Are you going to wear that to Church?

Psalm 51: 17 “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

Would you wear a spaghetti-stained shirt to church if there were a clean and pressed one close at hand? If you worked a whole summer’s day in the yard would you attend an evening wedding without having showered first? No, we’d like to be presentable for church and we’d like our hug with bride and bridegroom to be a pleasant blessing to us all. Neither then should we go into worship holding on to a sin-drenched spirit. With sin staining our wardrobe and drenching our spirit we won’t be presentable and will not get anywhere near enough to hug the Bridegroom.

While preparing for this post I really thought that I’d be taking this in a different direction from the worship topic but here we are, considering our worship again. With Mission Arizona looming ahead and having just concluded the LCPC devotional fast, I thought a related topic from either of those would be appropriate. Certainly, the fast touches on this since I experienced a couple of setbacks from the repentance aspect of my fast but a shotgun approach to some of my failings didn’t really hit home. However, I am holding onto the power of His resurrection for victory over the flesh. I had hoped, and this was a weakness of my approach, that I’d have an earth shattering announcement to make and that I’d overcome this huge mountain in the way, and that God told me distinctly to do this amazing thing. Oops. I overlooked a very important part of my reading, not by my design, Matthew 5 & 6 before the fast. I should have been looking to only make this for the Father, who is unseen so that the unseen Father would reward me thusly. (Matt 6: 18) It’s not about me. In the LCPC devotional blog Lee Cook said of his reading the Sermon on the Mount “Mostly, I come away challenged and inspired!” That’s the PC version, for me I came away convicted.

I believe that we need to spend a little more time in preparation for worship by turning away from sin and setting aside our personal grudges. In fact, the same should go for anytime we teach or attend class or participate in fellowship with each other, or go on a mission trip. Preparation is the key here for me; I need to make some honest prayer of confession before heading down the hill to the church. Most regularly scheduled services at LCPC contain a corporate prayer of confession but by then we’ve already sung a song or two and maybe heard the call to worship. I’m thinking that if I’m ready personally for worship then when we go into corporate confession as a body, I can then give myself a second review and then look to my repentance in the congregational view of my shortcomings. I want to come before Jesus as clean as possible ready for my worship to be accepted, a broken and contrite spirit. That doesn’t mean that I can’t sing out in victory or let out a shout of triumph; it just means that if I do it will ring true.

I think it would be interesting some day to close the sanctuary and have everyone meet in the courtyard first to pray and offer up our confessions; then, as all good Presbyterians do, file reverently and orderly into the sanctuary and get into worship.

Let’s raise the level of our worship by sinking to a new low of humility before the King.

Psalm 51: 12 – “Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” 15. “O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.” 18. “In your good pleasure make Zion prosper”

Worship...Be Ready

John 4: 23 “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him.”

Are you ready to worship this weekend, prepared to love our God, and show it? Good, because now we have to worship to be ready, ready for His Kingdom and Christ’s rule over us. Revelation speaks frequently, 14 times, of the worship that will fill all eternity. We’d best be in practice for something we hope to be involved in forever and if we are going to practice it we should really know what it is. I won’t pretend to be an expert on worship and I will confess to using this posting to explore it and engage you in helping me deepen my personal worship, so let’s consider a few things, shall we?

My friend Webster (any of the youth around when the lay youth leaders were teaching know instantly that I refer to my dictionary as “my friend Webster”) says “to regard with great, even extravagant respect, honor or devotion; to perform or take part in worship or an act of worship”. I don’t always agree with my friends, even Webster. He’s close; I love the part of extravagant respect but I like it better as “great, extravagant respect, honor, and devotion”. It is all of those things wrapped up as one. When I think of extravagant I see a group of us going to breakfast together and someone trying to grab the check for the table and finding that a friend had already done that when they saw us walk in. We walk into a service or personal quiet time and exceed everything that was expected of us just because we love Him, that’s extravagance.

Presbyterians use the “Book of Order” to structure and govern the church, define worship, and define the rules of discipline. There aren’t page numbers to use a measurement so I took a copy and measured the pages by compressing the book and measuring each of the three sections, Forms of Government at 5/16”, Directory for Worship at 1/8”, and The Rules of Discipline at ½”. That’s telling but skewed since we also have a whole “Book of Confessions” that is full of worship, articles of faith, and confessions. I couldn’t find my copy right away but did find no less than four copies of the Book of Order.  Hmmm… The Directory for Worship talks about the order and content of various types of services as well as explore the definition of worship on several levels. I recommend that any Christian could read this as a part of their search for worship and they will find nuggets of great truth; I’ll be doing some more pointed reading of this myself. Here is one such nugget: “Daily personal worship is a discipline for attending to God and accepting God’s grace. The daily challenge of discipleship requires the daily nurture of worship”.

In “The New Testament Church” by John Robert Stevens, lesson 20 explores Worship in the Services and he says worship is to bow yourself down in adoring contemplation of God. John goes on to say that worship is more than reading the Bible and meditating on it, more than listening to a sermon, and more than most singing and praying. As for me, I believe that if we were infused with worship as we did any of these things; reading Scripture, praying, singing, taking communion; any of them, then our revelation of Christ would be immeasurably more true and powerful.

In John 4: 21-24 Jesus tells us what the Father is looking for, worshipers in spirit and in truth. If we want to grow, for the church in numbers, power, and effectiveness, for the person in knowing the power of Christ’s resurrection, we must seek a spiritual truth in our worship. When it’s not there for us we know it, when we get close we know it, when we touch it, even just the hem of it, we know it and are transformed. For the individual it will leave us drained of self, weak, and ready to achieve God’s purpose. For the church, if will be when each person reaches that point of selflessness and we’ll know it by the harmonizing oneness of purpose. For each one and the church together it will rise up to the Father like pleasing incense and we will be His beloved.

Ready? ... Worship!

Jesus said “I tell you the truth; anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” Mark 10: 15

We should enter worship like a little child going to Disneyland; full of excitement, anticipation, wide-eyed, and eager. We should know this is going to be a fantastic experience just as the child knows that Dumbo will be a flight of fancy that takes her to fantastic heights. Their preparations for Disneyland don’t begin as the parent hands over the ticket and neither should our preparation for worship begin as we shake hands with the greeter. Parents should start getting ready for worship the night before since getting children to church is often times part of the spiritual battle to keep the parent from entering worship. Pray, connect with God in a personal way before you leave from home. The children come to the parents before they leave for Disneyland, asking, pleading, and dancing around like little fairies to line up an itinerary of rides and attractions and so we should go the Father asking for forgiveness, pleading to meet with Him, and dancing around at the thought of some undefined blessing, being one and/or receiving one.

It’s not just the rides that get them pumped up to be there but they also anticipate the characters. They carry no animosity towards Mickey and Minnie Mouse and they’re struck with admiration at the thought of meeting the princesses. You should be smiling about now at the thought of meeting your favorite characters at church, drawing some similarities between your friends and Disney characters; who is your Peter Pan, your Donald Duck, your Snow White? We shouldn’t bring animosity toward our brothers or sisters to worship; drop it at the foot of the cross and enter in.

Little children are not free from anxiety at going to Disneyland and a dose of it adds to the height of excitement. After all, when dad tells them they are tall enough for the ride that just last year they had to sit out while the big brother went on they are just a tad unsure if they are actually ready even if they are tall enough. Aren’t we big people the same way when the Father puts something in front of us for worship saying we are ready to go higher, deeper, see Him more clearly? Don’t we battle unbelief, thinking we are unworthy even though the great Sacrifice paved the way perfectly? Unless the big brother spooks them, the little child grabs hold of mom’s hand and goes on the ride anyway and so we should deepen our worship, grab hold of Jesus’ hand and enter in.

Frazzled when you get to church with all the hubbub of getting everybody into the car on time? It’s not too late to get set; grab a brother of sister and have them pray for you, with you; take an extra second or two on the way to your seat and hug someone; take a deep breath and let it out while letting the frazzledness run off you like water off a duck’s back.

We should be like the little child leaving Disneyland when we leave worship; spiritually spent because we gave it our all, a little sad at leaving because we loved it so much, deeply satisfied because it was everything and more than we anticipated, and ready to start charging up for the next time. Get ready for the next time because you are tall enough for the Matterhorn.

In His Grip,

Jerry

Shh...On Two Wheels, more or less

Shh…On Two Wheels, More or Less

    This past Sunday I was sitting in the balcony for the service because that’s where my family was and my personal preference is to be with my family and worship and, whenever possible, hear God speak to me. Early Sunday mornings it is my custom that when I awake to take that Sunday morning’s bulletin and pray through the services, the participants and their particular part of the service, for the church staff and their ministry area, for the congregation that morning, our missionary partners, and the various items found in the bulletin which is a wealth of information and prayer opportunities. Thank you Nancy for being so faithful to email this goldmine to me, I appreciate all you do in His service. Because of my early morning prayer session I was there in anticipation and ready to be blessed hearing from Ashley Adamson, our wonderfully blessed Director of Children’s Ministry. Ashley is the real deal, filled with the Holy Spirit, and actively pursuing God’s will. She makes me wish I were a little kid again even knowing I’d have to face those teen years and all that angst again. I believed that God was going to speak through Ashley to me and they did not disappoint me. As is so often the case, it turned out to be very timely for me.

    Ashley spoke to us about the blessings of silence, how we should seek out solitude to go with it, and to go so far as to create special places and times for ourselves to be silent before our God. We should never be lonely because He is always with us and should take advantage of such times when we find ourselves alone to embrace the solitude of the moment and listen for the voice of God. These are “great opportunities for Godly discovery”. She talked about the discipline to practice silence in His presence and how difficult an activity such a passive sounding thing can be. Imagine, not speaking, putting your mind in a receive-only mode, shutting down the thousands of random thoughts about your life, and directing your inner thoughts to the task at hand, hearing God speak to you. OMG (yes, I spent time with a bunch of teen babysitters last night at church), this is the hardest thing I undertake in my spiritual life! The silence part is not all that difficult for me as I am by nature, a quiet and introverted person, much to the contrary as to how God has determined to use me over the years. I am generally slow to speak and when I do it is usually with conviction. A very good friend has referred to me as an Ent; go ahead and Google the word for a laugh. It’s those times that I’m not following my own general rule that tend to cause me trouble. My biggest problem for this discipline is the quieting of my mind and harnessing my thoughts and bending them to be completely surrendered to listing for Him. Ashley referred to Richard J. Foster’s “Celebration of Discipline” as a great resource of this practice and I have to concur; read it, you’ll like it. I use the word “practice” here because that is what this should be, practice and discipline. Starting out, go as long and completely into it as you can. Then the next time go longer and deeper. Sounds like a workout doesn’t it? If we want our spiritual abilities to improve then we have to exercise them. A principle that I have shared with young and old audiences is “SAID”, Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand. If we practice being passive in front of the TV then we’ll get better at being passive. Trust me on this one, I’m pretty strong in the passivity department and it’s my biggest hurdle to writing. If we practice the spiritual disciplines then we’ll get better at being spiritual beings, in touch with Our Father and, as with any healthy practice, we will live longer and be filled with Joy. This is such a tough discipline for me that I often times go a long while without it and it then requires a difficult season ahead to send me to solitude. One such season starts about a month before Mission Arizona, peaks during the trip, and levels off a week or so afterwards. I seek short respites from the turmoil to charge up and find His direction and usually at some point during the trip when I’m feeling lost and ineffective and pleading for a meeting He tells me that He’ll meet me in the way and then He does. Is it any wonder that when I believe it to be His will that I embrace MAZ?

  Well, all this and I haven’t even touched on the “very timely for me” part or put this on two wheels. Perhaps there will be space for a paragraph on that toward the end. This has gone in a different direction than I thought it would but I’m having too much fun and feeling too blessed to stop now. Ashley used the forced silence of Zechariah (Luke, Chapter 1 is the reference) during his son John the Baptist’s incubation as her biblical anchor for the message. How great was that! It was the first Sunday of Advent, Zechariah starting on the journey to bring John the Baptist, the herald of Christ our King into the world. Sweet. Ashley shared how Zechariah’s silence was forced, a punishment for his unbelief, but that it was in truth, a real blessing to him. He came from the temple and the people knew he had seen a vision but was unable to speak. After his term of service in the temple was over he returned to Elizabeth, his wife and continued following the vision and she became pregnant with John the Baptist. The confirmation of Ashley’s contention that this was a blessing comes when Zechariah completed the command from the vision, naming his son John (vs. 62 – 66) and then bursting into prophesy (vs. 67 – 79).  I can’t help it, I have to quote part of the prophesy here, Luke 1, 76 - 79:

“And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”

My friends, this is how I pray for my own children, their children, their spouses and significant others, and my beloved wife; that they go before the Lord, prepare a way for Him and give the people knowledge of their salvation. I thank Him for the tender mercy of their blessings in my life. Neighbors, this is how I pray for the children God brings into my life, the people who cross my path, and especially those that are yoked with me in shared service for MAZ and the children. I have a confession to make here. Typing this I broke down completely and wept with conviction because I don’t actually do this enough and fear that I’ve failed Him and in some way let somebody go by that needed a blessing right then. While I feel strongly that the Lord wants me to be writing, I believe that this is God’s highest calling to me; to pray for the children and bless those around me.

I was going to continue on with my timely practical application of Ashley’s message that I used on two wheels but I just can’t, maybe later this week. I have to leave this post here and encourage you, my friends, to seek out the quiet place, the silence, the solitude, and hear God speaking to you. You’ll probably be broken by it but a broken and contrite spirit, God does not despise.

In His grip, jerry