9 April: Tuesday Refocus

“The church - the body of Christ - is the place where God invites us to renew our loves, reorient our desires, and retrain our appetites.” - James K.A. Smith

Every person is a tangled mess of loves, desires, and appetites. At the moment of conversion, followers of Jesus have been given a new heart, and from a new heart flows new affections (Jeremiah 31:33, Hebrews 8:10). But we will spend a lifetime for our affections to be continually transformed - this is the ongoing work of sanctification.

Through the power of God’s Word, God’s Spirit, and God’s people that I…

…am reminded of who I am, who I am not, and who I am called to be. 

…come face to face with a life in community that breaks apart my desire for self-sufficiency.

…learn to serve rather than be served.

…am both wounded and healed.

…am reminded of who God is, and what He has done.

Father, may we joyfully submit to Your work through Your people for Your glory and our good, amen.

Amen,

AB

Good Friday

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

Guest Worship Leaders

Whether leading worship for a specific event, filling in at the last minute because of an illness or joining the rotating of worship leaders for a church I did not attend, I have had the opportunity to lead worship as a guest many times over the years. It is a gift to be reminded that the Church is larger than my church. That the body of Christ is diverse, global, and growing down the street, across the country, and around the world. Here are a few things I have learned that I hope will help worship leaders who are leading as a guest, but also those churches who are hosting guest worship leaders:

A word to the worship leader.

• You are there to serve. I know this might seem obvious, but in serving we must consider others more highly than we consider ourselves. Be willing to be inconvenienced, or to go with the flow of another style, setup, structure, or rhythm to a rehearsal and gathering. Practically, this might mean choosing songs that this body will know that are less familiar to you. Asking good questions about the team, the congregation, and the sermon. Offering yourself whatever is required and expected of others who serve weekly. Engaging relationally with the team - taking time to learn their names, and thank them for serving.

• Be gracious. It can be disorienting and uncomfortable to play music for the first time with someone you have just met. Be as gracious to the team as you hope they will be with you.

• Be a blessing. How can you encourage and speak life to the team, the leaders, and the congregation? How might you leave a blessing behind (Joel 2:14)?

• Communicate ahead of time. What is the gear you need? What is the expectation as far as speaking, leading, prayer, transitions, etc? How can you be prepared walking into rehearsal as well as the service?

A word to the host.

• Set Lists. If you are giving the guest worship leader the freedom to build the set list, provide them a master song list, as well as the last three to five weeks of songs. I once led worship for a church whose worship leader accepted a position and moved between Sundays. This church had no one to lead worship for the foreseeable future and was filling every week during their search for a new worship leader with guest worship leaders. In a situation like that, pair down a master song list to 12 songs or so - the band and the people will have enough change as you fill spots, do not also make them bear the weight of new songs every week in the in-between.

• Over-communicate. What do you want? What do you need? What is the expectation of the worship leader? Will you be giving them access to Planning Center, and communication to the team? Will you distribute songs, keys, communication and all you need to do is have the worship leader plug and play? Are paying the worship leader for their time, or the travel?

• Be generous. This does not necessarily mean financially - but how might you be generous in your encouragement and appreciation? Whether down the road or across the globe, taking time outside of your normal responsibilities, time away from your own community, and family is costly - can you celebrate and honor the people who are serving your community? Several times I have had people thank my wife and children or send me back with gifts for them because of their willingness to allow me to serve.

What would you add?

Pastoral & Prayers of the People

Often when our church is exploring the addition of new liturgical rhythms in our corporate gathering, I will be tasked with creating a one sheet for our elders and staff to review. Most recently we’ve been looking at incorporating a Pastoral Prayer - also called, Prayers of the People - during worship. What follows is a one sheet ‘On Pastoral & Prayers of the People’

People do not know how to pray. Even the disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray (Luke 11:1-13). If one of the primary aims of the corporate gathering is the spiritual formation of the people of God, we must learn to incorporate prayer intentionally; and not - as seems to be all too common - use prayer as a transition between various elements of the gathering.

Overview:

• The Pastoral Prayer or Prayers of the People is a form of intercessory prayer.

• Offered on behalf of the congregation with varied levels of participation and involvement from the congregation depending on the goal.

• Structured and purposeful in aim and scope, but can be extemporaneous, with the freedom to engage the unique cultural moment, as well as the needs of the congregation.

• Shepherding happens in obvious and subtle ways that outlast the moment.

• People are taught a framework to know how to pray, and how to move through prayer.

• People are allowed to give voice to the parts of their hearts, lives, experiences, struggles, and joy that they may find difficult to place within any other part of the corporate worship gathering.

Format: 

• A general, guided framework: (BCP, The Anglican Church in North America #140)

• The universal Church, the clergy, and people

• The mission of the Church

• The nation and all in authority (local, state, federal)

• The peoples of the world

• The local community

• Those who suffer and those in any need or trouble

• Thankful remembrance of the faithful departed and of all the blessings of our lives

• If guided: The leader reads each framework prompt (e.g.: Lord we pray for the elders of our church: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John…), pausing to allow the congregation to offer prayers silently. To conclude the section the leader offers something like: ‘Lord in your mercy…’ The congregation responds with something like, ‘Hear our prayer.’ These guided prayers rely heavily on the framework, but the content can be adjusted, or added to on the spot (e.g.: ‘We pray for there to be peace between Israel and Gaza…’)

• Written: said in unison with the congregation, or as a call and response.

• Extemporaneous: the leader prays using the framework as the guide to their extemporaneous prayer offered on behalf of the congregation. Like lines on a highway, the framework is used to shape the direction of this kind of pastoral prayer, without drawing attention to the framework itself - while still keeping the prayer ‘in its lane,’ and intended purpose.

4 February: Liturgy & Set List

• ALL I HAVE IS CHRIST

  Call to Worship: Psalm 25:1-15

  We gather we after week to gaze upon the Lord, to follow the path of steadfast love and faithfulness that is ours in Christ. But that is not something we can do in our own strength, we need the empowering of the Spirit in us, but we also need one another. So as we sing this morning, don’t just look at the screen, don’t just close your eyes, look around at your brothers and sisters - sing encouraging them to keep to the path of steadfast love and faithfulness.

• CHRIST BE MAGNIFIED

• THANK YOU JESUS FOR THE BLOOD

  Sermon: Mark 14:53-72

  Whether you are here this morning feeling the weight of sin and shame for your denial of Christ, or you are here this morning feeling like you have only ever followed Jesus at a distance, the invitation is the same: to draw near to the One who has first drawn near to us in Christ. Would you stand if you’re able, we’ll sing together.

• THERE IS A REDEEMER

• IS HE WORTHY

  Benediction

Choosing A Key

Choosing a key is a tricky business in this world of corporate sung worship. Trying to land on a key that allows men and women, young and old, competent and tone-deaf to sing out their praise to the Lord is nearly impossible. Like many things, you can likely find resources online that coach you through the key-to-key range that is best suited for congregational singing, but I am not a theory teacher, and this is not that post. Rather in this post, I want to offer a few points to consider when it comes to choosing a key:

1. What is comfortable for your range? Who is going to be leading this song? If something is out of range (low or high) for the vocalist who will be leading the song, it will automatically become more difficult for the congregation to follow along.

2. The original key. Many worship songs these days end up on the radio, which means they are likely pitched higher than even the worship artist would play or lead them live. Just because you can sing something in the original key doesn’t mean you have to. That being said, sometimes putting something in the original key can make it a lot easier for musicians and vocalists to learn their parts.

3. What else are you playing? A larger consideration for me in choosing a key to a song is the other songs surrounding it in the setlist. Now, this is not something I have to worry about as much using tracks and pads to smooth transitions, but I want to be able to move seamlessly from one song to another. As a guitar player this means thinking about things like - will I need to change a capo? Retune my guitar? If it is not in the exact same key, what are the transition chords I need to play to move me into the next song?

4. What key will be on the edge? Where can I pitch this song to encourage people to be right on the edge, and have to really sing out, but still be singable enough that they simply stop singing because it feels completely out of reach. I think about this with lighting in the worship gathering as well - I want it to be bright enough that people can see one another, but dark enough that they don’t feel exposed in their worship.

5. Consider the song. People will often give modern songs a hard time about the anthemic octave jump from one part to the next, but truthfully, if you sing a lot of hymns, the melody range can be just as significant. The only difference is that we have become familiar with these melodies in such a way we do not notice the jumps.

Ultimately, there is trial and error involved. One of the reasons I like Co-Leading, especially with men and women on the team, is that you can choose keys for a man to lead that will be comfortable for men, and choose keys for a woman to lead that will be comfortable for women. We need to be willing to serve our congregations, serve the song, and be willing to sacrifice some artistry - just because you can sing that high doesn’t mean this is the right place to make that known.

The Corporate Gathering Forming One Another

There is perhaps nothing the modern, Western, American loves more than personal rights and freedoms. We love our independence and the idea that we are self-made, capable of pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps, and are self-sufficient. Is it any wonder that this kind of cultural value embeds itself in the local Church as well?

When our lives are marked my individuality, why would we desire to…

…give of ourselves in service?

…die to our preferences?

…be inconvenienced?

…consider others more significant than ourselves?

…attend church when we don’t feel like it?

The corporate worship gathering is - in large part - for the spiritual formation of God’s people. And forming people spiritually is forming them counter to the currents of our individual culture.

One of the reasons we gather is to be reminded that we are a part of a story bigger than ourselves. That we belong to the family of God, made up of people from every tribe, tongue, nation, and language on the planet. This is a family that stretches throughout time, and history and will last into eternity. This family has existed before us, and will continue once we return to the dust. When we gather, we are once again caught up into the larger story, and find our place as one member of the body. The corporate gathering is not just for the individual, it is for the family.

And as the family gathers, we each contribute as many members of one body, as the Apostle Paul reminds us:

“For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.  If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.  If all were a single member, where would the body be?  As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” - 1 Corinthians 12:14-27

As members of this body we represent Christ to one another as a kingdom of priests:

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” - 1 Peter 2:9

“and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” - Revelation 1:6

One of the ways we represent Christ to one another is by putting on…

“…as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” - Colossians 3:12-17

All of this is why we should not neglect…

“…to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” - Hebrews 10:25

We are forming the community, and the community is forming us.

Leading Through Transition

Change is a part of life. Change can be messy, overwhelming, painful, and exciting, all at once. Whether it is leading worship in the midst of a global pandemic, adding additional services, changes in leadership and staff, reworking the format, or just the natural growing pains of sinners in relationship being conformed to the image of the Son, in significant and subtle ways our teams and churches are changing constantly.

Although change is inevitable, I do not believe that it has to send us spiraling into dread, hand-wringing, and attempts at control. Change and transition can lead us to open our hands, soften our hearts, and be reminded that we, not just leaders, but the led. We are stewards of God’s people, Church, ministry, and resources. I believe there are at least four key elements to navigating change effectively:

NAMING

“We get into trouble whenever we do not name things properly,’ says Ronald Rolheiser. Life and ministry move in seasons, leaders have a responsibility to help name and shepherd through seasons. Pete Scazzero and Emotionally Healthy Discipleship have excellent resources at learning to identify and name seasons.

PRAY

The first response of many to something new is often control, to strategize, or deny, and some become paralyzed. What if our first instinct, our first response was to pray? Pray for wisdom to the ‘…God, who gives generously to all without reproach…’ (James 1:5). Pray continually, pray with people, pray alone, pray as you move, and make decisions. Linger in prayer, don’t just fill up the silence, but create interior silence for God to speak to you as well.

BE STEADY

When the world feels unstable and unsettling, be steady. If there is an outward transition (e.g.: changes in leadership, adding services, changing locations, global pandemics, etc) this is most likely not the time to add - but a time to pair back. Keep things simple, accessible, familiar - in song choice, liturgy, format, and team members.

REST

I mean this in both the physical and spiritual sense. Physically, transitions take so much more effort mentally and emotionally, you will be tired - rest your body. God is trustworthy. Change and transitions give us the opportunity to lean on the truths we sing week-in and week-out. Do we actually believe that God is good? Kind? Faithful? Trustworthy? Loving? In control? We can rest in the reality of the character of God - even in the midst of chaos - trusting along with the Psalmist: ‘You are good and do good.’ (Psalm 119:68).

As leaders, we are not immune to the discomfort of change and transition. We have a responsibility not just to lead our people through these seasons, but ourselves as well. We too must properly name our own season, pray continually, find places of stability, and rest our bodies and spirits.

There is a continual challenge for every leader - regardless of the season - to lead truthfully, and authentically, while also not using our people as the lightning rods or receptacles of our own internal frustrations and fears. This is not a call to stoicism, but to discerning what will build trust and community among those you lead, and what will unduly burden them with additional turmoil.

We all need safe spaces and people with which to bring our full selves - fears, insecurity, and all. Cultivate the posture of heart before God which offers your full self before your world feels like it is falling apart. Find a good counselor, therapist, spiritual director, or wise friend who will listen and walk with you. Change and transition are hard, but they do not have to be terrifying.