Month: June 2014

Worship Beyond Song

When I, as a minister, say the word “Worship”- our minds trigger a vision of singing praises.  We know in our mind that worship is more than songs sung on Sunday. Many worship leaders, such as myself, even like to use the term “lifestyle worshipers”. When asked to define this term- we say “it is when someone worships God with more than song, but with their life”.

But what does this entail?  How does someone become a “lifestyle worshiper”?  What exactly is worship?

Matt Chandler says,

The root of Christian worship, then, is acknowledging, submittting to, and enjoying the supremecy of God’s glory.  In all things.

Worship is enjoying something at a high respect, at its essence.  We have a choice- we can worship really whatever we like.  From sports teams, to superheros, to celebrities, to “celebrities” that we aren’t sure how they became celebrities, to technology, to social media, to food, to music and bands, to anything where enjoyment can be had.

And so, as Christians, we have an opportunity to worship, to enjoy and submit to, the glory of God.  This can be done in song, yes.  But in our daily life- how do we apply this?

By enjoying the life that God gave us.  And in that enjoyment- acknowledge the fact that this was not given to us so that we would fill a void in God’s heart.  Acknowledge God’s grace in every day occurances. Even to the seemingly mundane like the fact that color exists- give God glory!

When we take our worship beyond songs sung on Sunday morning, beyond a genre of music, we will truly begin to experience what it means to worship God.

Sunday Set List

Being Rich Week Two:

Lay Me Down (Chris Tomlin)
Nothing Is Wasted (Elevation Worship)
Always (Kristian Stanfill)
Hope is Dawning (Aaron Keys)
Revelation Song (Jennie Lee Riddle)

This week was an awesome week of worshipping together.

Remember this week that God holds you no matter where you are!

Worship And Time

We are created to worship. Period.  I don’t believe this will be life-altering news to anyone.  You choose who/ what you worship.

But worship is ours. It is unique, like snowflakes, to each person. Which is why it is a tragedy that worship has become linked to an hour on Sundays in Christendom.

So here’s what has been blowing my mind lately: worship is the only thing that can be created by man that will last for all eternity.


Obviously, worship didn’t start with man. The moment God said, “Let there be light” creation worshiped its Creator.  And worship will not end with humanity.  As Christians, we will spend eternity giving praises to our Savior apart from our earthly bodies.

But the point is this: we get an active role in something that will never end.
The earth will fade away.
Your career will end.
Emotions will be no more.
You’re life on this earth will come to a conclusion.
Our bodies will decay and turn to dust.
Everything we own will decompose (yep- even plastic! Well, maybe not decompose, I was trying to not use the same words over and over.  It’s really God’s call on how everything will end.  But- if the time is there [500 years], plastic will decompose).

And yet worship, our worship, will remain.

So as we gather as a church, or whenever it is that you read this, think of the importance worship must have if this is true!  I know that I am blown away by the fact that I get to actively participate!

When the Music Fades….

What do you do when that last note is struck?  When the sounds of your musical worship reverberate their final sound?
Is that the end of your worship?

Worship is not music.  Music is worship, but worship is so much more.  And I feel like that is something we know in the back of our minds.  But our hearts remain ignorant to the fact many times.

This isn’t a post to tell you that you are bad at worship, or that worship is more than music, because like I said- most of us know that already.  It would be redundant to say, as is this sentence (just for effect).
But this post is about reaction to the matter, not the matter itself.

Let’s say you just finished a great worship service at your church- you walk outside.  Part of worship is just enjoying God’s creation.  But the hope- my hope as a worship leader- is that the worship you experience inside the doors our your worship center carry out into the world. 
So you walk outside, after singing a song like “We Unite”, by Elevation Worship (if you don’t know the song- click the link).  You just sang a prayer of unity among believers.  So live it.  Take what you experienced in worship and let is leak out of your core.

Say you sang, “Never Once” by Matt Redman.  You walk through the streets knowing that you aren’t alone.  Knowing in your heart.  What I mean is this: live with boldness in Christ.  Troubles will come your way, but through faith know that God is here for you.  So as you live your day to day life- let that pour out.  Continue to worship God for that.

When the music fades- what do you do? Do you let it remain what it was? Or do you take that experience, grow it, nurture it, and live a life driven to the worship of our God.

Songwriting And Local Honey

We have started to do some songwriting here at Velocity.  So far we have introduced two songs, “You Are Our Rescue”, and “Hallelujah (Your Love Sets Us Free)”.  I wanted to take some time today to explain why we are writing songs.

Why Write Songs?

I have written songs since I began playing guitar.  It is incredibly therapeutic, a way to draw out passions that are woven together into melodies and notes.
But what is happening here, in Velocity, is a little different than simply writing fun and (hopefully) catchy songs. We are writing these songs for those who make up Velocity. We have Velocity on our minds when we write and arrange the songs.  We are not writing songs to be played on the radio, or at another church.  We are writing songs for to be sung with our church family.

Eventually we want to release a small CD of songs we have written.  Again- not so that we can send them off to labels or other churches- but so that we, as a Body, can worship together wherever we are.

What Does Honey Have To Do With Songs?

I was told be a worship leader in Beaufort that writing songs for the local church is alot like eating local honey.  You see, honey contains pollen from the area it is harvested from, which can help your body fight allergies like a vaccine would!
I am fortunate enough to not have allergies here in Greenville.  But when my wife and I lived in Beaufort I had spring time allergies.  They were miserable. I wasn’t used to the pollen there, the things that triggered my allergies were different there than they were here.

The songs we write here at Velocity might not work at a church in New York.  The songs we write here might not even work at the church down the street, or next door.  And that’s okay.  The spiritual maturity, spiritual growth, demographic, and general taste can differ so much.  The things that make up our songs, like local honey- are for the local church.

 

What Does That Have To Do With Me?

As we sing these new songs- we are not singing these because we just wanted something new, or because we think we are the world’s best songwriters and musicians.  I am far from that!  But we want some of that local honey- those songs that relate to us as a church body.  Songs that are specifically written for us.

“Hallelujah” has a very country, bluegrass tone- because that style is very widely appreciated here. I have written songs with specific people on my mind that I know could use encouragement, or building up. Or there will be songs written as a cry to God with someone who is going through something on my mind.

Like local honey- let the songs of the local church build you up spiritually to help you where you are.

Do we know the why behind tradition?

My dad told me few stories yesterday that I thought I’d share.

        A newlywed couple decides to bake a ham one night.  The wife slices the ends off of each side of the ham, puts them to the side, and puts the ham in the dish.  The husband is curious by this, and asks her “Honey- why did you cut the sides of the ham off?”
The wife stood for a second and thought, “You know, I don’t know.  This is just how my mom taught me.”
       The husband, intrigued by the answer, decides to go and ask his mother in law why she taught her daughter to cut the ends off. The mother-in-law replies, “Hm, I don’t really know.  That is just how my mother taught me to.”
      The husband is determined to get to the bottom. He goes to the grandmother-in-law and asks her, only to be told the same thing- “I don’t know- that is just how my mother taught me.”
     Finally- the husband goes to the great grandmother, who was still alive.  “Every woman in this family says that you taught them to cut the ends of the ham off before baking it.  I have to know why that is? Does it enhance the flavor? Help it cook all the way through? Is this a culinary secret? Why did you cut the ends off of the ham?”

       The great grandmother sat and laughed.  She said with a smile, “It was the only way it would fit in the pan that I had at that time.”

Train Station

Another story takes place at a church in the UK.  A speaker came to the church and asked what time the services were.  He was told the service began promptly at 9:13, and ended at 10:17.  “What an odd time,” the speaker replied.  “Why in the world do the services begin at 9:13 and end at 10:17?”
        The church explained that they used to have to bring in pastors.  The train station nearby would arrive at 9AM, and it took 13 minutes to walk from the train station to the church.  The train left at 10:30AM, and it took 13 minutes to get there from the church. And that is why the service started at 9:13 and ended at 10:17.
     The speaker found this fascinating and asked to go to the train station, to see a neat piece of trivia and history.
      “Oh, the train station isn’t there anymore,” the church told him.  “It was torn down 75 years ago.”

Yet the church still holds to these strange times that now have no relevance.

I wonder how many things we do that we have no idea why we do.  In worship- are we going through motions and traditions just for the sake of tradition?  Don’t hear me wrong- I am in no way saying we need to get rid of traditions we have made in the church.  What I am questioning is the motive behind them.

Are we singing the same songs each week, with no passion, no conviction- just because they are the songs our parents sang?  Likewise- are we singing new songs each week with the same problem- just because they aren’t the same songs?

Do we know why we are doing the things we are doing? Are we doing them out of conviction, giving glory to God? Or are we simply going through the motions- too lazy to change traditions because they seem to be working?

Spiritual Milk versus Meat

Preparing for Sundays

Tomorrow morning we will gather for our Sunday morning service.  For an hour and a half, we will worship together by singing songs, praying, and learning about God from the Scriptures.  We can simply come as we are, be who we are, and open ourselves up to community while together lifting a voice to God.

So how does one prepare for Sunday?

As we have discussed before- the worship you have during the week will fuel and sweeten the worship you have on Sunday morning. Sure, you can simply walk in a church on a Sunday and hear from God without doing anything else during the week- but God calls us to grow in our faith. To mature.

Milk Versus Meat

 

Hebrews 5:11-14 uses the analogy of milk and meat to talk about spiritual maturity.  An infant cannot feed themselves- it needs to be fed milk.  But as the child grows, it weans off of milk alone and adds meat into its diet. This is a great analogy for how our spiritual lives should be.  Let’s say that milk is Sunday Morning, and meat is our daily devotion with God.

When you start out in your walk with Christ- you often rely on your Pastor to teach you what the Bible says.  Weekly sermons.  Just like a child, milk is great at first- it is all you need.  But eventually, you have to add in some substance- some meat. Spiritually one adds meat by incorporating daily time with God into their lives.  This means that while you still receive teaching on Sundays, you are not relying on that as your only time with God throughout the week.

This makes what you learn on Sundays that much sweeter- because you are also learning things on your own.

Think about weight lifting- if you lift once a week, and only once a week- you will see results at first.  Since you did nothing before- it is a big improvement.  But if you continue only lifting once a week, at the same weight,  you will stop seeing improvements.

If you don’t walk with God throughout the week- “preparing yourself for Sunday”- then you will stop growing.  You will miss out on blessings that God has for you because you aren’t mature enough yet.

To go back to the fitness idea- I (Josh) have done several very intense obstacle races this past year- the Tough Mudder and the Spartan.   I had to train from ground zero.  When I started I couldn’t even complete a mile. I did a running group with church and ran once a week.  Just a mile.
From there I added in weight lifting. Very slowly at first (and very light weight!), and increased my running.  I didn’t know that almost a year from then I would be running in these races- I never would have thought I could do them.  But as time progressed, I saw myself improve.  Slowly (change doesn’t happen fast!). And in September of last year I signed up for a 12 mile obstacle course with four of my friends, called the Tough Mudder.  And I finished it.  Four months later I completed a timed 5 mile course, the Spartan Sprint, with another friend.  I was able to run 6 miles in under an hour, where a year ago I couldn’t run one mile under 14 minutes.  It took time.  And I received blessings along the way.  And the more improvements- the more blessings.

I’m not saying that God blesses people closer to Him more than others, but what I am saying is that we are missing out on blessings that God has for us because we aren’t growing to a level that can receive those blessings.  I couldn’t complete the Tough Mudder two years ago.  I could have tried- but would have failed.  I had to prepare.

Prepare for Sundays.  Walk with God throughout the week.  Grow spiritually.