Formation

Intentional Silence

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Within and without our world is full of noise. And our churches are no different. One of the things I see and hear increasingly is a complete lack of silence. Pads running the entire service, the band playing behind a call to worship or announcements, piano during the sermon, and on and on.

Our tolerance for silence is dwindling.

Truthfully, I do not mind a little musical cover for the elements of the service - our Good Friday service had wall-to-wall pads when we were not preaching or singing. I think that sometimes a little music helps people focus, and avoid being self-conscious. But as is true for many things, it can be taken to an extreme.

If our gatherings are forming our people, how is our perpetual space-filling forming our people? Where are the places where we are inviting our people to remember and practice the reality that “…the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.” - Habakkuk 2:20

The Louder Song

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Whatever has been of 2023, and whatever will be of 2024 - may the song of the Father be louder than the song of your enemies (Psalm 13:2).

“The Lord your God is in your midst,

    a mighty one who will save;

he will rejoice over you with gladness;

    he will quiet you by his love;

he will exult over you with loud singing.” - Zephaniah 3:17

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:

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?

Hidden Visibility

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In one of the churches of my youth, our Worship Pastor was classically trained. He could lead a band, conduct an orchestra, and direct a choir. He did not lead from an instrument, and truthfully, very rarely did he lead vocally. If you asked him, he likely would not have thought he was a brilliant vocalist. Most Sundays there was a small choir, a piano-driven band, and a handful of vocalists leading at the edge of the platform - and Steve off to the side, with a largely unoccupied microphone on a stand.

One of the things I have come to appreciate about Steve’s leadership as I have grown older is that when he led, he carried enough presence for the congregation to follow, without dominating the songs and setlist. He would give visual cues with his hands, raise his eyes, and turn toward the congregation when it was time to sing. But much of his leadership enabled the people of God to address ‘…one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord…’ (Ephesians 5:19).

When I began leading worship at our church in the United Kingdom, it took me - and them - months to learn the ebb and flow following one another. They would sing with such volume and confidence, and many times I would start to lead a song, but by the end of the song, they were leading me.

As production quality continues to increase across churches, as churches across denominational and cultural borders begin to look more alike, as backing tracks and strict time limits become more common, as congregations anticipate (or expect) their church worship teams and worship leaders look, sound, and lead like what they see online - some of the questions I am asking myself:

How can I lead with hidden visibility? Especially as someone who does lead from an instrument, who does lead vocally. I do not want the people I lead to observe my leadership as spectators but participate as worshipers. I want to lead with enough conviction, competence, and presence that people do not just think I am in my own ‘worship world.’ Nor do I want to lead as a performer or showman.

How am I encouraging increased ‘one-anothering’ in the corporate gathering? I do want to have so little margin, so little capacity for in-the-moment response that our services feel rigid. I do not want to be so visible - or so loud - that our congregation cannot hear the voices of the people of God as we sing to God or to one another.

As I think, pray, and plan for 2024 - Hidden Visibility is one of my goals.

Reinventing The Wheel

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I try to suppress rolling my eyes when someone describes themselves as ‘a creative.’ I believe that all people are creative because all people have been made in the image of a creator God. Generally, I think when people describe themselves this way, they mean that they are artistic.

One of the things I have seen in myself, and in working with creative artists is that we can often act as though change is a virtue. We want to explore the boundaries and edges of our creativity! New and unexpected is better than same and constant. And when you marry this kind of disposition to an attractional style of church (‘We need to have a draw, a show, something impressive that grabs attention, to get non-Christians in the door so they can hear about Jesus’), we can quickly become worship leaders that feel they need to reinvent the wheel week after week.

The longer I lead worship, the more convinced I am that leading worship is about the spiritual formation of God’s people. That it is about making disciples. And as it has been said - there is no formation without repetition (I don’t remember who said this first, but I am guessing I heard this from Jon Tyson or John Mark Comer). Are we truly, discipling and forming our people if the goal of our leading is to make every Sunday a unique, once-in-a-lifetime experience? I like change and I like employing creativity in the gathering. But I hope the aim and purpose driving those decisions is a deeper formation of the people of God, not just a cool and creative experience. Churches, cultures, leaders, and people have different styles, goals, and callings. There is not one particular way of serving the Lord which is morally superior. But like all things we are in danger of drifting away from our first love - especially if we do not acknowledge the ease with which we can drift.

Thoughts On Writing

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It has been said, ‘Write what you know…’ or others have said, ‘I write so that I might know…’ There is no doubt that words are formative. As followers of Jesus, we should not be surprised about this because God spoke the world into existence with His words. Jesus is the Word made flesh who sustains the universe by the word of His power. And God has given us His Word through Scripture.

Words are important. And personally, I believe that writing is important. That even if you do not consider yourself a writer, there is value, benefit, and importance to writing in, and for your unique context. Yes, write songs, but also write liturgy. Write in the language of your people, write to stretch them and grow them, write so that the trues of Scripture, deep doctrine, and beautiful devotion may inhabit their hearts, minds, and lives.

When considering writing, here are a few things I believe are worth considering:

Write all the time. Writing doe not just have to be pen to paper, it can also be exploring good writing, filling your own heart, mind, and life with things that are good, beautiful, and true.

Keep writing. I use my iPhone Notes app constantly. Lines, lyrics, phrases. Maybe they will turn into something - like a song, a call to worship, a blog, a responsive reading, a prayer, or devotional writing. Maybe those words are just a place for me to make sense of my own heart, and pour out my own praise. But keeping a running list of words, phrases, or quotes that have impacted me, can often jump-start a more intentional or focused time of writing.

Consider the purpose. If it is a song - is this a corporate worship song, a song of personal devotion, or something just for fun? What is it that the people of God need to hear? What is it that I just need to be able to say to God - or that He wants to speak to me?

Where are the gaps? As I am trying to bridge Scripture, songs, and liturgy, what words will help paint a clearer picture of the truths we are declaring? Does that passage of Scripture, Song, or pre-written liturgy already exist? If not, how might I prayerfully, and intentionally allow God to shape my words to fill in the gaps?

Are you feeling a need, a conviction, or a desire to write? How might you bring those desires to the Lord and allow him to shape them to bless, serve, equip, and challenge you, and those you lead and serve?

Tuesday Refocus: June 20

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“If we do not make formation in Christ the priority, then we’re just going to keep on producing Christians that are indistinguishable in their character from many non-Christians.” - Dallas Willard

Humans are meaning-makers and culture shapers. But we have also been shaped by our culture more significantly than we realize or recognize. Our thoughts, priorities, affections, preferences, expectations, tastes, and desires all bear the marks of the time, place, and people into which God has sovereignly placed our lives. Some of these realities need to be celebrated, some need to be redeemed, and some need to be outright rejected. Because what we know as followers of Jesus is that we have been adopted into the family of God (Galatians 4:4-7). We have been given a new heart, and a new identity (Ezekiel 36:26, 2 Corinthians 5:17). We are not of this world, but citizens of another country (John 17:16, Philippians 3:20).

To be formed into the image of Christ is not to be a cleaned-up version of the culture we represent, but to represent Christ in our cultures. “I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one (John 17:15).” 

Father, may it be so. Amen.

Amen,

AB

Experience or Formation

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Can I make a confession? I have an allergic reaction to the word ‘experience’ when tied to the corporate worship gathering. I certainly want our gatherings to be experiential - challenging and informing our minds, stirring our affections, and emboldening us to be sent out on mission. But the word experience unnerves me because that is the same way we describe entertainment - it was an experience. We had an experience. We use this word when speaking about goods and services, and products that we consume.

But my conviction is that the purpose of the corporate gathering of the people of God is the spiritual formation of the people of God. Formation does not happen in an instant. And therefore can often not be quantified, or codified as an experience. That is because formation is slow, steady, consistent process which occurs over time.

In the same way, the elements and the centuries have combined forces to shape the Grand Canyon or the Giants Causeway, so too our lives must be shaped by the Word of God, the people of God, and the Spirit of God faithfully over many years.

Experiences can be substitutes for formation because we can measure experience faster than we are able to measure formation.

Our culture is quite content with emotional Summer camp highs and quite uninterested in anything that does not spring up immediately. As followers of Jesus - and as worship leaders leading our team and congregation through the corporate gathering - we would do well to remember Jesus’ parable of the sower:

“That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.”” Matthew 13:1-9

May the Lord find in you and me, in our teams and in our congregations, good soil that produces the deeply-rooted character of Christ.

Weekly Preparation

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There are many things that are worth our time and preparation as worship leaders. The tasks are infinite, our time is not. When I consider my weekly preparation, I like to think of three categories: the music, the team, and the heart.

The music. Worship is more than a song, songs are an integral part of the work we do as worship leaders. The music needs to be prepared and practiced before we are able to lead our team or the congregation. I want to make sure that I have built my set list, communicated to my team, and set up our sound system, and ProPresenter as a regular part of my weekly preparation.

The team. Whether your team is a few people or many people, we must consider how to best serve the team in our preparation. Preparing the team also looks like knowing the team, and praying for them as we move toward service together.

The heart. We can prepare all of the external and obvious elements but if we have neglected to prepare our hearts, we do God’s people and ourselves a disservice. Has my time before the face of God been deeper, richer, and longer-lasting than my time on a platform or behind a microphone? What are you praying in anticipation for the gathering?

Several years ago I started using a checklist every time I led worship so that I empty my brain, and be consistent in my preparation. You can download that checklist for free here.

June 28: Tuesday Refocus

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“The Church does not need brilliant personalities but faithful servants of Jesus.” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

No crafting or filters. 

No lighting or cropping. 

No illusions or diversions.

No trickery, pretending, or hiding can fool the One who sees past outward appearances and to the heart of you and me (1 Sam 16:7).

Jesus tells his followers to “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves (Matthew 7:15)” How easy - especially in a social media age - to appear as something that we are not. But “…you will recognize them by their fruits… (Matthew 7:20)” because, “…a healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor a diseased tree bear good fruit (Matthew 7:18).” Healthy fruit is not produced in its own strength but grows through abiding (John 15:5).

The faithful servant of Jesus bears fruit in keeping with repentance (Matthew 3:8). It is the fruit of the Spirit that marks the faithful servant of Jesus - more than the brilliant personality (Galatians 5:22-23). But perhaps it is faithful servants of Jesus who possess the most brilliant (but less outward) personalities.

Lord, may our lives be found abiding in You. May we bear fruit in keeping with repentance. May we bear the fruit of the Spirit. Even if our lives do not burn bright from the perspective of social media, may they burn bright with faithfulness to You. In Your name, amen.

Amen,

AB

Good Friday

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Who can call Good Friday good?

The betrayal, wrongful conviction, torture, crucifixion, and death of Christ can only be called good in a universe where God is sovereign and in control of all things. A world where all wrongs are made right for God’s glory and our good. Good Friday is only good when viewed in light of Resurrection Sunday when viewed in light of the life that is ours in and through the death of Christ.

Who can call Good Friday good?

Those who have had their sin removed as far as the East is from the West. Whose sin is buried beneath the ocean of God’s grace, kindness, mercy, and forgiveness. Those who have become the righteousness of God because Christ became our sin. Those who never have to die because Christ died once for all.

Who can call Good Friday good?

The Father, Son, and Spirit can call Good Friday good.