Easter Part 2

   Last time I posted about a couple of my thoughts when it came to Easter. I had another thought while writing that post that was connected but didn't really fit in with what I had already written. So, here is Easter part 2.
   Have you ever read the book of Leviticus? I am attempting to read through the Bible this year and while I was reading Leviticus, I was amazed at how much the people of Israel had to do in order to make themselves clean and presentable before God. There are rules upon rules upon rules for everything from which type of animal to bring for each different type of sacrifice, to an extensive list of actions that will make you unclean and thus require you to be apart from the rest of the people for a specified amount of time followed by specific actions to purify yourself and thus be allowed back into camp. Then a thought hit me...since the crucifixion, we don't have to do any of that.
   As a matter of fact, since the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on the cross to pay for my sin, my first coming before God to offer my life to Him is as a broken and filthy sinner. No sacrifice was required on my part, because the sacrifice was given by Jesus. As Christians on this side of the crucifixion, we can come before God any time we desire and lift up our praises, concerns, struggles and victories to Him. As I thought about this, a third thought struck me...what do we do with this freedom?
   When we go to church, do we revel in the freedom from the law and freely give ourselves in passionate praise and pursuit of our Lord and Savior? Sometimes... However, we also do a whole lot of thinking about ourselves. We design worship centers with great acoustics and hire worship leaders who will play the style of music we like (complain if they don't). We buy padded chairs to sit in and expect the thermostat to read 73 degrees anytime we are there (if it is too hot or too cold, or if we have to stand too much we complain). We create Sunday School classes that will cater to various age groups and interests so that we can study what we want with people we are comfortable with. We do all this and more in the name of reaching the lost, but then we refuse to invite people to come; and if visitors do come we are often to busy talking to the people we know to notice them much less welcome them.
   I know that this is not true of all Christians all the time, but so often we take our freedom in Christ for granted. Rather than going to church for the purpose of loving and passionately pursuing the God who sent His son to give us freedom, we have made church about us and our desires. May I challenge you with something? This Easter as you go to church to contemplate the crucifixion and celebrate the resurrection, ask God to remind you of Jesus' sacrifice. Then if the pastor preaches 10, 15, or even 30 minutes past noon, thank God for the opportunity to enjoy that padded seat and climate controlled air and focus in on that which was given so that you could enjoy God and look forward to the day when you will join Him in heaven.  We are extremely blessed, we should live like it.

Easter 2012 Part 1

It’s Easter! Well, almost. April 8^th is rapidly approaching. What does Easter mean to you? There are two things that stand out to me when I think about Easter. First, Easter calls us to contemplate the crucifixion. We ought to think about the fact that we no longer have to bring an animal to the priest in the temple and sacrifice it in order to be made right in God’s eyes. We are no longer under the law because Christ has freed us from that bondage. As one old saying goes, “He paid the price I could not pay, to pay a debt He did not owe.” Does this thought affect your day-to-day decision making? Do you live differently because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ? Easter calls us to contemplate the crucifixion.

Second, Easter calls us to celebrate the resurrection! Our atoning sacrifice, our Lord and Savior is not rotting in a tomb somewhere. He is alive and desires that we have new life. Lives that are noticeably different from our lives before we knew Him. Do you desire to know Christ and the power of His resurrection? Do you live your life in such a way that people can see the change? Easter calls us to celebrate the resurrection! When we allow Christ’s sacrifice for our sins to change the way we live our lives, our lives become lives of worship to our Lord and Savior.

Book Review of Then Sings My Soul Volume 3 by Robert J. Morgan

   Then Sings My Soul Volume 3 is an excellent book! I've got all of Robert Morgan's books in the series. While this book has less of a devotional feel to it, I liked it more than the others. As a music minister I have mainly used his books as background information to share with my congregation about the songs we were singing. I don't see myself using this book in that capacity as much, but the overall read was even more enjoyable for me. The stories in the previous edition are great. However, the entire set-up of this book is even better.

   Morgan starts with a section of the History of Hymnody. Starting in the early church and continuing through to modern times, he highlights the progression of congregational singing as well as the types of songs that were being used. In the middle section (the longest) entitled "Do You Know These Hymns," He highlights lesser known works and or authors of hymns. I found many of these hymns to be excellent and plan to incorporate them into our local services. The final major section of the book is devoted to telling the story of 6 different hymn writers in a much longer form than normal. Normally he has a hymn on one page, and the story on the opposite page. For these final six stories he takes several pages and includes multiple hymns from those authors to tell a more complete story of those authors lives. He ends the book with some personal thoughts on worship and "worship wars" that many churches go through over style and preference. While obviously a lover of hymns, Morgan encourages churches to continually be searching for new songs to sing as well as continuing to use those songs from our past.

   All in all, I gained a greater appreciation for hymns than I already had, discovered several new hymns that I plan to use, and I look forward to passing hymns as well as more modern songs of God on to my children. I would highly recommend this book to anyone.

   I received a copy of the book from the booksneeze program for free in return for an honest review. I was not required to give a good review, but in this case it is a pleasure to do so.

Wonder as We Wander

Do you feel wonder at anything in life? A child’s voice, a song, a story, God’s gift of breathe and life…? Do you revel in God’s love as revealed through nature? Do you ever take time to simply dream, imagine, and create? When is the last time you pulled over to appreciate a sunrise/sunset? Can you remember the last time you colored a picture simply to enjoy creating something? Do you ever feel the desire to run through a field, climb a tree, or splash in a puddle? Do you allow yourself to sing out loud, even in the privacy of your shower?

Our God is a God of creation. He has gifted us with a world that literally shouts His name if we take time to hear it. He has gifted us with the ability to see, hear, smell, taste, and touch His gifts. He has given us the ability to dream and create with our own hands.

I know that many of you are already thinking things like…”I don’t have the skills needed to create.” “I don’t have time to waste.” “I’m too old to act ‘foolish.’ What if someone sees me?” To these excuses, I would urge you to make time, forget your age, and create without worrying whether your creation is perfect. Slow down, relax, play, and create. I think you will experience God when you do.

The Message of the Song Service

   I was wondering aloud Sunday with a friend about whether people in the congregation saw the progression that I saw when I put songs in a certain order. There's nothing super spiritual here and it might not even be interesting to anyone but myself, but one of the things I try to do every week is try to make sure that the songs fit the message and each other. I also try to put them in an order that progresses both musically and lyrically. For instance, this past Sunday we had a guest speaker so I wasn't able to plan the music service to compliment the message like I would on a normal week. So I spent time trying to put music together that would work well together and have a message together.
   We used the following songs, Come Thou Fount Come Thou King, Forever Reign, Crown Him with Many Crowns, and Jesus Draw Me Close. I pictured the progression like this...With the first song, we prayerfully admit our own tendency to wander and our utter need for God. Within the first song we ask for God to be present with us in this place. Then we move to the second song which recognizes God as the one who is all that we cannot be with Him. We claim the right to run into His arms as His children and we promise to seek Him and Him alone. Crown Him with Many recognizes the greatness and worthiness of our heavenly Father. We see Him as the Lord of all we see and even that which we don't see. Finally, in spite of the great awesomeness of the Lord, we ask Jesus to draw us close to Himself so that the world around us would fade away.
   I often see an arc in the music I choose. Sometimes it is not as strong. Sometimes I find mini arcs between 2 or 3 songs rather than every song for a service. Hopefully you found this look into a music guys head interesting. If not sorry...maybe next time. God Bless

Invasion by Jon Lewis. Review for Booksneeze

   Overall, I truly enjoyed this book. The story of a young man who's world is turned upside down after his parents are killed in a car accident. He learns of the existence of aliens and that they live among us. As he learns more and more, he is thrust into the middle of an invasion that has been brewing for many years, and learns that he might be the key to stopping said invasion.

   The plot for this book was well developed and I enjoyed the concept a lot. I think pre-teen and young adult readers would enjoy this book. For those who enjoy the sci-fi/fantasy genre, this was a solid effort for a Christian publishing house. While there are some good discussion topics in the book (loss of a parent, crushes on girls, etc...) they are not always handled with much thought. Pretty average sentiments expressed without allowing for the characters to grow through the situations. My biggest complaint about the book (and the reason for giving it 4 rather than 5 stars) is that the Christian influence is almost non-existent in this book. Outside of saying that some characters go to church and believe in God, faith in God plays very little into the story. For a book published by Thomas Nelson, I would expect Christianity to play a more prominent role.

   I look forward to the next book in the series, and I hope that Christianity will play a bigger role in the characters lives as they continue to unravel the mysteries that face them.

I received a free e-copy of this book for the purpose of review from Thomas Nelsons book review club booksneeze.com.

---

Newspaper Article 4

The Final installment of the newspaper articles. Enjoy...or not...it's up to you.

Week 4: Thankful for What Is to Come…

            By now Thanksgiving is a distant memory for many of us. We are busy putting up the Christmas tree and hanging lights on our houses. Christmas may be the culmination of the “holiday season” but it starts with Thanksgiving. Without true gratitude, how can we ever come before a loving, gracious, and holy God to worship Him? Gratitude for creating us, for loving us despite our sin, and most importantly, for sending His son to die for the forgiveness of our sins. Our holiday season begins with thanks as we look forward to celebrating the coming of the greatest gift of all time, Jesus.

            What or who will you worship this holiday season? We worship those things which we devote our time, money, and talents. What are you focused on? The amazing meals, the beautiful decorations, the family and friends, the gifts, the extra hours you need to work to buy the gifts, etc...? Or are you truly ready to remember the one who came as a baby, lived on this earth in a simple human body, and died for your transgressions so that you wouldn’t have to?

            So often the holiday season is all about turkey, friends, and family at Thanksgiving, and all about Santa, decorations, and gifts at Christmas. If you would like to make this holiday season different, take time each day to remember who it is that has given you everything that you have. Then take time to thank God for sending His son. Many of us know how many shopping days we have left before Christmas, but when was the last time you had a good long talk with God? Worship during the holidays is no different than any other time of the year. In fact it should be easier since we are reminded to be thankful and we celebrate Jesus’ birth.

            My prayer for each of you today is that you will take a deep breath, slow down for a few moments, and remember who is in control. Thank Him for who He is, and for what He has done. If you don’t know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I would love to introduce you to Him. Give me a call.

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.   James 1:17