With Expectation

It is easy for regularity to breed repetition.

And repetition to breed familiarity.

And familiarity to breed contempt… apathy… indifference.

But if we believe that God is living and active, He speaks to us through His Word, and He desires to meet with us, to confront us, comfort us, and conform us - there is no such thing as just another Sunday.

In your planning and preparation, in your rehearsals and communication, in your set up and serving, do you expect God to speak?

Do you expect Him to move?

Do you expect Him to do what only He can do?

As those leading and serving week in and week out, we have to fight against the ease with which we can go on autopilot - just plan another setlist, just schedule another team, just set up and sound check another time, just lead another service.

May your leadership, your team, and those you serve be marked with expectation and desperation for God to do what only He can do in, among, and through His people. Because there are no such things as just another Sunday. So come expectant.

November 28: Liturgy + Set List

• THE KING IS COMING PRELUDE/COME THOU LONG EXPECTED JESUS

  Call to Worship: Psalm 130:5-8

This is the first Sunday of Advent. Advent means coming or arrival. We are people who live between two Advents. And in this season we remember the first coming of Christ - His first Advent as a baby. When He took on our flesh as a baby, lived a perfect life, died a death that we deserved, and was raised to life again. And we look forward with longing and expectation to the day of His second Advent - when He will return as King to rule and reign, to wipe every tear and set all things right. So as we sing songs expressing the longing and expectation for Christ first Advent this season, I want you to hold in your mind at the same time His second Advent. Let’s remember His coming, and look ahead to His return.

• KING OF KINGS

• O COME, O COME EMMANUEL

  Sermon: Matthew 1:1-17

  If you’re here this morning as a follower of Jesus, the genealogy we read in Matthew is not just a list of names - it is actually your genealogy. Because you have been adopted, grafted into the family of Jesus. Not because of your goodness, or righteousness, but because of the goodness of God. And this family of God is a family that is always, always, always moving toward fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore at the right hand of God. So, family of God, let’s respond join the family song:

• RAISE UP THE CROWN (ALL HAIL THE POWER)

• O COME ALL YE FAITHFUL

• Lighting the Advent Candle: Galatians 4:4-7

  Benediction:

  Brothers and sisters, let us go as those carrying the Light of Christ into the darkness. Living as those who have been redeemed from the law, no longer slaves, but as adopted as children, heirs of God in Christ.

July 13: Tuesday Refocus

‘Let’s practice the fine art of making every work a priestly ministration.  Let’s believe that God is in all our simple deeds and learn to find Him there.’ - A.W. Tozer

There is nowhere our God cannot be found.  We compartmentalize, put boundaries around our lives, our work, our relationships, our thoughts, and our actions, but the One who upholds the universe by the word of His power is not constrained or held by anything built with human hands (Heb 1:3, Acts 17:24).  

So why is it so hard for us to find him in the ‘simple deeds’?  

In the quiet moments? 

In the unseen?

Perhaps we fail to see God in the simple deeds because we believe that there are simple deeds and significant deeds, important moments and mundane moments, sacred space, and secular space.  But as Sally Lloyd-Jones reminds us, ‘Every story whispers His name.’

‘And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.’ Colossians 1:17

Every work can reveal Christ to us.  Every work we offer can reveal Christ to the world.  We can make Him visible in our simple deeds when we find Him there.

Spirit, would you reveal Jesus to us - in the simple and small, in the mundane and monotonous.  And may we reveal Jesus to the world in the simple and small, in the mundane and monotonous.  In His name, amen.

Looking,

AB

July 6: Tuesday Refocus

"Possibly one of the most devastating things that can happen to us as Christians is that we cease to expect anything to happen." Martin Lloyd-Jones

We are caught in the current of the culture and we do not even realize it.  We are swept along by values, expectations, and comparison to a world that is the opposite of the upside-down Kingdom to which we belong as followers of Jesus.  We expect more joy, fulfillment, and life from our culture than we do from our daily dying to self, and life to Christ (Lk 9:23, Eph 2:5).  We see our faith as peripheral, not central.  And therefore give little thought to how Christ desires to work in us and through us.

If I am walking with Christ I can expect that through His Spirit…

…I will be more closely conformed to the image of Christ (Rom 8:29).

…that my mind will be renewed (Rom 12:2).

…that my heart will be transformed (Ezekiel 36:26).

…that I will desire the things of God (Ps 37:4).

…that I will love my enemies, and pray for those who persecute me (Matt 5:44).

…that I will encounter the risen, living Christ (Lk 24).

…that I will grow in love and Godliness (Jn 13:35).

…that I will be generous, and open-handed (2 Cor 9:6-8).

…that I will live primarily as a citizen of heaven (Phil 3:20).

The Spirit is not stagnant.  He slowly sanctifies everyone whom He indwells.  But when we live with holy expectation we will begin to see the Spirit’s movement sanctifying and shaping our lives more deeply than the culture.

Lord, forgive us for not expecting, not desire our lives to be different as a result of walking with you.  May we expect to be different as a result of encountering you daily, moment by moment, again and again.  For Your glory and our good, amen. 

With expectation,

AB

Pursuing Unity

‘We are more divided at this moment than at any point in history…’ How often have we heard this or some similar refrain over the past number of years?Politics, racial justice, COVID-19, are just a handful of things which have exposed our deeply held beliefs. And divided not just our nation, but our churches and families.

Jesus prayed for us, that as His followers we would be one, as He and the Father are one (Jn 17:21). He said that the world would know us by our love for one another (Jn 13:35). Love and oneness require considering another over ourselves. We never drift toward oneness. Love does not grow without sacrifice. Working for and toward unity is an intentional, daily, ongoing work, until one day when Jesus returns and all of His followers will be one, and will love one another as He intends.

Specifically as worship leaders, there are many opportunities for disunity:

with your pastor, elders, or leaders about the length of sung worship, or how to structure a service,

with the musicians and vocalists over parts and responsibilities,

with sound and tech people over execution of the corporate gathering,

with children’s ministry volunteers for running too long, or too loud,

and with the congregation over songs and style

just to name a few!

So how do we navigate a fallen world, broken relationships, and our own sin as we desire to become the unified, loving Body that Christ has called us to be?

An obvious, yet critical answer: Pray. “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Eph 6:12). When we recognize that this is a spiritual work, we must also recognize, apart from a work of the Holy Spirit, we are incapable of becoming unified and loving - sharing the same heart and mind with our brothers and sisters. Pray often. Pray with those whom you desire unity. Pray for your heart, and the hearts of those you serve alongside.

Die to yourself. This is the work of every follower of Christ - dying to ourselves daily, taking up the cross, and following Jesus. Some hills are worth dying on, others are not worth losing - or splintering unity with - a brother or sister. When we mistake personal preference for gospel issues we do not model the self-giving, self-surrendering love of Christ.

Name and clarify expectations. There is truth to the saying, unnamed expectations are resentments waiting to happen. It may take time to surface subconscious expectations you hold for your relationships, but once they begin to surface you can start to ask yourself: are these expectations reasonable? How do we need to solidify and clarify expectations for this relationship? Are there things in your relationships which need to be acknowledged, forgiven? What needs to be swallowed up by an ocean of grace?

Check in regularly. Once you have named and clarified expectations, checking in regularly is essential - are we okay? Are these expectations reasonable? How do these expectations need to shift and change over time, as the relationship changes? I have found knowing people and being in relationship with them outside of a shared common task enables understanding, familiarity, and empathy.

Be honest. Being honest and being brutal are not the same thing. Honest conversations are truthful, soaked in grace, and motivated by love. Honesty in relationship will help you keep short accounts. It can uproot bitterness before it has the opportunity to take hold. Be honest, and learn to invite and receive honest conversation.

Relationships, location, seasons of life and ministry are not obstacles to becoming more unified and loving, they are the means by which God uses to conform us to the image of His Son. The One who prayed that we would be one, that we would be known by our love. So don’t fight these gifts, embrace these gifts.

Advent, Christmas, & Corporate Worship

It’s the most wonderful time of the year… Unless you’re a worship leader trying to figure out how to incorporate Christmas carols into weekly services, balance people’s desires and expectations for this season, organize, plan and lead special services and events, and still prepare room for Christ in your own heart.

Truthfully, I have not always been a huge lover of Christmas Carols. It felt like an interruption to the regularly scheduled programming of worship songs and setlists. These songs were so familiar, not just to me, but to the culture as a whole - even those who have no faith background or belief. We hear them overhead in the grocery store, on commercials, and in television shows, and inescapably from our most festive friends and family. But the longer I have been leading worship, and the deeper I grow in my faith, the more I have come to treasure this Advent and Christmas season we celebrate every year. So if like me, Christmas planning can make you cringe, here are some things that have been helpful for me in recent years:

Adjust your understanding of Christmas carols. Somehow in my mind, carols occupied a different place that Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs… They were something other. But many songs (not all) which have stood the test of generations have done so for good reason - rich, dense, beautiful, poetic language, and theology. Ask the Spirit to give you fresh eyes to see these familiar lyrics anew. To sing like the words are true because they are. Sing like Christ has come and is coming again because He is.

Acknowledge expectations. Corporate sung worship brings out expectations - both spoken and unspoken - in a unique way for the gathered Church. When songs, styles and seasons carry such personal meaning and memory for people, it can further complicate an already difficult tension. Acknowledge the fact that people - yourself included - have expectations, desires, and preferences. Decide how to respond graciously regardless of the way someone has expressed their preferences. Choose to die to yourself, your preferences, and your desires as an act of worship to God and service to the people you lead.

Balance new with the familiar. Teaching brand new Christmas songs, or even retuned versions of familiar classics can be difficult given the short window of time for the Christmas and Advent season. And the fact those songs are only pulled out once a year some 45-weeks later.

Creating a setlist that incorporates new Christmas songs as a song of reflection or a Welcome and Calls to Worship, surrounding familiar carols and normal worship songs is a great way to balance the need for familiarity, and freshness at the same time.

Read the Gospel accounts of the life of Christ as you prepare for leading worship over the Christmas season. Let your heart be softened and broken open to the weight and wonder of God with us. Read the lyrics to these Christmas carols that can be so familiar in our mouths, they have lost the impact in our hearts and minds. Pray with gratitude and expectancy as we prepare to lead people not only to look back and remember the first Advent of Christ but His second Advent as well.

Celebrate, remember, respond and worship.