When I say the word “Worship”, what pops in your mind? If you’re like me, the first thing that comes to mind is a suburban megachurch on a Saturday night. The worship leader playing the latest Tomlin or Redman tune while the crowd raises their hands to the heavens. Is that worship? Well, yes, I think it is. The thing is though, I don’t think that’s even close to everything. It would be like saying Art is black & white landscape photography of barns in the mid-west. Sure, it’s art, but it’s not the only kind of art there is. In fact it’s a very narrow view of it. Yet instead of exploring the other types of art that are out there, we’re debating on why we photographed the white barn, instead of the red one…or why the door is cropped out of the photo. Do you get what I’m saying?
We’re spending all kinds of time debating on why we didn’t play this song or that or why we can’t have the hymns back. It’s just silly. There’s so much more out there for us to explore, why don’t we seek it out?
I just don’t get it.
I can’t explain it, but over the past few weeks and months I’ve been having these moments. I just get flushed with emotions and my eyes well up with this salty substance that I’ve been told are called “tears”. I quickly wipe them away and try to think about manly things like baseball, dirt, or guns. But no matter how I try to ignore it, it keeps coming back, this feeling of joy, peace, happiness.
Over the past several years of my life I’ve been known to be less than optimistic in most situations. In fact, I’ve been passive-aggressive, pessimistic, and hyper-critical of pretty much everything. Now, I’m not going to even suggest that I’m completely cured of all of this, but I will say that over the past 6-8 months I have begun down the path to setting things right.
So, why the change? Well, I can’t completely explain it, but to say it’s been a journey. Jen and I had a great experience with Radio City in the fall which gave me a new passion and love for people. Then we came home and I got into a small group with a few other guys at church. On top of that, I was given a great job and just have been blessed time and time again for no apparent reason. So, today…I’m sitting on the lawn mower, giving the grass a chop, the sun is shining and I’m thinking “wow, life is good. Thank You God!”
I could go on and on about how much God has done for me, but my words would simply fall short of doing it all justice. So, I’ll leave it at that.
Just sat down to listen to some music today and this song caught my attention. I’ve heard it many times before, but for some reason the lyrics really struck me. I guess it deals with a similar topic that I’ve been dealing with for a while- that no matter what the person looks like, no matter what they’ve been through, no matter what they say or do, they are still human. They still have a heart somewhere inside…and it beats just like mine.
Heart Still Beats
by Brave St Saturn
The girl in the alley kneels with exhaustion
She’s guarded by the skinny guy who limps from some infection
Behind a veil of bleached thin hair her eyes tell a story
Like a photo of Berlin, December 1944
She’s looking for a handout, she’s been high for several weeks now
She’s too far gone for whoring and the money just gave out
And her heart still beats inside
And the blood runs in her veins
A remnant of life remains
Her heart still beats inside
The man finally comes to the door, I’ve seen him several times
He always looks pissed off and his sunglasses stay on
I think he got his biceps and tattoos while in prison
And it doesnt seem to bother him when he says “go to hell”
And his heart still beats inside
The blood runs in his veins
A remnant of life remains
His heart still beats inside
The thought it comes to my mind, to somehow intervene
But it could bring me trouble, and what can I do anyway?
It’s hard to be effective when it happens so often
To see a life unraveling, through drawn venetian blinds
I’m sickened by compassion, I’m stifled by my limitations
Anesthetic apathy, come take the pain away
And my heart still beats inside
The blood runs in my veins
A remnant of life remains
And my heart still beats inside
Oh God, we need you here
We’re sinking fast and we dont care
The evidence is all around me, on both sides of my door
Our hearts beat
I have found myself repeating this phrase a lot lately - “That’s Amazing.” Most of it has came while watching the mini-series “Planet Earth” on Discovery. If you haven’t had the chance yet, I highly recommend you watch it…it’s just incredible. There are just so many places and things on this planet that we’ve never seen before. Some of the animals have instincts and behaviors that I just marvel at. For instance, we were watching the episode on the shallow sea and there was a clip of dolphins chasing after fish in really, really shallow water. I mean, we’re talking like less than a foot. They would get their speed up, then chase the fish almost on to the beach, then flop back in to the water. Believe me, you need to check out the series…I guarantee you will say “that’s amazing” at least once. If you have Discovery HD by chance…you’re especially in for a treat. stunning.
part two of “that’s amazing” - the local weather. I’m sure a lot of you have been effected by it but I’m still completely boggled by what has happened over the past week or two. 6 days ago it was 80 degrees. I was outside in shorts and sandals…the very next day- snow. I know Ohio is kind of weird, but we’re talking 45+ degrees of variance in 24 hours. crazy. I’ll be glad to have the warm days back again.
and the last part of “that’s amazing” - Easter at W3CU. 2-3 months ago when I arrived home from the Radio City gig there was already some buzz going about Easter. As time progressed my pastor developed a vision of having 800 in service. One small part of the preparation was to send out a mailer to 3000+ people. Being the aspiring graphic artist that I am, I took the project and ran with it. So 2 weeks ago we sent out 3170 mailers. Additionally there were 1800 handed out personally by our congregation. I also had a hand in a couple of other projects, but my role was pretty limited in it’s reach. Most of it fell to the personal contacts that our people made to their friends, family, and co-workers. To be honest, I didn’t think we would ever reach 800. I thought 600-700 maybe. Now, keep in mind that I live in a town with a population of about 1200 or so. The biggest “city” is Hillsboro, 30 minutes away with a population of like 6000. Our church normally runs around 375…so jumping to 800 was no small feat. With all of that in mind- we did it…806 in attendance today. I mean, that’s just insane, we doubled our attendance! Not many churches can do that, I don’t care who they are. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s not all about numbers…but those numbers represents lives. And today we had a direct impact on the lives of 806 people. The service was great, one of the best I’ve ever experienced and I can only hope that a fraction of the people felt the same way and will dig in a bit more to our church and more importantly God.