Post Two

Well, I got Molly to bed, so maybe now I can type up a post.  I'm reminded this weekend just how valuable my family is to me.  My wife is so wonderful to me and my daughter is active and healthy, although as I write this I hear her grunt through the monitor... sometimes she isn't a huge fan of going to bed.  I specifically reminded of how blessed I am to have a Christian family.  When times are difficult, we not only rely on each other, but we both rely on God.  It is an enormous blessing to see my wife worshipping God with so much of her energy and soul put forth to express her love for Him.  She loves Him more than she loves me, which makes it that much more beautiful.  I know that because She loves God so much, that she loves me more than she would be able to if she put me first.

I tried doing the whole "mobile blogger" thing via text, but I never received a reply to direct me how to link my texts to my blog... so we'll see if I can figure that one out.

I'm also very thankful for my calling.  I count it such a blessing to be called as a Worship Leader.  It is a heavy calling, with a great deal of responsibility, but it also includes a great deal of freedom--in the right church with the right leadership.

Newark Naz, for those of you who don't know, have what they call their "3Cs".  This is really our strategy to live out our vision to "lead people to a growing relationship with Jesus Christ."  The strategy is that each of our people will be involved in three areas: Celebration, Community, and Call.

I'm honored to know that my church places such a high importance on Celebration, with using the arts--especially music--to express our heart to God.  This means that they understand the need for the resources necessary to be culturally relevant in our communication and to produce a Celebration time that will attract people--churched and unchurched--to join together and experience God's Word.

What is worship?  According to Dr. Sanders at MVNU, the Biblical context defines it as this: "Worship is a trusting, obedient response to the Word of God."

Let's clarify that:

1. What does the Bible say about the Word?

The Word was God's vert first action.  When God decided to bring together the created order, He spoke it into being.  "Let there be light--it was good."  Later, mankind communicated through words that became the spoken tradition of the Hebrew people.  Eventually, the Word was made flesh and came to Earth as Jesus.  As the church grew, a Bible was put together that contains text that was "God-breathed."  So everything that God does is done through His word.  Even when we stop to appreciate creation we are stopping to respond to God's word.

2. Obedient?

When God created the world, everything in creation responded obedently to Him.  We don't have any record of God saying, "Let there be livestock" and the stuff that became a cow decided to become a chicken.  The only creations that have the power to disobey in the Bible are angels and humanity.  Both have the ability to have a relationship with God.  I'm not sure how to articulate the biblical differences between angels and humans, so I guess I need to ask a theology prof to get me up to speed.  But what I do know is that we have the choice to obey or disobey, and if we are to respond to God's word in a form of worship, our response must be obedient.

3. Trusting?

We can also respond obediently out of a sense of commitment or duty, and such a response leads to religion independent of faith.  Our response must be one of continual trust.

Well, I gotta go, so maybe more later.