Me, me, me.

When did we make church about meeting our needs? 

Yes you are important and yes you deserve to have your needs met. But don’t think coming to church is going to meet them and don’t think not coming is going to meet them either. 

What? 

Church does not exist to meet your needs or your family’s needs. 

The church is Jesus’ body. Jesus promised to build his church, and that will happen without regard to your personal tastes – or mine!  The church matters to Jesus – so much so that he died for it. 

 We are called to do the same.

We are called to die for our local church – to lay down our selfish desires, our needs, our wants. We are called to serve, sacrificially. 

Yes, it hurts. Yes, you won’t always get what you want. Yes, you will not be appreciated.

We are called to make the church about Jesus. We are called to look for ways to love the body of Christ. Let’s try by just appreciating one another. Let’s appreciate the tired mum who has gone without a lie in and battled her kids just to get here. Let’s appreciate the frail elderly who have fought feeling tired and ill to be here.Let's appreciate the teenagers who look like they'd rather be anywhere else but here.

When we forget about ourselves and look for ways to love and to serve, when we treat one another as we would wish to be treated, when we become the hands and feet of Jesus to people we don’t have much in common with, we start to learn in God’s classroom. We start to put into practice the lessons of love. This is what it means to grow into maturity, to be people of faith, to trust that your needs will be met even if you can't see how. When we put our needs to death, God can break open our cold hard needy hearts and start to do some real work.

We start to be authentic.

General Assembly 2012

I've hung around the edges of 4 General Assemblies now, and led a little worship in one. It is a challenge. What can we sing that we all know? From such a diversity of faith and practice, how we can engage in worship that is meaningful, sincere, heart felt and Christ centered?

Malcolm Gordan led with grace, simplicity, humor, pastoral sensitivity, and wisdom. His creative musicianship added an inspiring lift to well known hymns, and the Kupu Whakapono. New songs were well introduced, accessible, brilliant.

I loved the dimension the cello brought! Such depth! Such richness! Sophie, Kirsten and Andrew were brilliant under trying circumstances. I never did work out who the sound technician was. Worshiping outside in the rain in Ohope was not ideal, but even inside at Boys High in Rotorua, between the data projector and the sound system, things just did not work well.

There is a cost to worship done well. We saw the tip of the iceberg at General Assembly. What we didn't see was the workshop weekend involving over 20 people that Malcolm pulled together, that provided the platform for new songs and new song writers to emerge. What we didn't see was the years of experience in rehearsal and performing that underpinned every note. We didn't see the early start to set up or the late finish for pack down. We didn't see the hours of prayer and reflection that went into the song choices or informed the prayers.

Worship costs. Too often in an evangelical context we see the music as 'just a few songs' before the main event - the speaker! Worship that engages with the reality of a context as demanding as General Assembly costs time and energy and attention to the 'feel' as well as the content of what is going on.

Worship costs every worshiper too. At the end of the day, the last thing we felt like doing was more listening. Our energy was sapped, our attention spans were worn out. And yet, in that moment, we were held and loved and lulled with a lullaby. 
 
Personally, I wish we had spent more time in worship and less in business.

Who is at the centre?

One of the nice things about holidays is the chance to visit other churches incognito, and have great conversations about worship.

One observations it is worth making is about where the centre is in worship.

According to Rev Rory Grant,  church architecture reflects theological perceptions. Churches built before the fourties often have a pulpit that is larger and higher. The preaching of the word is the key part of worship in reformed churches.

For the age group known as "Boomers" the cross is often central. You'll see crosses becoming bigger and bigger if you compare churches built into the fifties and sixties.

But for Generation Y, will the communion table become the defining centre of worship? That depends on what church you are in. In many contemporary churches, the worship team and musicians take centre stage. This was the case in both churches we visited recently; in one, the preacher then came down and spoke from floor level. In the other, there were three sermons, one before the Lord's supper who spoke from the side, a missions talk given on the steps, and the third given from centre stage. In terms of time, the musicians had at least equal time, if not more than the speaker.

At Wai-iti Road, you will find the communion table is the centre. The worship team is off to one side, and speakers stand to one side. The defining feature is the communion table, and the smaller tables around which we gather. They are symbols of God's hospitality, physical expressions of the invitation to sit and eat and be with God. We bring in the scriptures each week, and put them on the table, open, at the centre of who we are and what we do together.

Top Ten tips for checking church credentials

In Mark 1, we're given the credentials of John the Baptist. We know that he was a Nazarite, dedicated to God from birth, and holy. He didn't unclean food, even in the desert where food is hard to come by, he existed on locusts and honey. He followed in the tradition of Elijah with his camel hair coat and leather belt, and perhaps was part of the community at Kumran.
Check out the credentials of anyone you follow, website you consult, or church you attend. Here are some great questions.
1. What tradition are they following? Where have they been? What qualifications do they have? None of these markers are guarantees in and of themselves, but they help you to know something of the way this person sees the world. Be wary of people with a history of going from church to church, who have not submitted themselves to the discipline of academic study, or who operate independently from established churches.
2. Are there signs of power and effectiveness in their ministry? Is there evidence of growth, healing, and change? Is sin challenged, and are lies exposed? John's ministry was effective, both in numbers and in the spiritual growth of those who came.
3. Where does their authority come from? Beware of people who vest authority in themselves or in their relationship with God. This can lead to spiritual abuse - it is really hard to challenge someone who claims to be more enlightened, more spiritually aware, or more mature. Mark establishes John's credentials by carefully placing markers in the text that locate John's life and ministry in an Old Testament context. This is important because John witnesses to Jesus. Even Jesus did not claim authority in his own right. He was affirmed by the witness of John the Baptist, the witness of scripture, and the witness of his disciples. Mark also records the authority Jesus has over nature, demons and disease. Jesus taught with such remarkable authority that people were amazed. Jesus pointed to his relationship with the father, and he invites us to participate.
4. Is there a balance between bonding and boundaries? Is this person or church setting up healthy relationships or not? Healthy relationships lead to growth, health, a valuing of the distinctiveness of the individual, and a growth in intimacy, that is, the ability to share about deeper issues. Unhealthy relationships are distinguished by power imbalances and reinforcements of unhealthy systems. For example, a powerful preacher can set up a co-dependancy with people who just want to be told want to do, and abdicate all responsibility for their spiritual journey. A rescuer will set up situations where they constantly have to help people who are only too willing to be rescued rather than do the work necessary to own their problems, ask for the help they need, and work to understand themselves in step with the Counselor.
5. Is the teaching Biblical? Both John and Jesus proclaimed scripture, even those the gospel was new. Churches should be able to demonstrate the same, not just isolated verses here and there, but solid exegesis of a variety of passages.
6. Test the spirits - is there a sense of holiness, godliness, and genuine love?
7. Are there secrets? Is there an inner core who hold the power, a special revelation, or knowledge or can anyone learn? True Christianity is an open book. A mature faith can hold different points of view in tension, not insist on a particular doctrine. 
8. Is the focus on increasing intimacy with Christ or something else?
9. Is there integrity and congruity between the teaching and life of the ministry staff? Do they walk the talk or is there one standard for leaders and another for followers?
10. Do the leaders demonstrate Christlikeness? Can you have a real discussion, are they open about their own frailties?

We are called to exercise discernment. Critical thinking means bringing your brain to church, but also your emotions. We are called to be whole people in Christ, to exercise our freedom in Christ, and to grow to be like Christ.
Finally, no church is perfect. Any church that teaches that has a problem. While we treat our teachers and ministers with dignity and respect, we can and must examine their teachings for ourselves.

Atmosphere

What is it that generates atmosphere in worship?
Someone said to me on Sunday 'There was a great atmosphere here this morning.'
What does that mean?
There were more people in church than last week, which helps. There was less anxiety because it wasn't the first one, people thought they knew what to expect. We didn't try any new songs, so in a sense there was much that was familiar.
Can we also say there was a sense of the Spirit moving, welcoming people to what is going to become their home, a safe place where God can move and transform us?
I was watching Martin Cluny involved in a therapy session with a horse this week, doing a great job of projecting some subconscious stuff onto the poor animal, which in the end allowed Martin to process and reflect on himself in a way that became moving for him. Most of us project at one time or another, and our perceptions of worship are sometimes projections of our inner anxieties.
None of us come as clean slates to worship. But we can prepare for worship. As a congregation member, we can come expecting God to move, watching for His work, looking for the signs of his activity - or we can come expecting God not to move, and for the service to once again not meet our expectations.
If we reflect on our responses to the worship, we move towards a sense of being self aware. If we understand that our perceptions of worship reflect as much about our own spiritual state as they do about the actual worship, we then have a choice about being open to what God wants us to hear in this moment.
It is about being present, present to our deepest selves and the community of worship and the activity of God in and through all of that.

but what's it for?

God moves in worship, sometimes in ways that are tangible and visible, and sometimes in ways that we don't notice.
Should we expect to notice? Is there something wrong with our worship if we don't sense the presence of God?
Perhaps what I am asking is around the idea of whether worship 'works' or is adequate? How do we measure the subjective, the intangible, the immeasurable?
Must worship meet our standards or do we offer our worship in faith and in hope, relying on the leadership of Christ to purify our frail, human offerings before presenting them at the throne of the Almighty?

Feb 20

Leader: Teach us, grant us insight, direct us O Lord.
Children: Help us not to get distracted!
All: Turn our hearts towards you, that we might delight in your praise.
Leader: Help us on the pilgrim way,
Children: Pick us up when we fall over
All: We praise you, for you keep all your promises.