Disciple

13 August: Tuesday Refocus

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“That means an encounter with God that involved not only the affection of the heart but also the convictions of the mind. We are not called to choose between a Christian life based on truth and doctrine or a life filled with spiritual power and experience. They go together. I was not being called to leave behind my theology and launch out to look for ‘something more,’ for experience. Rather, I was meant to ask the Holy Spirit to help me experience my theology.” - Tim Keller

Our souls are embodied. Therefore true, saving faith cannot be simply an ascent to knowledge - even the demons believe (James 2:19). Faith must shape us, form us, stir us, and change us from the inside out. But faith is not an unbroken string of ‘mountain top’ experiences. True saving faith is still true in the mundane and quiet moments of our lives where following God feels more like obedience and less like delight. 

One of the ways we can consistently embody our faith and experience our theology is through gathering with the people of God. Singing to one another, hearing God’s Word preached and proclaimed, serving one another, taking the bread and the cup, praying with and for one another, forgiving as we have been forgiven, giving away our money, talent, time - and our very lives.

Spirit, would you help us experience our theology. In Christ’s name, amen.

Amen,

AB

Encouraging Response

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“A lot of people don’t know this… but it is possible to be emotive in corporate worship, and still be a Baptist.” That is how I encouraged and challenged? Our church to engage with Psalm 134. This psalm was both our call to worship and the name of the song we were about to sing that morning:

“Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord,
    who stand by night in the house of the Lord!

Lift up your hands to the holy place
    and bless the Lord!

May the Lord bless you from Zion,
    he who made heaven and earth!”

Some churches, denominations, cultures, and people groups are naturally emotive in the way they participate in corporate sung worship. Some are naturally more reserved. While I do not believe there is a moral high ground, as I wrote last week, I do believe that it is right and good that the truths we sing move us - and that we encourage our people to be moved.

If you would like to encourage your people toward responding in worship, how might you do that - you know, without poking fun at their denominal affiliation like yours truly? Here are a few things to consider:

Look around the room

Ask people not just to look at a screen, or at a hymnal, ask them to look around the room. We sing to God, yes, but we also sing to one another. Look at the faces of your brothers and sisters, sing to them, sing on their behalf.

Speak these words aloud

Whether the songs are new and unfamiliar or people feel they ‘aren’t really singers.’ Encourage people to at least speak the truths we sing aloud. Our words have power, and we need to proclaim truth not only have it sung around the room.

Open our hands

For some people, any physical posture in worship feels uncomfortable. I have encouraged people, even if they are uncomfortable raising their hands in worship, to open their hands - even if they are shoved in your pockets, will you open them as a posture of surrender, openness, and receiving?

Raise our hands

Lifting up holy hands in worship is a posture we see throughout Scripture, but can feel too odd, uncomfortable, or vulnerable for many worshipers. Why do we raise our hands? In victory - Jesus victory over Satan, sin, and death. In surrender - realizing that we can no longer fight. In dependence - upon God for our very breath. In faith - allowing our physical posture to aim and reinforce what we desire to be true of our hearts and lives.

Don’t just tell people to respond. Encourage, invite, model, maybe even be cheeky, and give them a loving rebuke. But help them see why we do what we do. I have often found people eager to respond, they have been waiting on permission, waiting on an invitation.

If this was helpful, you may also appreciate Postures In Worship.

Recommended Reading [Part 7]

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These are the most recent books I’ve finished that speak to our shared tasks as worship leaders, but also to the aim and direction of our worship hearts as Christ followers. I hope they will serve and encourage you in your journey:

Reformed Worship - Jonty Rhodes

I come from a reformed tradition, and this book has been helpful in articulating the truths that shape the design and intention behind worship in general - and corporate worship specifically. But even if your background or current ministry experience is different - this short book is worth your time.

On Worship - H.B. Charles Jr.

I love a book with short chapters! While I was reading this book, I had it on hand all the time - because rather than scrolling my phone during spare minutes, I would read a chapter or two. I also appreciated that H.B. has broken this book into three sections: Understanding Worship, Participating in Worship, and Leading Worship.

Worship And the World To Come - Glenn Packiam

This book was fascinating - although a bit academic because of the doctoral-level research this book required. Packiam explores ‘Christian Hope in Contemporary Worship,’ looking at various traditions, song choices, language, and styles to help worship leaders and pastors better articulate a fully-formed vision of Christian hope in our lives, songs, and services.

Land of My Sojourn - Mike Cosper

The local church is beautiful and brutal. It does not take long to see and experience firsthand the ongoing sanctification when you commit yourself to the local expression of faith. This means we will be hurt, but we will also be healed. Mike uses his own story and experience to give language - to clear a path - for those who are trying to navigate their way through pain and grief as we seek to be obedient to Jesus.

Recommended Reading - Part 1 | Recommended Reading - Part 2 | Recommended Reading - Part 3

Recommended Reading - Part 4 | Recommended Reading - Part 5 | Recommended Reading - Part 6

Lent Preparations

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Have you ever decided on a whim to begin something new, only to realize you’re in over your head? That is what it felt like when my wife and I decided over a weekend that we would begin the Daniel Fast at the beginning of the week. Fruit and vegetables, how hard could it be? No meat, no sugar, no caffeine. For 21 days. How hard could it be? What were we thinking?

Often this is how we approach the seasons of Advent and Lent: we think about it once we’re there. Part of the gift to us in the seasons is the space for reflection, repentance, prayer, and focused attention - but those things do not occur without effort before they begin. We must carve out time to consider things like:

  • God, what do you want to speak to me in this season?

  • How might I prepare my heart this season?

  • How can I help my team and congregation engage this season in a meaningful way?

  • What practical things will help me engage this season?

If you are looking for some additional resources on how to consider and prepare for the season of Lent for yourself, your team, or your church, here are a few things I’ve written over the past few years:

4 February: Liturgy & Set List

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  • ALL I HAVE IS CHRIST

    Call to Worship: Psalm 25:1-15

    We gather we after week to gaze upon the Lord, to follow the path of steadfast love and faithfulness that is ours in Christ. But that is not something we can do in our own strength, we need the empowering of the Spirit in us, but we also need one another. So as we sing this morning, don’t just look at the screen, don’t just close your eyes, look around at your brothers and sisters - sing encouraging them to keep to the path of steadfast love and faithfulness.

  • CHRIST BE MAGNIFIED

  • THANK YOU JESUS FOR THE BLOOD

    Sermon: Mark 14:53-72

    Whether you are here this morning feeling the weight of sin and shame for your denial of Christ, or you are here this morning feeling like you have only ever followed Jesus at a distance, the invitation is the same: to draw near to the One who has first drawn near to us in Christ. Would you stand if you’re able, we’ll sing together.

  • THERE IS A REDEEMER

  • IS HE WORTHY

    Benediction

The Louder Song

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Whatever has been of 2023, and whatever will be of 2024 - may the song of the Father be louder than the song of your enemies (Psalm 13:2).

“The Lord your God is in your midst,

    a mighty one who will save;

he will rejoice over you with gladness;

    he will quiet you by his love;

he will exult over you with loud singing.” - Zephaniah 3:17

2023 In Review

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I love speaking with people about corporate worship. I love speaking with people working through a theology of worship, the practical realities of serving on a team, or with volunteers. I think that is why I write about worship - I love that we as followers of Jesus, and worshipers get to think through how we encourage and equip the saints to worship with beauty and truth. As 2023 draws to an end, I wanted to collect all of my Friday posts in one place. I hope these words have been helpful to you:

Recommended Reading [Part 6]

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These are books that have challenged and encouraged me over the past year. I hope you’ll find some that can be useful to you as well:

Beholding - Strahan Coleman

We lead out of who we are. One of the things I appreciated about this book was how it encourages becoming - growing in our experience of God. We become what we behold.

The Secret Place of Thunder - John Starke

John is a great writer, and I have found his writing on prayer particularly helpful. But the tagline alone is worth the cost of the book: ‘Trading our need to be noticed for a hidden life with Christ.’ Whether we stand on large platforms in front of many people, or in the corner at the front of a small room - we are all easily tempted to trade hiddenness for being noticed.

Honest Worship - Manuel Luz

Manuel articulated some of the things I have wrestled with the past several years: How to have deep formation in our gatherings with creativity and musical excellence—the intersection of ancient practice with modern context. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed and appreciated this book.

A Church Called Tov - Scot McKnight, Laura Barringer

We are either working toward beauty, goodness, and truth, or we are drifting toward the opposite. Whether you are on staff at a church, serving as a volunteer, or attending as a member, each of us can - and should - work toward creating a culture of goodness within our churches. This book will likely become perennial reading for me.

Hidden Visibility

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In one of the churches of my youth, our Worship Pastor was classically trained. He could lead a band, conduct an orchestra, and direct a choir. He did not lead from an instrument, and truthfully, very rarely did he lead vocally. If you asked him, he likely would not have thought he was a brilliant vocalist. Most Sundays there was a small choir, a piano-driven band, and a handful of vocalists leading at the edge of the platform - and Steve off to the side, with a largely unoccupied microphone on a stand.

One of the things I have come to appreciate about Steve’s leadership as I have grown older is that when he led, he carried enough presence for the congregation to follow, without dominating the songs and setlist. He would give visual cues with his hands, raise his eyes, and turn toward the congregation when it was time to sing. But much of his leadership enabled the people of God to address ‘…one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord…’ (Ephesians 5:19).

When I began leading worship at our church in the United Kingdom, it took me - and them - months to learn the ebb and flow following one another. They would sing with such volume and confidence, and many times I would start to lead a song, but by the end of the song, they were leading me.

As production quality continues to increase across churches, as churches across denominational and cultural borders begin to look more alike, as backing tracks and strict time limits become more common, as congregations anticipate (or expect) their church worship teams and worship leaders look, sound, and lead like what they see online - some of the questions I am asking myself:

How can I lead with hidden visibility? Especially as someone who does lead from an instrument, who does lead vocally. I do not want the people I lead to observe my leadership as spectators but participate as worshipers. I want to lead with enough conviction, competence, and presence that people do not just think I am in my own ‘worship world.’ Nor do I want to lead as a performer or showman.

How am I encouraging increased ‘one-anothering’ in the corporate gathering? I do want to have so little margin, so little capacity for in-the-moment response that our services feel rigid. I do not want to be so visible - or so loud - that our congregation cannot hear the voices of the people of God as we sing to God or to one another.

As I think, pray, and plan for 2024 - Hidden Visibility is one of my goals.

Tuesday Refocus: November 21

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“Lord, let not our souls be busy inns that have no room for thee or thine, but quiet homes of prayer and praise, where thou mayest find fit company, Where the needful cares of life are wisely ordered and put away, And wide, sweet spaces kept for thee; where holy thoughts pass up and down and fervent longings watch and wait thy coming.” - Julian of Norwich

On the edge of this advent season, may our hearts be drawn near and plunged deeply into the weight and wonder of the coming of Christ - His first and His second. May this season be an opportunity to be increasingly present to the One who is always present with us - because He is in fact, God with us.

Father, for all the ways our attention and affection could be fractured in this season - would you unite our hearts to fear your name? In Jesus name, amen.

Amen,

AB

Tuesday Refocus: November 14

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“The battle of the spiritual life is lost or won in prayer time.” - E. Stanley Jones

There is no doubt we are in a battle. But this is a battle not against flesh and blood - but against rulers, authorities, cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12). If this is a spiritual battle, why do we often look to physical means as our weapon of choice?

When we take pride in self-sufficiency, prayer is a hammer of humility to our hearts. In prayer, I recognize that I am incapable of accomplishing the things that truly matter within and without. Prayer is long, slow, faithful, deep work in the midst of a world that expects visible, external results.

Father, may prayer be the first, and continual work of our spiritual battle. Amen and amen.

In prayer,

AB

Tuesday Refocus: November 7

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“Glory to the Father who created us; glory to the Son who redeemed us; Glory to the Spirit who sanctifies us; glory to the most high and undivided Trinity, whose work is inseparable, whose kingdom abides, world without end. Amen.” - Augustine

We created beings have no glory of our own in which to boast. 

No saving work of our own in which to trust.

No ability of our own to grow up into godliness.

And what a comforting reality that should be!

“Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory,

    for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!” - Psalm 115:1

Father, forgive our attempts at earning, achieving, or possessing our own glory. All glory belongs to You, and You alone. Amen.

Amen,

AB