Christian Blogger and Communicator Jon Acuff launched the #emptyshelf challenge last week. He want to encourage people to set up a visual reminder of what books they have read and hopes it will encourage them to read more. I was looking at what I wanted to do in 2014 and knew reading needed to be a better part of it. I had picked up my reading this year, but it is nowhere near the level I want it to be at.
I was a nerdy reader as a kid, plowing through Hardy Boys books and anything involving Bigfoot I could find. I kicked it back up in college when I started working in a book store. I continue to read now because I think reading is essential to moving forward. The moment anyone quits wanting to learn more, they shrivel up and die. They can’t grow and they can’t help others grow.
I am jumping headlong into the #emptyshelf project. I won’t bother you to much here about it. The instagram channel might fill up though! If you are wanting 2014 to be an awesome year, I highly encourage you to become part of the #emptyshelf community. All it takes is a book and a hashtag!
Many people know I am a big fan of classic country music. If I had to name my favorite artist, I would say Johnny Cash. Hands down. I don’t think anyone has a better handle on the human condition than Cash.
When I was younger I played music. Traveled around the world leading worship and played my share of rock and roll around North Louisiana. Once I was part of an event at the Shreveport Municipal Auditorium. For years this stage was the home of the Louisiana Hayride. The coolest thing about this…Cash played the hayride plenty of times.
You could stand in the middle of the stage and imagine all of the stars standing right there. Elvis was on the list…but he doesn’t matter to me that much. Cash matters. I stood there. He stood there.
Any connection I have to Johnny Cash is sketchy at best and only exists in my own mind.
I think many times we act about God like I think about Cash. We have a mild connection with no real relationship. We know there is an exchange of facts, but no real relationship.
It isn’t supposed to be like this.
Our scripture this week is from Matthew 1. Joseph is visited by an angel and told the real story behind this baby his knocked up future wife is carrying.
This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. Joseph, her fiancé, was a good man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.
As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet:
“Look! The virgin will conceive a child!
She will give birth to a son,
and they will call him Immanuel,
which means ‘God is with us.’”
When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus.
The angel reminds Joseph of the prophecy about the future Messiah. The basic identity of this person will be the incarnated presence of God. God bends down to humanity and offers himself up, in incarnation for the sins of all and as the man named Jesus for the sins of the individual.
God came to save us. Plain and simple. What he desires out of us is a personal recognition of this. It isn’t an intellectual recognition, but an experiential one. He wants to really know us.
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What does it mean for us to clear out a path for Jesus to come to our world? God came to us in the middle of our mess and wants to give us clear direction to Him!
Coming Home for Christmas is our conversation theme this Advent at New Song. Since we celebrate a God who comes to our world both fully human and fully divine, God himself came home for Christmas. Another dimension to our reflection and worship during the Christmas season is at the center of Christian belief--that Jesus Christ is coming again and we are looking forward to it. Christ is coming home.
The big thing is us thinking about what does it mean for Jesus to come home, here on our earth for Christmas.
What is a sermon preview? Sermon previews are released on Friday’s. They are to give YOU a short glimpse of what the conversation is going to be like on Sunday morning. On Monday, the preview is updated with some discussion questions, scripture guide and an mp3 of the sermon. I do these for 2 reasons. The first is so God can continue working in your life throughout the week. The second is for you to share this with a friend. I invite and encourage you to share the preview on Facebook/Twitter and through email.
Atmospheric Intro
Lightly Instrumented First Verse
BIG Sing Along Chorus
Second (and 3rd) verses get more anthmatic each time.
Key Change to Make Final Chorus Even Bigger
You could call this a template for the modern worship song. Pull out a live version of “How Great Is Our God” or “Mighty To Save” and you will easily find it. But the worship writers in Brentwood, Tennessee didn’t figure this out first. It wasn’t planned out at a design meeting for the Passion conferences. Louie Giglio and Chris Tomlin didn’t dream it up during the early stages of One Day.
My friends….this template comes from New Jersey and was perfected (and somewhat invented) by Jon Bon Jovi. That’s right, 1980’s hair metal drives modern worship. I first thought about this a few years ago and brought it up to a few people. We couldn’t find an earlier of example to describe what now is considered normal in worship songwriting.
Bon Jovi created Modern Worship
If you add the template above with another HUGE 1980’s influence, you can easily describe most worship that you find at big conferences and many churches. Here is my equation.
Bon Jovi (Livin On A Prayer) + U2 (Where the streets have no name)= Your Grace is Enough.
Culture drives how worship is delivered. Our bodies are tuned to accept and acknowledge certain types of music as appropriate to draw a response. “Pop” worship works just like pop music. It provides a vehicle that is accessible to a large amount of people. While I don’t prefer this type of worship, I can worship through it. As much as I claimed to despise Bon Jovi in the early 90’s (I was more of a Soundgarden guy), you will catch me rolling down the window to a few songs now. It appeals to the senses.
The context of pop worship allows for it to be consumed by a cumulative mass of people. We can get into a discussion of if this is actually good, but we have to acknowledge the cultural appeal. You can theoretically enjoy Worship Music as a genre if you are not a Christian. Aesthetics matters in worship design, because the musical vehicle needs to make sense for who the worship is designed for. Consumption strategy is both a blessing and a curse.
These songs provide a place for human involvement. U2 writes songs people’s spirits want to sing. It isn’t an overindulgent rock star singing about women or substances, but a body of people acting out hope together. These songs were meant to get people singing.
Christmas starts for each of us in different places. This last week we had the Tableaux and Living Nativity. I heard from several people no matter when Advent begins, Christmas starts with the Tableaux and Living Nativity. When I was a kid, I knew Christmas was coming when it was time for the singing Christmas Tree. I grew up with this monstrosity, part of the Christmas celebration when you grow up at a large church. We had this 80 foot tall metal structure that once decorated could hold a 130 person choir and it looked like a Christmas tree. It got to the point we had three of these trees going. The singing Christmas tree consumed our Christmas. When the tree started, Christmas has begun.
So finally, we get to the point in our worship were we get to the Holy family, Mary and Joseph. We always take our time to get here…but then again, Advent is about waiting. Our worship this weekend focuses on Mary and her song of Joy. We find it in Luke 1:46-55. Mary’s song is a treasured passage of scripture and familiar part of any Advent celebration. It gives us a glimpse into the timeline of God coming into our world.
And Mary said,
‘My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’
We will talk about Mary, what makes her important and how her song causes us to realize the real center of our Joy.
We are who we are because of who God is.
See you tomorrow in worship!
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What does it mean for us to clear out a path for Jesus to come to our world? God came to us in the middle of our mess and wants to give us clear direction to Him!
Coming Home for Christmas is our conversation theme this Advent at New Song. Since we celebrate a God who comes to our world both fully human and fully divine, God himself came home for Christmas. Another dimension to our reflection and worship during the Christmas season is at the center of Christian belief--that Jesus Christ is coming again and we are looking forward to it. Christ is coming home.
The big thing is us thinking about what does it mean for Jesus to come home, here on our earth for Christmas.
*What is a sermon preview? Sermon previews are released on Friday’s. They are to give YOU a short glimpse of what the conversation is going to be like on Sunday morning. On Monday, the preview is updated with some discussion questions, scripture guide and an mp3 of the sermon. I do these for 2 reasons. The first is so God can continue working in your life throughout the week. The second is for you to share this with a friend. I invite and encourage you to share the preview on Facebook/Twitter and through email.
Over the last few weeks I have spent more time around a fire than usual. I bought a few fire pits for the church in October and used them several times. I spent 4 days in freezing rain with the Boy Scouts. I have had a fire around the house several nights this last week as well. Even though I am an Eagle Scout, my fire skills aren’t as good as they could be. My friend Jay taught me some great tips when I was out with the Boy Scouts. My fires since then have been a lot better.
We build fires for many reasons. Environment, warmth, cooking, or just fun…fires are pretty awesome. Sometimes people think the only purpose of a fire is to get a flame and they just start piling on wood. But keeping a great fire is much more than burning sticks.
I was sitting around a fire a couple of nights ago and realized there are some serious life lessons from tending a fire. Poking a fire is pretty important.
Life Lessons Learned from Poking a Fire.
1. Poking the fire keeps it going.
When you arrange the fire frequently, you are able to consistently get good heat and better flame. Just letting a fire be is a quick way to a bad fire.
Many times in life we settle. We settle for what we think is success or we settle for what we think is the mundane. We settle for a sub-par life with God. We need to be constantly considering if we are really in the center of God’s will. We need to be making adjustments and intentionally doing the things that lead us to life.
2. Poking Your Fire is a Better Use of Resources.
Wood isn’t wasted when you poke your fire. If your purpose is cooking, you have to be poking the fire to make great coals. You are able to center your heat and energy in a certain zone.
When we are always carefully sharpening ourselves we are able to easier discern if we are making an impact. Are we being aimless in life, drifting without an purpose? I am a big fan of personal evaluation because evaluation enables us to best focus on the places we are able to do the most positive work.
3. You can restart your flame, from nothing to a full burn. In seconds.
Have you ever realized your fire has gone out? It is still hot, but you have no flames. A few careful and maneuvered pokes can get it roaring again in just a few seconds. I am sure someone smarter than I can give me the scientific answer why. I am pretty sure it has to do with oxygen, one of the three essential elements in fire. The fire was simply deprived of something it needed.
We all have those seasons of life where nothing gets done. We haven’t made any forward motion in life. We are just checking off items. When we are aware of this, we can usually jump in and in just a few moments get ourselves back on track. I have spent the last 2 days focused on a project at church which has taken up almost all of my time. I knew this and had to jump start myself back into the swing of things. Since I know my rhythms and habits, this takes just a few moments to get back on track. My fire is going again.
4. You leave no waste.
The other night I kept a really good fire going for around 2 hours. I went through a good bit of wood. At the end of the night, I had around a quart of waste. A few pieces the size of a pecan and tons of ash. Since I was constantly working on this fire as it was burning, I used my resources well. Nothing was wasted and what was left was almost all at it’s highest level of burn.
I don’t like to waste time and energy. This can be through procrastination or laziness. It can also be through misuse or bad allocation of energy. I find most of the time I do this (and others as well) by not being aware of what is going on around them. It isn’t intentional waste. It is a mind that isn’t really focused on what is at hand. In Ephesians 5:16 the Apostle Paul tells us we should be “making the most of every opportunity”. Life is a gift, given to us to give witness and life to the presence of Jesus Christ around us. I don’t want to waste that.
Fires provide awesome environments. People gather around them because they instantly perk up a cold night. In the end, being aware of how we live life isn’t done just for the sake of getting things done, but instead developing an environment around us people can find welcoming and life giving. Just like a great fire.
Chad Brooks is a United Methodist Pastor serving in Louisiana. Married to Meredith, he is currently starting a new church in northeast Louisiana. Host of the Productive Pastor Podcast and lover of motorcycles, Chad would love to find Bigfoot one day.
Chad Brooks is a United Methodist Pastor serving in Louisiana. Married to Meredith, he is currently starting a new church in northeast Louisiana. Host of the Productive Pastor Podcast and lover of motorcycles, Chad would love to find Bigfoot one day.