The patient is kinda brutal to the chaplain but I think he has a point when he says, “I need answers! I want a real chaplain who believes in a real God and a real hell!”
Found via The Gospel-Driven Church.
“Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing!”
– Ephesians 2:8-9 (The Message paraphrase)
One of my favorite hymns is “Rock of Ages.” the version we sing has slightly different, though no less meaningful, lyrics than the one below. My favorite verse though is the second one and beginning of the third. The author talks of all his great works and his zeal for God and ends it by saying, in essence, ‘these things can’t save me, they can’t bring me back to God. SIMPLY to the cross of Jesus I must depend.’
For so many years, I’ve depended on my works and what I did or didn’t do to determine my standing before God. It’s only been recently that I have come to understand just how amazing grace really is. There’s nothing (NOTHING) I can do to make myself right before God - not church attendance, worship leading, not watching the right TV shows and movies, not saying the right words before others, etc. - that can justify me before a perfect God. Simply the blood of Jesus makes me right. Isn’t that good news? (!!!!!!!!!)
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee.
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy wounded side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure,
Save from wrath and make me pure.
Not the labor of my hands
Can fulfill the law’s demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and Thou alone.
Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to the cross I cling;
Naked, come to thee for dress;
Helpless, look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Savior, or I die.
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Savior, or I die.
While I draw this fleeting breath,
When my eyes shall close in death,
When I soar to worlds unknown,
See Thee on Thy judgment throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee.
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee.
Let me hide myself in Thee.
Listen to the song below (sung by David Crowder w/ mandolin by Marty Stuart from the “Amazing Grace” soundtrack):
My friend Jared had a good post back in August on tips for worship leaders. This kind of post is extremely helpful to me as I seek to be the person God uses in this role.
Some highlights:
4. Remove yourself from the presentation as much as possible. Are you a rock star? Cut it out.
7. Words matter. And they matter beyond their poetic quality. What do the lyrics of the songs you’re singing say about God and about the Christian life? They do not have to be systematic theology set to music — and they probably shouldn’t be — but neither should they be vapid or borderline meaningless. It may sound pretty, but does it reflect sound doctrine?
8. Songs that highlight the gospel (sin, grace) should be treasured.
9. Music matters. Your lyrics can be straight from Scripture, but if the music is kitschy, you are condescending to your congregation. You’re not a Carnival Cruise Line, you’re in the community of Christ-followers.
11. Pray with your fellow musicians and leaders before you take the stage.
12. Be mindful that you are leading a congregation in worship, which typically and ideally means a cross-section of men and women, youth and old folks, etc. Some, if not most, men may be uncomfortable singing about “going into the King’s chamber” and kissing on Jesus. Some women may be uncomfortable singing about God smiting his enemies with furious vengeance. I think, actually, there are places in worship for both sorts of songs (just as Scripture contains all sorts of portraits of our God), but be sensitive to your congregation’s needs, not necessarily to your own wants. Frequently certain types of songs resonate more with leaders and they can obsess on them; this is great if the “type” is a general theo-centric worship song, but it is bad if the type is a “making out with Jesus at Inspiration Point” worship song.
13. If you lead in a majority white congregation, telling people to “put your hands together” during a song can go terribly wrong.
14. Don’t chide worshipers for not doing what you want them to. They are not there to respond to your performance.
15. Do ask worshipers to stand frequently. Perhaps not for the whole set, if it is a longish one. Sitting down is comfortable, but it leads to lazy, unfocused worship (in my experience).
19. When possible, choose songs for your set list that connect to or reflect the theme or message points of the sermon. This may not always be possible, but it does enhance the perception of the worship time as part of a whole service of worship, rather than as a stand-alone element in a program.
23. Trust the Spirit, not yourself.
24. Exalt Christ.
#13 is especially funny and hits way too close to home. #14 is something I struggle with.
Seriously though, there are several areas I fail at as a worship leader and several areas I think I’m doing right in. It’s a process, I guess.
The point is, we are all singing together to exalt Christ. I know CCJ has a wicked cool band (at least I think so) but I hope we never get to the point of a.) the band is doing the worshiping for us or b.) we clap in appreciation for a song well played not for the God we just finished singing about.
We played this song yesterday and it is one of my favorites. Not a lot of lyrics but the few that there are are rich.
The second half of the video (after the song is played) is more for musicians. How to play it, whatnot. But the first half of the video explains the thoughts behind the song.
Thanks to Angie for pointing me to it.
Here are the words for those who can’t watch the video:
Great is Your faithfulness oh God
You wrestle with the sinner’s heart
You lead us by still waters and to mercy
And nothing can keep us apart
So remember Your people
Remember Your children
Remember Your promise
Oh God
Your grace is enough
Your grace is enough
Your grace is enough for me
Great is Your love and justice God
You use the weak to lead the strong
You lead us in the song of Your salvation
And all Your people sing along
Your grace is enough
Heaven reaching down to us
Your grace is enough for me
Your grace is enough
I’m covered in your love
Your grace is enough for me
For me
Reading the Time story on Yahoo called “Mother Teresa’s Crisis of Faith” had me interested (to be fair, it’s really lengthy and I got about 3/4 of the way done before stopping).
It reads (in a mostly shocked tone of voice kind of way) that Mother Teresa often had doubts about her faith and about God. I’m sure this will be all over the place soon but when I first read it, my initial reaction was the title of this post.
Seriously, how many people out there who have sought to follow Jesus very long have NOT had some moments of doubt/crisis of faith? I had a bunch in college and several more times during my 20s (which, sadly, have now passed - my 20s, that is).
It seems to me though that she expressed nothing that hasn’t been expressed in Psalms.
What Time seems to fail to grasp is that Mother Teresa was, in fact, a human being with real emotions. And all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. If you’ve never had doubts, more power to ya, but I suspect that most humans have.
I know I reference this church from Seattle all the time but it really is good stuff that I learn a lot from. (Plus the blog is slow this week, isn’t it?) If you have an hour to spare, watch this sermon from Nehemiah 8:1-12. It’s about a city (Jerusalem) that is repenting of its sin.
A discussion in our twentyfour7 group Wednesday has had me thinking about things that we place such high value on that, over time, we begin to think are biblical mandates straight from God. There are so many things that I remember hearing growing up that I later learned weren’t in the Bible at all, but merely man’s legalism (i.e. you have to dress up to go to church, listening to secular music is wrong, etc.).
What are some of your “favorites”?