Leaning Forward

We're comfortable...

We're comfortable with routine, we're comfortable with expectations, we're comfortable with the standard, and we're comfortable with sustaining...

In a recent conversation with a friend I was talking about the Praise&Worship ministry that I am a leader of at school... I was talking about a vision where rather than the community of worshipers leaning forward to and anticipating each Thursday night worship gathering, they would view it as an opportunity to lean back or "touch down"...

By this I mean that the community would be reaching out in this world and seeking out God's face in the hungry, the oppressed, the naked, and the voiceless, and then would take our worship gathering as a time to meet as a community that cries out to the Lord through song and builds each other up...

Too often I receive comments from people that make it seem that our gathering is the one hour they come to get filled up and then rather than spending the other 167 hours of the week pouring out the Love of Christ and being the hands and feet of God, they self-indulge and sit around waiting for the next week of "emotional pump up time".

I am far from adequate... I am selfish, prideful, undisciplined, jealous, reserved, and awkward... So I am by no means saying that I have got things under wraps, but I am currently trying to lean forward in my life, rather than always leaning back and then jumping to attention during Sunday morning or Thursday night "worship".

I don't know if this analogy works... It makes sense in my mind, but one of my failings is communication... so if this is nothing more than a giant rambling for you I am sorry, but it has helped me work a few things out... so maybe this post is just for me...

And that's all I have to say about that...

This Generation's Civil Rights Movement?

I have heard of things like Invisible Children, Rapha House, Baht, International Justice Mission, World Vision, and I support two studly young gentlemen through Compassion International...
I have seen films like Trade and Blood Diamond...
I have heard missionary accounts of the horrors of trafficking...
I have talked with friends about how we feel helpless because we feel as though we can't do anything for those in other continents despite our passionate desire.

I am not entirely new to this, but I have spent the last week pouring myself into books, articles, films, and blogs about human trafficking.

In case you are not aware... Slavery did not end in 1863 with the Emancipation Proclamation... Slavery plagues the world today. Be it in the form of forced labor, or sexual bondage, or child soldiers, slavery is still very much a part of the human condition...

The estimates of how many people are currently enslaved are upwards of 27 million...

As I have been reading and watching this past week, I have found myself horrified. The descriptions of the conditions people are exposed to are beyond comprehension. I have become physically sick to the point of vomiting while reading... It's pretty intense...

This problem is this generation's civil rights movement... This abhorrence is this generation's opportunity to glorify God and share the love of Christ with the hurting, lost, and abused.

So what do we do? Again, I have had overwhelming discussions with friends where we feel so ineffective and unable to make a difference... and often times in these conversations we forget one of our greatest weapons. Prayer. We start by praying... continuously. We pray for the enslaved, we pray for the traffickers, slave holders, and abolitionists, and we pray for governments and law enforcement that have the opportunity to expel the corrupt and make clear, unambiguous legal frameworks. We can also raise awareness and lobby for action with our nation's leaders. This is what Invisible Children is currently trying to do, and there is opportunity to support that movement.

Above all, remember that we serve a God who loves and hurts with us. We have the power of the Holy Spirit... Let's put it to work...

“Let no one be discouraged by the belief there is nothing one man or one woman can do against the enormous array of the world’s ills – against misery and ignorance, injustice and violence…Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation…

It is from the numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”

Robert F. Kennedy

Isaiah 58: True Fast/Worship?

So, I stumbled back across a passage that I had forgotten about, and it was pretty intense. Isaiah is calling out the people of Israel about their fasting practices, and it's unsettling. When I read this I swapped out the word "Fast" for "Worship"... And it's kind of intense... Isaiah 58:1-8

¹ "Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the house of Jacob their sins.

² For day after day they seek me out;
they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
and seem eager for God to come near them.

³ 'Why have we [worshiped],' they say,
'and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?'
"Yet on the day of your [worship], you do as you please
and exploit all your workers.

⁴ Your [worship] ends in quarreling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot [worship] as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.

⁵ Is this the kind of [worship] I have chosen,
only a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed
and for lying on sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call [worship],
a day acceptable to the LORD ?

⁶ "Is not this the kind of [worship] I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?

⁷ Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

⁸ Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

Yikes!

How often do we focus on Sunday mornings and forget that our worship spans beyond that time together... Worship is so much more than a once a week ritual!

We are called to present our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God... That is our spiritual act of worship!!! We cannot settle for going with the flow... We are called to be counter-cultural, to meet people's needs, to love people, to rattle cages, to be excellent examples of who Christ is... that is a huge order!!!

How can we do this? What does it look like to live life totally for Christ? What about the tough situations? What about the comforts of the American lifestyle? What does a life lived for the Lord look like in the 21st century!?

Production Sunday?

Easter Sunday is an interesting day in the life of the Church. On one hand, there is the immeasurable joy that is celebrated in the fact that Jesus Christ, the one who fed the hungry, healed the blind, and spoke of peace is risen! On the other hand in American Christianity, Easter Sunday is one of two Sundays a year that pews are overflowing...

How do most local churches respond to this sudden influx of Creasters?

In my experience, churches spend significantly more time and energy preparing for the Easter Sunday worship gathering than the "regular" services. I have recently heard at least 8 or 9 church administrators/pastors/worship leaders say something like, "oh I will be so glad once were past Easter." Easter has become some laborious landmark along the way in the church calendar.

Why?

Is it so that we can glorify God through various ways on this exciting day in our faith?
Or is there frequently an underlying intention to impress all the visitors with our "production"?
Do we become self-glorifying and prideful when we try to compress all sorts of things into our worship gatherings that are not normally there? Skits, videos, special musics, choirs, special lighting/fog, dramatic backdrops, flowers, etc...
Where is that line between ordering a worship service so that it is smooth, flowing, and includes various elements and technologies, and simply putting on some "Jesus" production?
Are worship gatherings that are structured in the traditional way actually worship? or are they by nature an act of theater or show?
How do we continuously think about removing ourselves as distractions and allowing people to worship when it is practically in the job description to be a noticeable presence on a stage leading the body in worship?

There are countless questions, and I have just been wondering a lot lately if what we traditionally know as "church" and worship services are anything close to what God has called us to, and are what is actually edifying to the body.

And that's all I have to say about that...