It's Christmas time in the city...

Which means of course, that I have been extremely busy since the last time I posted. From camping out at Best Buy on Thanksgiving for 9 hours, to finishing(almost) the nursery, to selling loads of garbage on eBay (shameless plug), to Christmas shopping, to gathering and planning and drinking coffee and trying to get people to understand exactly what is going on inside my head, I really haven't had much time to get on here and actually put down my thoughts. Seems more and more lately I've had an outlet to express what God's been teaching and showing me, even if I'm not very good at explaining it in a way people can understand.

Which brings me to, I guess, a good topic for this post. I've discovered lately the importance of "context". Whenever I hear that word I think back to standardized tests in grade school that would always ask questions based on the context of a certain passage. The questions would have multiple choice answers, all of which could possibly be right, depending on the context of the passage. So you really couldn't grasp the meaning unless you knew the context.

Example: I am a huge fan of the show LOST. At the beginning of this season, we learned that the survivors we spent all last season learning about were not the only survivors of the plane crash on the island. Apparently there were several people from the tail section of the plane on the other side of the island(which is huge) that had no idea anyone else had survived either. Through a series of events they have come to find out there are other survivors, and they journeyed across the island to meet up with the others. There was a tearful reunion on the beach, including a scene between a husband and wife who had been separated. The wife had been saying all along she knew her husband was alive, and she deeply believed God would reunite them. The husband has lost hope that his wife was alive. But then they were reunited on the beach, along with everyone else, and I did need a Kleenex.

So of course, my wife loving the emotion of stories like this, I called her in and rewound the scene and told her she just had to see this. She watched, and simply said, "Oh, that's nice." She wasn't as touched as I was, obviously.

It couldn't have possibly had the same effect on Alisha as it did me, because she hadn't been involved with the show for a year and a half. She didn't know every character's back-story, she hadn't been a part of all the struggles, trials, victories, joy, and tears that I had been a part of. She was experiencing one scene out of the context of the larger story, and as a result, it had a different meaning for her.

So what does this mean? I have been able to apply this simple concept to lots of things recently. Back to what I was saying earlier, I sometimes have a hard time explaining to people my thought processes about things as of late. But I have to understand that they are hearing a few thoughts out of the context of my life and journey. Because they are hearing these thoughts in the context of their own life, it has a different meaning, or no meaning at all, to them. I have to give them food for thought on their own journey and let them come to their own conclusions.

Just yesterday I was having a conversation at Aroma's, and we started talking about being completely relevant and completely Biblical. Someone was commenting that people sometimes may be turned off by the Bible because they think of it as being a bunch of rules telling them what to do and what not to do. Which is not entirely inaccurate, because it certainly has "laws" of things to do and things not to do, but that is a small portion. I began to think, and commented, that people think that because they've heard those things out of context. The church has always been big on telling people the things they should and should not do in order to make heaven. Outside the context of God's story, these seem like rules and regulations made to control someone's life. For those of us who know the whole story, we understand these parts of the Bible, and they have different meaning for us. But for those who don't have the context, it can be somewhat of a turn-off.

And what about Christmas? Many people have heard the Christmas story, seen the TV specials, heard Linus tell it to Charlie Brown, sang the Christmas carols, but how many have heard it in the context of God's story? Think about it. A baby born to a virgin, who is the Son of God, and people come to worship him. Yes, miraculous, but the significance is lost if you don't understand that history had been building to this point ever since the Garden of Eden. The Christmas story didn't start upon a midnight clear in the little town of Bethlehem. It really began centuries before, when God first promised that the woman's offspring would crush the serpent's head(Gen 3:15). It had been prophesied over and over. The Jewish feasts were signs and hope of things to come. They spoke of Messiah, the Savior who would come to save the people. It means something different when you understand this baby was God, born into flesh He formed from the dust of the ground, suckled at the breast He Himself created, born into an imperfect world created in the beginning to be perfect but corrupted by His own creation, yet also fully Man. Obviously there's lots more, because the story doesn't end their either. This God-man chose to die to take the punishment for everything we'd ever do, anything all of his creation would ever do. Then He promised to go prepare a place for us all, and to one day create it all anew, to once again have a perfect creation where corruption would never show its ugly face again. Christmas is about more than presents and Santy Claus, sure, we all know that. But Christmas is about a lot more than just a baby in a manger as well. It's a climax in the human story, which is God's story, the greatest love story, between us and God.

So, in short, let's be aware of context. Let's retell the whole story, and not just bits and pieces. And let's remember, the story did not end with John's Revelation. That was just a preview of the end. The story is still happening, it is still being written, and you and I are a part. We're characters in this grand epic that has been going on for thousands of years. What's your part?

Old Book

Several years ago, when I was an intern at an A/G church, we hired a new pastor and he decided it was time to clean house. Quite literally. Suffice it to say, during a period of about 8 months, my main job was to make things disappear, very quietly. Our church had a small library, which was not used much. I don't think any new books had been added to it in at least 10 years. The pastor decided there were better uses for the room, so I was to quietly donate the contents to Wayland Baptist University. However, as I was preparing to become a minister myself, the pastor told me I was free to keep any books for myself that I liked.

If you know me, I love to read, anything and everything, so I was like a kid in a candy store. I probably kept 15-25 books, including a set of Collier's Bible encyclopedias. I can count the number of those books I've cracked since then on one finger. Maybe 3 fingers.

But the other day, as I was cleaning out the office to make way for the nursery, I decided to open one of the books. It's called "10,000 Religious Quotations" or something like that. All sorts of quotations from thinkers of all different religions, arranged by topic. So, of course, immediately turned to the W's, and looked at "WORSHIP". I began to skim the quotes. All good, but nothing that jumped out at me right away. Then I found this one, which I will share with you now:

"O my Lord, if I worship Thee from fear of Hell, burn me in Hell,
and if I worship Thee from hope of Paradise, exclude me thence;
but if I worship Thee for Thine own sake, then withhold not from me thine Eternal Beauty."-Rabia Al-Adawiyya (Muslim saint, 717 to 801 AD)

Wow. That sums up what I've been trying to teach everyone I worship with for the past year and a half. And this coming from a Muslim. Sometimes I think we Christians just don't get it. God isn't a vending machine, he's not a self-help resource, he's not someone we go to to get our current life crisis taken care of.

He should be worshipped for who He is, not for what He can do for us. Of course we should worship God for what he does and has done, but we shouldn't worship God to get the benefits. It's the old "seek the giver, not the gift" thing. Anyway, just wanted to share this quote.

Ekklesia

Last night we had our second meeting for the new alt. worship service we are starting at our church. The official name is now Ekklesia, which is the Greek word for community, or assembly, depending on who you talk to. Aptly named, as I believe we need to shift from a mind set of "going to church" to "being the church." We had some great dialogue I felt, and I learned some things about people I didn't know. We had a couple of writers/poets in the room, which really fired me up. Then our resident photographer/artist suggested he put pictures to their words and everyone started getting excited as we realized that we could truly become the Body of Christ, all of us using our individual gifts to compliment one another to bring glory to God. I don't know about anyone else, but it really stirred something inside me, as I started to see things I've been dreaming about actually start to take shape. There were many good ideas thrown out, and I hope I took good enough notes to remember them all. Note to self: get someone to take notes next time, cause I suck at it. I get to talking or get engaged in what someone is saying and I forget to write things down. Alisha would be good at that.

We also decided we would meet at Daybreak Coffee Roasters periodically just to fellowship outside of our weekly worship gathering, to build relationships with each other and with others we come in contact with who might not come to a service. Because after all, if we really are trying to "be the church", that means taking Christ into every part of our lives, and not drawing a line to separate our "church life" and "world life". When those lines start to blur and we let Christ permeate every aspect of who we are and what we do, then we are truly being the church, and that's what true worship is all about- acknowledging Him in everything we do.

So things are moving along for Ekklesia, which will begin in January 2006. Our next meeting is at the end of November, and we'll start actually planning our gatherings for January.

3 Men and a Honda

So I should have updated this last Monday, but I was so tired from the weekend I couldn't think straight.

This past Sunday Matt and I took a road trip to Dallas to go to Journey, an alternative service/church plant of Gaston Oaks Baptist Church. Why? I wanted to get a feel for a multi-sensory, "emerging" church, and I found a link to Journey at Ginkworld.

We stopped in Fort Worth and picked up our good friend Wally. He's a trucker and he's only lived in FW a couple of months. He was wanting to check out this church with us b/c he hasn't found a home church yet. First we went to Grapevine Mills mall and ate at the Rainforest Cafe. The we went over to Outdoor World cause Wally needed some fishing tackle. Then we headed to Journey.

When we got there, someone was standing at the bottom of the stairs and they handed us a bulletin/newsletter, and said, "Welcome to Journey! Go right on up, and tonight we're entering in silence." I looked at the bulletin and it read,

"TONIGHT--Sunday Gathering

Join us for a different kind of Sunday Gathering. Experience liturgy, communion, and a taste of a mass service."

So we didn't know what to expect. I think we were all like. "Ohhhh kay..." When we went in, everything was lit only by candles, and was silent. There were 5 or 6 TV's that read, "Welcome to Journey Please Enter in Silence". I immediately had the sense of being in a sacred place. The service itself was very liturgical, but with updated, cooler versions of some hymns. It really was pretty cool. The whole idea was to help us remember the past to look to the future. We had readings from the Old and New Testaments, responsive readings, and communion. There was a space in the back separated by a curtain that had several prayer stations and lots of crosses, candles, and art created by the members of the community. I think Matt and Wally were bored, but I thought it was a pretty neat experience. It reminded me that I am a part of a story that has been going on for hundreds and thousands of years.

I'd like to go back to see what their regular Sunday gatherings look like. If you're ever in the Dallas area, give Journey a try.

A to Z of Alt. Worship

I found this cool blog today with an A-to-Z of alternative worship. I thought it was good, and informative for those who ask, "so just what is this all about?" It's a good primer. Here's the link:

A to Z of Alt. Worship

And the adventure continues...

Well, I said I wasn't going to write my life story, but still I wrote a very long entry. Sorry about that.

So picking up where we had left off...

As I read Dan's book, I realized what I had been feeling wasn't just me. There is more to it than this. I had always felt the church in general seemed to be a vendor of sorts, with people coming when they needed to get some help in a crisis or wanted a blessing or their relatives were sick. And it seemed the church catered to those sorts of people, doling out religious goods and services as needed. Of course it was preached that it was "all about God, and not about us," but it seems most sermons in the modern church were basically self-help inspirational messages, given by an uber-Tony Robbins character and culminating in everyone feeling good about themselves before they faced their everyday lives on Monday. Sometimes there'd be a mid-week "refilling" service. But on the whole it seemed to me that the modern methodology of church was far removed from the way it operated in the first century.

Basically what I'm saying is that today you hear about "going to church," whereas I believe the Bible clearly teaches that "we ARE the church." In the first century, there was no such phrase as "going to church". You couldn't go to church. Because the believers WERE the church. They were concentrated on being the church wherever they were, not just once or twice a week. Sure, they gathered together on a regular basis, but they didn't make a distinction between the way they lived at their gatherings and the way they lived every other day of the week.

I think we need to get back to this sort of "vintage Christianity", to borrow a term. When we attend our weekly worship gatherings, are we coming as consumers, or are we actively participating to bring something to God? Do we see ourselves as the audience, or is God our Audience? Are we being the church throughout the week instead of just the days we decide to darken the church doors?

Let me know what you think. These are just a few of the many questions and thoughts I've been having over the past several months, and I'm interested to hear what others have to say about them. Til next time!


(A disclaimer: I am not here to argue with anyone, nor blast or degrade any person, religion, denomination, or belief system. While I realize people disagree, we can still engage in conversation without arguing. That's all I'm here for is conversation. I will not respond to argumentative or derogatory posts.)

There's got to be more to it than this...

Why create a blog?

So I asked myself, why should I have my own blog? What could I possibly have to say that anyone else would want to read? I guess it's more for myself than anything. To give myself an outlet to kind of sort through all the thoughts I'm having and issues I'm raising and concepts and traditions that I am deconstructing, rethinking, and reconstructing. To put everything down in written form and help me sort through it all, as God leads me on this wild adventure into the unknown(well, unknown for me). And if along the way anyone is able to connect with my thoughts and somehow give voice to their own, as I did by reading what others have written, well, then I guess that's just a bonus.

So, I guess a little info on myself is in order. I'll keep it brief, as I don't think my entire life story is necessary. Although I do find that my whole life has somehow been preparation in one way or another for what I'm doing now and about to do.

I've known since I was 13 that I was "called into the ministry". That's Christianese for "God had a special job for me". But I believe God has a special purpose for all of us, so does that mean we're ALL "called to the ministry"? That's another conversation for another time.

I've served as a children's pastor, an interim youth pastor, a youth pastor, and a worship pastor, along with various and sundry support and leadership positions, many simultaneously, for the past 10 years. I've seen the ins and outs of ministry, church, pastors, lay leaders, deacon boards, elders, and just about everything else you can imagine that goes on in modern evangelical Christianity, much of which the average church goer never sees. I believe God allowed me to see all this to open my eyes to the bigger picture. Somewhere along the line I began to think, in the back of my mind, "There's got to be more to it than this."

About a year ago I finally had reached the point where I didn't know where to go next. I was the worship pastor at my church, my wife and I had been the interim youth pastors for a year, and I was up against a brick wall. I didn't know where to go next. In my ministry, my marriage, and my life. Again, I kept asking myself, "There's got to be more to it than this. Surely this is not all there is, singing 3 fast songs and 3 slow songs, and just keeping up with the latest and greatest make-me-feel-good worship songs that come out." I didn't know what to do, and my wife and I were feeling the strains of being newly married and running two ministries in the church, along with various other duties, so I talked with our pastor, and stepped down.

Basically I needed a sabbatical. That's Christianese for "rest because you're stressed out". I didn't know what would happen, but I knew I needed to figure some things out, because there had to be more to it than this. Since I wasn't having to plan the worship services or in any other way lead them or pastor the team, I had a chance to objectively observe what was going on. Basically we had what I categorize as "observatory worship". Others would call this "consumer worship". It happens every Sunday all over America. People come to church for the worship "show", get warmed up for the sermon, get their warm fuzzy feeling, then leave feeling better about themselves and their lives. Everything was done as a service to the people. Because of this, we had caused people to think of the church as a provider of religious goods and services, and I realized this had been true in every church I had ever been a apart of. It wasn't my church. It was the mindset of modern Christianity, and it was about much more than what style of music we had, if we used guitar and drums or piano and organ, or if we sang hymns or choruses. Whether it was intentional or not, it was something we, as pastors and leaders, had created in our people because of the way we did church. I knew we had to do something to make this more of a "participatory worship experience" that would cause people to be participators rather than casual observers. So I began to explore multi-sensory, experiential worship.

I soaked up everything I could in the form of books, magazines, websites, blogs, and audio. But a funny thing happened. I kept running across these phrases: emerging church and emerging worship. I'd heard of Dan Kimball's book, Emerging Worship, but had never read it. I decided now was as good a time as any.

What I read struck a chord in me. Here was a guy, from California no less, who wrote like he had a direct audio feed from my brain. All the issues and thoughts he proposed were things I had been feeling for years but never knew how to express them. I knew there had to be more to it than what we were doing, and I had just begun to discover what it could be...

to be continued...