September 9, 2008
How NOT to annoy your support person
Head on over to BlueBearr to read the post How not to annoy your support person.
September 8, 2008
September 5, 2008
Doing church
Church obviously means different things to different people. To some, it is where you worship God. To others, it might be where you get refreshed, where you find fellowship, where you find sanctuary, or where you get equipped to meet the world and properly follow God.
Church is all of these things. But I think that the base characteristic of church is that it is where the people of God stick together. This idea may seem a little laughable or guaranteed to bring frustration in our mobile, independently-minded society. A lot of people seem to treat church like supermarkets: they say "If I don't like the prices here, I'll just go to the supermarket down the street."
But I really see no escape from the idea that doing church means being unified, despite our culture. Jesus, in his so-called High Priestly Prayer in John chapter 17, prayed that we believers may be one. This was His heart as He faced crucifixion. In First Corinthians chapter 12 Paul explains at length that we are one body, whether we recognize it or not. In Ephesians 5 he says that we are Christ's body, whom He gave Himself up for. Notice, Paul doesn't say that He loved individuals and gave Himself up for individuals, but that Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for the church. Not to say that Christ cares nothing for individuals, but that this was His heart, to sacrifice Himself for the church.
In so many other letters in the New Testament, attention is given to how to live together, how to be at peace with one another, how to hold the body together. Now, in the previous Scriptures I mentioned the writers are talking about the Church of all believers (the Church Universal), but in the specific instructions in the epistles it is clear that it is the local fellowship that is the subject. The heart of Jesus and the Apostles is that believers should stick together.
However, even though it seems to me to be obvious that unity is what Jesus wants, it isn't easy. Unity requires love, it requires commitment, it requires forgiveness in great measure. In other words, unity is directly opposed to the consequences of sin, which scatters and isolates us. And we know that we are still dealing with our fallen natures, which sometimes lash out to hurt and other times hear hurtful things where they are not intended.
I have seen many, many people break fellowship over things big and small. Now, I know that the Spirit does move people on, and I believe that He can direct people to leave their present fellowship and join with another. But to leave in pain and anger, to sever the body, to leave relationships in tatters and to no longer acknowledge that your brothers and sisters in Christ are in fact your family - well, that just hurts the Spirit.
I have had the opportunity these past two weeks to be peripherally involved in a circumstance where some believers have struggled to maintain fellowship. At a glance it looked like it might have been merely a misunderstanding, but there was the potential for it to end in hurt, anger and discouragement. Through love, humility, and some brave choices it appears at this point that some confusion has been cleared up, some affirmation has occurred, some forgiveness has been extended, and the bond of fellowship has been restored.
Though I was not directly involved in this circumstance at all, I feel like I worked hard on healing this rift. Usually I endeavor to respect people's privacy, but I feel like this time I pushed beyond my comfort zone in order to lobby for unity. I also prayed about this circumstance a lot. I write this not to pat myself on the back, but to say that I am becoming convinced that the cause of unity is more important than a lot of things that we consider our right. The word to me was that we should not just going to roll over this time. It is worth it to get a bit into people's faces and push for unity. It is worth it to risk someone's anger at us in order to mend fellowship.
This is what "doing church" means to me - working to maintain and deepen unity amongst believers. It is a wonderful work and it brings me a lot of joy to see that our tendency to separate and scatter can be overcome.
2.5 - 31 - 4.8
Church is all of these things. But I think that the base characteristic of church is that it is where the people of God stick together. This idea may seem a little laughable or guaranteed to bring frustration in our mobile, independently-minded society. A lot of people seem to treat church like supermarkets: they say "If I don't like the prices here, I'll just go to the supermarket down the street."
But I really see no escape from the idea that doing church means being unified, despite our culture. Jesus, in his so-called High Priestly Prayer in John chapter 17, prayed that we believers may be one. This was His heart as He faced crucifixion. In First Corinthians chapter 12 Paul explains at length that we are one body, whether we recognize it or not. In Ephesians 5 he says that we are Christ's body, whom He gave Himself up for. Notice, Paul doesn't say that He loved individuals and gave Himself up for individuals, but that Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for the church. Not to say that Christ cares nothing for individuals, but that this was His heart, to sacrifice Himself for the church.
In so many other letters in the New Testament, attention is given to how to live together, how to be at peace with one another, how to hold the body together. Now, in the previous Scriptures I mentioned the writers are talking about the Church of all believers (the Church Universal), but in the specific instructions in the epistles it is clear that it is the local fellowship that is the subject. The heart of Jesus and the Apostles is that believers should stick together.
However, even though it seems to me to be obvious that unity is what Jesus wants, it isn't easy. Unity requires love, it requires commitment, it requires forgiveness in great measure. In other words, unity is directly opposed to the consequences of sin, which scatters and isolates us. And we know that we are still dealing with our fallen natures, which sometimes lash out to hurt and other times hear hurtful things where they are not intended.
I have seen many, many people break fellowship over things big and small. Now, I know that the Spirit does move people on, and I believe that He can direct people to leave their present fellowship and join with another. But to leave in pain and anger, to sever the body, to leave relationships in tatters and to no longer acknowledge that your brothers and sisters in Christ are in fact your family - well, that just hurts the Spirit.
I have had the opportunity these past two weeks to be peripherally involved in a circumstance where some believers have struggled to maintain fellowship. At a glance it looked like it might have been merely a misunderstanding, but there was the potential for it to end in hurt, anger and discouragement. Through love, humility, and some brave choices it appears at this point that some confusion has been cleared up, some affirmation has occurred, some forgiveness has been extended, and the bond of fellowship has been restored.
Though I was not directly involved in this circumstance at all, I feel like I worked hard on healing this rift. Usually I endeavor to respect people's privacy, but I feel like this time I pushed beyond my comfort zone in order to lobby for unity. I also prayed about this circumstance a lot. I write this not to pat myself on the back, but to say that I am becoming convinced that the cause of unity is more important than a lot of things that we consider our right. The word to me was that we should not just going to roll over this time. It is worth it to get a bit into people's faces and push for unity. It is worth it to risk someone's anger at us in order to mend fellowship.
This is what "doing church" means to me - working to maintain and deepen unity amongst believers. It is a wonderful work and it brings me a lot of joy to see that our tendency to separate and scatter can be overcome.
2.5 - 31 - 4.8
September 3, 2008
The Final Song
In my mind there is the idea of a Final Song. I've had this a-Scriptural idea for a long time, mostly without even recognizing that this is how I felt. I even wrote a short story about it in college. It is the idea that at the end of time all of God's People will gather and will together sing together a song of worship to the Lamb on the throne of God. There could be dancing. The song will last forever, or least for a very long time. The Lord will be honored and lifted up and exalted and we will feel the bliss that we have all experienced in awesome worship. Forever!*
Through the years I have identified various songs that could be sung in this way. On the end of a Petra album they sang a chorus to Jesus that had wailing guitars in the background that they repeated and repeated and then just faded away. I can't remember what song it is, but at the time it sounded like a good candidate. Holy Holy Holy (maybe this song?) was also one of those. A lot of the old Jewish choruses that we would sing were also like that. God of all Glory by Jeremy Riddle is a modern one that works, too. Our God is an Awesome God by Rich Mullins sounded like it would work, though I'm not sure about the verses. Maybe we just put it on Brother Rich to keep coming up with snappy history lessons about God and we can antiphone "Our God is an Awesome God" until we get back to the chorus.
OK, I know antiphone isn't a word, but doesn't it sound like it ought to be the verb form of antiphony?
Anyway, this concept came to mind again because Revelation Song, mentioned in my earlier post, is a definite candidate for the Final Song. So get used to it, you'll be singing it forever.*
What do you think of the Final Song idea? Do you have any candidates for songs?
* or at least for a very long time.
Through the years I have identified various songs that could be sung in this way. On the end of a Petra album they sang a chorus to Jesus that had wailing guitars in the background that they repeated and repeated and then just faded away. I can't remember what song it is, but at the time it sounded like a good candidate. Holy Holy Holy (maybe this song?) was also one of those. A lot of the old Jewish choruses that we would sing were also like that. God of all Glory by Jeremy Riddle is a modern one that works, too. Our God is an Awesome God by Rich Mullins sounded like it would work, though I'm not sure about the verses. Maybe we just put it on Brother Rich to keep coming up with snappy history lessons about God and we can antiphone "Our God is an Awesome God" until we get back to the chorus.
OK, I know antiphone isn't a word, but doesn't it sound like it ought to be the verb form of antiphony?
Anyway, this concept came to mind again because Revelation Song, mentioned in my earlier post, is a definite candidate for the Final Song. So get used to it, you'll be singing it forever.*
What do you think of the Final Song idea? Do you have any candidates for songs?
* or at least for a very long time.
It's dark
I set my alarm for 5:30 this morning, because I had to take the girl to the farm this morning. If you don't know, we are leasing a horse for my daughter to ride. Part of our payment is to have my daughter do feeding of all the horses three mornings a week; she also gets riding lessons after she is done feeding. I had to get her there by 8 am, so I got up at 5:45 and was outside warming up by 6am.
I tried something new today: I tried to jog the whole time and to not walk at all. I got through the first mile, but I ended up walking three times during the 2 ½ miles. I was surprised to see that I was a little behind pace on the first mile - 11 ½ minutes, versus the 10 ½ to 10 minutes that I have been hitting.
At 6am, it's pretty dark outside. It lightened up fairly quickly, and it was clearly day when I came in at 6:45. Even so, I felt bad for all the kids who were outside waiting for their school buses at 6:20 am.
I remember waiting for the school bus as a kid. I remember especially the year that the U.S. observed daylight savings time all year long, in order to conserve energy. I remember being at the bus stop when it was still clearly night, and the school buses using their headlights not as daytime running lights but because it was so dark. Now, that seems like a recipe for disaster - kids walking on the street and in front of a bus in the dark, dozens of kids riding a bus when it is night and the only responsible adult can't see anything that is going on.
After I dropped off the girl, on the farm just outside of Chesapeake City, I stopped on the road and rolled down the windows. I heard birds, and many, many crickets. It was so peaceful. I wanted to just sit there and listen and feel the peace all day. But I had to get to work.
2.5 mi - 33 min - 4.5 mph
I tried something new today: I tried to jog the whole time and to not walk at all. I got through the first mile, but I ended up walking three times during the 2 ½ miles. I was surprised to see that I was a little behind pace on the first mile - 11 ½ minutes, versus the 10 ½ to 10 minutes that I have been hitting.
At 6am, it's pretty dark outside. It lightened up fairly quickly, and it was clearly day when I came in at 6:45. Even so, I felt bad for all the kids who were outside waiting for their school buses at 6:20 am.
I remember waiting for the school bus as a kid. I remember especially the year that the U.S. observed daylight savings time all year long, in order to conserve energy. I remember being at the bus stop when it was still clearly night, and the school buses using their headlights not as daytime running lights but because it was so dark. Now, that seems like a recipe for disaster - kids walking on the street and in front of a bus in the dark, dozens of kids riding a bus when it is night and the only responsible adult can't see anything that is going on.
After I dropped off the girl, on the farm just outside of Chesapeake City, I stopped on the road and rolled down the windows. I heard birds, and many, many crickets. It was so peaceful. I wanted to just sit there and listen and feel the peace all day. But I had to get to work.
2.5 mi - 33 min - 4.5 mph
September 1, 2008
Visiting the cousins
I often have this idea that I would like to "visit the cousins," meaning visit other churches. For a long time I felt that there was no church but The One True Church of NCF TM, so why would I visit another? Over the years, though, I have come to realize that there are different bodies and different expressions for different people, and there is a lot to learn and enjoy from these other expressions. Then, there was the period of time a few years ago when I was on worship team every Sunday, and had such difficulty struggling to my own church that the last thing I wanted to do was spend the effort to go to another one. I sometimes visit churches while on vacation out of town, but I have often been disappointed with the experience. I don't have a problem with traditional, hymn-based worship, but I do have a problem with it being perfunctory and merely something to break up the time between the weekly confession and the sermon. So, I haven't really visited many churches recently.
Well, last week I drove past Pike Creek Bible Church, and saw that they had an 8:30 service. Perfect - I can visit this place early, then go to the Barn, I thought. So that is what I and my bride did yesterday.
First, this place is beautiful. They meet in a pretty building nestled back against a woods of mature trees. I think that the woods belongs to the state park, because I saw a group of bicyclists in the parking lot that looked like they were ready to start a ride on the trail.
In the parking lot we were greeted by a kindly older gentleman who wondered to us if he had ever met us before. He hadn't, so we introduced ourselves. He cheerily escorted us to his wife inside, who seemed to be the "official" greeter. Later, midway through worship they had a time of greeting, and several people made the effort to shake our hands and say hi to us. We felt very welcome.
The worship center (I think that is what they called the room) was a large room, wider than deep, which allowed the seating to be arranged so that everyone was fairly close to the stage. It was lit by electric chandeliers. Carpeted floor and nice cushy chairs. At the front of the room was a large window that looked out on the trees, which I much appreciated. They had an overhead projector and screen for the words of the songs, and for the speaker's PowerPoint presentation. They had roped off one section of chairs, and the rest of the chairs were fairly full. I think that there were at least 200 people in the room.
They started with worship. Most of the songs were familiar - one of them was How Great is Our God by Chris Tomlin. Worship was somewhat subdued - no lifting hands or spontaneous shouts here - but, for the worship team at least, heartfelt. I felt that I needed to be careful to not lift my hands during worship or get too demonstrative. I don't feel that it is right to challenge or distract other people in worship when I am not committed to the fellowship, but constraining myself this way wasn't too hard. My only real frustration concerning the worship is that they paused worship about every two songs with activities such as greeting each other, announcements, etc. I like worship to be in a block; I think it allows the worship to have continuity and sweep. They ended the worship time with a familiar hymn, which I got to belt out despite it being pitched too low for me.
The worship team was made up of a male leader who played acoustic guitar and sang, a keyboardist, a bass player, I think two electric guitars, two female backup singers, and a poor drummer completely enclosed in a transparent cage. I keyed in on one of the female singers - she looked like she was truly enjoying herself, and even lifted her hand at one point. The male lead was also all smiles and joyful, but he was out of my line of sight for most of the service due to the rather tall man who stood in front of me. The worship leader had an interesting doohickey on - it looked like he had a tube microphone over one ear, and an earpiece in the opposite ear. I didn't see any other type of monitor, and I didn't notice if the other singers had any. I thought that the sound was very good and well mixed. The worship leader shared about some very tough times that he has gone through this summer that showed that he has definitely been living his faith and not just singing about it. He seemed like a really nice guy, and I would have been glad to get together and spend some time with him.
I thought about Jess getting nice comments on her voice when she last went to church, and when we initially found seats (three-quarters of the way back in the middle) there was an empty row in front of us. Good, I thought, I don't have to think about singing for the person in front of me, which is a constant struggle of mine. Then midway through the service Mr. Tall - I actually know his real name, it was printed on his Bible - and his family took the seats in front of us. He didn't end up telling me that I sing like an angel, though. :-(
The church is apparently having a missions summer, so the teaching was by the leader of the Sunday Breakfast Mission in Wilmington. This men's shelter seems like it is doing a lot of good things. They shelter only men, but they serve meals to anyone and they have a thrift store and career counseling. They will soon be breaking ground on a center where homeless families can stay together. Currently, a homeless family that seeks shelter is broken up - the men stay in one shelter, the women and children in another, and any boys over 16 stay at a third place. The speaker also talked about addiction, and its similarity to sin in general. It was a good talk, if hard to hear in some places. Not, because, you know, the sound went off or anything, but because it dealt with hard things. Like the tragic story of the guy who ruined his life over crack cocaine - he was introduced to it at a party in Wilmington and subsequently went through all his money and possessions in pursuit of it. About a month later he ended up at the shelter with no money and no job.
After the service they have coffee and adult Sunday School. Unfortunately, we had to skip out to get to the Barn. According to their announcements and their web site, they also have many programs for discipleship and Bible Study during the week. In all, it looked like a very active fellowship.
During the service I looked at the worship leader and had the strange thought, "Wouldn't it be great if we were all the time the way we appear to be on Sunday - faithful, joyful, godly?" Then I thought that our hope is that one day we will be.
I will be going back to Pike Creek Bible Church - um, because I left my Bible there. And not just any Bible - my good study Bible. Bummer.
Well, last week I drove past Pike Creek Bible Church, and saw that they had an 8:30 service. Perfect - I can visit this place early, then go to the Barn, I thought. So that is what I and my bride did yesterday.
First, this place is beautiful. They meet in a pretty building nestled back against a woods of mature trees. I think that the woods belongs to the state park, because I saw a group of bicyclists in the parking lot that looked like they were ready to start a ride on the trail.
In the parking lot we were greeted by a kindly older gentleman who wondered to us if he had ever met us before. He hadn't, so we introduced ourselves. He cheerily escorted us to his wife inside, who seemed to be the "official" greeter. Later, midway through worship they had a time of greeting, and several people made the effort to shake our hands and say hi to us. We felt very welcome.
The worship center (I think that is what they called the room) was a large room, wider than deep, which allowed the seating to be arranged so that everyone was fairly close to the stage. It was lit by electric chandeliers. Carpeted floor and nice cushy chairs. At the front of the room was a large window that looked out on the trees, which I much appreciated. They had an overhead projector and screen for the words of the songs, and for the speaker's PowerPoint presentation. They had roped off one section of chairs, and the rest of the chairs were fairly full. I think that there were at least 200 people in the room.
They started with worship. Most of the songs were familiar - one of them was How Great is Our God by Chris Tomlin. Worship was somewhat subdued - no lifting hands or spontaneous shouts here - but, for the worship team at least, heartfelt. I felt that I needed to be careful to not lift my hands during worship or get too demonstrative. I don't feel that it is right to challenge or distract other people in worship when I am not committed to the fellowship, but constraining myself this way wasn't too hard. My only real frustration concerning the worship is that they paused worship about every two songs with activities such as greeting each other, announcements, etc. I like worship to be in a block; I think it allows the worship to have continuity and sweep. They ended the worship time with a familiar hymn, which I got to belt out despite it being pitched too low for me.
The worship team was made up of a male leader who played acoustic guitar and sang, a keyboardist, a bass player, I think two electric guitars, two female backup singers, and a poor drummer completely enclosed in a transparent cage. I keyed in on one of the female singers - she looked like she was truly enjoying herself, and even lifted her hand at one point. The male lead was also all smiles and joyful, but he was out of my line of sight for most of the service due to the rather tall man who stood in front of me. The worship leader had an interesting doohickey on - it looked like he had a tube microphone over one ear, and an earpiece in the opposite ear. I didn't see any other type of monitor, and I didn't notice if the other singers had any. I thought that the sound was very good and well mixed. The worship leader shared about some very tough times that he has gone through this summer that showed that he has definitely been living his faith and not just singing about it. He seemed like a really nice guy, and I would have been glad to get together and spend some time with him.
I thought about Jess getting nice comments on her voice when she last went to church, and when we initially found seats (three-quarters of the way back in the middle) there was an empty row in front of us. Good, I thought, I don't have to think about singing for the person in front of me, which is a constant struggle of mine. Then midway through the service Mr. Tall - I actually know his real name, it was printed on his Bible - and his family took the seats in front of us. He didn't end up telling me that I sing like an angel, though. :-(
The church is apparently having a missions summer, so the teaching was by the leader of the Sunday Breakfast Mission in Wilmington. This men's shelter seems like it is doing a lot of good things. They shelter only men, but they serve meals to anyone and they have a thrift store and career counseling. They will soon be breaking ground on a center where homeless families can stay together. Currently, a homeless family that seeks shelter is broken up - the men stay in one shelter, the women and children in another, and any boys over 16 stay at a third place. The speaker also talked about addiction, and its similarity to sin in general. It was a good talk, if hard to hear in some places. Not, because, you know, the sound went off or anything, but because it dealt with hard things. Like the tragic story of the guy who ruined his life over crack cocaine - he was introduced to it at a party in Wilmington and subsequently went through all his money and possessions in pursuit of it. About a month later he ended up at the shelter with no money and no job.
After the service they have coffee and adult Sunday School. Unfortunately, we had to skip out to get to the Barn. According to their announcements and their web site, they also have many programs for discipleship and Bible Study during the week. In all, it looked like a very active fellowship.
During the service I looked at the worship leader and had the strange thought, "Wouldn't it be great if we were all the time the way we appear to be on Sunday - faithful, joyful, godly?" Then I thought that our hope is that one day we will be.
I will be going back to Pike Creek Bible Church - um, because I left my Bible there. And not just any Bible - my good study Bible. Bummer.
Monday morning
2.5 mi - 35 min - 4.3 mph
Saturday I jogged in the morning, then in the afternoon I worked on replacing the baseboards in the living room. When working on the baseboards I spend most of my time crawling around on the floor, for hours. I tend not to crawl around so much these days, so yesterday I was so sore that I resorted to taking ibuprofen (which I don't like to do).
This morning I was still sore, but I thought, what the heck, maybe jogging will loosen me up. However, after 1 3/4 miles, I could feel that something wasn't right. I just felt really bad when I was jogging. Since I have it as one of my present goals to not get injured, I ended up walking the rest of the way, hence the 35 minute time.
Saturday I jogged in the morning, then in the afternoon I worked on replacing the baseboards in the living room. When working on the baseboards I spend most of my time crawling around on the floor, for hours. I tend not to crawl around so much these days, so yesterday I was so sore that I resorted to taking ibuprofen (which I don't like to do).
This morning I was still sore, but I thought, what the heck, maybe jogging will loosen me up. However, after 1 3/4 miles, I could feel that something wasn't right. I just felt really bad when I was jogging. Since I have it as one of my present goals to not get injured, I ended up walking the rest of the way, hence the 35 minute time.
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