Continuing in our series on core values that shape our worship arts ministry, let’s focus on staying intimate with God. If we loosely define being intimate as being relationally close to another, it becomes apparent that intimacy with God has less to do with what we know to be true about Him and more about really knowing Him…relating to Him, talking and listening to Him, loving Him.
Imagine, for a moment, the difference between sitting around your table on your birthday and having your closest friends and/or family members enthusiastically (sometimes humorously) singing happy birthday to you. You are aware that beyond their singing skills and the familiar words are numerous shared experiences which over time have yielded a closeness and intimacy with them that transcend this simple tradition.
Now imagine dining out at your favorite restaurant on your birthday and having total strangers surround you—your waiters and waitresses who have been conscripted by their boss to acknowledge your special day with some local version of Happy Birthday. First, if you’re like me, you are feeling awkward or, worse, dying inside of embarrassment, and secondly, you are aware that these well wishers had little choice in the matter…it’s part of their job.
Sometimes we as followers of Christ can fall into patterns of “doing our job” as the worship leaders at Hope…going through the motions, even saying and singing the right things, but feeling empty inside or at least a bit disingenuous. I have even heard teammates confess that they feel hypocritical when they sing worship songs because their personal lives or walk with Christ have hit a rough patch or even flat-lined.
It is at times like these that we can do a quick inventory, asking a simple question: “If God seems far away from me right now, guess who moved?” It is even in the dark and desperate times that God reminds us “Draw near to Me, and I will draw near to you.” (James 4:8) For His part, He never stops calling, never stops wooing, never stops pursuing us. Just move toward Him.
There is also an immediacy to God’s invitation to stay close to Him when He warns: Seek the Lord while He may be found, call on Him while He is near. (Issaiah 55:6) Yes, He promises to never leave us or forsake us, but there is something about delaying or postponing getting close to God for a more convenient season that becomes less likely the more time passes, and we grow comfortable with the distance.
My encouragement to each of you is to have at least one other person in your life who routinely asks you how you are doing in this area. Close, personal brothers and sisters in the faith can help us fan the flames of our passion for God before we find ourselves running on spiritual fumes. Fumes are more like the remnants or even memories of former days when we really walked hand in hand with our God. Let’s make a covenant in the worship ministry to lovingly encourage and challenge each other to keep the main thing the main thing. As a worship leader, it is the sweetest gift we can give to the Body…and to the Lover of our souls.
Next week: Build up the Body of Christ
-tad
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Come Away - 9.24.09
In reflecting on last weekend’s advance, I recall the words to one of my favorite communion anthems, Come Away, written by Ken Medema.
Come away for a little time apart,
for the changing of the heart; come away.
Come away to a taste so bittersweet,
where hope and heartache meet; come away.
Here is light to light the darkest maze;
here is song to fill the pathless days;
here is call among the crowded ways.
Bread of Life, wine of happiness and tears, faithfulness and fears;
this feast awaits you here; come away.
For those who were able to come away, it was a feast in so many ways, not the least of which was sharing the Lord’s meal at the conclusion. What did I take away? You are a very special group of people, dearly loved by God and learning step by step to dearly love each other. I was really moved by the genuine effort on each participant’s part to really make connection with others. Is there anything sweeter in the human experience than reaching out to others made in the image of God and being a conduit of His love? More precious to God than musical harmony is relational harmony. Keep after it!
My special thanks to Jenn for an incredible amount of invisible servant leadership, as well as her worship leadership on Friday night. Thanks also to helpers Ashlie, Scott, Benito, and to Debby, Louise, and other members of our drama team: Rebekah, Janet, Hector, Jim, Brian, and Kim for their contribution.
Over the next several months, this column will touch on one of the many core values we looked at during some of last weekend’s teachings. Next week we will look at Colossians 3:16—Know the Word. Make it a great week!
-tad
Come away for a little time apart,
for the changing of the heart; come away.
Come away to a taste so bittersweet,
where hope and heartache meet; come away.
Here is light to light the darkest maze;
here is song to fill the pathless days;
here is call among the crowded ways.
Bread of Life, wine of happiness and tears, faithfulness and fears;
this feast awaits you here; come away.
For those who were able to come away, it was a feast in so many ways, not the least of which was sharing the Lord’s meal at the conclusion. What did I take away? You are a very special group of people, dearly loved by God and learning step by step to dearly love each other. I was really moved by the genuine effort on each participant’s part to really make connection with others. Is there anything sweeter in the human experience than reaching out to others made in the image of God and being a conduit of His love? More precious to God than musical harmony is relational harmony. Keep after it!
My special thanks to Jenn for an incredible amount of invisible servant leadership, as well as her worship leadership on Friday night. Thanks also to helpers Ashlie, Scott, Benito, and to Debby, Louise, and other members of our drama team: Rebekah, Janet, Hector, Jim, Brian, and Kim for their contribution.
Over the next several months, this column will touch on one of the many core values we looked at during some of last weekend’s teachings. Next week we will look at Colossians 3:16—Know the Word. Make it a great week!
-tad
Community - 9.10.09
In a little over two weeks, we start our outreach Christmas project, and this year we will intentionally be inviting singers who can join us just to work on that event. Call it an introduction to music ministry or a “taste of Hope Choir.” This means we will be welcoming them into our community to experience how we work, how we live together, how we love one another.
Our rehearsals for Sunday worship will still begin at 7:00pm on Thursdays, but at 8:00pm we will shift to Christmas prep and be joined by these special guests. Hopefully we’ll attract some new singers, who can’t yet commit to an every Sunday morning ministry, but are willing to take a first step.
Some may come boldly, brimming with self-confidence and ready to tackle the impossible. Others might come with anxiety and fear that their contribution will not be noticed or needed. Think back for a moment to the last time you joined a group for the first time. What were your hopes at that first meeting? Any fears? What made that experience such that you wanted to return? Or what, perhaps, happened that kept you from going back?
My sense is that we have (at least) two universal desires when it comes to joining a new community: 1) to “fit in” and 2) to be needed, or valued. In a choir, that primarily can be related to the musical contribution we make, but as human beings, I think we wish to be valued for who we are, not just what we can do. Some in our very own Hope Choir even now are waiting to be noticed – not in a prideful way, but in a manner that says, “When I am not here, am I missed?”
Let’s practice the art of hospitality with each other tonight, and be all the more ready for any newcomers in the next few weeks. Don’t forget what it took you to brave joining a new group for the very first time. I believe how we handle the “little things” of creating a safe and welcoming place brings a smile to the face of God!
-tad
Our rehearsals for Sunday worship will still begin at 7:00pm on Thursdays, but at 8:00pm we will shift to Christmas prep and be joined by these special guests. Hopefully we’ll attract some new singers, who can’t yet commit to an every Sunday morning ministry, but are willing to take a first step.
Some may come boldly, brimming with self-confidence and ready to tackle the impossible. Others might come with anxiety and fear that their contribution will not be noticed or needed. Think back for a moment to the last time you joined a group for the first time. What were your hopes at that first meeting? Any fears? What made that experience such that you wanted to return? Or what, perhaps, happened that kept you from going back?
My sense is that we have (at least) two universal desires when it comes to joining a new community: 1) to “fit in” and 2) to be needed, or valued. In a choir, that primarily can be related to the musical contribution we make, but as human beings, I think we wish to be valued for who we are, not just what we can do. Some in our very own Hope Choir even now are waiting to be noticed – not in a prideful way, but in a manner that says, “When I am not here, am I missed?”
Let’s practice the art of hospitality with each other tonight, and be all the more ready for any newcomers in the next few weeks. Don’t forget what it took you to brave joining a new group for the very first time. I believe how we handle the “little things” of creating a safe and welcoming place brings a smile to the face of God!
-tad
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