pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: worship


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Our Worship

What kind of worship do you think God likes best?  Yes, I did ask that.  I think God most likes the worship that brings all the glory and honor to Him.  That may happen in a lot of different styles and settings and experiences.

Ezra read from the scriptures and the people listened attentively.  They raised their hands up toward heaven, seeking to connect to God.  They bowed their heads low, seeking to demonstrate their obedience and submission to God, to His holy Word.  In prayer they laid low to the ground.  All of these gestures were done to bring honor and glory to God alone and to indicate the conditions of their hearts – hearts fully committed to God.  But this is not the only way on can worship God.  David danced in the streets as he worshiped God.  Jesus went alone up on the mountain to worship God.

In our churches, our worship can vary greatly too.  It amazes me how many ways we can worship God and bring our praises to glorify God.  Musically it can be a stirring organ or a rocking praise band or a beautiful piano gently playing a song.  Vocally it can be a moving choir or a single voice lifted beautifully in praise or it can be a whole congregation raising the roof.  Prayer can be vocal with hands lifted high or it can be kneeling at the rail with head bowed low in reverent silence.  The Word can be read together or it may just be the liturgist.  The variances in tone, gesture, inflection, pace, and so on can be great even within one sermon.

God desires our worship to reflect the condition of our heart.  Does our individual worship on a Sunday in church reveal a faith fully committed to God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength?  Does our worship fill us so completely full of God that we have to go through the week ahead pouring Him out to all we meet?  This is the worship God desires.

Scripture reference: Nehemiah 8: 5-6


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An Act of Praise

“I will praise the Lord all my life.” (Psalm 146, verse 2a)

We find this line at the beginning of Psalm 146, one of the “Hallelujah” psalms.  Each of the last five psalms in the book focus on the idea of praising the Lord.  It is a great way to end the book of Psalms.  In verse 2a the psalmist pledges to praise God all of the time.  This too should be our pledge.

How would our daily life and perspective on life change if we really did live in a state of constant praise to our God?  How would our life look if all we did was bring praise and glory to God?  I imagine our witness would be quite different!  If we lived and breathed a constant praise to God, imagine how our light would shine!

We are created to live this way, implanted with the spark of the divine since our conception.  God’s desire is for us to reflect His light and love all of the time, not just in church for an hour or just when we are with our church friends.

To live as a constant praise to God requires some choices.  First, we must fully trust in Him as our all in all – our provider, comforter, healer, creator, …  Second, we must actively thank God for all of the blessings in our daily lives.  In doing so we reinforce that God is really our all.  From this deep well of trust and thanksgiving, may we pour out our lives today and every day as an act of praise to our God and King!

Scripture reference: Psalm 146


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Praise Indeed

Today is “Native American Day” in my home state.  I think in every state except South Dakota that today is “Columbus Day.”  I do not know the reasoning that went into the name change and shifting the focus of the day, but I think it is cool.  The Lakota and Columbus both tie into a theme found in Psalm 104 – discovering something amazing.

Psalm 104:1 calls for us to praise God who is great and who is clothed in majesty and splendor.  For the Lakota and many other indigenous peoples, there is a holy connection to the Creator and to all of life.  They see the Creator God in all things and in all of life.  God ‘pulses’ through each creature, mankind included.  The Creator is the life force.  In my Lakota friends I see the wonderful way that they have of continually discovering God and His goodness in people, nature, and so forth over and over and over.  It is awesome!

Columbus set out into the unknown to try to find a new way.  As Christians we often wrestle with our faith and in knowing the unexplainable God we worship.  As we walk along on our journey of faith, we often encounter the unknown or that which we cannot give a logical explanation right away.  Yet with time in the Word, in prayer, in study, and in meditation, we can often find a way to either a new place of faith or to a place where we are comfortable again with God.  Often we are also reminded of how immeasurable and big our God is.  This connection builds our faith as well.

In Job, God tells him to brace himself.  Sometimes I think we are like Job in this. When we are willing and open to God and where He wants to lead us in life, sometimes I think I need to brace myself.  To trust and step into this unknown takes a lot of faith and trust.  God asks Job (and us) who was there when the foundations of the earth were laid or when the cornerstone was set.  God reminds him and us that none were there except the stars and the angels!  It is good in this story to remember that God was there before the beginning, at the beginning, is here now and will forever be.  Praise indeed for the God of the universe and the same God that walks and connects with us daily so that we can discover and grow in our faith.

Scripture references: Job 38: 1-7 and Psalm 104:1


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The Gift of Music

Have you ever heard a song and continued with the words or the tune long after it stopped playing?  Ever had a song come to mind as you were praying over a concern or trouble?  Music has a way of soothing and also a way of encouraging.

Psalm 124 is believed to be a call and response song often sung as people made their way up to the temple for worship.  The content of the song recalls how God has intervened in the past to save Israel from its enemies.  It was a concrete reminder of how God is always present to protect the people, always there to preserve at lead a remnant.  As Psalm 124 was sung, it also reminded the people of their dependence on God.

We too are often blessed by God’s hand and are often living under His protection.  The words of songs or hymns that we know can remind us of these gifts.  Their words can also encourage and lift us up in times of need.  Music can be powerful.

Psalm 124 prepared the people for worship as they made their way to the temple.  It put them in the right frame of mind.  I imagine at times people would sing or hum the song as they went through the ups and downs of their daily lives.  Music serves to connect us to God as well, reminding us of who God is and of how we are in relationship with God.  May we too find encouragement and strength when needed and may we offer up our praise and thanksgiving as well through the gift of music each day.

Scripture reference: Psalm 124


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Hearers and Doers

We communicate in many ways, often without words.  People can easily pick up on our mood just by watching our facial expressions.  The things that matter most in our lives are revealed by the priorities we use to allocate what we do with the free time we have.  We can express ourselves with words as well, but James makes the case that our actions speak louder than our words.

As an individual and as a community of faith, we should have an active faith that shows our beliefs by how we live out our lives.  Simply by observing how we treat others, how we offer ourselves to those in need, and how we handle the adversity that life brings should reveal our faith.  It is often through these observations that we gain the social capital necessary to share the good news of Jesus Christ with another.

Many will gather today in worship.  If a person were to observe your worship today without being able to hear any of the words or the music, would they see joy and praise in you?  Would they see one who is happy to be in the presence of God and one who is lifted by the experience?

As we gather together today for worship, we have much to offer each other.  Today we will have the opportunity to hear the words of life.  It is a choice to listen to and to engage these words so that one can grow in their faith and holiness.  It is a choice to allow the word of God to take root and to continue to ponder how it affects our life as we go through the week ahead.  May we receive what God has to offer today so that we become doers of the word defined by the Word and led by the Holy Spirit.

Scripture reference: James 1: 17-27


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Why Church?

Those that sat in a sanctuary or some other place of worship yesterday made a choice to be there.  They got up, got ready, and came to church.  For many it was just like most other mornings, except they went to church instead or to work or school.  For some, they fought through something that was heavy upon their hearts like depression or grief or some issue at home or work or school and came to church.  For others, they had to fight the kids or their spouse or significant other, but they came too.

Some that came weighed their options – golf or fishing or hiking, or sleeping in , or yard work, or … – but decided in favor of church.  Some also pondered these things and decided not to come to church.  To be honest, there were some in  the other groups who came to church who would not have if the choice was fully theirs.

This all leads to the basic question: why do we go to church?  The answer is not tradition or because we are supposed to or because there is nothing else to do.  It is not to check off a box or to avoid questions later at the family gathering or to gain some social standing for being a church goer.

When Solomon built the temple and had the ark of the covenant brought up to Jerusalem to be in the temple, something amazing happened.  The Most Holy Place filled with a cloud.  The temple became filled with the presence of the most high God.  He was there in that place.

While it is true that God is everywhere, we find that in church we most often encounter the presence of the living God.  It is in the settings of community and in corporate worship that He is present.  When we gather to sing and praise His name, to spend time in prayer and in the Word, to confess and be made right with our God, it is then that He is present.  To be in the presence of the almighty God, this is why we go to church.

Scripture reference: ! Kings 8: 1, 6, and 10-11


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Immeasurably More

As we gather together in worship we get a glimpse of the community of faith in unity.  We come together in Word, in prayer, in song, in spirit, and in praise.  We come together on a regular basis to celebrate the Lord’s Supper and to find forgiveness as a people of faith.  In worship we are rooted together.

We are all equal before God and nowhere is that more evident than in worship.  In those seats in the sacred space young and old, rich and poor come together.  We unite as one regardless of social, economic, or ethnic background.  All come together to offer our praise and thanksgiving to God.  In world we are blended together.

It is in worship that we experience God’s power, authority, grace, love, forgiveness, and presence.  Out time in worship is a time when we are made new and refreshed to return to our lives in the world.  It is also a tie when we are equipped and empowered to go forth into the world to share the good news of Jesus Christ with others.

During worship we come to see through Word, prayer, sacrament, and song that our God is indeed great.  We come to see that He can and will do immeasurably more than we can ask for or imagine.  We come to feel His power within us and we are filled with His desire to share His glory with people through all the generations.  His is a presence experienced in community – community with each other and with God.  May all find Him in community with others this day.

Scripture reference: Ephesians 3: 20-21


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Dancing with Might

David knew God needed to be at the heart of Israel’s worship so he gathered up 30,000 men and went to retrieve the ark of the covenant.  David brought the ark “home” to reside with the people and it brought great joy.  David’s heart was so moved that he danced with all his might before the Lord.   The song “Undignified” speaks of this – one lines days, “nothing Lord is hindering this passion in my soul.”

Of if I could just live my life that way!  To be passionately sold out for God and to joyously allow my love for Him to fill all I do… that would be life!  The song also says, “lay my pride by my side.”. This is where I get stuck.  I think others do too.  We let ourselves get in the way of truly worshiping and living for God.  All I need to do is lay my pride aside and allow God’s lead to be my guide.

I worry about the Michals in my life.  Michal is David’s wife and Saul’s daughter.  When she saw David dancing unrestrained before the ark, she despised him.  She was old-school, raised in religion, not in faith.  Her heart was hard towards this open, exuberant show of love for God.  She was dignified and proper.

The song begins, “I will dance, I will sing, to be mad for my King.”. The verse ends with, “and I’ll become even more undignified than this”.  May I be like David – willing to live and dance with all my might for the Lord of my life and the salvation of all mankind.

Scripture reference: 2 Samuel 6: 1-5 and 12b-19


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Better and Better

In our daily walk of faith I think God is seeking effort not perfection.  There will be days when we struggle to focus in our daily prayer time.  Every now and then our lives are so harried we cannot even remember the scripture we just read, nevermind meditating and reflecting on it.  God does not expect perfect children.

God does expect effort though.  If it is our desire to know God, we must invest in the relationship.  In life we get to know someone by spending time with them, by observing them, by listening to their stories.  If it our desire to know God and to hear His voice, this will require time and effort on our part.

The Good Shepherd cares for each of us.  Jesus laid down His life for each and every one of us.  He wants to guide and protect us, to teach and give discernment, and to offer rest and peace.  Jesus knows each of us by name and He knows all of our needs.  His desire is that we would know Him intimately as well.  Jesus wants us to be so close to Him that hearing His voice becomes second nature to us.

It is through prayer, study of the Bible, meditation, worship, and reflection that we come to know Jesus.  In these, prayer is of particular importance.  It is within these moments of personal silence before our Savior that He can best speak to us.   We must provide time, space, and attention to hear His voice.  We can also hear His voice in the practice of these other disciplines as well.  For some this is especially true in worship.  As we consistently spend time with our Good Shepherd, we draw closer and closer.  This day and each day, may our hearing become better and better.

Scripture reference: John 10: 11-15ap


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His Presence

Have you ever had an experience or a moment where you felt God’s presence unexpectedly?  Most of our encounters tend to be either in worship during a song or sometimes during an intense time of prayer.  But have you ever had a visit from God outside of these cases?

At times maybe you have been moved by God from something in nature – a beautiful sunset or a powerful thunderstorm.  Maybe it was in a moment of tragedy or in an experience with an act of heroism where you could sense His presence.

In all of these cases where suddenly God is in our midst, how do we respond?  Are we like Peter, scrambling for something to do, or do we move on quickly, made uncomfortable by the unfamiliar?  Or is yours a different reaction?

When God is present in a song or time of prayer during worship, I hope the moment never ends, that the song or prayer just goes on forever.  I find the same desire to extend His presence during a storm or other event in nature, but that too always ends.  Although all of these experiences come to an end, there is no denying that God has been intimately present.

And what is our repsonse?  What do we do with this amazing divine encounter?  Immediately after the expereience, our common feeling is awe – sometimes we are hardly able to express what we feel in words and sometimes we feel as if we cannot believe what we just experienced.  As the feeling of awe passes we usually move to thanksgiving and often to praise.  It is the natural response of a grateful heart.  It is essential that we always offer our thanksgiving and praise, for we have been directly blessed by the living God.  Today, may you be blessed by our living God!

Scripture reference: Mark 9: 2-9