Church Music

Each week, I have the wonderful opportunity to lead our congregation in worship through singing, prayers, and Scripture reading.  It has been a blessing.  I get to work with a wonderful team of musicians who love the Lord and a church community open to new songs and ideas.  None of us are professional in any sense of the word.  We do it because we love it, and have been given opportunities, and yes some musical abilities.

There are many things I have thought about over the last few years in regards to church music.  I have read countless articles and blogs and watched many videos on worship music and worship leading.  Most of the writings and talks on church music is about style and trying to sound like the bands on the radio.  This isn’t bad and it is needed, especially for people like me who want to throw all of that out the window sometimes, but it’s definitely not the most important.  I wouldn’t be able to add much to that conversation anyway.

What I have noticed in the last couple years is a shift that is taking place where church music and worship is more theologically aware and centered.  The question is being asked, “In what ways does our music/liturgy/worship point to God?”  This is quite different than, “How do we sound and look?”  I’m definitely no expert on liturgy, but it is something that intrigues me and have come to really appreciate more and more ever since a couple worship classes from my seminary days at NTS where I really began to think more theologically rather than purely practically.  We do need a wide range of voices for the future of the church.

I’d like to begin a series of posts on church music, liturgy and worship and I hope that I can add to the conversation that has already begun taking place.  A couple leaders that I have been recently influenced by are Glenn Packiam and Aaron Niequist and his “newliturgy” work.

Coaching-Pastoring

I have always loved sports.  I can’t remember a time I wasn’t dribbling a basketball or throwing a football or swinging a golf club.  Sports came natural to me.  I was pretty good at them too.  Sports were my life.

I also can’t remember a time when I wasn’t in church, going to Sunday School, attending youth group, or having a belief in God.  In a sense Christianity came natural to me.  The Christian faith has always been my life.

What does this have to do with coaching or pastoring?  Well nothing in a way, just a background for myself as I think about where I am currently on my journey.

I have been a pastor for 4 years now; during my schooling at seminary and now as my full-time job/vocation.  If you know me well, becoming a pastor was a long struggle.  Even today, I sometimes struggle with the title pastor, to be identified as pastor.  I guess I am still in the process of accepting that call more fully.

This past semester I had the incredible opportunity to be a 7th grade football and basketball coach at the local middle school.  When I was first asked about a year ago, I immediately said yes; quite opposite of my call to ministry.  Or was it?  As I said earlier, the Christian faith/ministry has always been a part of my life just as sports have been, but it was this past fall of 2012 that I’ve seen these two worlds collide like they never have before.

As a pastor, I have the wonderful blessing of inviting people into the story of God.  I get to share the Gospel story of a God who created us to live in relationship with him, to be a part of a community of faith much bigger than any one individual, a “team” that is striving for the HOPE of resurrection, the goal of Jesus Christ!  Along the way I get to have conversations and encourage people to play their role, their part in the story.  Young people have a wonderful sense of creativity and honesty.  They ask sincere questions and truly desire to know more about God and what it means to live in this world.  At different times during the year and through the course of many years I get to see people mature in their faith, to be called into ministry and even in small ways, like learning about Moses, Abraham, King David and the early disciples.  Transformation takes place through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Yet teenagers are still very young and immature and they like the rest of us have a long way to go.  As “pastor” I have the call to pass on the faith to the next generation; to shepherd–to coach!  It is a big responsibility.  I have the overwhelming, tough, rewarding, and privileged title to be called PASTOR.

As a coach, I have the wonderful opportunity to be a part of a sports team again and to encourage these young athletes to work hard and be a part of a team that is much bigger than themselves.  In sports, especially football and basketball, the players MUST work as a team for them to be successful.  Along the way and in between games, I have the wonderful privilege of coaching in practice, to teach and run drills, to pass on the knowledge of the game to these young people.  Throughout the course of a season you begin to see progress and different people stepping up and getting better.  The long hours of practice begin to pay off.  The game becomes more fun.  But 7th graders are still so very young and immature and their bodies are still growing.  You realize they have a long way to go and lots of room for improvement.  And so I have the privilege to pass on my knowledge of the game, my insights, and the things coaches have taught me over the years.  I have the awesome privilege of kids walking by and saying, “hey coach.”

Coaching and pastoring.  Quite different in many ways, yet very similar.  Both on the sports field and in daily Christian ministry, I have responsibility to lead people, to guide, to encourage, and to point to something bigger than themselves.

I have seen coaching as an extension of my youth ministry.  Some of the young boys who started coming to ROOTS call me coach instead of pastor and I think that is ok.  I think our great Saint from the past who wrote much of the New Testament wouldn’t have minded to be called coach.  Paul writes in Philippians 3:14-21:

14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

15 All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

17 Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. 18 For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. (NIV)

Fellow youth pastors, youth workers, and followers of Christ, let us enter our different fields and become coaches and ministers of the Gospel, training and equipping our young people to grow in the knowledge and grace of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Pastor “coach” Aaron

Sabbath: observing rest in Marriage

Rest can take different forms for different people and at different times.  I am naturally an introvert.  I find rest and regain energy by being alone.  This doesn’t mean complete isolation.  I love to sit by myself in restaurants among many people, watching others and occasionally striking up conversations with those I see.  We are all made unique, but we all share at least one characteristic: IMAGO DEI.  We are all made in the image of God.  All humanity bears this image.  My Christian faith believes this, but also believes that we have a choice to live into this image, ultimately in God’s perfect image–JESUS CHRIST, or not live into this image.  I am blessed and extremely thankful that God has revealed Godself to me, and that my hope is in Jesus Christ, to be fully restored.

In the mean time, God has given us rhythm’s to live by.  Our world naturally goes through seasons of change.  There are times of growth and times of decay.  There are times of life and times of death.  There are times of joy and times of sorrow.  God has created this for reasons.  In Genesis 2 it says that for 6 days God worked.  On the 7th day, God rested from his work and made that day holy.  I’ve always wondered why God needed to “rest.”  Surely God wasn’t physically or mentally tired.  What is the significance of God resting?  I know that God wasn’t tired then and isn’t tired today, but I believe that God in God’s infinite wisdom gave us a pattern of life, not only to rest physically and mentally and spiritually although that is vitally important, but to rest in God.  After God had finished the work of creation, he saw that it was very good and “rested”.  The earth was God’s dwelling place: God’s tabernacle.  God’s rest is to stop, to live and to dwell.  Everything was whole on that 7th day.

My marriage with Rachelle has come to such a place and season of time.  We are in our 7th year of marriage.  If we live into this cycle and pattern of rest, our marriage has reached a Sabbath time.  It is quite fitting as well.  We celebrated our marriage 7 years to this day, May 14, 2005.  The 6 years up to this point has been a period of “work” if you will.  At least one of us has been in school “working” towards completion.  And each step along the way definitely “was very good”, but not complete.  In this 7th year we have come to “rest” and dwell in Lovington, NM.  We both are living into God’s calling with full-time jobs.  Just recently both of us voiced how we feel this is exactly where God desires for us to be.  It is as if we are walking in the garden with God in that period of “rest/sabbath”.

We have entered into a Marriage Sabbath!

Now, to make sure we don’t bite into that forbidden fruit next.  Lord have mercy.  Christ have mercy!

Thankfully Christ has conquered evil and crushed the serpent.  And we are living post-resurrection!!

Lovington through 4 months

Four months ago Rachelle, Ellie, and I packed up the moving truck and headed to the desert southwest. Lovington, NM is our new home and we are truly grateful and blessed to be here. Coming from the Kansas City area, its taking a bit of time to get adjusted to the life, culture, and climate here. We’ll probably be adjusting for a while, but we are excited to see what God has in store for us and the new people God has placed in our lives.

I have the best job in the world as youth pastor and also helping lead worship music on Sundays.
ROOTS is our youth group name as we are starting from the ground up. As our roots dig deep and as we see things take shape and bear fruit, we will grow into a beautiful tree. It’s exciting to get to have a blank slate for doing youth ministry, but it definitely has its challenges. Reading books and articles are helpful, but there’s nothing like learning things hands on and sometimes the hard way.

We’ve been exploring the World Unbroken Curriculum by barefootministries and it has been really good. God is at work in the midst of our world, and healing the brokenness and is calling us to be a part of that restoration.

Blessings

follow Jesus? How do you do that?

I have been reading Scot McKnight’s new book, ONE.LIFE: Jesus Calls and We Follow, and it really challenging my thinking about what it means to follow Jesus.  What does it mean to follow Jesus?  Am I a Christian because I asked Jesus into MY heart?  Is Jesus in my heart and life along with all the other things in my life: sports, school, family, TV, etc?  Or is it just the opposite?  Does Jesus ask us to join him?  I think so.  Sadly, this hasn’t happened in my life.  I have asked Jesus to join my plan, my life, and my desires.  There’s hope though.  I do believe I follow Christ, but every day is a new day of following more closely.  I haven’t arrived yet.

I asked a friend from church today about what it means to follow Christ and how it has changed his life.  Christ has totally transformed his life.  Jesus wasn’t just an add-on to his existing life.  Everything changed.  But what does it really mean to follow Christ? to be a Christian?  Is it merely asking Jesus into your heart and carrying on as usual?  I think this is what most people (myself) have done.  It’s got to be more than that right?
Or does it mean to give your heart to God.  The disciples didn’t ask Jesus to join their life out on the fishing boat.  Jesus called them to leave their boats, their LIFE, and start a new life.  Following Jesus has to be radical.  SO….what does that mean for us?  What about evangelism?  What about discipleship?  They can’t be disconnected.

God, give us wisdom and discernment and courage to follow you with our entire lives.  Make us new!  Help us to be faithful witnesses to you.  Give us knowledge, but more importantly give us a love that we can share with others.

This and That

I just finished reading reading SEX GOD by Rob Bell (via Kindle for iTouch!).  It was a very quick read.  It was fascinating and challenges the way sex is viewed and taught especially in the church.  Bell is a great story teller and shares with us some very powerful stories.  He also introduces many of us to the Jewish context and some original language that help us understand more fully of what the biblical writers understood in that time.  Bell reminds us that sex is not purely a physical encounter.  We are not animals.  There is also something very spiritual about it.  However, it isn’t solely spiritual either.  We aren’t angels!  God made us physical beings!  This is always about that.

Bell refers back to the Genesis account throughout this book and causes us to read it with different lens.  For me, the most interesting chapter was on marriage.  Bell explains the biblical view of marriage and how it is tied with sex.  No sex, no marriage!  He also explained how Jewish weddings and marriage were/are celebrated and how different many of us view this sacred event and journey.  Jews would have a wedding ceremony, then the bride and groom would immediately go and consummate their relationship with sex!  THEN, they would have a reception and celebration!  I’m kind of glad that doesn’t happen today for us!  The point is that sex isn’t just physical.  There’s something very important to the soul going on.  Likewise, marriage is more than just a short ceremony.  The physical and spiritual become one!  This is always about that.  When sex is given away with no commitment to the other person (marriage) we are living like animals.  But God created us humans – Imago Dei (in God’s image).  When sex and the physical is looked down upon even before marriage, we are trying to be angels.  But God created us humans – Imago Dei!

Sex and marriage is something that God created for us.  Sex and marriage is about two becoming one.  It is one of the greatest images and symbols that God gave us to show who God is.  On that final day when Christ comes back, the author of Revelation describes Christ’s return as a wedding when we as the church – bride will meet our groom – Jesus Christ and we will live together as one as God intends and is preparing for us.  We will be like the two in the original garden who communed with God.  There will be no darkness and there will be no shame!  I wonder if in our heavenly bodies we will even wear any clothes!?

I am preparing to officiate my very first wedding for a very good friend.  I am very excited about it and very nervous too.  A wedding is a very important symbol of who God is.  God is one and a marriage points us to the oneness of God.

Bell asks kind of a crazy question towards the end of this book in regards to sex.  He asks if sex in its greatest, purest, and honest expression is a glimpse of forever.  He asks, “Are these brief moments of abandon and oneness and ecstasy just a couple seconds or minutes of how things will be forever?  Is sex a picture of Heaven?”  Hmmm.  Never thought about it like that.

I would recommend this book to anybody to gain a deeper understanding of sex and marriage and its Christian significance.

Summer of reading

This has been the first summer since starting seminary that I haven’t been in a class.  It has been a great break from studying and required reading.  I have been reading a lot of books that I want to read.  The highlight has definitely been Chasing Francis by Ian Cron.  The main character, Chase, is on a pilgrimage to Assisi as he discovers St. Francis and what it means to be a Christian and what the church should look like.  I’m not a fast reader, but I was able to finish it in just a few days.

I’m also re-reading Simply Christian by N.T. Wright and began reading another work from him, Surprised by Hope.  They are great!

I was also able to read Life Together by Bonhoeffer and Posers, Fakers, and Wannabes by Brennan Manning.

I have also begun to read an evangelism book by Brian McLaren.  I don’t agree with everything he has to say, but there are a lot of good things he does have to say about some of the current struggles the church is facing.  I found this book, More Ready than you Realize, in our church youth room, which is kind of ironic because it is the last place I would think to find a book by Mclaren.  The book is about moving away from the “sales pitch” approach to evangelism to a more conversational approach with starting “spiritual friendships” with people.  He compares evangelism to a dance and being captivated by the music so much that you want others to join in the dance.  It’s not about trying to prove Jesus and argue the faith.  It’s about inviting people into a relationship because of the hope and joy that Jesus gives.

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