Archive for the 'worship' Category

21
Feb

true worship involves sacrifice, inspires movement

By couch 1 Comment
Categories: Ezra and worship

I’ve begun a study through the book of Ezra, and it is timely for me in the season of transition that Jenny and I are in. I felt the Lord leading me to study it, and I find myself immediately in it! The people of Israel just finished 70 years of exile in Babylon, and they receive the prophetic call (through Jeremiah through Cyrus, the Persian King who defeated Babylon) to return to Jerusalem, reoccupy it, and rebuild the temple.

The Scriptures say that the call was to everyone (Ezra 1:2-3), but only a remnant actually made the long, arduous, and costly journey home. Considering the day they were in, it would seem probable that many Israelites grew accustomed to life in Babylon, trading rather the treasure and comfort of men for the treasure of God in His presence in Jerusalem. In order to truly worship, they had to "ascend the hill of the Lord", which was the uphill road towards Jerusalem, and Mount Zion.

In order to encourage those who were making the journey, Cyrus brought out many temple vessels that were taken when Nebuchadnezzar plundered Israel and presented the vessels to his gods. (That is, before his radical conversion and worldwide evangelism effort - Dan. 4-5) This greatly encouraged the people, to see the things associated with God’s presence and long for His nearness once again.

True worship is more than the songs we sing, we know that. True worship is a God-stirred hunger within us to be near to God and honor Him as we behold Him. True worship doesn’t want to be on the sidelines, but wants to get its’ own stones from the river. True worship is the posture of heart that keeps going, amidst the pressures, temptations, and trials, to press onwards toward the goal of knowing God, being found in Him, and worshipping Him as He is.

This is the highest form of worship, seen 24/7 around God’s throne - creatures completely covered with eyes (Rev. 4:7) looking at the beautiful, majestic God and crying out what they see. As they do, only one word continues to bombard their mind, and only one word seems to define Him - Holy. Again and again they see Holy and they declare Holy. They don’t do it because its’ rehearsed, or they have to. They do it over and over because each time it is fresh, infinite holiness beaming into those many eyes. I can’t even imagine worship this pure, just as I can’t imagine a God that beautiful to inspire infinitely fresh worship. But, this is the reward of those who ascend the hill of the Lord to be near Him.

And just as "God stirred the people" to rebuild His temple, He has stirred us by His Holy Spirit, to daily return to Him, reoccupy His promises and presence, and rebuild our bodies as His temple of praise. No matter what uphill battle, costly journey, or sacrifice we make, we must continue to say - "It’s going to be worth it!".

17
Oct

The Conspiracy of Truth

By couch 0 Comments
Categories: Articles and worship

“It is the glory of God to conceal a matter…” (Proverbs 25:2a)

I believe there’s a conspiracy out there to hide the true meaning of words. Its’ goal is to take words that God has concealed mystery within on purpose, and make them common place so that no one really understands them at all - but at least they appear to. And if they can appear to understand the words by incorporating them into everyday language, regardless of how appropriate or accurate their usage, spirituality and vibrance will be assumed.

The conspiracy is subtle, and no man in particular is behind it, but it is as ugly as death itself - in fact, its’ working leaves a trail of death in its wake. The big problem is, it leaves an aroma that make all of those who follow in its’ trail think that the death they are experiencing is really life.

Let me explain. Jenny and I were talking about the “glory of God”, and how we really know little of what that means. We are taught to “do all for the glory of God”, that God’s main ambition is “His glory”, and that He is worthy to receive “all glory”. So, that means every circumstance, even the most difficult ones, are “for His glory”. Great things happen - “Glory to God!” - someone tragically dies - “Well, we don’t know why, God is mysterious. But, we do know that somehow God gets His glory!”

Now, if we take these words in without in any way questioning them (a taboo thing nowadays, so as not to appear “unspiritual” or “troublesome”) then we begin to really believe alot of wrong meanings about some very important words. We begin to trade truth for appearances, and reputation for reality. And not only do we miss out on the life that is found in the true knowledge of God, but God gets a bad-rap because things like His infinite, amazing glory are made into human “vain-glory” - God trying to puff Himself up through making things the way He wants them, no matter if they are truly good or evil.

However, instead of merely accepting them, if we take the thought at face-value and with a spirit of hunger do a little bit of searching - wait a minute! We can’t really say that a tragic death was “for the glory of God” when the scripture says “Behold, I take no pleasure in the death of anyone.” (Ezek. 18:32) can we?

I don’t know about you, but I grew up with a “don’t ask” policy in church. I was told - “Just accept everything in faith and believe it! Gosh darn, if it doesn’t make sense, just believe it! Where is your faith? Don’t be rebellious by asking questions! Why can’t you just believe what the Word says? ”

Well, simply because I’m not too sure it does. If I really want the Word of God to be my final authority, than out with the traditions of man - ranging from minute details like the kind of fruit Eve ate in the garden and the number of wise men that came to Jesus, to the biggest questions like “What really is the Glory of God?” and “Who is Jesus?” or “What is the meaning of grace?”

But, doesn’t God view “question-asking” as annoying? Shouldn’t we get right on with just believing what He said - even if that’s not really what He said at all, but the out-of-context pseudo-version of what that man over there said? Or are those words given to us with mystery on purpose to set us on the adventure of eternity, created for us to find? I’m not saying we fit everything into what makes sense for us, but I’m not content merely believing a bunch of “correct” scriptures and fitting them in some of my language and actions. I want discovery, I want revelation. I want to Jesus and His ways for myself!

Consider Matthew 13. Jesus’ disciples ask Him why He always speaks in parables. And right there - you know what He says? He tells them parables so that they won’t understand. What?!! It must be for God’s glory.. I mean… what?!! Yes. He told the people parables so that they would not get what he was saying to them. At all. And unlike all the other rabbis, who also were known to tell parables from time to time - Jesus almost NEVER gave the punch line at the end. In fact, right before the punch line, the “lesson of the story”, He would just walk away!!

“Eat of my flesh and drink of my blood or you have no part of me.” Stuff like that, and then He would walk away. Why? Because He’s mean? Because He’s careless? NO! Because He wanted to see who REALLY wanted to know Him. He wanted to see who REALLY had a spirit that hungered after truth, who weren’t satisfied with the life-less answers the crowd had grown accustomed to. And those people would leave everything to follow Jesus and get the answers.

They would fight through the crowd that was leaving Jesus to go on towards Him and His few men walking away. And when they would get there - Jesus would tell them everything they wanted to know. Because they had followed Him - they left “good-enough” answers behind and craved through difficulty the real thing. And Jesus not only gave them the punch-lines, He gave them “mysteries hidden since the foundation of the World” and most importantly, He gave them Himself.

Love always desires longing. Love always desires following. Love always desires truth, not just surface level - but the real deal. Everyone loves a good suspense story, to find out what happens at the end. God placed this hunger deep within us, and instead of repenting of it and saying “Oh God! Forgive me for trying to search out these matters instead of just having faith.” - we should say “Oh God! I believe these things are true in faith and BECAUSE I do - I’m not going to be satisfied with the lifeless substitute definition, I want the real thing that breeds hope and excitement! I’m going to search it out for myself!”

“…and it’s the honor of Kings to search it out.” (Proverbs 25:2b)

Jesus said ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find. But do we? Let’s let the refreshing waters of awe, mystery, and seeking proceed from our faith instead of making faith the excuse that we don’t really know God’s ways.

15
Oct

Thoughts on Worship - Solitude.

By couch 0 Comments
Categories: worship

Many thoughts center on worship in a corporate setting, as it deserves attention, but Henri Nouwen writes on the issue of solitude as a primary place where we grow to understand God’s great love for us and are able to respond authentically in genuine devotional worship:

“In discussing solitude and the need for it, three words are important: aloneness, loneliness, and solitude. You and I and all people are alone. Aloneness is a natural fact. No one else in the world is like me: I am unique. No one else feels and experiences the world the way that I do: therefore I am alone.

Now, how do I deal with my aloneness? Many people deal with it through loneliness. That means you experience your aloneness as a wound, as something that hurts you, makes you miserable. It makes you cry out “Is there anyone who can help me?” Loneliness is one of the greatest sources of suffering today. It is the disease of our time.

But, as Christians, we are called to convert our loneliness into solitude. We are called to experience our aloneness not as a wound but as a gift - as God’s gift - so that in our aloneness we might discover how deeply we are loved by God.

It is precisely where we are most alone, most unique, most ourselves, that God is closest to us. That is where we experience God as the divine, loving Father, who knows us better than we know ourselves. Solitude is the way in which we grow into the realization that where we are most alone, we are most loved by God. It is the quality of the heart, an inner quality that helps us to accept our aloneness lovingly, as a gift from God.

In that place of solitude our activities become activities done for the other. If we accept our aloneness as a gift from God, and convert it into deep solitude, then out of that solitude we can reach out to other people. We can come together in community, because we don’t cling to one another out of loneliness. We don’t use or manipulate one another. Rather, we bow to one another’s solitude. We recognize one another as people who are called by the same God.

If I find God in my solitude, and you find God in your solitude, then the same God calls us together, and we can become friends. We can form community, we can sustain a marriage, we can be together without destroying each other by clinging to each other.”

An incredible, deep Amen to that Mr. Nouwen. May our community be that of deep inner peace of our beloved place and call in God that lovingly draws us to enjoy, encourage, and bless each other and the world.

07
Oct

Thoughts on Worship - Ambushed.

By couch 0 Comments
Categories: worship

So we went to the Friday Night 10 pm set last night. A very musically talented team gifted in hearing the Lord and responding in Spirit-led worship lead the 2 hour set. The room was packed. People were ready to meet with the Lord.

An impossibility.

We sang, starting with soft songs of adoration, fixing our eyes on the Lord and reminding ourselves of His faithfulness, beauty, and mercy as we thank Him for them. We can sense His Spirit drawing us, it’s delightful, refreshing, and a bit exciting to say the least. We’re not quite sure where this is going, but hey, we are just worshipping. Some are dancing freely in place, some standing, others quietly sitting, all engaged, focused on the eternal. This continues for about 30 minutes, the Lord wooing us to Himself by His great love.

A necessity.

Suddenly, it seems like something breaks open, much like water going over the cliff and gleefully plummeting down to meet itself at the bottom. There’s this openness, there’s this joy, and the music turns instrumentally celebrational. For about 45 minutes, as the windpipe floats rich melodies over the piano, guitar, and drums, the feeling of victory and thankfulness erupts from within. Like flowing down a river, we sing our own songs of love and worship to the Lord as the instrumentation beautifully flows over us as a fragrant offering unto the Lord.

A delight - but….wait.

Gripped. Struck. What is going on? There’s something bigger going on. In a moment, there is this terrible fear that comes over us. There’s this beauty shed abroad in our hearts, but we begin to tremble. Wait a minute. God knew what He was do……Holy!

An ambush. Encountering God. No…God encountering me.

Fear. The fear of the Lord is here, and an ounce of it in truth is too much to handle. Plunged into despair, feeling strength leave my members. There is a tinge of familiarity here, to that Man, but all of the sudden I feel like I know little of Him. Little of that Man. Little of what is really His. The depths of Him, the God of eternity, with whom light dwells. It feels like you are sucked into an energy-less vacuum, and you instinctively forget to breath.

Beautifully Terrible. Terribly Beautiful…..Holy!

Definitions are different. Holy. Righteous. Power. The previous meanings are washed away like a dead language, replaced by an empty ocean to be filled with water that just started dripping. But wait, I’m still here. I’m left overwhelmed, almost forgetting where I am or what has just blindsided me, but I remember - I remember - the blood. The blood. In the midst of this great gripping, I feel terribly unclean, but beautifully clean. Then…

“I love you.”

Words spoken many a time, but now majestically from the fresh vantage point of my now empty ocean, setting the topography and the scope of whats to come. I feel empty and full, dead and alive, low but high, dry but taken by surprise by a fire-hydrant to the face.

The worship, the wooing, the longing, the carrying - it all leads to….

The revealing. And we can never really prepare for the revealing.

The wooing and the drawing is for the revealing. And the revealing is everything. Without it our oceans are full, not of the real thing, but of water that we filled it with ourselves for appearance sake. The blood of Christ enables us, the Word is the map, and the wisdom of the fear of the Lord sets our heart to tremble and let God reveal Himself. God reveals Himself so that He can pour Himself in us as we daringly gaze on Him.

For what our eye beholds our body will be full of.

Experiencing God is a lethally delightful activity. But it’s the way the world will receive Him, and experience Him. We must receive Him and experience Him. It’s difficult. It’s overwhelming. It messes with our boxes. It strips the forest bare and makes the deer give birth.

“And the knowledge of the glory of the Lord will cover the earth, as the waters cover the sea.”

04
Oct

Thoughts on Worship: Genesis John Revelation:1

By couch 0 Comments
Categories: Poetry and worship

Unto us a child is born…unto us a son is given…and His name shall be called…

In the beginning, there was God. God, and only God. Inhabiting Eternity.

And the light dwelt with Him.

God wanted to express Himself. Expressing Himself, He spoke the word - and light shone.

Light shone in the darkness. God expressed Himself into the darkness, and we saw light.

Light dwelt with Him, and now we dwelt in light. Because God expressed Himself, we saw light.

We hated the light. We rejected the light. We rejected God’s expression.

How can you know a man, except for what He says? How can you know a man, but by His expression?

Transcendent God. Eternal God. Full of love. Full of mercy. Overflowing. Spilling out.

Can’t contain it anymore. Can’t hold in this abundance. Can’t hold it anymore -

The Heart is breaking open, cracking into Pieces.

Radiance, Life, Love - pouring out of this perfect heart…

Into Expression. Out of the bosom of the Father, God expresses Himself.

How can you know a man, except for what He says? God spoke the Word.

In the beginning, was the Word. And the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

God expressed Himself. And the Word became form. Word became flesh.

Unknowable face, unseen person - now expressed in the face of Jesus.

Forever God that inhabits eternity. Light dwelt with Him.

The expressed image of His person. The exact representation of the unseen God.

Light dwelt with Him. And His light was the light of men. Made manifest.

To see the faithful witness is to see the Father. He is One with His expression.

The fulness of the Godhead is in the expression. Bodily. The Word dwells bodily.

God expresses Himself into the Word into the Body.

God speaks Life into the Word into the Body.

How can you know a man except that which is in His heart?

God shares His Word with the darkness, though He lives in light.

And in His light, we see light. In the face of Jesus.

And in His light, we see light. In the face of Jesus.

And Silent like a lamb to the slaughter, the Father’s expression was enough for Jesus.

The Very Word of God was silent.

And that Word was extinguished, that expression was rejected, again.

It was rejected so that out of that abundant heart can flow more expression. Blood. Salvation. An eternal life expressed in expression. Light expressing light. Light born out of a grateful heart.

Darkness penetrated by expression. Expression bearing light. Light being the companion of God.

Worship birthed by light expressed. Light expressed in worship birthed.

Radiant loving heart of the Father, broken open to birth an expression, a Word of love.

Radiant loving heart of the Word, broken open to birth an expression, a Bride of love.

Radiant loving heart of the Bride, broken open to birth an expression, a Cry of Worship.

And in that cry, out of that heart, and in that expression - we are One.

God in us. Us in God. The fulness of the Love of the Father flowing through all and from all.

God loves to express Himself.

03
Oct

Thoughts on Worship - Hurriedness

By couch 0 Comments
Categories: worship

I was recently pointed to an interview with Jeff Johnson, discussing “Selah services”; a quieter, more contemplative style of worship service that incorporates music, reading, prayer, and extended silence. I am intrigued.

“I personally prefer this kind of worship since it tends to be less centered on those who are leading and requires a very tangible response from within our minds and hearts. My observation is that much of our contemporary forms of worship today, while very celebratory and inspirational, treats the congregation more as observers rather than participants.”

Good stuff. Something we need to consider in our services.

A semi-related thought I had was this:

I often feel the necessity to “hurry” to get as much in as possible during our limited music time. Also, the routine of 5-6 songs with an offering in the middle feels a bit limiting sometimes. Perhaps this is just because I don’t give enough though to that piece of the service, and what we have is instead a reflection of the rest of my life… hurried… pushed to produce on a limited time frame… I do try, though, to bring some sense of direction or flow to the string of songs. I try to think about where the songs are “going”.

I also feel this within an individual song as well… “hurrying” to move through it and get it over with and on to the next one. I have also heard the sentiment expressed that we should make songs last too long, and I’ve heard remarks on the “9 minute version” of songs on worship recordings as being ridiculously long. Why is that?

Again, the sense of hurry… something probably derived from our pop-music performance mindset. Why can’t we linger on a single song for 10 minutes? What is the problem with that? If it gets boring, that is either our fault for not moving the song in a direction, the listener’s fault for not engaging with the music beyond a surfacy “consumer” level… I don’t think it is the fault of the song being 10 minutes long.

We are far too hurried. Does anyone else have this experience?

02
Oct

Thoughts on Worship

By couch 0 Comments
Categories: worship

Lately, I’ve been thinking alot about worship, the idea, the expression, the form, the power, the privelege, and the journey. I’ve been struck by the fact that the Lord has a place in worship that He desires us to reach, that we can not come to but by His grace in teaching us. I believe there is yet WAY more to be understood, felt, and experienced in individual as well as corporate worship. Before last week’s IGNITE - I felt led to share on the subject, in the limited understanding that I had. You can find those notes here, but in large part we talked about David, the worshiper, shepherding His sheep on the back side of the hill, being faithful with the small things while gazing up at the starry hosts and singing songs like “The Lord is my Shepherd…”. He was learning how to be a worshipper, and worshippers worship. And worshippers impact the heart of God. And worshipers change the world.

I know that these years for many of us are formative, and by God’s kindness we are being formed into what He wants and not just “the usual” aka our own tiny plans for ourselves. We MUST press on to know Him and come into the abundant life that He spoke of, whether or not it looks different than what we are used to or not. I feel like I’m at a point where I’m hungry enough to throw out all my preconceived ideas about worship and say “Jesus, teach me [us] how to worship!” It is in that vein that I start a series of blogs, few of which will be written by me, where I invite any and all people to express their thoughts about worship. What is it to you? What does it mean? How does God feel about it? What does God want to change about the way we worship, and the form it often takes? My prayer is that God busts in with Holy-Spirit creativity and awe-inspiring captivation of our hearts, that we might be a people “worshipping in the Spirit”, even in difficult seasons, that we might come into the Revelation of Jesus Christ. (Rev. 1)