So, it’s been two days short of 6 months since I last released my unique (well, sometimes) thoughts on things that I care about. Here’s a quick rundown of what’s happened in my life since then:
- My youth group hit a high attendance of 24 before settling into an average in the high teens
- We had 4 teens come to Jesus this spring.
- I gained more weight, but I’m losing it now (thank you treadmill!)
- My pastor resigned. After a long and dramatic dance, I now work with Reg Thomas (some guy from Nova Scotia).
- I found out the tires I bought in December were lemons and had to replace them…imagine how happy I was!
So, my life doesn’t seem overly eventfull, but it’s been a fun ride. I plan on keeping this up-to-date, so don’t stray too far for too long.
Worship
I’ve been thinking about worship a lot lately (who would’ve thought?). I’m reading a book with the vague title Guiding Your Church through a Worship Transition (what could this book possibly be about) and it’s caused me to look closely at myself, my personal worship and the nature of worship.
Almost everybody involved in church leadership has encountered what has lovingly been called “worship wars”, “traditional” vs “contemporary”, new vs old. I wonder, though, if we’re missing the issue. The book looks at the idea that many of these issues are simply surface-level in nature. Instead the issue is truly deeper; it goes to nature of a person’s relationship with Jesus.
The author (Tom Kraeauter) talks about the importance of a relationship with God and says this: “When people do not grasp the heart relationship- when it is totally a head knowledge understanding of God with no real relationship-for them, changing the style of worship is a threat”. (pg 20)
Another thought in this regard is this: many believers do not make personal worship a part of their daily lives. They come to church Sunday morning and say, “Alright, now I will worship”. And for many people, this is their only time of “worship”. No wonder why the issue of Sunday morning music is so prevalent. The problem with that, though, is worship was never meant to be that way. Worship is meant to be a daily, hourly, minute-by-minute part of our lives. It is to be internal, sparked by our love for Jesus.
“When the heart is set upon God, true worship will not depend upon outward stimulus, it will be in constant progress”. (pg. 19)
We oftentimes come to church, looking for an external stimulus for our worship. We want the music to spark our worship, the preaching, the prayer, the specials, but what we fail to grasp is that our worship needs to be dependant on our real, dynamic relationship with Jesus.
An interesting thought, as well, is that this not just for one side of the argument or another. My generation oftentimes accuses older generations of being the villains in their search for “real” worship. But I have encountered almost as many young people that rely on their “contemporary” music to spark their worship and “tune out” anything traditional or “hymn-like”.
The final word: we need to make worship a personal, vital part of our lives. Without it, we will never be able to enter into true worship on Sunday mornings…
