Bathed in Blue

Although it was after nine o'clock in the evening, light filled the sky and everything could be seen clearly! The storm had passed, and all that was left was the sound of rain water dripping of the trees. I had made my way to the back porch and taken a seat that I might enjoy the last few moments of daylight. A long day at work had taken its toll on me and my energy was drained. I looked out into the world that had just endured the torrent of a severe storm and, out in the distance, I saw the faintest sliver of the Sun just on the edge of the horizon.

It is easy to take for granted the beauty of God's creation. Far too often we miss it completely amidst the hustle and bustle of daily life and our technology-drowned culture. Tonight, however, I found myself in wonder of the beautiful landscape behind my home. I sat down and began to look around, intentionally looking for all that there was to be seen. It didn't take me but a moment to realize that the light that filled the air around me left the world curiously blue. I mean literally blue! It was if the sky above had reached down and laid itself upon the ground, or as if the rain that had fallen had first been filled with blue dye before being cast to the earth.

Now, there most certainly were colors other blue. There were vivid greens of the grass and trees, and there were various shades of browns, and there was even the occasional yellow. But all of these had seemed to have a bluish tint to them. It was a beautiful, and almost alien, sight that I couldn't help but stare at in wonder.

Soon afterwards, fireflies began to light up among the tress and in the grass. The yellow light of their abdomens seemed to be the only thing left untouched by the blueness around them, and it even seemed that they were yellower than ordinary fireflies and that they shined even brighter as well! There I stood and watched the beauty of that elfin world for as long as I could, waiting for the last bit of daylight to fade away and for all the blue to turn to blackness. I had the privilege of seeing the work of God anew and, for a brief moment in time, caught a very small glimpse of His glory and splendor!

I implore you: set aside the cell phone, turn off the television and the laptop, and take a moment to see the world around you. Perhaps you need to remember that there is this thing called "grass" that grows just a few feet beyond your doorstep, or perhaps that there are flowing things called "rivers" that you have neglected to swim in this (increasingly hot) summer. Even more importantly, perhaps you  need to take a moment to notice that creature that sits but a few feet away from you staring at his or her own computer screen which you have, most unintentional, forgot was present and was bestowed the title of "human".

We were made to worship God by living in and enjoying His glorious presence and His creation, but h can we do that when we can't even put down our not-so-smartphones to have remember the beauty of true friendship and the presence of real people in our lives. Stop looking at other peoples' Instagrams of the world and take a step outside your door. Maybe you will find a world bathed in blue and a thousand fireflies waiting to greet the night with you.

Grace and Peace,

Stephen

Freedom and Stability: Worship in a World of Chaos

The world is ever shifting and changing. Life proves to be consistently unstable and often unpredictable. Faith and worship are the anchors that hold us steady as the hurricanes rage against the battered ships of our souls. But just how stable are our anchors and supports? Can the pillars of our faith hold when our world starts to shake? Does our worship of God strengthen those pillars, or does it hollow the infrastructure?

I have been in search of the answer to this question over the course of the last couple years, and while I have not come to an ending conclusion, I do believe that I have made a great deal of discoveries over the past year and would like to share some of those thoughts here and now.

I grew up in the contemporary/Charismatic tradition. I am intimately familiar with "modern" worship services. In my home church, I found music pleasing to listen to, exciting, moving, and LOUD! I loved it all, and I loved how God worked in me through those experiences. I am highly sympathetic to those who choose to worship in these "concert-like" settings and to the styles thereof, but I think that there is an aspect of worship and the Christian life that one is robbed of when they only worships in this form. I am also, however, ashamed of the shallowness of much worship and overly emotional actions of many. Unfortunately, the foci of many within the worships services that I've attended all over the U.S. were erratic and often self-serving as people were more concerned with their "experiences" rather than about God and His truth. I am one of those many people who cared to much about experiencing something and about whether or not I ended up on my knees crying than about adoring God and speaking (or singing) words of truth, honor, and faith.

Again, I do not think charismatic worship is wrong, just incomplete. I was greatly shaped and challenged through charismatic worship as a teenager and I know that God used all of it to make me a better person and to pull me closer to Him. Yet, there was something missing in the midst of it all; I would not grow in Christ as much as I am able to if God had left me there and not begun working on my heart this area of my faith. I believe that worship is less shaped by who we are, and rather that it shapes us. There are those two-faced people who live completely different outside of Church than they would act within, and it is sad that people can live out their lives with a disassociated faith, but I would venture to say that they are still affected by their form of worship.

First, what is worship? thefreedictionary.com gave the following definitions:


wor·ship n.
1.
     a. The reverent love and devotion accorded a deity, an idol, or a sacred object.
     b. The ceremonies, prayers, or other religious forms by which this love is expressed.
2. Ardent devotion; adoration.
3. often Worship Chiefly British Used as a form of address for magistrates, mayors, and certain other dignitaries:
v. wor·shiped or wor·shipped, wor·ship·ing or wor·ship·ping, wor·ships
v.tr.
1. To honor and love as a deity.
2. To regard with ardent or adoring esteem or devotion. See Synonyms at revere1.
v.intr.
1. To participate in religious rites of worship.
2. To perform an act of worship.

Humans have questioned worship and what is the most "true" form of worship. I once was one of those who argued that true worship involved lots of passion and "freedom" to do what you wanted; that loud, emotional services were what God was most please by. I condemned liturgical worship for being "dry, artificial, and unpleasing to God." I was among those who thought of non-Charismatic worshipers as prideful, starchy Christians who were too arrogant for their own good. I mean how dare they tell us that our form of worship is wrong when it is so obvious that is the ONLY right way to worship! Besides, all those ritualistic words and phrases make "them Catholics" no better than pagans and witches right?!

Wrong.

Liturgical worship is authentic, God-pleasing, beautiful, and freeing. I have heard many critique liturgy and say "I couldn't go to that kind of church cause I have to have my freedom to worship God" without even having the understanding of the depths of worshiping liturgically. There is freedom and life in structured worship that can't be found in some of the more "low-church" settings! Liturgical worship disciples and teaches the doctrines of the church with greater depth and complexity than most of the non-liturgical worship we see throughout the Church today (most of which is actually quite shallow). I have felt the presence of God during a Latin mass just as much as I have in buck-wild Pentecostal Church.

I recently was reading a book in which one of the main characters was being tortured by an evil king who had her beaten with iron rod that had been heated within a furnace. In the book she faces all sort of torments and mental stress, but through the whole thing she focused on rites and rituals. The rituals allowed her to maintain her sanity and to keep from letting her willpower fail. The stability and consistency of liturgical/ritualistic worship helps bring stability to the unstable world we live in. It is an anchor to reality. It is also the way the early church worshiped! As well as the Israelites of the old testament. The book of Psalms contains this form or worship as well.

Both liturgical and non-liturgical worship have important elements to them that benefit the life of the believer. While it isn't about us, I believe God designed that worship be beneficial to the worshiper. There are times where we should worship with all our emotions and lay on our faces with tears pouring from our eyes and loose our grip on our self control so as to, in a way, expose ourselves before God and make ourselves emotionally vulnerable to Him. We should also, however, worship in rich, symbolic rituals of the ancient faith for is strengthens us and disciples us. Worship with  your intellect. Worship in unity with the Church all over the world. Worship in "spirit and in truth". I personally practice both forms continuously throughout the week.

Lastly, stop making it about you! Worship is about God and not about you. It's not about what you want or how you want to worship. Be grateful that you have liberty and that God is not overly strict on the way the Church is to worship, but do not think that it is your right to worship as you deem most right. It is your privilege. Whether you ever cried or not, whether you ever were made aware of the presence of the Holy One or not, you are to worship. Don't condemn others for worshiping in a way that is different than yours and think it as being less pleasing than yours. The fact of the matter is, they very well maybe worshiping far more authentically and God-pleasing than you are.

“His Presence Matters”

           Recently, I had the privilege of hearing Pastor Francis Chan speak on the topic of "God's Presence Matters". Pastor Chan has always been one of my favorite speakers. I love how real he is and how he is able to really connect with his audience. During his preparation for talking about the subject, he found himself left with the question “does anything else matter?’ That IS the real question here. Chan then asked “If the God of heaven came down and made His presence known, wouldn’t that be the only thing that mattered?”

We have to have God’s presence. It is true that God is everywhere…but is His “presence” everywhere? What I mean by this is, is the awareness of His presence there and/or is there a difference between God being here with us and God being “present” here with us? Could it be that, yes He is everywhere and therefore He is in the room, but that He is not “present” with us in that we are not in a place of intimacy with Him and are in a way disconnected from His heat? That He is not “with us” in that He is not involved in our thoughts or actions because He desires us to seek Him and be intimate with Him on our own effort rather than He impose His sovereign right to make us be intimate with Him? I believe so.

 What does this mean for ministry? Ministry is God’s heart…and for us to be truly effective we are going to have to get humble, seek God, and get into His presence. I’m not talking about the manifestations and feelings that my Pentecostal brethren and I so often prioritize, but instead the real time spent in dedication to building our relationship with our Father and with our Husband, that we might not work alone or in vain…but instead work alongside our God, who so very much wants to be “present” with us. This is significant to the lives of all believers everywhere, and not just to those who are "in ministry", because missionaries and pastors are not the only ones who do the work of God or build the kingdom. Pastor and missionaries are leaders of the church, teachers, men and women dedicated seeking God and keeping His church structured in the way that is most biblical and God honoring, but they are not the only "ministers" in the world.

For the Christian laity...God's presence matters, because there may be moments in which God desires us to act and to do great things, but we are to weak and shaky from fulfill the action to perfection, because we are not relying on God or listening to his instruction. We can live lives full of joy and abundance, but not because we have money, or nice things. Only the presence of God can truly satisfy us and bring us life.