week 6

Week 6

“They are public figures who symbolize private holiness and, therefore, are either drawn to their knees in regular, humble prayer, or are forced to become expert thespians, maintaining a consistent facade of righteousness.”  Stephen Miller

This is a profound statement.  After reading this chapter, I was reminded once again of the stakes in leading worship.  If I lose sight of what’s important I become a liar, trying to demonstrate something I have forgotten to do myself.  The gravity of this responsibility is daunting.   But at the end of the day, whether I am leading worship or not, my aim should be to the same: to be in the presence of the living God.  This is not something I should strive for only because I am doing worship.  It should be such a part of who I am and what I do that the idea of living life without God would be ridiculous.  I know these things, I have grown up hearing the importance of a personal relationship with God that is built in the secret places of my heart and the secluded places of my life.  However, actually living this out is so challenging.  I still do not understand why it is that my personal quiet time with God is the first thing to be neglected.  For some reason, it is the easiest thing to let slide.  Only after feeling life fall apart do I stop and realize wow, I need to spend some time with God.

It’s embarrassing to admit, but the struggle is epic right now.  I always thought that once I was an adult it would be easy to have a daily quiet time.  I never realized how intentional I would have to be to make it happen.  When I read the line “the single most important thing we can do is to stand before the Lord in secret.” I couldn’t help but agree.  And then I started to evaluate if I am living this out in my own life.  I have lots of great excuses and reasons why I haven’t spent time reading my Bible yet today, but the truth is that none of them are any good.  My challenge is to depend on God each day, and use some discipline to carve out the space to be with Him.  

week 5

Week 5

“God creates missionaries by putting Himself on display, so putting Him and his glory on display must be our aim.”  Matt Papa

Worship leading seems to be one of the things that fuels and cultivates missional living.  Throughout the chapter it seems that Matt Papa is trying to communicate how infectious worship can be when it is done correctly.  As a worship leader, the responsibility is to point the spot light at God.  When we do this, missions is a natural outpouring of experiencing God.  Authentic worship as we all know is more than just singing songs.  We do this with the expectation that God is going to show up and we will experience His presence.  The more time we are in His presence the more we become like Him.  God tells of His love for His people all throughout the Bible.  It is a natural course that as our worship is more authentic, our hearts are broken for the lost.  This leads us to missional living whatever that might look like.

Honestly I have never thought about the correlation between worship leading and missions.  I have a huge passion for both, and what impacted me was connecting the dots, and seeing how worship can really affect the missions culture of a church.  I am so thankful to be a part of the Vineyard where our priority is God, and from that worship and missions happen naturally.  Sometimes I forget my own experiences with worship.  I forget that God has spoken to me really clearly during times of corporate worship.  Some of the most pivotal moments in my life have happened during worship including a time when God began to really speak to me about the role that missions would have in my own life.  While I have not yet seen God’s plan with missions in my own life play out entirely, I have a much better grasp of how worship can ignite the spark for missions in the lives of a congregation.

How should the trinity shape our worship??

-the trinity makes our worship possible

-the trinity put us in close proximity to God

-the trinity makes corporate worship a priority

-the trinity preserves worships purity

-the trinity encourages a peaceful, humble posture

-the trinity shapes how worship proceeds

I like how all of these sound.  I like that we get to be close to God and worship in his presence.  I love the emphasis on corporate worship.  This principle of a peaceful and humble posture is precisely how we should approach the throne of God.  Hicks has a lot of really great points in this chapter. 

However, according to the author, it seems as though we do a lot of things wrong in the Vineyard.  While I value what he has to say, I don't agree with all of what he is saying.  He talks about how a pew is more reflective of the trinity than a row of chairs, and how the level of sound from the band reflects a church's view of the trinity.  I guess it all feels a bit legalistic.  

I am by no means a theologian, not even close.  But, it seems as though a lot of what he is saying is all about rules and regulations.  I guess at the end of the day my priority is where my heart is.  I want to acknowledge the trinity in the worship I am participating in.  Maybe I would have been happier if I wouldn't have finished the chapter.  I really liked what I was reading until it got down to the really practical stuff.  It's a bummer it all sounded so good until the music was too loud.

Week 3

Michael Bleecker defines doxology as "praise to God (p. 46)."  As I read his chapter, I get the feeling that doxology is the outward expression of our understanding of God.  It is what we do to express what we believe about God.  I have to admit that this vocabulary is somewhat new to me.  I did a little reading up on doxology and what it means.  I came across some definitions where it refers to "the doxology" where a church sings a specific song or hymn that is  "the doxology" of the church.  It seems as though there are a few hymns or songs that are specified for this use depending on what tradition is practiced.   

It seems to me that scripture ought to be the very foundation of our worship.  Beecker placed a lot of emphasis on understanding the words we sing, knowing where in scripture they come from, and then teaching this to our congregation.  I am starting to understand the idea that theology propels our doxology (p. 46).  What we believe about God will be reflected in how we praise Him whether it is in a very specific song, in the sets that we choose, and even in our posture as we worship.  Really it should be our go to, our plumb line.  

This week's post required a lot of thinking.  These are deep questions that hold a lot of weight, but they are not things that I have spent a lot of time thinking about.  However, I see how these things shape and mold worship leaders.  It is in this type of conversation and thought that I imagine the real work is done and real worship leaders are made.  In many ways I think I take for granted the serious thought and wisdom that goes into writing songs and picking songs.  I am starting to see them in a new light with different criticism.  It's good but it is challenging.

What stuck out this week?

"It's time for us to feel the weight of our calling and with humility and passion, and lead those who God puts in front of us each week.(p.55)"

I feel like this has been my take home more than once.  Leading is such an enormous undertaking.  It requires more than just singing songs.  I know this, it isn't new info but at times I am callous to what's at stake.  I hope and pray that as I lead in worship no matter the setting that my heart is humble and aligned with God.

Week 2

Looking at the qualifications of a worship leader, which area(s) if any were new to you? Which areas do you feel most vulnerable/challenged?

Honestly, none of the qualifications for a leader were new to me. I am familiar with the passages of scripture that Boswell referenced in his qualifications. Whether from our church, conferences, books etc I have heard this list in similar form at one time or another. In light of that, it was a good reminder and interesting to see Boswell's interpretation.

Aside from being born with the wrong anatomy, the area that most challenges me is being disciplined. He talks about being "sober-minded self controlled, and disciplined." I have a lot of great intentions, but a major weakness for me is carrying things through well. I can do it for a short amount of time without too much trouble. It is the day in and day out discipline, the long-term discipline, the marathon discipline that just seems to be beyond my grasp. I absolutely see the value and necessity of having this quality. I just wish I was better at it.

To be honest, meeting all of these qualifications is a daunting thought. It is hard enough just to think of people who meet these standards, but to think about meeting them myself seems impossible. This is a sobering reminder of the gravity of leadership.

Doxology and theology: week 1

     According to Boswell, the five marks of worship are:
The worship of the church is God-centered, biblically formed, gospel-wrought, congregational and missional. The one that is most challenging to me is: the worship of the church is biblically formed. The reason for this is that I forget the importance of the theology of a song. I tend to judge a song by the way it sounds first. While I do look at the lyrics, I tend to pick songs more based on how much I like them as opposed to what they are actually saying. Because most of the songs I choose are ones we are already doing or from within the vineyard, I am spoiled. They are pre-approved. I don't have to put a lot of thought into the theology. While I am thankful for this, I am realizing that I need to be more diligent in doing this on my own instead of assuming someone else has already "screened" a song.

"What we truly believe about the gospel is evidenced by how concerned or unconcerned we are about those who are far from its grip." (pg. 19)
     This quote weighed deeply on me. I am not an extrovert by any stretch. The idea of evangelism actually terrifies me. I have participated in "treasure hunt" style prayer evangelism and it gives me anxiety to even think about it. One I the areas I struggle the most in my relationship with Jesus Christ is actually telling other people about him. I am happy to share all day with someone who asks, but put me in a situation where I have to initiate that conversation and it just doesn't happen. It's not that I don't care about people who are lost, I just seem to be paralyzed when trying to reach out to them. I'd love I say that I make up for it in prayers, but quite honestly I often forget to pray for those who do not know the Lord. This quote hit like hammer. It is an area I know I need to work on, but this quote really revealed the significance of reaching the lost.

Week 9

Wow this was harder than I thought.  Slowing down is something that I have talked about before.  It is something that I have been trying to do in my life more and more.  It is really really hard.  I think there are a million reasons why it is so hard.  Sometimes it just feels lazy, sometimes it feels guilty, and sometimes it feels impossible.  I have implemented leaving early into my life.  Instead of waiting until I have to go, I have been trying to give myself a cushion.  This is actually so nice.  I am not stressed, and I find that I get a little extra quiet time in.  I love Smith’s quote “Be present to the present moment.”  I fell like this has been so much more attainable when I choose to live a more deliberately slow life. 

This is really a challenge living in community with people who are super busy and late.  It is hard to plan life and be deliberate to have it changed up by those who are living differently.  I find I am having to say no more often, sacrifice what I want to do for what I should do, and spend a lot more time planning than I want.  All in all, it remains a better way of living.  I definitely will be trying to live a life that is more contemplative and reflective as opposed to hurried and preoccupied.  As I write this, I still cannot imagine a time when I will take 5 minutes to walk from the living room to the kitchen.  But I do appreciate Smith’s variety of suggestions.