MY WORSHIP, MY STORY, OUR STORY

A poem : This is a very unusual language for me

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prayer and Scripture, the Staples of Life

 For The Institute of Comtemporary and Emerging Worsip Studies, St.Stephen’s University, Essentials Red Online Worship Course with Dan Wilt

 

This week we come to the focus of prayer and scripture, which for Christians who love God, we can rattle off many passages of Scripture and exhortations to prayer, right off the tops of our heads

“All scripture is God breathed, and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work\”  2 Tim 3:16

“The Lord detests the sacrifice of the wicked but the prayer of the upright pleases him\”  Prov 15:8

“Love must be sincere…..never lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor….Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer\”  Romans 12:9-12

We have probably heard hundreds of sermons on the ability of God to minister to us , intervene and intertwine with us, through our faithfulness in prayer, and meditation on the scriptures, but yet we can still let things slip. Prayer and Scripture Reading take a back seat to the demands of life. I am sure that our lives are stacked more and more,  to make sure that God is squeezed out of our lives completely, and so that the life that we end up leading in Christ, is one that is weak and powerless, ineffectual, and we end up treading water.  I was thinking about the fact that last Christmas felt like it was nearly back to back from the Christmas before…..how do we slow things down?….find some meaning and purpose?

I believe that the answer lies simply in the ways of old, where time was deliberately allotted for the things of God. There were times set aside for prayer, corporately and privately, and there were also times set aside for the reading and listening to the Scriptures. These two actions, as a start, provide space, space for God to speak, space for God to act, space for us to hear his voice. For the followers of Christ, we need to learn afresh from the wisdom of the past, even God who is limitless and transcendent, rested on the Seventh Day as he surveyed his handiwork, and called this rest period Holy.

We heard some stories form a mission trip recently, where the people were so poor, had no food or money, yet were so generous, had to walk miles to get to Church, and still got there two hours early to sing and worship in praise . The missionary was worried, thinking he had somehow mixed up the times and was running late, only to be told to relax, as this was normal, they always start two hours early! We hark back to our own reality, and we see lots of people scurrying into Church late and I am sure that this isn\’t just my experience. Somehow, we need to get back to basics and priorities, and it won\’t just come from a sermon being preached, but from our hearts being re-engaged to the God of all things.

He said follow me
Strive to make my
convictions right
Oh, my pride is
hammering me down

I've seen you crying
I've seen you on your knees
The wise man died so you can

Store up treasures in heaven
Store up treasures in heaven
Store up treasures in heaven
Don't you wait for the rain to
Come falling down 1

 [1] Extract from Burlap to Cashmire : Treasures in Heaven

 

 

 

I’ve Been Thinking About History (Essentials Red)

For The Institute of Comtemporary and Emerging Worsip Studies, St.Stephen’s University, Essentials Red Online Worship Course with Dan Wilt

 

 Putting words to the thoughts of this week, leads me to the conclusion that thinking about time and spaces in worship history, naturally seems to draw most of us to the places and things which seem to have been there forever or have some significant events attached to them. We think of the Cross of Jesus, the Magnificent Cathedrals all over the world, The Ancient Words written in the Holy Bible, our early encounters with Jesus.

 

  

After some more pondering, I began to think back to my ‘world trip’ where my wife and I visited cathedrals and churches all over Europe, the UK, and all of the Holy Sites throughout Israel and Jordan. This was an extraordinary time, where we saw some of the most magnificent holy places, places that you could feel that just draw in the breath of the Holy Spirit, places with magnificent beauty, places where Christian’s have stood and proclaimed the name and favour of the Lord for centuries. I recall, just as one example, the priviledge we had in attending a Sunday Service in the Canterbury Cathedral,

Canterbury Cathedral

 

where within the beautiful settings and surroundings, the choir singing just resonated throughout the space, uplifting our spirits.

 

Canterbury Cathedral - Stained Glass window

 

 

I also remember fondly, my time in the Holy city of Jerusalem, where I wandered all over the City Walls, in and out of the narrow streets, just consuming the atmosphere of a city with people going about their daily business, mostly ignoring the fact that this was the place where Jesus lived and died. I was left with lasting impressions from places like The Garden Tomb, The Mount of Olives, The Wailing Wall, and The Temple Mount. This was one of those times where worship was not singing, but it was a whole sensory experience, trying to put myself in that place and imagine what it would have been like 2000 years ago.

 

Just one quick story, was the time spent gazing at The Wailing Wall, watching devout Jews praying for The Temple and the coming messiah (which somehow they missed), where they would pray fervently for hours, and there seemed to be endless numbers of willing prayer warriors, who looked liked a strange attacking army who would come up to make their case at the wall. After respectfully watching from a distance, I was longing to mingle among the crowd, and feel their resonation and petition to the Lord, so I made my way into the crowd, and gently eased my way up to the wall, with my Spiritual and Physical ears open. To say that these guys don’t know anything about worship, is to be blinded to reality.  If only we could sustain ourselves to pray and worship like that, imagine what may happen with us in our Holy Spirit empowered lives! Jerusalem, the birthplace of the church and New Testament worship as we know it, sure brings up lots of thoughts when we think about the time and space of worship.

Wailing Wall - Jerusalem Temple Mount

 

 

Then there were also the places, mainly in some of the Holy Sites in Israel, where the Holy Sites were filled with the most gaudy ornaments, and the most blatent intentional grabs for fame, which left me bewildered and confused to where my God, the God of Israel could possibly be found in these places. It is strange, because to me, my spirit was reviled by these sites, and I couldn’t wait to get out, into the fresh air, yet there were hundreds and hundreds of people from different backgrounds who were waiting impatiently in the long queues to see these same Holy places, who in their fervour and passion, could have started a stampede and trampled others to death. I genuinely hope that they met God, and that it has furthered their journey.

 

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

 

 

 and this image of the manger in the church of the nativity

Supposed birthplace of Jesus

 

 

Ten or so years later, I found myself working in St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne. Most probably a place where I would have never contemplated visiting or worshipping in when I think back to my past church history involving more contemporary style services and worship, but due to the ‘world trip’ experiences I had had previously, I took the time to look around the cathedral, a tourist in my own town, and just try to soak in the worship experience and find God in this space, just like thousands of others have done over 150 years. This is the God that is transcendent, not limited to my space, my thinking, my church. I am pleased to say that I did find evidence of God in the cathedral – in the worn steps, worn down by years of foot traffic entering through the side entry, in the peace of the space, looking from the back of the pews and also from the roof level catwalks around the top of the walls, from the bells in the bell tower, from the faces of the people sitting and praying quietly in the pews, from the entry note as you enter, from the stories depicted in the Stained Glass and the Spaces around the Cathedral.

 

St. Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne

 

Window in St. Patrick's Cathedral

 

It’s funny that God is difficult to find and yet he isn’t, as he is over all and in all. He is far away and yet he is so close. Let’s commit ourselves to remember him, worship him, and meet with him more frequently and fervently every day.

Hello Class of 2009!

Hi from Yarra Valley Vineyard. This blog page is primarily here in conjunction with a course I am doing with the Institute of Comtempory and Emerging Worship Studies.

Looking forward to blogging with all the classmates from 2009!