This last semester I received an assignment to write a 15 minutes sermon on Luke 24. Not a big deal. Then the class was asked if we were willing to share it in a one on one setting, I thought "Piece of Cake". Then the challenge; we had to give it to someone who was not a Christian. And that is when I came to the a sad realization that all the close friends I have in Eugene are Christians. Theres something wrong with that.
At my college we have an old joke that there is a bubble around campus that keeps outsiders away, which would be funny if it wasn't true. I understand how busy college life is. I'm a pretty good example of someone who has a habit of over committing, but I don't understand why we feel good about ourselves as Christians when most of our ministries are focused internally. There are plenty of folks at our school who aren't Christians. Considering the narcissism that we (here I could just as easily write "I", and would if I wasn't trying to blame my issues on someone else)display it's not hard to see why "they" have not become "us".
That takes me back to my point for writing this. Most interactions I have with people off campus are me buying things. Which, unless you count coffee, I don't do very often(Though I do frequent the Starbucks near campus enough to know the names of the baristas.) I don't participate in outreaches often, mostly because I don't like them very much (A topic for another time). I guess what eats me is that it has become so hard to relate to non and pre-Christians. Every day I can expect to have several conversations about God, and if I'm lucky will even get to argue theology with people (I love telling people that their wrong). I've grown much as a person and a Christian because of these, and that's great. But how much is Christ a part of my life if I no longer desire to spend my time with kind of people he chose as his friends?
When I read my Bible, which doesn't happen as often as I'd like, it impresses me how messed up Jesus' friends were. Look at who he chose to be his disciples. We have Simon who was a Zealot, known for their hatred towards Rome. Then there's Matthew the tax collect, a profession associated with dishonesty and greed. Then there's Peter, who in his own words was a sinful man. Not to mention that Pete and a few other disciples were fishermen. If you've never been to a port city before, sailors aren't the cleanest folks around. Then we have the prostitutes, beggars, demon possessed, and lepords he would heal and then invite to become his followers. Many of them were gentiles too. Today's equivalents to these would be our panhandlers (Bartimaeus), sluts (John 4), and the car repo-men (zacheas). and these scumbags were were Jesus' friends.
I should mention that each of them was also his friend before they made the decision to follow him. Makes me think that belonging does come before believing. I hardly have any friends that don't already follow Christ. So the kind of folks Jesus would hang with are way out of my comfort zone. I don't even like most Christians. If you doubt me on that just go read a history of my Facebook statuses. I don't always say nice things about the church.
So here I am, a third year ministry student who doesn't know how to interact with the secular world, but doesn't like living in the Christian one. It's a shame that the two are so far apart. I'm not sure how often the two interact, but it's not very often in my life. Whenever I talk with someone who does not believe in God I have no idea how to carry myself. I don't want to offend them, but I also feel the need to tell them of my friendship with God. I'm not a great friend to him or even people in general, but if I could just get folks to see how my relationship with Jesus is helping me change that I think they might understand why I've chosen to believe. But I don't think that the goal of our friendships should be to convert people to Christianity. If it is we'll miss out on the joys of relationship. Instead we should try and love people like God does.I suppose that's why the rejects followed him; Jesus sincerely loved them. It's what has kept me believing.
I think that this would be a good way for me to deal with Christians too. Maybe they would annoy me less if I loved them more. Or maybe not, but at least Jesus and I would have a little more in common. I think it helps friendships grow stronger when you have a lot in common. Either way, what I am asking God for this Christmas is that my heart will grow three sizes this year. And that my eyes would start to see people a little more like he does. Though I suppose that these two go together; the more I love someone the more I will see them as God does, and the more I view them like he does, the more I will love them. It's not a bad gift to put on my list, don't you think?
More to come
-Jed
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Worship Theology
This is something I wrote almost a year ago. Enjoy
Humans were created to Worship God. I am a human, and therefore exist to give glory to my creator. Now the method of achieving this purpose changed somewhat over the course of my life. As a kid I thought that praise and worship was something we did in Sunday school. When I had grown a little older I began to realize that it was much more than that. It was a way of life. At some point before I entered middle school I started to think about how I worshiped God. In High school I thought I had figured it put, and when I entered college I began to question the effectiveness of my attempts at doing this. I realized that the ways in which Christians can praise God extends far beyond my own methods to worship.
For much of my life I frowned on liturgical styles of worship. I looked at churches that used liturgies and criticized them for using tradition and ceremony as a means of avoiding an encounter of God. I would look at the prayers they read and ask how they could possibly use words written by someone else as a means of telling God what they wanted or felt. Then at some point this last semester I realized that I used prayers written by people I would never meet to intensely worship and encounter God. I call them praise songs. My critiques of liturgy came from a lack of understanding of what it meant, and the assumption that my style of praise was the right one.
Until last fall I had never attended a liturgical service. When I did it was an Eastern Orthodox service, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I found that the icons, incense, chanting, and liturgies made it easy for me to focus on the holiness of God. My mind that is so easily distracted could find no means of avoiding the message of God’s sanctity. This last semester I was able to learn the symbolism and meaning beyond some of the specific acts that are performed at these services. Understanding what was going on made the impact of the service so much deeper. I realized that I am not comfortable with things I am not familiar with with, and so I made false assumptions about the forms of worship I was not used to.
I have realized over these past months how important it is for us to understand what we do in church. Many of the songs my generation is familiar with are easy enough to comprehend, but they become so much sweeter on my lips when I realize what is behind the words. The stories of why an author wrote the words they did give the songs meaning beyond what the average worshipper may perceive. The song Amazing Grace was written by a man who dealt in the slave trade. When I learned his story I began to see how deeply he must have felt about the words he wrote. Liturgy can be the same way.
Communion is a form of liturgy, at least to me. Most Christians that have been attending church on a regular basis know the meaning behind it. At the last supper Jesus explained to his disciples that he was about to die for the sins of all mankind. Then he told how the bread represents his body and the wine his blood, then Christ gives the instruction for us to take the communion meal as a means of remember his life and the sacrifice he paid for us. Without this understanding, communion is just grape juice and stale crackers. Once I began to understand that most liturgies have a deep and powerful meaning behind them I started to like them and appreciate them for what they were; Acts of worship and expression of our lo0ve for God.
Much of what I have come to believe about worship and how we should do it comes from my belief that it is not how we worship God that matters, but why. The ways in which individual believers give God praise varies depending on the person. Everyone is created uniquely to reflect God’s perfection. No two people are the same. It then stands to reason that the ways in which we worship God are as also diverse. The circumstances someone is in can also affect how they choose to praise God. Where a believer is, how old they are, how they are feeling, and who they are with someone all influence what style of worship is most appropriate for their situation. Not all worship is done through ceremony, corporate praise, or within the church walls. In fact I would make the case that most of our offerings to God should take place away from church buildings during everyday life.
Within Christian culture there are disagreements on how we should glorify God. Some denominations insist that a capella songs are appropriate since the New Testament church sang that way. Others claim that the Holy Spirit must show up and manifest itself in the church through spiritual gifts, specifically the gift of tongues. some want loud, care free singing that uses multiple instruments and closely resembles a rock concert. And there are many other forms of praise and worship that a denomination or congregation may feel is more holy than other forms. My opinion is that the best way to worship God is the one that allows for a Christian to express themselves with honesty . If liturgy allows me to tell God how great He is, I should praise him with liturgy. If singing classical hymns enables a believer to see God’s glory, they should sing Him a Hymn. If silent meditation, thinking on what God is doing in your life or how awesome He is, draws your focus to Him, then do that. True worship is less about the method and more about the meaning.
Throughout the course of my life I have gotten the opportunity to participate in prayer meetings, Bible studies, Christian rock concerts, revival tent meetings, personnel struggles, played on sports team, and had many relationships with close friends and family. All of these were opportunities to give God glory. In some of these situations I was more successful at accomplishing this than others, but all of them gave equal opportunity to glorify God. We were not made to praise Jesus only when at church or while around other Christians. I believe that God desires for us to be praising him every second of our lives. However we are all sinners and do not follow His will perfectly, because of this some of our worship is repentance. Admitting that we have sinned and asking forgiveness invites God to begin to heal us, and restore us to where we are supposed to be. There exists no circumstance in which the opportunity to worship is completely removed from us.
Worship is not meant to be kept behind church doors. If a Christian’s praise is limited to only their time spent at Christian gathering, they do God a great injustice. He wants all of us. When I look at everything that he has done for man, from creation and the Garden of Eden, to His covenant with Abraham, to the laws given to Moses, His shepherding over the nation of Israel, up to the coming of Jesus I see the action of a God that wants to be involved in our daily lives. IN the time of the Tabernacle and the temple it may be true that God’s presence was most seen when he appeared in the Mercy Seat at the time of sacrifices, but the offerings themselves were in response to the sins of he Hebrews done outside of the temple in their daily lives. He is concerned about what we do with every moment of our time, so every moment of our time we should be concerned about pleasing Him. Which is another way of say giving Him praise.
Most of the time we hear someone talking about praise and worship, we Christians tend to refer back to pleasant experiences, or something that God has done which makes us happy. Jesus loves to share in our joys, but I am left wondering what happens to our opinions on praise when things go to hell in a hand basket. Some of the times on my life when I have most honesty expressed my love and appreciation for God have been some of the lowest points in my life. When things get hard or are situations are far beyond our ability to control, it is not easy to sit down and tell God how thankful we are for Him allowing us to be where we are. When we are honest with Him about what we are feeling, expressing our confusion and pain we are admitting our own weakness and need for His strength. Troubled times give us the ability to tell God how great He is despite our circumstances. Like in the book of Job, or when Jesus was praying in the garden of Gethsemane. God made us. He knows that we will not always feel like telling Him how wonderful He is, but He still wants us to acknowledge Him as lord over our lives.
Christian worship is so much more than Sunday mornings singing and sermons. It is our call to live our lives in ways that are pleasing to God. Acts of evangelism, helping the poor, forgiving those who hurt us, denying ourselves and refusing sin, hurting with those among us who hurt, celebrate our individual gifts, follow God’s commands, caring for our family, and anything done as an act of love is what we are called to do. If what we do is centered on and driven by love for our father it is a form of worship. We can be misguided and wrong in what we do, but He is capable of correcting us and moving us closer to Him and within his will. That’s why we call Him God. Proverbs 3:5-6 says “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.(NRSV)” I understand these words to say that if our goal is to honor God in what we do, even if we don’t do it right, he can and will use and accept it as worship.
More to Come,
Jed
Humans were created to Worship God. I am a human, and therefore exist to give glory to my creator. Now the method of achieving this purpose changed somewhat over the course of my life. As a kid I thought that praise and worship was something we did in Sunday school. When I had grown a little older I began to realize that it was much more than that. It was a way of life. At some point before I entered middle school I started to think about how I worshiped God. In High school I thought I had figured it put, and when I entered college I began to question the effectiveness of my attempts at doing this. I realized that the ways in which Christians can praise God extends far beyond my own methods to worship.
For much of my life I frowned on liturgical styles of worship. I looked at churches that used liturgies and criticized them for using tradition and ceremony as a means of avoiding an encounter of God. I would look at the prayers they read and ask how they could possibly use words written by someone else as a means of telling God what they wanted or felt. Then at some point this last semester I realized that I used prayers written by people I would never meet to intensely worship and encounter God. I call them praise songs. My critiques of liturgy came from a lack of understanding of what it meant, and the assumption that my style of praise was the right one.
Until last fall I had never attended a liturgical service. When I did it was an Eastern Orthodox service, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I found that the icons, incense, chanting, and liturgies made it easy for me to focus on the holiness of God. My mind that is so easily distracted could find no means of avoiding the message of God’s sanctity. This last semester I was able to learn the symbolism and meaning beyond some of the specific acts that are performed at these services. Understanding what was going on made the impact of the service so much deeper. I realized that I am not comfortable with things I am not familiar with with, and so I made false assumptions about the forms of worship I was not used to.
I have realized over these past months how important it is for us to understand what we do in church. Many of the songs my generation is familiar with are easy enough to comprehend, but they become so much sweeter on my lips when I realize what is behind the words. The stories of why an author wrote the words they did give the songs meaning beyond what the average worshipper may perceive. The song Amazing Grace was written by a man who dealt in the slave trade. When I learned his story I began to see how deeply he must have felt about the words he wrote. Liturgy can be the same way.
Communion is a form of liturgy, at least to me. Most Christians that have been attending church on a regular basis know the meaning behind it. At the last supper Jesus explained to his disciples that he was about to die for the sins of all mankind. Then he told how the bread represents his body and the wine his blood, then Christ gives the instruction for us to take the communion meal as a means of remember his life and the sacrifice he paid for us. Without this understanding, communion is just grape juice and stale crackers. Once I began to understand that most liturgies have a deep and powerful meaning behind them I started to like them and appreciate them for what they were; Acts of worship and expression of our lo0ve for God.
Much of what I have come to believe about worship and how we should do it comes from my belief that it is not how we worship God that matters, but why. The ways in which individual believers give God praise varies depending on the person. Everyone is created uniquely to reflect God’s perfection. No two people are the same. It then stands to reason that the ways in which we worship God are as also diverse. The circumstances someone is in can also affect how they choose to praise God. Where a believer is, how old they are, how they are feeling, and who they are with someone all influence what style of worship is most appropriate for their situation. Not all worship is done through ceremony, corporate praise, or within the church walls. In fact I would make the case that most of our offerings to God should take place away from church buildings during everyday life.
Within Christian culture there are disagreements on how we should glorify God. Some denominations insist that a capella songs are appropriate since the New Testament church sang that way. Others claim that the Holy Spirit must show up and manifest itself in the church through spiritual gifts, specifically the gift of tongues. some want loud, care free singing that uses multiple instruments and closely resembles a rock concert. And there are many other forms of praise and worship that a denomination or congregation may feel is more holy than other forms. My opinion is that the best way to worship God is the one that allows for a Christian to express themselves with honesty . If liturgy allows me to tell God how great He is, I should praise him with liturgy. If singing classical hymns enables a believer to see God’s glory, they should sing Him a Hymn. If silent meditation, thinking on what God is doing in your life or how awesome He is, draws your focus to Him, then do that. True worship is less about the method and more about the meaning.
Throughout the course of my life I have gotten the opportunity to participate in prayer meetings, Bible studies, Christian rock concerts, revival tent meetings, personnel struggles, played on sports team, and had many relationships with close friends and family. All of these were opportunities to give God glory. In some of these situations I was more successful at accomplishing this than others, but all of them gave equal opportunity to glorify God. We were not made to praise Jesus only when at church or while around other Christians. I believe that God desires for us to be praising him every second of our lives. However we are all sinners and do not follow His will perfectly, because of this some of our worship is repentance. Admitting that we have sinned and asking forgiveness invites God to begin to heal us, and restore us to where we are supposed to be. There exists no circumstance in which the opportunity to worship is completely removed from us.
Worship is not meant to be kept behind church doors. If a Christian’s praise is limited to only their time spent at Christian gathering, they do God a great injustice. He wants all of us. When I look at everything that he has done for man, from creation and the Garden of Eden, to His covenant with Abraham, to the laws given to Moses, His shepherding over the nation of Israel, up to the coming of Jesus I see the action of a God that wants to be involved in our daily lives. IN the time of the Tabernacle and the temple it may be true that God’s presence was most seen when he appeared in the Mercy Seat at the time of sacrifices, but the offerings themselves were in response to the sins of he Hebrews done outside of the temple in their daily lives. He is concerned about what we do with every moment of our time, so every moment of our time we should be concerned about pleasing Him. Which is another way of say giving Him praise.
Most of the time we hear someone talking about praise and worship, we Christians tend to refer back to pleasant experiences, or something that God has done which makes us happy. Jesus loves to share in our joys, but I am left wondering what happens to our opinions on praise when things go to hell in a hand basket. Some of the times on my life when I have most honesty expressed my love and appreciation for God have been some of the lowest points in my life. When things get hard or are situations are far beyond our ability to control, it is not easy to sit down and tell God how thankful we are for Him allowing us to be where we are. When we are honest with Him about what we are feeling, expressing our confusion and pain we are admitting our own weakness and need for His strength. Troubled times give us the ability to tell God how great He is despite our circumstances. Like in the book of Job, or when Jesus was praying in the garden of Gethsemane. God made us. He knows that we will not always feel like telling Him how wonderful He is, but He still wants us to acknowledge Him as lord over our lives.
Christian worship is so much more than Sunday mornings singing and sermons. It is our call to live our lives in ways that are pleasing to God. Acts of evangelism, helping the poor, forgiving those who hurt us, denying ourselves and refusing sin, hurting with those among us who hurt, celebrate our individual gifts, follow God’s commands, caring for our family, and anything done as an act of love is what we are called to do. If what we do is centered on and driven by love for our father it is a form of worship. We can be misguided and wrong in what we do, but He is capable of correcting us and moving us closer to Him and within his will. That’s why we call Him God. Proverbs 3:5-6 says “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.(NRSV)” I understand these words to say that if our goal is to honor God in what we do, even if we don’t do it right, he can and will use and accept it as worship.
More to Come,
Jed
Friday, October 30, 2009
Tonight I got back to my appartment and was welcomed by the discovery that my to do list was completely checked off. So I've decided to use my spare time to blog. First I'll give you a heads up what to expect from me.
I don't know how often I'm gonna be able to post, but when I do I'll pretty much be saying whatever is on my mind at the time. So you might hear how my day went, or what I'm learning in class. I could talk about friendships or share some funny stories. Me being me, there will inevitably be some of my thoughts on theology and how God is active in my life. If I can work up the nerve I might even post some of my poetry. Which not too many people know that I write, but I do. I also don;t care much for grammar or spell check, so if you care a lot about either of those, sorry.
So what to talk about today? I'll start with a quick run through of whats going on. For the last four weeks I've been in a sort of a funk. There is not single reason why, just a long compilation of what would normally be mundane events. Classes have not been teaching me much, preaching being the exception. I have been swamped with homework that doesn't seem to enhance my education, and have forgotten what it feels like to get enough sleep two days in a row. All that being said, life is good.
A couple of old dreams were recently remembered, and it seems as though they may now be obtainable in the not too distant future. The 1st and grander of the two originated in my childhood imaganeerings. The house I was raised in had some woods behind which served as the play and battle ground for my siblings and I. When I was the only one out playing I would take myselft anywhere I wanted to go. Medieval Briton, Normandy on D-Day, or Little Round Top during the Battle Of Gettysburg. Yes all where battlefields, but I'm a boy. So what did you expect? Age forced me to eventually grow up and quit conquering the world in my back yard, but the desire to travel it has never left me. Always being present in the back of my mind, being rediscovered every time I travel or hear stories of someone who is. The other is to write. Doesn't really matter what for, so long as I get to remind myself what it feels like to see thoughts on paper, or as is the case with blogs, in pixels.
The most recent remembrance of my dreams happened in chapel as I listened to a woman from Youth With A Mission (YWAM) . She has been doing a series here at school this week, and tonight was focused on sex trafficking. I got angry. Not just at those who exploit those forced into prostitution, but also at myself. Why aren't you doing something? was the question I kept asking. Towards the end of the message the question had changed to what can you do? My response was something to the effect of "not much, I'm only a ministry student". But so where the disciples when Jesus sent them out to change the world, in fact I think they were younger than me.
The idea of working with a group like YWAM ministering outside of the United States actually make my heart beat faster. I don't know what kind of seeds are being planted in me right now, but I can look back on the last two and a half years of my life to see that much preparation has been giving to preparing my heart for them.
More to come
-Jed
I don't know how often I'm gonna be able to post, but when I do I'll pretty much be saying whatever is on my mind at the time. So you might hear how my day went, or what I'm learning in class. I could talk about friendships or share some funny stories. Me being me, there will inevitably be some of my thoughts on theology and how God is active in my life. If I can work up the nerve I might even post some of my poetry. Which not too many people know that I write, but I do. I also don;t care much for grammar or spell check, so if you care a lot about either of those, sorry.
So what to talk about today? I'll start with a quick run through of whats going on. For the last four weeks I've been in a sort of a funk. There is not single reason why, just a long compilation of what would normally be mundane events. Classes have not been teaching me much, preaching being the exception. I have been swamped with homework that doesn't seem to enhance my education, and have forgotten what it feels like to get enough sleep two days in a row. All that being said, life is good.
A couple of old dreams were recently remembered, and it seems as though they may now be obtainable in the not too distant future. The 1st and grander of the two originated in my childhood imaganeerings. The house I was raised in had some woods behind which served as the play and battle ground for my siblings and I. When I was the only one out playing I would take myselft anywhere I wanted to go. Medieval Briton, Normandy on D-Day, or Little Round Top during the Battle Of Gettysburg. Yes all where battlefields, but I'm a boy. So what did you expect? Age forced me to eventually grow up and quit conquering the world in my back yard, but the desire to travel it has never left me. Always being present in the back of my mind, being rediscovered every time I travel or hear stories of someone who is. The other is to write. Doesn't really matter what for, so long as I get to remind myself what it feels like to see thoughts on paper, or as is the case with blogs, in pixels.
The most recent remembrance of my dreams happened in chapel as I listened to a woman from Youth With A Mission (YWAM) . She has been doing a series here at school this week, and tonight was focused on sex trafficking. I got angry. Not just at those who exploit those forced into prostitution, but also at myself. Why aren't you doing something? was the question I kept asking. Towards the end of the message the question had changed to what can you do? My response was something to the effect of "not much, I'm only a ministry student". But so where the disciples when Jesus sent them out to change the world, in fact I think they were younger than me.
The idea of working with a group like YWAM ministering outside of the United States actually make my heart beat faster. I don't know what kind of seeds are being planted in me right now, but I can look back on the last two and a half years of my life to see that much preparation has been giving to preparing my heart for them.
More to come
-Jed
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