Conversation

This dirty laundry needs some airing out.

This week Out of Ur blog hosted a bit of a discussion between reviewer Chad Hall and authors Mark Driscoll and Tony Jones. Chad reviewed the books of both men and then posted responses from Mark and Tony.

The whole concept was bad from the beginning. Pit two authors and their books against each other to see which one is more like Jesus. Baptize one at the expense of the other. Call one humble and the other Egotistical. Label them as insignificant or impotent or trendy. It’s a replay of a tired and aging Right and Left (aka, Right and Wrong) political drama that doesn’t really exist unless we need it to. There is no matchup between emergents and new reformers unless you want there to be one. And I can’t for the life of me figure out why anyone would want such a fight, although I too am weak and am easily persuaded to believe in these lines.

Predictably, the match-up lured out the proponents of both factions, myself included. Folks rallied behind their superstar and accused the other of lacking humility and Christ-like-ness. Trenches were dug even deeper and viewpoints were caustically hurled through the virtual air.

I really appreciated the responses by the Tony and Mark. Yes, even Mark. (I don’t say that to say that Mark is less capable of graciousness, but to expose my own bias). Dare I say that Jesus just might have gained the upper hand here. Tony was true to his character as he brazenly defended his friends in the Emergent sphere while not personally attacking Chad. I’ve had the opportunity to meet Tony and I was struck by his clear desire to build relationships but not with sugary words or the right Christian idioms. There was much grace in his biting responses.

I also really appreciated the response by Mark. He was gracious and humble even as he tried to convince us that Chad labeling him as humble was a mistake. Folks are trying to claim that Mark is “turning over a new leaf” as of late with a less caustic attitude. And maybe he is. I hope so. And I hope that as such a thing emerges that those of us who have been offended by Mark in the past (with good reason) will be able to forgive. Such forgiveness will always move us in a good direction. I say that in a small voice because I am far from being one who has been hurt most by his words. I’m not calling on anyone to make any such move of forgiveness, but hoping that it can be a future reality.

I may not agree with Mark’s theology as much as I agree with Tony’s, but I will always agree with grace. Following Jesus is ultimately about giving off a fruity aroma and not about falling in line with a doctrinal team.

Tags: christianity, jesus, jones, driscoll, emergent, emerging, reform

Check with me in a few days. We’ll see if I really believe myself here or not…

I thought I might post some of my reflections so far from my reading of the various posts on missional. My intent here is not to generalize or dismiss anything that I disagree with, nor to fully endorse anywhere I might find myself agreeing. This is an exercise in sorting. Doing consciously what our brains are doing subconsciously at all times.

Do More

I need to address what I think is a grave error. We have missed a step. The worthy opinion is that to be missional is to get off your ass more often. By all means, YES, but that isn’t the road to a more healthy worldview or community. The ingenuity and servant movement of many of those who are living missionally is very much in tune with what it is to be a follower of Jesus. Faith has to be lived out, but the wonderful thing about the concept of missional is that we can stop believing that it is up to us to run the course while God cheers us on from the bleachers. Missional isn’t just action, it is action with, resulting from, in response to, in the wake of, in the footprints of, in the arms of our missioning God.

I recognize that we need this kick in the pants because of our tendency to, more often than not, go the opposite way. But missional focus reminds us that ultimately it is our God who moves. With a spirit of watching the movement of God we can truly rest. Sabbath will cease to create anxiety because of our inaction.

As I mentioned in my last post, we have not simply been set loose by God to complete a task that has been laid out for us. Instead we are called into participation with Him as He recreates and renews creation. While our feet will be quickened to respond to his call when we truly live into this relationship, it is not our duty to march on and do what we believe God wants done.

More so, our duty is to notice. Notice the things that God is doing in our lives and the lives of our neighbors. When we really begin to notice what is going on we will see better the actions that are called for. Love notices, then responds. Love listens and then, perhaps, answers.

I fear that too often we believe that just because we have read a few books, including the Bible, that it is our job to be the Avengers; that by our actions the world will be a better place. This idealism is something I battle against in my own life and it never seems to work out all that well in history.

Let’s be less quick to just do it, and quicker to listen. Perhaps that posture of prayer and waiting is also a part of a missional life. Then, having regained our proper footing, we will be more ready to leap into action.

To everyone who has posted about our need to get out and do, know that I am not disagreeing with that at all, I just wanted to add one more spice to that recipe.

I’m probably going to post a few more reflections over the next couple days.

Tags: missional, missional synchroblog, prayer, gospel

This diagram by Len Hjalmarson has done a lot of great things for my brain.

Len says, “Each brings their own renewal dynamic to the broader church, and I’m convinced that the convergence zone is where some of the most creative experiments will occur.” I too believe in the convergent zones being the places where the really good stuff happens. And from my own experience, this convergence is inevitable (as I pray all healthy happenings should be).

Len’s doodle reminds me of a whirlpool, or one of those big funnels in the mall where you can roll a coin down into the center. When you enter one of these three worlds (Missional, Emergent, Monastic) you get pulled into the others. In my experience, the more excited I became about the movements and ideas circling within Emergent thought, the further I was pulled into the ideas proposed by the Monastic and Missional movements. I find myself swirling around from one to the other and being pulled toward the inside of the funnel where I am more and more influenced by all three simultaneously. Relationships in one sphere lead to relatioships in the others. There is no sense of having to pick one camp over and above the others. In this way the center is not a crushing place that squeezes all things into one thing, but a broad place where more depth and variety of experiences just seems so much closer and accessible. The closer you get to the center there is more energy and more movement. Life seems to flow even more vigorously.

The center is really a non-center. In my experience it has been like the classic idea of a blackhole that opens up into another world on the other end. There has been a lot of spinning and confusion and joy and sadness and question and answer and question and in the midst of it all a broad horizon is becoming visible. An environment that is experienced and felt, and yet is far off. Allow me to indulge in some quick and dirty photoshopping…

The disappearance of the previously contentious issues is so refreshing – another thing that Len hits on. Gone are the squabbles over musical choice, emotional faith or intellectual faith, dispensational gifting, sheep stealing, or denominational representation. These sorts of squabbles seem to have been left on the other side of the squeeze. The further we all travel into our future, the more these things fade into the past. No doubt there are other issues arising that our children will distance themselves from in time. That’s just humanity. But maybe our journey down the slippery slope will provide a better vantage point for our future to deal with these emerging issues.

Did you know that there is no Wikipedia entry for SynchroBlog?

Next week I’ll be participating in a SynchroBlog (synchronized blog posting) around the topic “What Is Missional?” It was instigated and proposed by Rick Meigs over at The Blind Beggar.There are something like 40 different people involved in this that will be posting on their various web logs and journals on 23 June as relates to the topic. Hmmm… sounds like a Missional Manifesto of Hope…

Tags: missional, synchroblog

At the beginning of the year I set a goal for a certain number of books I was aiming to read this year. I think I am fairly far behind it right now. The goal was more to encourage me to continue to search out voices to hear. I don’t really read a book just to get through it. I’ve found myself slipping into an old habit of reading more than one book at a time and taking a while to finish any of them. Therefore, I am proposing to myself that I grab one book this weekend intending to read the whole thing in one go. I haven’t done such a thing in many years. I think the last time was grade nine while reading a fantasy series by David Eddings called The Belgariad (fantastic, as I recall – which would be why I read the whole five book series in one week).

So, tomorrow I’m going to turn pages in Post-Charismatic? by Rob McAlpine (aka RobbyMac). I’m not from the charismatic stream officially, but have interacted with the local Pentecostal and Vineyard churches quite often throughout my life. I’m especially interested in learning to engage more fully with this stream of Christianity to move forward into a more generous and spiritually expressive future. I’m excited about the opportunity to look both look backward while facing forward into a hopeful future together with my charismatic and post-charismatic sisters and brothers.

Oh, and Rob, I’m really sorry about the absence of picture on the amazon.ca page. That’s actually my fault and it will be corrected next week!

Pax

Tags: reading, charismatic, postcharismatic, robbymac,

Tony Jones has uploaded the first in a series of videos based on interactions found in his book The New Christians. Say hello to Trucker Frank!

Tags: emergent, emerging, trucker frank, tony jones

Will Samson says, “I am collecting preliminary data for a more detailed social network survey in the fall. The survey involves the Emerging / Emergent Church, and the people who tend to be connected to that conversation. If you would be willing to help out, Click here to take survey.”
UPDATE: The survey is now closed.

Tags: emerging, emergent, christianity, survey

scott: i have been pondering over the weekend about the word ‘missional’

scott: i find that defining terms is not something that i excel at, but i have sort of narrowed it down to 3 bible passages that make the term work in my life

david: right. i’m hoping we can all help each other to understand it better

david: i have yet to put something together too.. i use it often, but I think i use it differently

david: on different days

scott: haha

scott: it seems to be the kind of word that can have more than one meaning to it

david: ya… well that’s part of it.. i wan to get beyond the missionaries/normal people way of thinking about it

scott: i am on board for that

scott: i have been seeing it as a ‘team-working’ (if you can’t tell, i just made that term up) of the greatest commandments, the sheep and goats being judged, and the great commission

david: cool

scott: for me it focuses it on the main aspect of loving people, and because of that love, taking care of their physical needs and sharing the gospel

scott: i like looking at it like that because it can work on a micro and a macro scale

david: you mean, it is about individual relationships and also relates to the call of the church as a whole?

scott: yes… to the individual and to the body. also, it relates the day to day with the long term

david: or the whole mission of god

scott: yes

scott: the mission of taking care of spiritual and physical needs in an ongoing way, based off of the love that we have for others

david: i think that’s one of the important distinctions

david: we tend to think of our mission as first and foremost shouting on street corners

david: forgetting that jesus said that the gospel is good news to the afflicted

scott: for sure… and going that out of obligation and not as an act of love

scott: going = doing

david: right

scott: so yeah… that is what i have been thinking about the word ‘missional’

david: i believe mission has to absolutely foundational to a group of people that would call themselves part of the church

scott: i would have to agree with you, sir. for most of my life, the word mission dealt with profession

david: right

scott: that is all the word was to me, but i think that it should be a purposeful lifestyle

scott: a sincere one, at that

david: i believe that is why people leave churches

david: they have not been given a chance to be missional

david: it is fairly unfulfilling to just take up space

david: many times we take away the job of everyone and give it to the professionals

scott: that is a very good point, dave

scott: and when people can’t pitch in, then they aren’t actually a part of a family, they are a guest

david: the majority of the church is told that their job is to fund the professional christians

david: which is great, but comes up short

scott: haha… for sure, which makes it a business relationship more than anything

david: share holders

scott: exactly

Tags: missional, church, jesus, incarnational

I attempted to distill this list down to some absolutely peerless
resource connections. If anyone has something to add please do!

This 50 minute clip should absolutely be seen first:
Michael Frost on Youtube

After that these are all excellent places to search through:
Shaping of Things to Come, Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch (Book)
Missio Dei, Fred Peatross (Book)
Allelon.org reading list
Resonate.ca
Resonate Audio Podcast (features some great talks by Michael Frost)
Friendofmissional.org
Missio Dei (Wikipedia)

Then there is also the little project that this blog is part of that is trying to add more story and understanding to our missional lives.
Missional Synchroblog

Tags: missional, emergent, emerging, church

Ever have a thought that you thought was your thought but then you read or hear someone else thinking that thought and you realize that there are very few good thoughts that are held by just one person? Yesterday morning I was pondering the difference between being a friend and just being friendly. Really it is the difference between truly loving and simply tolerating.

So, I was thinking this thought and then Amy and I walked in to a bookstore to find some reading material for the second leg of the vacation. I purchased the Emergent Manifesto of Hope and, lo and behold, in the very first pages the authors used the same exact phrasing to explain the atmosphere of friendship and mutual affection that is the very blood of emerging Christianity.

And I want to go so far as to say that it is not just a perceived or desired position, but it is the very real posture. It is the thing that allows the Baptists and the Episcopalians and the Anabaptists and the Wesleyans to all claim their place in this emerging Christianity. We want this posture of friendship. In our own lives and in those with whom we interact. And when we find it it is infectious!

A couple days before we had the opportunity to share a meal with Doug Pagitt. His own posture of friendship probably spurred me on to the thoughts that I would later learn had actually been penned by the very fellow that inspired them in me. This was a conversation that has truly inspired me to carry on conversations with my local neighbors and co-conspirators. I have an further-increasing excitement about where we are headed as friends in Ontario.

I am more convinced than ever that we are moving in a very worthy direction. A Holy direction.

There is an amazing tool out there called the Instant Message (IM). What follows is an IM conversation distilled into an essay and a dialogue. The colors define which side of the conversation the ideas emerge from. When the conversation is lumped together into paragraphs it is because we are forming a cohesive thought through our individual voices. Contradictions will almost certainly live within the same paragraphs, but they will be less frequent. When disagreements emerge the form changes into more a distinctive dialog/IM style. Ideas will flow in and out of the writing and meanings will shift. Disagreement and Agreement flow in and out of each other. In essence I am trying to capture some great ideas, but more importantly the nuance and beauty of conversation…
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The Kingdom of God and Jesus’ work of atonement on the cross… Are they separate? Do they accomplish different things? Is one superior to the other?

I think they go hand in hand. You can’t get in to the Kingdom without the work on the cross, and the work on the cross finds it’s meaning within the context of the Kingdom. It seems, in the context of “the kingdom of God is among you”, that there is a slightly different emphasis on the meaning of the cross… and resurrection. I’m not so sure the main point is saving from sins they way we usually think of it. Perhaps it is a way in to what God has been doing since the beginning of time – introducing the Kingdom.

And that creates another question. Does the kingdom exist outside the church or Christianity as a whole, or is Christianity the boundary of the kingdom? If it does exist on the outside, what does it mean for the cross to be the entrance?

Perhaps it depends on how you define Christianity. Is it what we know… or what it was intended to be… and are those the same thing? Now, I don’t really think they are the same thing in a “for all time” sense, but we really can only work with what we live in… what we know. And that brings us back to the original question. If the kingdom really is defined by the work on the cross, and the cross can only be understood in the context of the kingdom, then what came first? The work of Jesus on the cross must find its fullest meaning in the kingdom, but is the kingdom entirely held up in the cross? Held up in the sense that the cross only has something to say about the defeat of sin or fixing our fallen-ness.

Partially, I think the cross is about restoration. About restoring us to the Kingdom. But I also feel that leaves a lot out. I mean, it’s just that there is a whole lot of Bible in between the “fall” and the “restoration”, and then there has been a lot after it too.

Let me sum up: Jesus life and ministry was a Perfect example of living in the kingdom of God. By necessity this example was contrary to the system of the roman rule and the Jewish religious system. Both groups saw this difference and had to try to end Jesus’ influence to keep their kingdoms in place. Jesus died at the hands of those kingdoms. BUT, that wasn’t the end. As Paul says, we preach Christ both crucified and RISEN. The risen Savior shows that there is ultimately a victory in the Kingdom of God.

FRIEND TWO: Right, but all of that fits in to the framework of Fall and Restoration. They are the bookends of the bible. And, everything, I think.

FRIEND ONE: Well, the beginning is people trying to sort out how we got ourselves in the messes we are in.

FRIEND TWO: Right… because we have fallen away from God.

FRIEND ONE: And the end was hope to those Christians living in the horrid conditions of Roman Empire.

FRIEND TWO: But I think that extends to us as well…we live in horrid conditions that are far from God’s kingdom, or what it is supposed to be. We have a taste – a hope – of things to come… ala Romans 8… â€?All creation groans.â€? It knows things are screwed up – we know things are screwed up. The cross gives us a way to be restored. The resurrection gives us hope of this restoration.

Kingdom restoration has been God’s plan all along. Kingdom living was God’s plan before “originalâ€? sin (whatever that means). And the cross is our hope. It’s a way back to the kingdom, to how things should be. But our hope is not just the cross. Jesus’ whole life and ministry is the gospel of the kingdom – the hope of restoration.

FRIEND TWO: The cross is a means to that end

FRIEND ONE: Wasn’t his life also the means?

FRIEND TWO: It was the example of what the kingdom really is. The cross makes it possible for us to enter in to it.

FRIEND ONE: That’s where I get hung up

FRIEND TWO: Hung up on the cross, eh?

FRIEND ONE: I don’t know. There is a bit of incongruence.

FRIEND TWO: What is incongruent?

What is incongruent is the idea that the cross is the way. Jesus never said that. Jesus said, “I am the way.� HE brought the good news of the kingdom with him. HE made a way for us to be restored.

… to be continued.

Today I feel as though I have stumbled in to the party far too late. I’m not really sure how to elaborate at the moment. I’m just going to sit down and do a bit more listening.

Listening in on a conversation among professors at Dallas Theological Seminary as they discuss the points of the various expressions of the emerging church movement. I am so fantastically excited by this dialogue! It is so fair and non-confrontational on all fronts. Honestly, there is a level of respect I honestly did not expect from a conservative, evangelical institution. During the conversation they bring up many diverse aspects of the movement and deal with them all fairly. Often they first applaud the work of various folks in the movement and then offer a word of caution against the dangers that, may or may not be real right now, but could be if certain paths are followed without enough foresight.

The profs affirm the health and balance that the emerging movement is bringing to the many parts of Christianity. Perhaps a conversation of this level coming from this corner of evangelicalism will spur on some more responsible debate from others in that tradition.

HT: TSK

Tags: emerging, emergent, christianity, theology

The Top Ten Paradoxes That Will Rule the Future – by Len Sweet
I’ve heard it stated somewhere that Len is a gateway drug into the emerging converstation.

Here is a collection of a few Emerging Taxonomies that have surfaced over the last while, starting with one of the latest:

Four Models of Emerging Churches by C. Wess Daniels
His four categories/families/networks are Deconstruction, Pre-Modern, Open Anabaptism, and Foundationalist.

Five Streams of the Emerging Church by Scot McKnight
“Key elements of the most controversial and misunderstood movement in the church today”
You simply must be following along at Scot’s Jesus Creed blog. Absolute must reading.

Emerging Church – Three Classifications by Darrin Patrick
Disclaimer from Patrick:

Now, let me be clear that these classifications are only so helpful. For instance, many emerging attractional types also do a ton of incarnational ministry. Likewise, many incarnational emerging types are not opposed to large group worship gatherings. Also, both of these groups love to engage in conversations with regard to theology, church and culture. These classifications are simply my attempt to help bring clarity for those who are peeking over the fence and trying to understand the emerging church. I know my categories are not perfect, but I hope they are helpful for those who are seeking to understand the emerging church.

Finally, and for my own amusement, here is Scot’s series on the Kingdom of God, condensed here because Scot makes you do far too much scrolling to find the pieces to his series. The man is an absolute monster of a blogger!

The Keys to the Kingdom
Introduction
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10

I will add to this list as Scot continues the series.

Tags: emerging, emergent, kingdom, paradox

I found a couple books on Darryl Dash’s blog that it looks like I will want to place in the front of my reading queue.First is a novel called The Shack that I don’t know much about, but sounds quite intriguing based on Darryl’s description.

The second is a book on church history and practice that makes me absolutely salivate. I am a massive believer in constantly looking to the first century church to see where we could in improve in our “Body of Christ-ness” and this book, Pagan Christianity does this like few books dare.

This time of year we get so up in arms about people saying Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas, but the majority of Christians don’t even know why we celebrate Christmas anyway. Well, we know a good reason to celebrate it (Jesus is the Reason for the Season), but we don’t know when or how or why we began this tradition in the first place. Ditto to almost every church practice. These pagan incorporations along with classroom / seminary incorporations have tag teamed, to create a church environment that is faily unsuitable to the mission of community and neighbourly love that we were commissioned with in the first place.

I hear critics of postmodernism saying that deconstruction is bad and eventually we have to start reconstructing. This really comes from a poor understanding of what deconstruction is. It does sound like a negative or destructive venture. Until you disengage yourself from the rewards of your actions. Oh dear. Now this is really straying from my original topic of conversation. I will leave my connections between Jesus and Hinduism for another inflamatory post…

Good heavens… who does Dennis Kucinich think he is? You mean the way to solve conflict with countries may involve actually talking to them? A cup of coffee before the bombs drop? Outrageous! This man has my “if I was an American…” vote!

Why are the rest of the candidates afraid of saying this stuff?

Tags: politics, iraq, syria, kucinich, peace, election

Here is an excerpt from a questionaire I filled out for my friend Tim. The questions dealt with differences and points of conflict between traditional, evangelical Christian beliefs and emerging Christian beliefs. I spoke as someone who had some emerging views and another fellow represented a more traditional stance.

What follows is part of my answer to this question:
How would you classify the predominant Christian thought that stands in contrast to the Emerging Church, as you understand it?

The idea that the Christian’s mission is to get as many people as possible to convert to Christianity by praying a prayer and/or verbally affirming (in the witness of other ’safe’ people) that they subscribe to a set of dogmatic statements so that one day when they die they will go to heaven and be with Jesus is terribly unbiblical and is the single most unhelpful cause we could possibly be a part of. The Christianity that on one hand says that Jesus only saves those who turn to him, but then will try to defend some fluffy belief that babies that die will be in heaven is absurd. It really misses the point of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus never commended anyone for having his or her doctrine right… that was the role the Pharisees wanted to play. He commended those who had an awareness and love for those around them – their enemies and friends alike. He commended those who gave away their belongings to live in balance with the rest of their community. He commended those who practiced love and the Christian ethic of intentional community before they knew anything about the fact that they were supposed to believe Jesus was the one the prophets were pointing toward.

Here is a portion of my summary statements:

Proverbs 3 sums it up. We do not worship our understanding of God… we worship God. We leave it to Him to reveal what he will reveal. We are not called ultimately to understand God and find our eternal security in our knowledge. We are certainly not called to judge the eternal souls of those who do not find the answers we have found. We are called to do justly, to give away the first of our harvests so that no one will go hungry. We are to trust above judging. We are to converse above arguing. And above all we are called to LOVE.

Feedback? Do you connect with these statements? Are there big questions that you are left with? How could I have stated things better?

Tags: emerging, emergent, christianity, god, gospel, religion, church

This series was started over a month ago over at http://www.jesustheradicalpastor.com, but i just discovered it and thought it was worth sharing. Some very important points in here.

JESUS: THE FIRST EMERGENT LEADER

Blogged with Flock

Tags: emerging, emergent, jesus, deconstruction

Wow. Can this story be anymore immense? How about reading from the perspective of a group of people surrounded by communities that worshipped the sun, the moon, the birds, the animals, and the earth itself as their gods. What were the Genesis storytellers thinking!?!? Their god created all these things? They all move at the wishes of their god?!?!

Immense!

There is one of the many themes of Genesis 1 that I believe are so much more astounding and worthy of our attention than a modernly simple reading of it as a literal history of creation. Why do we continue to rob ourselves of the astounding truths found in these passages when we fail to consider them from the point of view of the original hearers? Talk about the original GOSPEL story! God created and loves all creation! He called you good! This is a story that could be preached to all their neighbours and provide hope for a relationship with God! And this is thousands of years before Jesus.

This book is incredible.

Blogged with Flock

Tags: bible, deconstruction, theology, interpretation, creation, evolution, narrative, gospel, jesus, god

He doesn’t update often,
He should though.
Doug Pagitt’s Podcast contains some great thoughts on faith and community. I just finished listening to the sermon/conversation about conversions of Peter and Cornelius. Do you want to be challenged? Listen hard. Think this stuff out. Wow. Who really needs the Gospel? The “wicked” pagan or the wayward and stubborn “righteous” believer?

Seriously. check it out. Let me know what you think.

Took me long enough.

Well, here is a quick rundown. I don’t think there will be many of these in the next while. Amy and I will be partnering and building relationships with a new bunch of people (church). A month from now, or so, we will begin to attend Rawdon Street Baptist Church. A much smaller community than where we currently are. Not a hip emerging community or anything like that, but a real place, with people living lives. My friend Shawn is the lead pastor at Rawdon. I really respect the guy and look forward to serving under his pastoring under Christ.

So… here we go.

I lead at our satellite (not really a satellite, much more of a church plant) in Waterford. Small church (50 or so adherants) with a big heart and which could have a massive impact in their neighbourhood with a more committed, full-time leadership team.

_________________________________

Service Order:
{WORSHIP IN SONG}
Song of the Redeemed Charlie Hall
God Is Great Hillsong

{FELLOWSHIP} (we have a break in our look forward/read your Bible/sing time to get up and talk for 15 minutes or so. INTENTIONAL COMMUNITY>>> nice!)

{WORSHIP IN SONG}
Enough Tomlin?
{OFFERING}
I Stand Amazed (How Marvelous) old hymn

{MESSAGE} (Josh spoke on Jesus’s call to discipleship rather than simply conversion>>> nice!)

{RESPONSE}
Song of the Redeemed (reprise)

_________________________________

Song of the Redeemed opened up our corporate time together. It was a new song to our community and we played it as a band to sort of introduce the theme of the morning. The theme being… us as Christ followers redeemed not because of our works or a prayer we prayed when we were 9 or whatever, but by the blood of Christ… Really, we aren’t even redeemed by choosing to be Christ followers. That is our response after recognizing the fact, isn’t it… I digress.

We played the song very uptempo and rockin’. I personally really enjoy singing that song. It really allows me to sing LOUD, which I love. And I think we did alright, considering we learned the song as a band just that morning. (Band consisting of, Marco on bass, Kurt on drums, me on guitar and vocals.)

We followed Song of the Redeemed with God Is Great… and we butchered it. I could not sing in key, I could not play the right chords and as a band we just were not together, but the people gathered still sang, because they knew the song. We had repeated it for about 3 weeks at that point. So I am glad it did not all ride on us nailing the song as a band. The song itself is just a straightforward, praise God becuase He is God sort of song. Holy is the Lord, sing it loud, sing it proud.

Next, we had our community time. No one felt like moving for the most part. Everyone just stayed in their seats and chatted quietly. That happens sometimes. On other mornings it is hard to get people back into their orderly rows of chairs and get things rolling again.

When it was time to get moving again with the “show” I just started playing a quiet finger-picked intro to Enough and everyone quickly joined in and sang along. Beautiful song. Classic.

Then Josh came up and prayed with the children and sent them on their way to kids church where they coloured two of every creature, or something.

Then as a church before Josh came to deliver his sermon we sang I Stand Amazed (How Marvelous). I took my time leading this one. We repeated verses and choruses. A wonderful hymn that everyone sings out on. That is one of the many beautiful things about this congregation. THEY SING. When they know a song, they don’t hold back. On most mornings they are way louder than our similar gathering of 250 or so people back in Brantford. I love it. We ended acappella and I prayed and Josh came and PREACHED, HARD!!! It was a convicting sermon for me anyway.

Josh concluded and prayed and left time for people to meet quietly with God and assess whether they were actively walking with their Saviour or were resting on their past decisions and prayers of conversion. During this time I began to quietly play the chords to the chorus of Song of the Redeemed Then I broke into the chorus lyrics and powerfully but slowly and invited the gathered people to join me in the confession. “We sing to You the song of the redeemed. You beautify our hearts and make us clean. You rescue us from death and set us free. We sing to You the song of the redeemed”. Then we repeated for a little while in chant together, “We are Yours, We are Yours” and let that sit and sink in. I don’t remember if I prayed at the end. I think so. I think I prayed a prayer to send us out and See for real what God would have us do as we walk hand in hand with our Saviour. To see who Jesus would like to heal and serve this week. Then we concluded our time together with Josh coming up to deliver some announcements and dismiss the church.

So that is my first Worship Confessional. I my have flew past some stuff that may have been important. I don’t know. Basically, I was trying to keep things concise. Also I was trying to stay balance as far as technical approach, spiritual and worshiping intent, and congregation involvement. So there.