PlainWorship Blog Moves... Sort of...

Hey Everyone - I say that as if anyone ever looks here anymore because of my poor amount of writing. I sort of stopped writing here because I felt too much pressure to write something of "substance" every time I sat down at the computer. Well, I have moved to the other side of the web to MySpace and have started a short but sweet blog there that is not much more than an update on my life once and a while. PlainWorship was an incredible thing for me while going through some real questioning times in my life. God has now helped me walk through some of those areas and now I am in a different and better place.

So, with that said... Will you join me on the next journey at:

Salt - MySpace

Salt - MySpace RSS Feed

If you have a MySpace account, I would love to add you to my friends list. Take care, Chris

Encouragement...

When David was king he set up a place in the temple of God where musicians played and worshipped 24 hours a day. There was never a time when worship ceased.

This is my (fictional) take of an encouraging letter written from King David to the lead worshipper of that day.

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To Abah (name literally means "willing" in Hebrew),

I received your letter last week and wanted to respond to your frustrations. This 24 hour worship policy I set up is very rigorous and difficult. It is a job that only a strong and mature person could handle and I knew from the first day I met you that you were the one that could complete the job and do it for the right reasons. I saw in your heart a discontent; a longing for more. Your service to God Almighty has been exemplary and I know that he smells the incense of your worship as he does the burnt offerings of animals and grain for it is as important in the long term. Let me give you just a bit of background before I get to the main issues that you brought up.

As I'm sure you have heard, I was once a shepherd for my father. I love and did love music even then. Being alone much of the time, I would sing and play for the Lord while in the field. This is where God really captured my heart and I realized that He is why we do everything. I wrote and sang and was almost annoyed when I would be called from my duties with the sheep, because my love was to be in the presence of God. I could really worship in these places. I could really lose myself in God's beauty. These experiences played a vital role in producing the power I had when slaying the lion and the bear. Eventually God gave me the strength to kill a giant and lead the people of Israel. I have never been one to make the right choice in every situation, but God is good and has shown Himself faithful to forgive me and restore me. I see that most of everything I have been through, both good and bad, points directly to worship and my relationship with Him.

Sometimes I grow weary in service to the people. They want me to do everything for them. Every decision; every thought; every situation they want me to have my hand in it so that they can sit back and do nothing. They don't listen to God to and what He wants for their lives. They are often lazy and are not sensitive enough to hear his voice. Instead, they look to me. I am easier to see and hear and pester. I only say these things, because I see that some of the things that I wrestle with as king are similar to yours in leading people in worship.

I want to encourage you. I want you to see beyond those that come only because of the beauty of the temple or just out of duty. I know your frustrations when you see them sitting on their hands, being introspective and cold. They come to sacrifice for the law and not out of love. They are dutiful and not beautiful to their Lord. They come as spectators, not emulators. They come as consumers, not doers of His word. This great act of love I have asked you to undertake is not for them. It is to and for God - our creator; our sustainer; our healer; our lover; our friend. We will worship as we wait for our Messiah and through it we hope to know Him when he comes. Thanks for all you do and always know where your strength comes from. Please share my sentiments with those helping. Keep up the good work and your relationship with Him.

Your king,

David

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Spiritual Blind Spots

I guess that after 5 months they don't close your account. I apologize to those who actually do read my ramblings for not posting in such a long time. I think it is good to take a break sometimes and reflect and I definitely have done my share of that recently. Just an update on some stuff (most of you will know who know me well) : We started a group that meets Fridays called A-Cell. It is an emerging church gathering that meets downtown. We have a great core group of folks committed to serving and reaching the lost in Yakima. We started on Good Friday and it has been 2 weeks of "official" gathering. Both nights were very different, but both good in their own way. If you want to know more, you can check out www.a-cell.org . We (Selena and I) have also started to foster 2 little girls that are 10 months and 2 years. They are both beautiful little girls and also a lot of work. We are working through getting them and us normalized to the new situation. We have had them for just over 2 weeks and they are starting to thrive in our home. Needless to say, our lives are very busy at this moment. More about that later...

Now to the rambling : I recently had a strange thing happen. Because of stress or whatever, I have a tear in my retina. It is an annoying hole that leaks liquid into my eye and causes a blind spot for about 2 months. It's worse in bright light and is the size of a dinner plate at arms length in my right eye. It flashes every time I blink my eye like a flashlight going off in my head. Today driving home from a road trip for work, I was reflecting on our topic in A-Cell last week on "love". I started to think about how sometimes it's easy for me to have a spiritual blind spot much like the one I am experiencing physically toward people that are outside of my "comfort zone". I overlook or don't notice the needs of others that don't fit the qualifications in my head. It's almost like not being able to see them at all because I am viewing through MY imperfect eyes and not through God's. I can say I love everyone, but do I really? God has given us only one way to love everyone and that is through Him. In Him we live and breath and have our being... and ability to love the loveless, the hopeless and the ugly. Let's face it, without Christ in our lives we are what I just described as well.

As I am praying for God to heal my physical blind spot, I also pray that He will heal my spiritual blind spots as well. May he do this for all of us, so that we can touch those around us with His love!

Perceptions and Spiritual Band-Aids

Its been a long while since my last post. Sometimes the things of life get so out-of-sorts in my head and become all consuming that I feel my spirits are weakened and my joy is robbed. I have felt this way for a few months (almost 4) and I think I am finally on the other side of it now. Its quenched my spirit and robbed my of opportunities for ministry and growth in Christ. This past week I went to talk with my pastor about a few things. I have had a really hard time bringing myself to this, but I am glad I did. It was either get some issues resolved or leave the church, which I really didn't want to do. I do realize that I will never agree totally with a denomination or for that matter another individual completely. God has made us all unique in our views and complexities. This comes with a price; we all have opinions and judgments to make, but God is the ultimate judge and He is the only one that has the answers to the hard questions. When I get all bound up, its another reminder of my limitations and small perspectives.

With all of that said, my pastor spoke from the pulpit Sunday for at least 15-20 minutes on the very subject that we discussed in his office on Tuesday. It was like a huge spiritual band-aid was put on my heart. I really appreciate him taking the time to do that and it gave me a respect for him that I know I had let myself lose because of my perception of him. I know that perception is 70% of all issues that we have with others. It is 70% of all the good and the bad we see in everything around us. Live in my house for one day and I will rock your world on how earthly minded I am. Get into my mind for one minute and you will see how selfish I am. What this past week did for me was to prove that I again need to ask for Christ's perspective on life and relationships I have with others. The age old cliche of "How would Christ view this" or "What would Jesus do" shines through again. Its time for me to get past the "WWJD" bracelet slogans and ask myself those un-cliched questions again.

Lord I thank You for making each of us unique. There is truly no person exactly like me; yet through Your Spirit in me, I can be of like mind with others. Thank you for situations in my life that, in the end, always point back to You. Give me Your perspective on situations I encounter and relationships I have with others.

Still Waters

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name'’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. ~ Psalm 23 (NKJV)

This familiar verse has been rattling around in my mind the past few weeks. Its amazing how God works. A week ago Sunday, my father retired from the church he and my mother had been pastoring for 8 years. His kids showed up as a surprise to him to hear his last message to the church. It was a simple one, but also one that I needed to hear even though I wasn't an attender of that church. He preached from Psalm 23 and it was basically a message about how God is ultimately our shepherd, and when He leads us into new areas, they will be good areas for us. There are quite a few people in that church who don't necessarily know where they will go or what they will do, because the church is being handed over to a Hispanic congregation (95% of the people in the town speak Spanish, so this is the logical conclusion when it comes right down to it). With all that said, the message and the scripture kind of took on new meaning for me this past week or so.

Let me break it down to what I felt God was trying to tell me through His word...

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

~ When the Lord is my shepherd, I will not want any other shepherd. I will not need any other shepherd. All other people I try to put in his place will fail me. I shall not want any other than Him.

He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.

~ I am the sheep of His pasture. He won't take me to a dry place where there is no food or water. He takes me to the place where food is plentiful and rest is easily found. The still waters allow me to wade in and not be swept away.

He restores my soul;

~ Can anyone other than my creator do this? This reminds me of another cry of David when he says "Create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me". He restores what man tries to take away. He makes real what man-made institutions have corrupted. He shines true, through our fallen shell of a soul.

He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name'’s sake.

~ Often times in my prayers I praise God for the fact that only in Him and from Him do I receive righteousness and holiness. I am nothing on my own. God gets's the glory in it, because we can't be righteous or holy without Him. Its a miracle.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

~Ultimately, what do any of us have to fear? A sheep is a skidish animal, but a shepherd protects. He will not let even one be devoured if we allow Him to lead us. There is no question of His presence. He is always with us. The question becomes, are we always with Him? We can always look to Him for our protection and call upon His name.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.

~ It may feel like we are sometimes surrounded by circumstances and those trying to harm us, but God loves us so much that he lavishes blessings on us; He shines through even in those times. He fills us with to the the point of spilling over with His spirit, so we can spill out on others.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

~ Amen

Lord, today I will make You my one and only shepherd. I trust You in every valley and on every hillside. You will not let my foot stumble or my mouth go hungry. I know that you protect me. Help my heart to always follow you and make You Lord completely. I will trust in You!

Enter PlainWorship Again

Alright... I confess. I am guilty of wanting the “latest and greatest” in faith. I love worship and church “things” when they are hip and trendy. I am fascinated by "The Emerging Church", only because it sounds cool. I love worship tunes that are new and vibrant and tire of the ones we did lasts week. I demand things to be in my style and key. I have made personal worship a “thing” and not an action for the one being worshipped. I kick, scream and pout when corporately we don't do "new" songs or have new techniques involved to "draw" people into the presence of the "thing" we are trying to create. I approach God's alter with contempt in my heart for others. I often times don't even approach God's alter because of that contempt.

Those are my confessions. Noticed or unnoticed they are in my heart. If you take a look at all the sentences above you will see, as I have, a striking familiarity about each. They all start with "I". When did worship become about "I" or me? Its not like I'm not involved, but when did it become about my self worship, my style, the latest trend, instruments played or even... music? There is a lot of truth in the words of Matt Redman's "Heart of Worship". It needs to ring more true in my heart and at the core of my motives.

Recently I lead a discussion in small group on a book about worship. I first of all want to apologize to those involved in that group. I read the words; I understood the words; I know the importance of the ideas in that book, but I don’t live them. I often get caught up in methodology and pretext more than reason and heart. I voice my opinions about how great vertical praise and worship is or how we should move away from horizontal hymns and older songs. Don't get me wrong. Music should be "God" focused, but I have let style override my overall concept of worship. I have been wrong. God loves “new songs”, but He also loves old songs when they are directed towards Him. God convicted me today as I was driving in my car. The fact is, He has been convicting me for quite some time; I just didn’t want to admit it. Today He actually spoke to my heart. He said this, “Listen - I have always inhabited the praises of My people from the day I created man. Every praise that has been uttered by countless lips before you, I have heard. Every knee that has bowed before Me, I have seen. Every heart that has turned to Me through ANY act of worship, I accept. Do you think I care how they get there? Do you think I care about style, trends or preferences? Do you think you can bring anything to the table in comparison to what I bring? Is it at all about you anyway?"

As I drove to work, I wept before God as “Take My Life and Let It Be” by Frances Ridley Havergal was sung on a CD in my truck. The words were so simple and true. There were no greater things that could have been sung at that very moment. They words sum up what my prayer should be now and for eternity.

Take my life and let it be, consecrated, Lord, to Thee
Take my hands and let them move
At the impulse of Thy love
At the impulse of Thy love

Take my feet and let them be, swift and beautiful for Thee
Take my voice, and let me sing
Always, only, for my King
Always, only, for my King

Take my silver and my gold: Not a mite would I withhold
Take my moments and my days
Let them flow in ceaseless praise
Let them flow in ceaseless praise

Take my will and make it Thine, it shall be no longer mine
Take my heart, it is Thine own
It shall be Thy royal throne
It shall be Thy royal throne

It amazed me that this song was written somewhere between 1836 and 1879. At that moment in my truck, God awoke in me something that has been asleep for some time. Simplicity. Simplicity takes me back to deeply rooted faith rather than man-invoked doctrine. By its very nature, simplicity un-complicates things and breathes life in the burned-out. It brings love. It breeds grace.

Lord, I confess that I get caught up in the latest trends. I have loved the “things” of worship and not the One being worshipped. I lay any personal styles or desires at Your feet. I am sorry for making worship a "thing" and not an action. I will not try to "create" worship on my own, but let you draw hearts and minds in Your time. As I approach your alter, let me realize who You are and bring my offering in simplicity of heart. Help my heart to be Yours; let it be Your royal throne. Do not allow me to hinder worship of You. Let it always be plain worship for and to You, my extravagant God!

Rental Agreement

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. ~ Galatians 2:20 (NKJV)

When we accept Christ into our lives, we basically acknowledge that God owns us; He owns our time; He owns our future. He always has; He created us, but this concept is important to understand. We are His temple. When we allow Christ to be Lord of our lives we basically sign a renter's agreement. "I will rent this "place" until further notice. I acknowledge that I must keep it up to the best of my ability and any changes or improvements made must be first approved by the owner". The difference from a normal renter's agreement is - the owner of the residence lives there as well. He knows what's in our closets. He sees the clutter in our hallway. He knows of the neglected bills, the chipping paint and the cobwebs. He reads our mail.

How well do I keep house? Do I sweep dirt under the carpet? Do I keep the outside painted and the yard immaculate, but neglect the inside? Are dust bunnies collecting under the bed? Are important parts of my life so cluttered with junk that I can't even get to them anymore; more importantly, can He?

The amazing thing about this arrangement is that before the "new" owner bought it, for an outrageous price, the house was condemned. There was no hope for it to be inhabited. It wasn't even safe to live in. The foundation was cracked and falling apart. The roof leaked every time it rained and the place was truly haunted; haunted by a dying spirit with no hope. When we sign this agreement on our heart and acknowledge Christ for who he is, he remodels the place. He establishes a new foundation and becomes the cornerstone of the "building". Its up to us to keep house and tell the owner about problems that may arise, but he is always there with a broom, cleanser or even a screwdriver in hand to help us get rid of the mess or fix the problem. The best part is, He also takes out the trash and doesn't rummage through it like some of the neighbors like to do from time to time.

All of this and free rent. Its incredible really. Our job as good tenants is to tell others about our recent renovation. Christ already has their house number in mind, but waits for their call. Let's be ready to hand them the phone!