion and worship of God is shallow.  How can I love God and my enemy with sincere conviction if I don't believe from the very depths of my being that our Lord bore the cross from his conception to his final breath?  How can I ever expect to know what it means to sacrifice and pour myself out for the sake of others if I don't worship and commune with my Lord who washed the feet of those who would deny and betray him?  How can I expect to see the power of the Holy Spirit lived out in me when I roll out of bed with little or no intention of spending time with the very one who granted me the gift of 'today?'

And I as a pastor am guilty of sometimes contributing to this problem. We focus on creating a worship service that is 'seamless' and 'professional.'  We want your worship experience to be better than what the other churches have to offer.  We leave discouraged if we butchered a song, made an awkward transition, fumbled on a sermon illustration, and so forth.  We are upset if 'worship didn't go well' because we believe that worship has more to do with us.

But this is what I am realizing more and more...

Shame on us if our worship of God is dependent upon man.  Shame on us if my worship of God is contingent upon the song choices, how well a worship leader has learned to play an instrument, if I don't like a pastor's squeaky voice, and so forth.  Instead, may my worship and devotion to God, on Sunday and everyday, be real in my life because God is worthy of my worship and devotion.  May my worship be authentic and true because worship should not be circumstantial.   Forgive us for how we have allowed our worship of God to become so much about us and not enough about you... Because when our worship becomes less and less about communing, knowing, and being shaped by our Lord and more and more about us, we are forgetting what worship really is.

And this is where I think we can learn from our Orthodox and Roman Catholic brothers and sisters.  (Are they perfect? No... This is not a 'we all need to be like them' rant)  But most of them gather for the intention of offering their worship to the Lord and to 'receive Christ' in the presence of the Eucharist.  While we may differ in our theology and understanding of the Lord' Supper, the theology of 'meeting with' and 'receiving' the presence of Christ in worship is beautiful.  I wish I had that same expectation and excitement in my own worship of God.

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Jesus' Anger

The other day I was looking at Jesus clearing the temple in the gospels.  In Matthew, Mark, and Luke we see Jesus clearing the temple towards the end of his earthly ministry while in John's gospel it is one of the first things that he does.  Some people believe John got the chronology wrong while others thing that Jesus could have cleared the temple more than once.

One thing I noticed while studying this passage and other times throughout scripture where we see Jesus get angry is that Jesus' anger always seemed to be motivated by his love for God, his love for others, and his hatred of sin.  Wow.  I wish I could say that about myself.

So, in this short little blog entry I am challenged to ask God and pray that the anger and passion I exert in my life would be about things that have true significance.  Also, that my anger would be motivated out of a greater love for God and for others.

faith alone?

So, I was looking up a couple comedy routines by this guy Brian Regan.  If you have never heard Brian’s stuff, he is incredibly funny, especially when you are able to watch him perform.  As I was wasting a few minutes on youtube, I saw in the ‘recommendations’ section a comedian who had a high number of views and decided to check him out. 

At one point during his routine, he began to share about why he was a Christian and this is what I heard him (and many other people over the years) say about his faith: ‘The thing I like about being a Christian is the only thing you have to do is have faith… That’s it!  All these other religions and belief systems have a bunch of rules and regulations.  Not Christianity.  All I do is believe, I’m saved, and that’s it.  An idiot can do that.”

And while that may sound nice, I find his words and beliefs to be thoroughly unbiblical.  If we take an honest look at the life and teachings of our Lord, how much time did Jesus spend teaching the disciples and other ‘sinners’ how they ought to live?  Never once did Jesus ever tell people that all they had to do is ‘believe.’ If how we spent our time here on earth mattered so little, than why did our Lord spent a vast majority of his time teaching people what the Kingdom of God was like?  Why did Jesus address complex life issues on his Sermon on the Mount?  Some may be quick to quote Paul, such as Romans 10:9 that says, "If you confess with your mouth that 'Jesus is Lord' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."  Whenever Paul or Jesus for that matter spoke of faith, it was always a faith that was accompanied by devoted action.  

Let us affirm and attest that Jesus Christ is Lord.  But God forbid we stop there.  Let us hear the words of our Lord and seek to walk in the footsteps of our rabbi in all that we say and do. 

trying to care about politics

I'm 30 years old now and I have tried to 'get into' and really care about politics, but i find it difficult.  Don't get me wrong, I believe that politics has its place and that a country's government has the opportunity to genuinely and legitimately help and provide for it's people.  However, I believe the danger comes when we place too much stock in terms of what we expect out of our government.  We demand that our government do this or not do that and get frustrated when they 'do' or 'don't.'  While talking to a gentleman I have known for quite sometime, I listened to him begin to passionately talk (and begin crying) about the government and the United States.  I had never seen him get this passionate in our 100+ conversations regarding his faith in Christ.  Why is that?  Why is it that some believers expect our government to do and be what Christ has called the Church to do and be?

grinding it out

I remember a seasoned pastor once telling me: 'When you're working and ministering with people, the natural desire will be to see huge changes and noticeable fruit on a daily basis... like hitting a home run everyday in baseball.  However, a healthy minister must be prepared for the grind.  If you look for the home run everyday, you are setting yourself up to be disappointed.  The best ball players are those who consistently hit singles and doubles.'

Forgive my over-usage of the baseball analogy but I see truth to his words.

The truth is that there are times, days, and seasons where being a minister is a struggle for me.  There are many jobs that can be summed up with a formula: I do this work for this many hours and I will get this result.

People cannot and should not be reduced to a formula.  There are students whom I have had hundreds of conversations with and poured many hours into whom have ultimately decided they want little to do with the faith.  Then, there are others whom I may have even spent less time with that continue to find their roots in Christ.

As I write these words, I am reminded that the calling of the minister is to faithfully seek after Christ in their own life while seeking to love, teach, and pour into those around him/her.  There will be those who choose to resist the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives while there will be those who listen and respond.

And during those times when you struggle to see the highlights of your efforts, take a step back, rest a little, pray, and continue to grind it out...  God sees you and God is using you, even if it may not seem like it.

Can you relate to this at all?  Have you ever felt this way?

a shout out to grandma

For the last 6.5 years of my life I have been pastoring in Independence and have met a whole bunch of people during that time.  Sometimes as I'm heading into QuikTrip or somewhere else around town, I will bump into someone whom I haven't seen in months or even years.  The other night I had one of those encounters.  As I was driving down 24 highway at 9pm on a Sunday night in Independence, I saw someone walking down the road who looked a lot like a student that I had met several years back at the church.  I quickly pulled over to the side of the road and saw that it was the guy who I thought it was.  I asked the young man where he was headed and if he needed a ride.  He told me he was heading home and that a ride would be nice.  During our 10 minute drive and interaction, I learned that Bret was living with his grandma because his mom was in jail and his dad kicked him out of the house a few years back.  He told me that his grandma was a cafeteria worker at a Jr. high school and she was helping him get back on his feet.

After dropping Bret off, I pulled back out of his driveway to make my way back home and I started thinking, 'what would this community do without grandmas and grandpas who were there to intervene in their children and grandchildren's lives?'  I know that may sound like a random and/or trivial thought, but in the last 6.5 years I have heard countless stories just like Bret's: parents who have given up on their children, parents who have disappeared, parents who have kicked their children out of the house, parents in jail, parents who are addicts, etc.  In fact, in the last month alone, I have heard 3-4 scenarios similar to this one.

While I was blessed to have parents who were present and invested in my life, I am realizing that my experience is slowly becoming a rarity and a minority in many communities.  If you have or have had parents who were present in your lives, please be thankful for them.

So as I write this, I want to give a shout out to grandparents who have:
-taken your own children back into the house as adults because of hardships they have fallen upon.
-taken in your grandchildren because their parents are either not present in their lives or because parents have given up on their children.
-sacrificed your own fiances, homes, vehicles, and resources to support your grandchildren when their parents have not done so.
-taken on the role of parents in their grandchildren's lives.
-chosen to keep working in order to financially support the children and grandchildren who have entered your home.
-Put up with loud music you would never listen to or watched tv shows you would never watch because you now have a 16 year old living in your house again.
-Stayed up late or set a key outside to make sure your grandchild gets in safely at night.
-And other examples like these...

I think the main reason I was compelled to write this is because I see something very Christlike in the behaviors I listed above.  I am one who believes that Christ never gives up on any of his children and has a heart especially for those who have been dealt a less than favorable hand.  Great job grandma and grandpa for welcoming, loving, and caring as Christ has called you to do.

observations from an 11th grader

I had the opportunity to sit down with one of my high school students just the other day (over some Pizza Hut!).  It was not hard to see that something was on his mind.  He had just gotten back from a seven day Caribbean cruise to Jamaica, Cozumel, and Cosa' Maya.  Without much prodding, he began to throw out some questions that had swimming around in his mind.  As we grow and progress as followers of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are called to look at the world around us- our communities, our patterns, the way we live, etc, and hold them up alongside the words, teachings, and life of Christ.  I was ministered to by my younger brother in Chris the other day.

On his trip to Jamaica


"Jay, when we got to Jamaica, I was immediately shocked at the standard of living compared to that of Americans... I learned that lots of people in Jamaica will share homes with one another.  It is very common for grandparents and their children to live under the same roof and for people in a neighborhood to share everything.  Many people who were on the cruise were saying how they felt bad for the people but I noticed something special about them: everyone seemed like they were family with everyone else.  It is not that way back in America.  We all have our own separate houses, our own separate lawn mowers, our own separate cars... It is like be build our homes to keep other people out of them... There seemed to be something that was special about the way they lived."


On his family


"I'm beginning to wonder if I really believe in love.  My mom and dad were married for 30 years and got divorced.  What if the emotions I have for my wife begin to fall away after 20+ years or so?... Or, what if her love for me begins to do this same thing?  How can a marriage survive if it is only based on the emotions we feel and don't feel?"

The unexamined life


"I get frustrated with other people my age.  They don't question or seem to care about anything.  Everyone my age seems to just go through life believing and excepting everything that they are taught.  Doesn't anyone care about the deeper issues and meaning of life?  Are we here just to make money?  To someday have a big house? Isn't there more?  If there is more, why does it seem like everyone is o.k. with not pursuing more?"

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Isn't it funny how God  can teach us through people and in ways we least expect it?  Thank you brother for sharing your heart and your desire to strive after Christ in your life.