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August 5, 2021 - No Comments!

Question Behind the Question

I've always found it odd that some in churches speak of the hymns as though they were all divinely inspired, worthy of canon, and timeless. As a collector of old vintage hymnals I can assure you there are some real duds out there.

This particular hymn was written in 1836, then brought back to life by Matthew Smith of Indelible Grace in 2006. I've played it for the last decade and it's traveled well. The theologian in me loves the depth, while the musician in me loves the feathers it ruffles when people realize it's loaded with claims about God's sovereignty. I've had many a post-service conversation, thankfully mostly with curious and open-minded folks who want to understand the tension between God's rule and our responsibility. I usually respond by saying that they are both true, and none of us fully understand where the two meet. Of course I have more thoughts on the matte than that, and some think that's lazy for a pastor to frame the topic that way. I think it's arrogant to say much more.

The truth is that most people who have ever posed a theological question of me are most often trying to wrestle through something at a heart level with a head approach. Theology engages both to be sure, but "why did my Mom die of cancer" is a much more honest question than "is God really the one who loves us first?" A large part of pastoring people means listening for the question behind the question. That goes for our own hearts and thoughts too.

July 10, 2021 - No Comments!

Leading a Regional Worship Event

Keeping the theme of partnership and unity going, we were invited to lead worship for the annual Jubilee Worship in the Park event last summer. This last year would be our second and final time doing so. The staff of Jubilee are an easy bunch to work with, and I appreciate their heart to see so many different churches come together under the name and banner of Christ.

Choosing songs for an event with dozens of churches and different denominational leanings is always an interesting exercise, and I find that it's best to press even harder into what would serve the room (or lawn) rather than my personal favorite tunes from recent months. I'm grateful for the team that invested extra time and energy to make sure this could release on time, even in the chaos of COVID-era Seattle.

June 26, 2021 - No Comments!

Easter Together

A few months ago, we joined forces with Icon Church, a plant that came out of Doxa and celebrated Easter together. Their music team jumped in with us, and it was a blast to craft the gathering together. Baptisms, celebratory songs, and a strong message on Christ risen from the grave made for a memorable Sunday.

Partnership between churches is often a strained and complicated thing to pull of: egos, denominational fences, personalities, ministry approach, musical stylings, insecurities, and the list goes on. The prize for working through all that is pretty special, and I have to think that God is pleased when a couple of churches do the thing they sing about.

June 20, 2021 - No Comments!

Who Stamps Who

In many years of following Christ, I have only recently stopped being surprised when I find myself charging ahead and plotting my life with little pause or invitation for God to lead me, rather than for me to run ahead and hope he "catches up".

It doesn't surprise me anymore, because I have demonstrated consistently that I am capable of repeating that mistake over and over. Many of us, if we were feeling honest, could point to a variety of ways in which we run ahead, form our plans, set our expectations, and then shoot something up resembling a prayer asking God to stamp said plans.

Our theology tells us this is upside down. Our Bibles tell us this is misordered. But we still do it, thinking we have all the necessary ingredients to know what's next and make a fulfilled life.

What we need instead, is to trust that God is for us and ahead of us. Only then can we believe that he desires to do good, and we are wise to wait for him to reveal his plans. He is even willing to invite us in those plans, if we would only let him be our vision.

May 15, 2021 - No Comments!

Wake Up

This song is a strange amalgamation of old hymn, and modern love song. The melody comes from Mumford and Sons "Sign No More" album that released in 2009. I first played this with my touring bands in worship environments and conferences where the response was overwhelmingly positive, mostly because at that time, M&S felt like a safe thing for Christian hipsters to enjoy, and church-folk appreciated the repurposing of an old hymn they didn't know. Folk rock was finding itself again while Christian artists began donning newsie caps and muted linens, blurring the wardrobe of the 1930s with skinny jeans and a stylish boot.

I have always required the Lord to rouse me from seasons of spiritual fatigue and sleep. It does not always come with my first request, but the experience of being found over and over again is a kindness that God is not required to show, but seems happy to do so.

April 15, 2021 - No Comments!

A Lasting Contribution

I don't fall in the camp that believes that every song written in the last twenty years is self-absorbed, man-centered, theologically-vapid, garbage. But I do think carefully examining songs that have stood the test of time is a worthy practice.

St. Francis of Assisi (nicknamed Francesco.."the Frenchman" by his father) was born in 1226) and was an Italian Catholic friar and preacher. He founded the men's Order of Friars Minor, the women’s Order of St. Clare. Though he was never ordained to the Catholic priesthood, Francis is one of the most venerated religious figures in history.

Turns out Francesco wrote a banger(or two or twenty) that have stayed with the global church for centuries.

March 16, 2021 - No Comments!

An Inextinguishable, Small Light

When I came to Christ as a teenager, I had hoped that he would rush into my life and destroy every sin, every bad habit, every ounce of selfishness in me, every wandering thought, every bit of discontentment and disappointment.

I wanted His blinding light to blast all of this struggle out of my life completely so that I would be almost unrecognizable.

That’s not how its went for me. I"m guessing you too.

Instead, he began his work in me slowly. Very slowly in fact. Over the years I have come to grips with the pace of his work, and have in small ways, understood his means of working in my life.

You see when Christ works slowly, I get to practice what it means to think about Him, pray to him, sing to him, call out to him, talk with others about him. I get to practice my need, and it tethers me to him. I’m anchored by my need of him. When things get dark in my life, I know where to find light. Cause as much as we love a miracle, as much as we love instant transformation…we are quick to walk away and wander off when our needs are met. 

Instead of a blinding light, most of us have experienced something different. He most often starts in us as a small light, undeniable there and glowing, but faint at times. and through the highs and lows of my life  that light has grown in intensity.

As we have walked through the Gospel of John, we recently looked as a church at Jesus as the light of the world. It recalled for me some ways I’ve seen His light shine in my favorite moments with loved ones. He has shined in my own moments of celebration.  And I have seen that even in horrible and painful life circumstances, in the midst of deep loss…the light doesn’t go out. It’s still there. He’s still there.

Jesus is the light of the world, and if you feel today like life is pretty dark, ask for him to show himself to you. He desires to do that. He is eager to move in your life. He desires us all to sing this lyric from Grace Alone with truth, "on my darkened heart the light of Christ has shone."

February 25, 2021 - No Comments!

Rejection

Last Sunday we sang a pair of hymns, the first written by Samuel Medley in the 1760s. Medley was a preacher and song leader and dozens of his hymns were published in the Gospel Magazines that accompanied the revivals in England in that era.

This particular hymn is lifted from 1 Peter chapter 2, verses 4 and 5

"As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious…"

This reminds us that often the things that the world around us rejects, God holds up. Some of the things the world despises, God cherishes.
God’s absolute truths are often rejected, namely Christ being our only rescue from the sin that lives in us. In the lyrics of this hymn we find ”no other hope shall intervene; to Him we look, on Him we lean".

Maybe you yourself have recently felt rejection for your faith. In the midst of unmatched division and judgement, many believers who are fully dedicated to loving others well are being accused and branded as hatemongers and bigotsPlease know right now in this moment that Jesus knows what it is to be rejected, and offers his comfort to you.

The verse continues:

"you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

God is building his church. He’s going to keep going. He hasn’t stopped and won't. The beauty of the church being a people and not a building is that you can’t close down a people. You can’t prevent the church from being God’s people, regardless of what buildings we have access to.

When we gather, let’s offer our spiritual sacrifices. Let’s focus on these words and let our hearts be moved. Sing these truths in our homes, (especially you Dads…lead your families by example in what a believer looks like when we gather) and allow the melodies to work these powerful promises into our hearts. Let's sing remembering that all of us started this life with sin in us, and needed his grace desperately

"for us, the lost, condemned, undone, He gave Himself the Living Stone.”

February 8, 2021 - No Comments!

LIFT OUR HEADS

Heading into a Sunday morning these days requires what it always has, a necessary transition from the chaos of life to a present mindfulness in the gathering.

One of my favorite psalms, one that the Lord did significant work in me in my first years as a Christian, is Psalm 3.

It begins:

1 O LORD, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me; 
2 many are saying of my soul, "There is no salvation for him in God."
3 But you, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head.
4 I cried aloud to the LORD, and he answered me from his holy hill.

Selah
Psalm 3:1-4

Maybe you’re like me and you feel super grateful that parts of life are returning to normal right now. Even in the midst of that, there’s also new chaos around how and when to add commitments back into our busy lives. It can feel like you’re once again being pulled in 1000 directions.

Some of us are experiencing verse two and interacting with others that are confused or even hostile to the Church and the gospel. These are certainly interesting times to follow Christ.

Through it all, he is our shield. He is ultimately our protection. He is the one who carries us through difficult times. He is the one who gets the credit for the good things in our life. When we feel exhausted, beat down, worn out, or anxious, this Psalm reminds us that he hears us. This is a promise worth recalling for all of us.

Jesus comes to our lives in his care and gentleness and lifts our head. He lifts are head so that we can put our eyes back on him and endure anything this world can throw at us. That's worthy of our song.

January 25, 2021 - No Comments!

Surrender Required

Surrender is a central theme in the Bible. It's something that God‘s people continually struggle with. Both the embracing and rejection of surrender is seen countless times.

Surrender is as counter-cultural a concept as you can possibly find. It betrays everything the world tells us about how power works, about how important it is to watch out for ourselves at the cost of others, and certainly goes against the cultural narrative that the one you should trust the most is yourself.

Yet, it is inseparable from the life of a Christian. Surrender is necessary. Surrender is worship. Surrender is actually life-giving, and counter intuitively, brings more freedom when lived out. But here's the catch; like so many things that Jesus taught, you cannot begin to understand that truth until you live it.

To sing "I surrender all" can feel disconnected or disingenuous from what we actually experience in every day life. We can still choose to sing this song as an expression of hope and intent, that it would grow increasingly true of us each day.  None of us have truly surrendered everything we have to Christ but by his grace we learn how to lay down our plans, our fears, our ambitions, and our very lives each day as He carries us along in his kindness.