This morning I officiated at my first graveside service. As a pastor, I’ve married many people but this is the first time I’ve buried anyone. I didn’t know the man. In fact, it didn’t seem like many people did. He died last week at the age of 79. Was never married and didn’t have any children. His only siblings had died at very young ages (18 & 5). Of the nine people who attended the service, only one, his lawyer/estate overseer, had talked to him within the last years of his life. Two of the four first-cousins in attendance didn’t know him at all. Only one friend, a man who graduated high school with him, showed up. The last time he had talked to his friend was back in 1983. The other three in attendance never met the man (two from the funeral home and me).

It struck me as sad that someone could live their life and not make many waves when it ends. That something as significant as the cessation of a human life could take place without anyone really being affected by it sobered me.

It also caused me to take stock in my life and reflect on the many incredible blessings I have. It brought to mind the friends and family that I do have and inspired me to give thanks for them. I am blessed and I am thankful for the relationships I have. In helping me realize that today, I guess Robert Dunker did make some waves. And for that I am thankful too.

I’ve had the inauguration coverage on all day today as I’ve worked from home. I’m in awe of the pageantry and sit with guarded optimism that we will see change come. Even if President Obama doesn’t deliver on all that the world expects him to (he is human after all), witnessing the first African-American take the presidential gave me hope for our country. It’s amazing to know that many in my father’s generation probably never believed they’d see this come to pass. As I watched the ceremony with my four kids, it made me proud as we shared this historic day together.

With tomorrow being Thanksgiving, I find it only appropriate to record a (not so all-inclusive) list of things I’m thankful for.  Here goes:

• An awesome wife who doubles as my best friend and confidant.
• Four amazing kids who surprise me everyday by showing me glimpses of myself, their mom and the wonder and mystery of God through what they say and do.
• An incredible church family who seeks to follow after the heart of God.
• A job.  One that I actually love and would do for free (if all the basic needs could be met some other way).
• Guitars, amps and effects pedals!
• Music in all its forms.
• The deer grazing outside my office window.
• The promised renewal and redemption of creation - beginning here and now.

While the recording of Here On The Earth was newly created for our Essentials Blue final project, the song was actually born before the class began.  When I started reading Simply Christian by NT Wright, this song immediately came to my mind and stuck with me as I found it uncanny that the themes of his book and our additional class materials seem to be reflected in the song.  As a church, we’ve used the song off and on in various stages of completion during this year, but over the last two months it has really seemed to take hold and become meaningful to our local church.

I didn’t set out to write another Lord’s prayer song (although it’s plain to see the chorus is in part taken from it).  I intially wanted to write a Kingdom song that expressed the varied “snapshots” of the Kingdom - new creation coming as the future intersects and overlaps with the present.  I drew influence from a growing understanding that the Kingdom is not just about signs and wonders - although that is a big part of it - but also about bringing justice, building communities, living in right relatedness with all creation and the rule and reign of our King.  There’s a distinct tension in living in the already and the not yet and I’ve tried to reflect that as well in the text of the bridge and the Gmaj7 chord in the verses.  With a new lens I see the arrangement on the recording as a sort of “tone poem” representing the coming of new creation.  While the song begins sparse, it steadily builds into a crescendo with one final release representing the arrival of the future age.

For me, this really seems to be what the Father is doing right now - in my life and in our church.  Through the Essentials Blue coursework, I’ve re-discovered much about what I believe and have had my eyes opened to so much more.  For me it’s similar to having the capability of 100% lung capacity but only using 70%-80%.  I now see things that have existed inside me - thoughts, theology, beliefs, dreams, desires - in a fresh new way!   

here-on-the-earth - mp3

here-on-the-earth - chord chart

 Worship is our response to God. He initiates; we respond. He calls; we answer. He pursues; we surrender. He reveals; we stand in awe. John 4.19 says, ” We love because he first loved us”. Throughout history, human beings have responded to his overtures of love and courtship. As we see more and more of who he is, as we more fully comprehend what he has done for us and as we see how he is working in our midst, renewing all creation through the future overlapping with the present, our ability and desire to respond will grow (1).

The apostle Paul paints a detailed picture of what would be a proper response to who God is and what he’s done in Romans 12.1-2. Paul writes, “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”

As humans created in the image of God - the Imago Dei - we have responded throughout history in ways that reflect the dynamics of who he is and how he draws us to himself - as King, as Trinity, as Savior and as Creator.

Because our God is the King who rules and reigns, we respond in worship by bearing his image through living in righteousness - right-relatedness - with God, each other, ourselves and creation (2). Living in alignment with God’s desire to put the world to rights and bring justice to the oppressed, the broken and the poor is living a life of worship. Living in a way that reflects the glory of God through how we relate to him, how we serve and defer to each other, how we care for and love ourselves and how we steward creation is an image-bearing act of worship. 

Because our God “dwells in divine community” within himself (3) and is in essence relational, we respond in worship through every act of community building. Simply coming together as the church to corporately give our thanks and praise to God is a relational act of worship. The Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - gives evidence to how we are to live in community with one another through reciprocal love and submission to our fellow man. NT Wright says, “We must become, must be known as, the people who don’t hold grudges, who don’t sulk. We must be the people who know how to say ’sorry,’ and who know how to respond when other people say it to us.” (4)

Because our God is the Savior of all creation, we respond in worship when we tell his story through our words, lives and deeds. Humans were made for more than just living a secular existence. Most of us have some awareness of this but without the salvation story guiding us towards God as the “more” that we are created for, we are apt to follow another path. Telling the story of our Savior to those who have not heard the good news and retelling it to those who have are spiritual acts of worship.

Because our God is the Creator, we respond in worship when we, as agents of new creation, pursue reflecting his image in creative ways. This goes beyond the arts, but the arts have historically played a pivotal role in connecting us with our creator. As sub-creators, we worship when we write stories or poetry, compose melodies or rhythms, put oil to canvas or form to the clay. Designing inspiring superstructures, writing complex algorithms or shaping the landscape are also ways humans have given glory to God through the creative impulse.

God has spoken and continues to speak to us through these characteristics. When we respond to his call with our whole lives devoted to reflecting his glory through creative ways, through spiritual ways, through relational ways and through image-bearing ways, we act as advocates of new creation and are transformed as worshippers.

(1) N.T. Wright, Simply Christian:Why Christianity Makes Sense (New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 2006), 149
(2) Dan Wilt, essentials blue:Online Studies in Worship Theology and Biblical Worldview (New Brunswick, Canada: Institute of Contemporary and Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephens University, 2008), 29
(3) Ibid, 15
(4) N.T. Wright, Simply Christian:Why Christianity Makes Sense (New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 2006), 229

Living with a Christian worldview means acknowledging that we live in a world turned upside down from it’s original intended design.  Human beings were created in the image of God to glorify him and enjoy him forever (1).  But because of man’s disobedience, sin entered the earth and served to corrode what God had made.  Because our God is one Who pursues, he didn’t abandon us but rather set in motion a way to make things right by sending Jesus to live as an example of what it means to be fully human, suffer and die on our behalf as our Savior and rise again from the dead to rule and reign as our King.

When Jesus launched his Earthly ministry by announcing “The Kingdom of God is near” (2), he inaugurated a new era where we see the future interlocking with the present - heaven intersecting with Earth.  With his bodily resurrection, “God’s whole new creation emerged from the tomb, introducing a world full of new potential and possibility” (3). The resurrection of Jesus and subsequent commencement of new creation - God’s Kingdom coming to the earth - reveals God’s desire to put the world to rights. To reclaim the beauty of that first day in the garden, to see God’s justice prevail, to restore right-relatedness between all nations as well as all created things, and to live as one with our maker and he with us forever is the path history is leading us down (4).

As people created in the image of God, the DNA of the Almighty One flows through us.  Because of this, we are called to continue the work of Jesus and through the Holy Spirit, be agents of new creation here and now (5). We live with a faith that allows us to see that the Father is at work in the present (6), turning our world right side up again.  We are called to be creative people in the likeness of our Creator God.  We are called to “reflect his image into the world” and re-present him in our words and actions (7).  We are called into relationship with our God and others by letting grace, love and forgiveness lead the way.

(1) Westminster Shorter Catechism

(2) Mark 1.15

(3) N.T. Wright, Simply Christian:Why Christianity Makes Sense (New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 2006), 116

(4) Revelation 21.1-4

(5) N.T. Wright, Simply Christian:Why Christianity Makes Sense (New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 2006), 236

(6) John 5.17

(7) N.T. Wright, Simply Christian:Why Christianity Makes Sense (New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 2006), 209 

 NT Wright writes in his book Simply Christian, “When we begin to glimpse the reality of God, the natural reaction is to worship him.  Not to have that reaction is a fairly sure sign that we haven’t yet really understood who he is or what he’s done”.  As a worship leader, I’ve stood in front of the congregation many times and wondered, “Are these people believers?  Do they even know God - Who he is and what he’s done?”.  Of course I personally know that many of them are devoted followers of Jesus who regularly and passionately worship him in the secret and in the public place.  But it still causes me to wonder why there sometimes seems to be a disconnect between the words we’re singing to God and the way it’s expressed in the corporate setting.  When we sing “we stand and lift up our hands”, wouldn’t the expectation be to see everyone raising their hands? 

As a result, I begin to question my leadership.  Am I doing all I can to facilitate worship?  Am I or the team getting in the way?  Do these songs touch God’s heart and connect with the congregation?   In the Vineyard, we esteem the value for letting the Holy Spirit do the encouraging and convicting.  We choose not to work things up or manipulate the congregation in order to elicit a prescribed or expected response.  I like this core part of who we are.  I know that there are times when my personal expressions of worship flow without effort and other times when it’s truly a sacrifice to sing and kneel and lift my hands.  I have glimpsed the reality of God.  I know what he’s done.  But sometimes my stuff gets in the way and my natural reaction isn’t necessarily worship. 

For: The Institute Of Contemporary And Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephen’s University, Essentials Blue Online Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt 

 I process things slowly over time.  So it’s no surprise to me that thoughts from our first week are still developing and finding their way into my consciousness. 

Dan Wilt uses the phrase “The Utilitarian Veneer” in his article The Rise Of The Worship Artisan to describe the way the church has viewed art as a commodity.  This is a view that says “art has more value when it is useful or serves an obvious purpose”.  Reading this brief section caused me to think about my earlier training and understanding of art.  Before serving as a full-time pastor, I worked in the local public school system for 8 years teaching orchestra and band to junior high and high school students.   Because art and music programs are often on the chopping block when school district budgets are being evaluated, much of our training for teaching music centered around educating the masses that the arts have an intrinsic value whether or not they serve a an outward purpose.  Nevertheless, music and art teachers often feel pressure to demonstrate the practical value of the arts.  Our quartets served as incidental music at community events.  The pep bands played at football and basketball games.  If there was a practical side, we would exploit it. 

I must admit that early in my worship leading and for the first few years of serving as the worship pastor, this emphasis on the practicality of the arts dictated what I put my energy towards.  It’s easy and comfortable and obvious to the masses that music has a place in our corporate worship times - something that even the most ardent non-musician can agree to.  But when we begin to stretch our value for the arts beyond our corporate settings the push back back becomes a little more acute. 

Our church is slowly broadening its umbrella and acceptance for the arts.  We now have a gallery where local artists (even non-Christians!) can display their work.  We have an emerging drama team that has rekindled a passion for acting in many of our members.  Our technicians are also gaining an understanding of how their video, powerpoint presentations, sound, and lighting all have an artistic element to them.  These are the more obvious artistic expressions but I’m looking forward to helping foster a greater understanding of this idea that all of us are creative - regardless of our left or right brain orientation.  I’m just getting into this week’s material, but I’m excited about what’s to come!

Yep.  Changed the theme layout again.  I get bored easily.  We’ll see how long this one lasts.

For: The Institute Of Contemporary And Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephen’s University, Essentials Blue Online Worship Theology Course with Dan Wilt 

“The last time I checked, we don’t have a lot of songs that feature the cowbell!” - Will Ferrell.  It’s true that our contemporary worship hymnology is deficient in cowbell laden arrangements.  This is good or bad depending on your perspective.    Thanks to N.T. Wright and his wonderful books Simply Christian and Surprised By Hope, I’m spending more time thinking about the resurrection and life after life after death.  In doing so, I’m realizing the relative lack of worship songs that feature the theme of the resurrection.  Up until recently, I haven’t given much thought about the issue of the after life.  My viewpoint has typically leaned towards not worrying about it because “nobody really knows what heaven’s gonna look like, right?  So why worry about it?”  But I’m finding myself challenged more and more by this void.  As I see a greater connection between our present world and the world that will be remade, I’m finding it necessary to re-examine what we’re teaching and reinforcing to the church through our worship song selections.  Accordingly, I’ve even decided to remove one popular song from our index of options because it seems to reinforce the popular “it’s all gonna burn anyway” line of thinking.  I’m not sure what a relevant resurrection/new creation worship song would look like but I want to pursue finding out.  This is revolutionary stuff!