Google-free existence

OK. Maybe my entire existence isn't Google-free. But since last week, my home life has been, and it's been wonderful. Yeah, I get "behind" on some emails. But that's just fine. Other things can wait. My family, on the other hand, cannot. You know what I'm saying?

I broke my vow yesterday while Suzanne was out to hop on line and order her some flowers for taking such superb care of me while I've had the flu this week. What a saint. And after this post - which I'm making so no one things I keeled over - I go back to living in an email/internet-free zone.

UPCOMING POSTS:
A review of Pat and Joel Szcebel's CD "You and You Alone".

If I'm well enough to attend tomorrow night, a comment or two on Bob Kauflin's time in Knoxville leading worship and ministering.

Why Mankind Embraces God

Oxford to Study Faith in God.

February DVD Giveaway

Tim Challies runs an impressive blog where, due I suppose to the outrageous number of people that visit him on a daily basis, various companies are sponsoring his "Great Giveaways" for the months of 2008. The February DVD Giveaway is on, and the sponsor is Franklin Springs Family Media.

Check it out, follow all of the instructions, and remember to put my referral ID code in where it asks for it (since I did refer you!).

My referral ID code: 51182

Blessings,
~ w

Ash Wednesday - Update

Earlier this month I posted the service I had planned for Ash Wednesday. After rehearsing the service Tuesday night, the songs just didn't sit right with a couple of us. So I revised the service.

I've been so affected by my friend Laura's poems, that I asked her to read one at the beginning of the service, following the Prelude. The Prelude was just a simple piano arrangement of Have Thine Own Way, Lord. Laura's poem was "Dust". It set the tone for the "somber celebration" of the Ash Wednesday service perfectly. Then, instead of Lord Have Mercy and Tender Mercy (both good songs, but not well-known enough in our congregation) we sang Jesus, Lover of My Soul and Come, Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy. The band then played a transition (around the chords Em2 - CM7 - Am9 - D - C) while my co-leader Bethany gave the background for the next song, His Forever (Cook).

New Atheism - Albert Mohler Jr.

Please watch these lectures!
"The New Atheism And The Endgame Of Secularism " with R. Albert Mohler Jr. 02/05/08 - Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS)

What Is Surprising About Worship - Bob Kauflin

Many people are familiar Bob Kauflin. He has been publishing Worship Matters, which has evolved from a very helpful weekly article to a blog, for many, many years. I am grateful for his friendship, his pastoral heart for songwriters and worship leaders, and his pursuit of God-glorifying worship.

If you've been reading my blog lately, you know why I'm about to say - that I asked him a question: What is the most surprising thing you've learned about worship?

Here's his answer:

The most surprising thing I’ve learned about worship is that there is nothing about our worship that isn’t defined, governed, affected, and made possible by Jesus Christ. For years my thinking about worship started with what we do, what we bring, what we feel, and what we want. It’s been revolutionary for me to consider and rejoice in the fact that Jesus offered the once and for all perfect sacrifice to God at Calvary, and that through him, all our offerings of worship are now accepted by God.

What Is Surprising About Worship - Robert Austell

Robert Austell is Pastor of Good Shepherd Presbyterian in Charleston, SC. I have a lot of admiration for him: he's a pastor, musician, and is currently writing his D.Min. dissertation at Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte on the subject of music and worship.

Robert and I struck up friendship online, and I threw him a bone I knew he would want to chew on: What is the most surprising thing you've learned about worship?

It isn't difficult to find a Biblical basis for saying we were made for worship. And that is plenty to try to wrap our minds around. But what completely boggles my mind and continues to humble me is that God has chosen to allow us to participate in the eternal worship of Heaven and the inner life of the Father, Son, and Spirit. We are not just spectators to divine worship, but are invited through Jesus to add our voices to the chorus, yield our hearts in loving submission, and carry forth the life-giving news of God's gracious love. And even where, in our humanness, our worship falls far short, the Holy Spirit binds us to Christ, through whom our feeble acts of faith, hope, and love are presented lovingly (and perfectly) to the Father. It is no wonder that Paul gushes without pause through the first chapter of Ephesians, for while life from death is far more than we deserve or frankly could imagine, God has poured out grace after grace in an unimaginable overflow of love. The more I glimpse all that worship signifies, the more profoundly humbled I am.

(Visit Robert at his blog)

What Is Surprising About Worship - Ron Man

My new friend Ron Man directs the Worship Resources Dept. of the Greater European Mission, offering a free monthly online digest, a great group of links, some superb articles and other resources.

During some correspondence, I asked Ron the same question I've been asking others: What is the most surprising thing you've learned about worship?

Ron answered,

The most surprising things I've learned about worship came from two paradigm-exploding books (for me at least):

1. The opening lines of Piper's Let the Nations Be Glad: "Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn't." Those thoughts (and his expanded exposition of them in that book) transformed the way I thought about missions, about worship . . . indeed, about God.

2. The fact Jesus Christ is the true Leader of our worship; that only He (not a Christian artist, not a worship leader, not even worship itself) can lead us into God's presence; that our worship is acceptable and pleasing to God, not because of its own quality, but because we come in Christ, who always offers a perfect offering of praise to the Father; that we need to repent of trying to do worship in our own strength (what Torrance called our "Unitarian" tendency in worship). These thoughts came from James Torrance's Worship, Community and the Triune God of Grace, and was expanded on in both Reggie's and my books.

Testimony - C.J. Mahaney

I encourage you to read C.J.’s Testimony. It is a powerful way to start your day or your very next moment.

Christians Wrong About Heaven

I've always heard "To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord." And at most of the funerals I attend, comforting words that our parted friend is now looking down on us, healed from all discomfort, are offered in deep sincerity. But is that true, and if so, is it all the Bible says about Heaven? In this season of Lent, a time Christians consider our mortality, I think it is appropriate that we look at what the Bible does say about eternity. This interview with N.T. Wright in TIME magazine does just that.

Peace,
West

(HT: my friend Tullian at his blog http://www.newcitypres.com/blog/?p=208)

SBTS: Past Lectures

Click HERE to download lectures from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary's Institute for Christian Worship. Luminary teachers include Ron Man, Harold Best, Ken Myers, Kevin Twit, Mathew Smith, Robert Webber, and many others, including some personal friends like Keith & Kristyn Getty, John Frame, Bob Kauflin, and Reggie Kidd.

Download: Blending Worship Styles

BuildingChurchLeaders.com has a new download packet that, just by looking at the contributing authors (including Barry Leisch, Ron Man, and Emily Brink), will be very useful to worship leaders whose calling is to intentionally bring the best of the old and the best of the new into a single service of worship; to follow the Lord's command to both “Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls" (Jer 6:16), as well as to "Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts" (Psalm 33:3).

I've had the opportunity to read Barry Leisch's books, and I am looking forward to reading Ron's recently published book - Proclamation and Praise: Hebrews 2:12 and the Christology of Worship. I've also found Reformed Worship magazine, of which Emily is the editor emeritus, helpful over the years.

Lenten Poems - Laura Barton Cottrell

Bright Sadness

[2.4.08]

I don’t want to rush to the end of the story.
There is life in the in-between.
Your journey toward the cross
Was marked by both anguish and beauty;
You were pierced by both darkness and light.

I can’t skip over this magnificent journey,
Celebrating the final victory,
Without waiting with you in the desert
And feeling the emptiness of hunger;
The desperation of thirst.

To sit alone in silence
And in the darkness that precedes the light
Of your revealed, inherent glory,
Is to know myself and judge me justly;
To see myself through your eyes.

I can’t simply consider your solitary journey.
I must make this journey with you.
The two of us. Alone. Together.
I walk with you; I, who make this journey necessary.
I, who have this darkness in me still.

I am pierced by that same darkness
That pierced your very heart.
Repentance. Returning. Remaining.
Forty days for you to instill in me
Your Bright Sadness.

Lenten Poems - Laura Barton Cottrell

My friend Laura has a way with words, and I want the world to hear her. I'm grateful she's allowed me to share a couple of her Lenten Poems with you today - Ash Wednesday.
Regarding tonight's imposition of ashes, Laura reflects--"We are marked with ashes to remind us of who we are and who God is."

The two poems are set up like a dialogue between us, "Dust", and God, who sees us as "Beloved Dust." This is the kind of Biblical humility Christians need to recapture. I know I need and must recapture it. We cannot know who God truly is unless we first have a correct view of ourselves. The God's-eye view of us as Beloved Dust that Laura gives reminds me of Pascal's description of us: "Man is only a reed, but he is a thinking reed." Others have captured humility in songs like Alas! and Did My Savior Bleed? ("Would He devote that sacred head / For such a worm as I?") Another great hymn of humility is Jesus, Lover of My Soul.

She did not ask that I do this, but I feel obliged to remind you that these are Laura's intellectual property. She wants to share them freely, but I ask that you credit her if you use these in any fashion. Thanks.

Dust
[1.30.08]

What is the value of dust?
We are nothing in your eyes.
Remind us as we come to you
With all our sins and miseries,
That you are faithful, even to dust.

When dust forgets that it is nothing,
Taking that which it does not own
And handing out judgment,
Gently call us back to your side.
Mark us, yet again, with
Ashes, impossible to remove.

Permanent remembrances
Of our dirty hearts
And our dusty souls;
Bodies formed out of the earth.

Burn this mark onto our foreheads.
Scar us with this symbol of ash;
Never to be forgotten:
Our life and death is bound up
In your life and death.

We offer these dusty, wayward lives
As an offering to the one who is greater
Than any sin and able to keep us from falling,
And from forgetting,
Not only that we are merely dust,
But also that we are beloved dust.

And God's Response:

Beloved Dust
[1.30.08]

Beloved Dust,
Feel the heaviness
Of the call
To be so much more
Than neatly molded clay.

Hear the voice
Calling your name
And inviting you in
To a life beyond
Your feeble, broken being.

By deigning to create you
And separate you from
The dust of the ground,
I have made you Sacred Dust.

Infinite Dust;
An image of one
Who can imagine life
In a swirl of ashes.

You don’t need much in yourselves
Because you have me.
All you need
Are the gifts
I have given to you:

A few worthless particles
And a love that will never end.

Today I will remind you again
Of dust and ashes,
Of all that you are
And of how I walked among you
In a guise of dust.

Come near
And let me mark you, Dust,
With the ashen cross of my love.

Ash Wednesday

Many Christians around the world will be celebrating Ash Wednesday tomorrow. As the first of the 40 days of Lent (not including Sundays), it is always a labor to plan music for. Surely the main reason for that is because of primary focus on the fact of our imminent death. But it is more than that. It's a coming to terms with death as a Christian. Our lives are eternal, and, through the crimson lens of the cross, they are purposeful and hopeful. C.S. Lewis said,

All that is not eternal is eternally useless.

So here's a song selection that attempts to grasp that our lives are finite, but not futile; that we are sinners, but we have an all-satisfying Savior, whose mercies are new every morning of our (short) lives.

Congregational Songs
Come, Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy (Em)
Lord have Mercy (F to G)
Tender Mercy (D)
His Forever (C to D)

Instrumental Music for Communion and Imposition of Ashes
You Are My King
I Will Glory in My Redeemer

Thirsting For God

Ron Man offers a "free monthly online digest of reflections, views, news and reviews concerning biblical worship" called Worship Notes on his website - Worship Resources Intl.

In this months issue Ron draws attention to a number of worship events happening around the country. He also brings to our attention a new worship training program at The Bethlehem Institute.

Check out the purpose for this program:

The vision for the Track 2 Worship Pastor Concentration is to train vocational worship pastors at the elder level in biblical theology and God-ward doxology who are Calvinistic in theology, charismatic in affections, committed to and embrace Christian Hedonism (understanding that “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him”), and devoted to spreading a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ.

Obviously, the driving force behind this is John Piper, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, whose ministry is more practically resourced through Desiring God Ministries.

I find Piper's sermons, teachings and writings to be very helpful. A good place to start, if you've never read anything from , is his sermon on worship at his church - What Unites Us in Worship at Bethlehem?

U2 3D - My experience

Tonight, some friends & I went to see the new U2 concert showing only in IMAX theaters. It blew me away. This is not the 3D of old (Grimlins, JAWS), and it's not even comparable to the modern 3D experience (Meet the Robinsons). This new technology produced by a company called 3ality, with molar-shaking surround sound, is as live event as you're going to get (minus the people dancing on your feet and that classic concert "smell"; concert-goers, you know what I'm talking about) without actually being there.

The Pluses
For me, a musician and U2-lover since the late-eighties when I got to see them perform the Joshua Tree concert at the Atlanta OMNI, this was heaven. The cameras start from behind the stage, giving you a "band's eye" view of the set-up and crowd. Throughout the concert you practically get on stage with the band, getting impossible up-close shots of Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen Jr. and Adam Clayton. It's the closest experience you'll have to being omnipresent. No doubt you'll find it hard to resist the urge to reach out your own hand to see if you can actually touch these guys.

The Negatives
What I personally found objectionable was Bono's politics. Well, not necessarily his politics in and of themselves (I'm all for governmental response to AIDS, poverty, and the like), but the fact that there were politics. Understand, I've always found the passion of the more prophetic and politically overt songs to be a powerful drug for my pathetically slothful heart. It's just that Bono has just gotten really preachy, and cult leader-like; and I don't want to pay for that. I hope I'm being clear. It was the theo-politico persona that he assumed during the show that turned me off. I know some of you die-hard fans are thinking that I should expect that at a U2 concert. But I disagree. Two things you don't talk about in polite company, religion and politics. And U2's front man forgot that people had paid good money, and lots of it, to see them and hear their music. We can get the religion and politics elsewhere.

On that topic, I personally don't mind the CoeXisT headband. It's a symbol left to me to interpret. But the concert loses its transcendence when Bono takes it upon himself to artistically explain the symbol away - robbing the show of a certain power.

And in the midst of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" (which, according to Bono, doesn't just belong to Ireland anymore) Bono points to each religious icon and declares:

"Jesus, Jew, Muhammad, it's true...All sons of Abraham. Father Abraham, speak to your sons. Tell them, No more!" (http://www.atu2.com/news/article.src?ID=3995)

The Budget
Overall, I think it's worth the money. Although not worth paying an extra 2 bucks to Fandango to secure a ticket. The theater was practically empty, much to my surprise. Maybe it was due to the fact that the Hannah Montana live 3D concert was opening tonight, which I've promised my daughter that we'll see on one of our Saturday morning dates, but one that I'm sure I won't blog on!

Flesh or Spirit?
You know, watching an event like this can ignite in our hearts a desire that, unsanctified, will lead only to self-glorification. After all, isn't that what's behind rock n' roll? Some go so far to say that that very thing is behind most contemporary worship music - it is breeding ground for self-indulgence. I know I've been accused of "performing", an accusation that really drives a stake in the heart of a worship leader. I know there are musical breaks in some of the songs we do that have led some to say, "Oh, this is just a part written in the song so you can do that riff." Such accusations have led me to be extra careful about the music.

U2 doesn't have to watch for that. They aren't thinking about how not to distract from worship. They want the attention. But that's their job. And I think they do it well. The movie was rated G, and for a good reason. There's nothing that my 5-yr old would be offended by. There's much more (as Obama made a good point about in the debates last night) that comes on during commercials that I cover her eyes from (in fact, she's been instructed for some time to actually mute the TV during commercials and do something else) than ever appeared on the concert. Yes, we do have to be careful. There's nothing that is morally neutral. But this concert is positive.

What Is Surprising About Worship - Reggie Kidd

Reggie Kidd is both a student and professor of worship. His book, With One Voice, captures a lot of what is going on in his mind regarding worship. One of the most profound insights from the book is Reggie's comparison of our worship to a barbershop quartet, and how when the harmony is really tight you hear what sounds like a fifth voice, which is actually the overtone produced from the natural resonance of the real voices. Kidd says this is a picture of what worship should be. And don't we all agree! We need to be listening for the "fifth voice" of Christ resonating in our worship. We need to listen for that voice of God "rejoicing over us with singing" as the prophet Zephaniah recorded (3:17). May God grant us the relational harmony, not the unison necessarily, so that we might hear his voice singing in our midst.

I wrote a song a number of years ago called In Spirit and Truth, part of which was based on what Reggie and Zephaniah are saying:

Sing over us, Oh Lord
Let your melody soar
A Warrior victorious
Rejoicing o'er us
Quieting those he adores

Reggie was kind enough to answer the question I've been asking other worship leaders lately, What is the most surprising thing you've learned about worship? His answer is both mind and heart-gripping!

My big surprise is the disconnect between Reformed Christians' strong doctrine of incarnation and their discarnate view of worship (emotions and imagery are suspect, as is Calvin's view of real presence in the sacraments).