Christian

30 April: Tuesday Refocus

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“Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.” - Romans 12:9-14

In a world that prides itself on radical individualism, perhaps there is nothing more counter-cultural than intentionally investing yourself into the community of faith - to know and be known. To serve and be served. In humility to count others as more significant than yourself. To contribute to the needs of the saints.

In a world that prides itself on the vilification of anyone who thinks differently, or mistreats us in any way - perhaps one of the most counter-cultural acts is to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. To cross the greater distance of relational divide. To bless and not to curse. To live peaceably with all people as far as it depends on you. Not to cancel people who have hurt us or abandon a relationship over a misunderstanding. Not to hurt people before they hurt us, but instead to seek the good of the other.

For followers of Jesus, when we love our enemies, what we are saying is ‘I know I once was an enemy of God, but because of Jesus, I have been completely forgiven. If God can forgive me of all my sins, how can I not offer forgiveness to those who have hurt me?’

Father, may these things be true of us by the indwelling and empowering work of your Spirit. In Christ’s name, amen.

Amen,

AB

Good Friday

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Lent is the season of bright sadness. And perhaps we feel the sadness most acutely on Good Friday. We take the bread and wine, behold the cross, read of the suffering Savior, and recognize the severity of our own sin. And still, on this side of the cross, we know that resurrection has come - and is coming - brightness - life, hope, return. So whether you gather with the people of God, or reflect silently and individually today, lean into the sadness and feel it give way to brightness.

Here are a few other Good Friday reflections:

Good Friday - 2023

Good Friday - 2022

25 February: Liturgy & Set List

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  • GLORIOUS DAY

    Call to Worship:

    Welcome to worship on this Lord’s Day, and this second Sunday in the season of Lent. During Lent we reflect upon and repent of our sin, we reflect on te cross, and look with joy to the hope of the resurrection. So if you are here as a follower of Jesus you can sing words like ‘I ran out of the grave…’ not because of something you have done, but because of Christ’s completed work on your behalf. Let’s celebrate who Jesus is and what he’s done as we sing:

  • O PRAISE THE NAME (ANASTASIS)

  • TRISAGION

    Take a few moments now to name and confess your sin to the Lord, turning from your sin, and turning toward Christ…

    Let’s confess our sin to God and to one another:

  • Book of Common Prayer Corporate Confession

  • Sermon: Mark 15:40-16:8

    Would you stand if you’re able? Buried with Christ in baptism into death, raised to newness of life - this is what we witness in baptism. And if you’re here as a follower of Christ, we are going to confess what we believe about our faith in the words of the Apostles’ Creed.

    The Apostles’ Creed

    Baptism Affirmations

    Baptisms

  • NO BODY

    Benediction

Liturgy: Start Here

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The longer I lead worship the more heavily I lean into liturgical rhythms and practices. I have seen in my own life how deeply formative these practices slowly, consistently, and over time transform my affection and attention. But if you say ‘liturgy’ or ‘liturgical’ in some contexts, they immediately think Catholic. But liturgy has nothing to do with style, nothing to do with denominations. The word liturgy is Latin for ‘the work of the people.’ Every gathering is formative whether it is shaped by smells and bells, or loops and lasers.

When I served on staff at a church in the UK, apart from the Church of England and the Catholic Church there really was no context for liturgical rhythms and practices. So when I started bringing up the idea of corporate confessions, responsive readings, and scripted prayers, I had to spend time helping our people grasp the purpose and intention behind incorporating elements that were immediately associated with churches to which they intentionally did not belong.

But discipleship is the long game, so just because you serve in a context where there may be misunderstanding or immediate resistance to incorporating new rhythms does not mean you should not try. If you are looking to create liturgical rhythms within the community you serve, I think the church calendar is a great place to start. Engaging the seasons of Lent and Advent. So if you’d like to dip your toe in the water of more intentional liturgy, here are a few things I’ve written that can get you started:

What Is Lent?

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God has designed our world to be shaped by seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. Our lives are also shaped by seasons - made up of times of abundance, joy, and celebration, as well as times of suffering, pain, and loss.

This is why our calendars are filled with holidays, literally meaning holy days. These are days set apart from all the rest. We mark the days that have marked us. These holidays remind us every season of who we are, where we have been, and who we desire to be. So too with the Church calendar. Followers of Jesus have designed and followed the Church calendar to mark their lives and days by the arrival, life, death, resurrection, ascension, and return of Christ.

Beginning on Ash Wednesday, for forty days during Lent, we strip away some of our usual comforts (often through fasting) to create more space for reflection, repentance, and refining. These days ready our hearts to gaze upon the gore of Good Friday, and the glory of Resurrection Sunday.

Although there is no biblical mandate to celebrate the season of Lent, there are countless calls to remember. During Lent we remember our sin, we remember the suffering of our Savior, we remember his triumph of Christ over satan, sin, and death - and that is why Lent is not sullen, but sobering.

Beginning on Ash Wednesday, Lent is the period of forty days (excluding Sundays) leading up to Resurrection Sunday. These forty days represent the forty days Jesus spent facing temptation in the wilderness preparing for His earthly ministry and the ultimate purpose of his Advent: his death, and resurrection (John 6:38, Matthew 20:28). We trace the shadow of our sin through the shadow of Christ’s cross and empty tomb. This season invites us to acknowledge, expose, grieve, lament, and repent of our sin, and to our Savior once again.

When Others Don't Feel Like Serving

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Last week I wrote about serving when you don’t feel like it. But what about when people serving alongside of you do not feel like serving? Part of leading is shepherding your own team members off the platform to an even deeper degree than the leading you do from the platform in song, word, and liturgy.

Every person is unique, every circumstance different, but here are six considerations when it comes to walking with a team member who doesn’t feel like serving:

What is at the bottom. Is this a one off? A rough rehearsal? Conflict with a team member, the church, or in their personal life? Is this a reoccurring pattern?

Finding and reevaluating rhythms. My current expectation with the team I lead is that everyone is available at least twice a month. That does not mean they will necessarily be scheduled twice a month, just that I want them to be available twice a month. But when I audition new members, and communicate with regular team members - I communicate my expectation and ask, ‘How often would you be willing or interested to serve?’ Finding rhythms that are workable for our team expectation and the individual team members has been incredibly helpful for me in scheduling, as well as correcting my expectation of the team members.

Regular communication. Regular communication rhythms like feedback loops, and annual touchpoints or reviews can be helpful. But so can general conversation with your team members - ‘How is work? What do you have coming up this Summer? How is your family? Is this rhythm of serving still working for you? Do you need to take some time off? How can I pray for you? What does support look like for you in this next season?’

Know your people. One of the things that has been so helpful for me in learning the Enneagram is that I have a recognition that not everyone sees the world as I do. I don’t need to type every person I know how to know how to interact with them, but acknowledging that not everyone acts, behaves, or is motivated in the same way I am frees me to not expect from people to be anything or anyone other than themselves.

Time off. Maybe you have been on the receiving end of the dreaded, ‘I just can’t serve anymore,’ conversation. In my experience, these conversations usually reveal deeper (and often unrelated) issues. If you are having people express burnout, invite them to take time off rather than quit altogether. I would much rather be down a team member for a few weeks or months than loose a team member permanently.

Model what you want. When we gather to pray, I will often confess in my prayers how my heart feels scattered, and my affections are splintered, asking God to unite my heart, and our team to serve him and his people. I want my people to know they are safe with me, and can be honest and vulnerable - that does not scare me, and certainly doesn’t scary the God who knows us better than we know ourselves.

How about you?

How might you encourage a team member who doesn’t feel like serving?

23 January: Tuesday Refocus

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“The heart which has no agenda but God’s is the heart at leisure form itself. Its emptiness is filled with the love of God. Its solitude can be turned into prayer.” - Elisabeth Elliot

We enter a new year with excitement, anticipation, anxiety, and likely a few lists and plans for what we hope to accomplish, who we desire to become. Whether conscious or not, we have an agenda. But how quickly those best laid plans, or the pace of life fill every corner our heart, mind, life, time, and attention. Don’t you desire rest?

For the follower of Jesus, rest is not the reward for a job well-done. Rest is the posture of heart and life because Christ has accomplished what we could never do: heal the divide sin has wrought between God and man (Hebrews 10, Colossians 1:20).

Cease your striving, find rest in God.

Empty your heart, be filled with God’s love.

Silence the noise, and meet God in prayer.

“Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you.” - Psalm 33:20-22

Waiting,

AB

When You Don't Feel Like Serving

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I love leading sung worship. But some days, I don’t feel like leading worship. Some days I feel mad at God, frustrated with my situation, at odds with a brother or sister in Christ, unprepared, empty, or too distracted to be remotely present to the gift and responsibility to stand before the people of God and invite them to behold the Lord.

Living in a fallen world means our circumstances will never be perfect, often they will not even be ideal. Following Jesus means following Him on the mountains as well as into and through the valleys.

So what do we do when you don’t feel like leading? Here are three suggestions:

Be honest. Sometimes the simple act of truthfully confessing to the Lord, or to a trusted brother or sister is enough to free me from a funk. They say admitting you have a problem is the first step. Take the first step, be honest. Acknowledging your feelings and emotions begins to loosen the silent stranglehold.

Confess. Sometimes my sin, pride, or ego are tied up with why I do not want to lead worship. Is there something I need to confess - to God and or to my brothers and sisters?

Serve. Part of growing as an adult is fulfilling your responsibilities even when you do not feel inspired or motivated. In the post last week, I shared about how serving is an invitation to something and Someone outside of self. Part of serving well is moving through my own emotions, preferences, and agenda to participate in the larger story.

What would you add to this list?

Serving

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I get weird about the words we use in church. It’s not a stage, it’s a platform. We’re followers of Jesus rather than Christians. We’re not gigging, playing, singing, or even volunteering - we’re serving. For me, serving carries the idea that we are here for Someone and something outside of ourselves. We have responsibilities apart from our own goals and agenda. And our serving should be in response to the God who “…came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).”

How might we model service in our serving? Perhaps it looks like:

Serving the congregation you have, not the congregation you wish you had. Serving with the musicians you have, not the musicians you wish you had. Serving with the equipment you have, not the equipment you wish you had.

Sometimes that might mean choosing a key that wouldn’t be your first choice.

Sometimes that might look like introducing a song that will speak to your people but may not have been at the top of your list.

At one year's LIFT Conference, I heard Christy Nockels talk about how she envisions leading worship as table waiting - choosing the linens, cutlery, and the meal's pacing.

When we come to the house and table of the Lord, it is always God himself who is the feat. And waiting on this table means we are not focused on our own consumption or the feeding of a few, but at the insistence of the Master of the feast, we call people to taste and see that the Lord is good (Luke 14:23, Psalm 34:8).

2023 In Review

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I love speaking with people about corporate worship. I love speaking with people working through a theology of worship, the practical realities of serving on a team, or with volunteers. I think that is why I write about worship - I love that we as followers of Jesus, and worshipers get to think through how we encourage and equip the saints to worship with beauty and truth. As 2023 draws to an end, I wanted to collect all of my Friday posts in one place. I hope these words have been helpful to you:

Recommended Reading [Part 6]

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These are books that have challenged and encouraged me over the past year. I hope you’ll find some that can be useful to you as well:

Beholding - Strahan Coleman

We lead out of who we are. One of the things I appreciated about this book was how it encourages becoming - growing in our experience of God. We become what we behold.

The Secret Place of Thunder - John Starke

John is a great writer, and I have found his writing on prayer particularly helpful. But the tagline alone is worth the cost of the book: ‘Trading our need to be noticed for a hidden life with Christ.’ Whether we stand on large platforms in front of many people, or in the corner at the front of a small room - we are all easily tempted to trade hiddenness for being noticed.

Honest Worship - Manuel Luz

Manuel articulated some of the things I have wrestled with the past several years: How to have deep formation in our gatherings with creativity and musical excellence—the intersection of ancient practice with modern context. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed and appreciated this book.

A Church Called Tov - Scot McKnight, Laura Barringer

We are either working toward beauty, goodness, and truth, or we are drifting toward the opposite. Whether you are on staff at a church, serving as a volunteer, or attending as a member, each of us can - and should - work toward creating a culture of goodness within our churches. This book will likely become perennial reading for me.

Liturgical Resources

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“Tradition is a set of solutions for which we have forgotten the problems.” - Donald Kingsbury

I love hymns.

I love that liturgy forms us as disciples.

I love how reading, singing, and praying ancient words remind us that we are connected to a global Church that spans culture, continent, language, and generation.

Although some of my early church experience involved elements of formal liturgy, it was not until I was in college that I began to encounter liturgical rhythms and resources.

Other worship leaders, pastors, and liturgists would talk about the Church Calendar, seasonal colors, readings, prayers, and the intentional movements of the liturgy - but I could not understand how they knew all of that information. As I tried to find my feet in this context, the Worship Sourcebook was one of my most helpful resources. Explaining the seasons, and giving prayers, readings, confessions, and responsive elements for each season, and every service. Even as my understanding of Liturgical rhythms and the library of books has grown - this is always one of the first places I turn as I think, pray, and plan services.

More recently, I have incorporated the Book of Common Prayer into my preparation. A few of the elements I have come to appreciate about the BCP is that many prayers are incredibly succinct. Although I love using the Valley of Vision during times of personal devotion, I value the accessibility in language and the brevity of word count used in the BCP when it comes to corporate worship.

I think it is important to speak to current events in the gathering, but sometimes those events can feel like landmines in a service. But the BCP has a prayer for countless realities of living in a fallen world. When I can’t find my own words, when a topic feels important but delicate - I look for the ways the BCP can guide our congregation’s prayer and response.

How about you? Are there resources you use regularly that you have found helpful in thinking and planning intentionally for the gathering?