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The Lot Sometimes Falls to Smelly Tasks

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source: James Warwick via Flickr
source: James Warwick via Flickr

Young and old alike, teacher as well as student, cast lots for their duties.
1 Chronicles 25:8 (NIV)

I have been actively involved in community theatre for a decade now and in leadership with community theatre for nine years. Wendy and I enjoy it, despite the long hours and weeks of production and the never ending tasks of administration. There is a lot to be done, and a lot of work that very few people see or realize. Wendy and I are a good team, and together we can get a lot of things accomplished.

Over the years I have been awestruck by the small company of faithful volunteers who do anything and everything to make our productions and organization successful. I have also been struck by two other types of individuals. There are a few who will only do one thing (usually acting) and refuse to do anything else for a production or the organization. Then there are a few who might be willing to do other things, but only those things that put them in control or in the spotlight. In both cases, these individuals appear to consider some tasks to be beneath them.

I found it interesting this morning that when David chose musicians for the worship, everyone cast lots for their assignment. There was no preference given to seniority and no preference given to talent. The lot was cast and they were expected to work with the team and the task they were given. There was a subtle message there for the musicians: you are no better than anyone else, and everyone is equal in the task.

No matter what your age or stage in life, I have found that there are times you may find yourself in the spotlight and there are times you may find yourself mopping up the overflowing toilet so that patrons have a clean, usable bathroom at intermission. Both tasks are necessary for the good of the whole. When the lot falls to me to pick up the mop and clothespin my nose, then it’s time to put on a smile and do the job well. In those roles, I have an audience of One and, for Him, I want to play my role well.

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Faith and Praise: David’s Personal Relationship With God

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David bearing the ark of testament into Jerusalem
David bearing the ark of testament into Jerusalem (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

David and all the Israelites were celebrating with all their might before God, with songs and with harps, lyres, timbrels, cymbals and trumpets. 1 Chronicles 13:8 (NIV)

For the better part of this year, we’ve been journeying through the story of David and before that the psalms which are ancient song lyrics attributed largely to David. In a bit of synchronicity, the group of believers with whom Wendy and I worship on Sunday mornings are starting a series of messages on the life of David next week. It flows out of a five week series in which we’ve been looking at the “chain reaction of praise,” and I’ve been asked to give the lead off message of the series.

The connection between the two series is the fact that, no matter the circumstances, David was a man of praise and faith. David the hero, David the warrior, David the outlaw, David the sinner, David the King, David the victim — no matter which part of David’s life you study you find him seeking God, praising God, crying to God, and consulting God. You can almost always find a psalm that corresponds to a particular episode in David’s life. Throughout his long journey David was always translating his daily life experiences into songs, poems, and prayers of faith and praise.

I thought about that as I read this morning of David the King who was not embarrassed nor ashamed to worship and dance “with all his might” before God and the ark of the covenant. He was not concerned with what it might look like to others. He was not worried about looking cool, kingly, and above it all. He was not one to order others to do his praising for him. For David, his relationship with God was not just “a part of the job.” David’s relationship with God was personal from the time he was a boy until he was uttering his last words on his death bed.

Today, I’m thinking about my own life and David’s example. I don’t want my faith and praise to be a compartment of my life which I take out on Sunday morning and sundry, appropriate occasions. I don’t want my faith to fit neatly into others sense of propriety. I want my praise to be with “all my might” and my relationship to be intensely personal each and every day of my life.

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24/7/365 Worship

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Church-of-the-Holy-Spirit-Jihlava2011
This building is called Church-of-the-Holy-Spirit, but the real church of the Holy Spirit is what every believer sees when he/she looks in  a mirror. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Those who were musicians, heads of Levite families, stayed in the rooms of the temple and were exempt from other duties because they were responsible for the work day and night.
1 Chronicles 9:33 (NIV)

For many of us, worship is something that happens one hour on Sunday each week. If you or your local gathering of believers is really whacky, you might add another hour or two by way of a Sunday night, Saturday night, or mid-week worship.

It struck me this morning reading about the host of singers and musicians who literally lived in the temple because they were needed day and night for the continuous worship that took place. The idea of “continuous worship” is foreign to most of us because our brains, experience, and tradition has been to compartmentalize worship into a one or two hour time slot in our week. The threat of this, of course, is that we think of God and/or our faith as something we put into a compartment of time. We take it out once or twice a week, then put it back and forget about it until the calendar and clock tell us it’s time to pull it back out again.

I am reminded this morning of the radical concept that Jesus introduced and which Jesus followers celebrated around the globe just over a week ago on the Sunday we call Pentecost. God’s Holy Spirit was poured out into the hearts of believers. The temple stopped being bricks and mortar and became flesh and blood in the form of any and all who believe. Church was never supposed to be a building we go to once or twice a week. Church was to be the living, breathing, touching, loving, feeling, serving people who believe and follow Jesus. Worship can happen anywhere, anytime, day or night because God isn’t at the church building, God is in me. My body is the temple and I take it with me wherever I go.

Today, I’m reminded once again that my body is a temple of God open for worship 24/7/365.

 

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The Gift of Music

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itunes captureThese are the men David put in charge of the music in the house of the Lord after the ark came to rest there. They ministered with music before the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, until Solomon built the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem. They performed their duties according to the regulations laid down for them. 1 Chronicles 6:31-32 (NIV)

I have studied and taught on the subject of creativity for many years. I’m a huge fan of the arts across the entire of breadth of ways people choose to express themselves. God’s Message says that through Jesus all things were made, and that we were made in the image of the creator. To create and express oneself creatively is to be Christ-like.

I have explored a host of creative mediums over the years. I like trying new things when they strike my fancy. Acting, singing, song writing, play writing, fiction writing, poetry, painting, pottery, writing, guitar, bass, piano, and drums just to name a few. I may not be particularly gifted or good at most of them, but I find it interesting how each one works and how one medium of creative expression differs from other mediums.

I do find it interesting, however, that music clearly holds a special place in God’s heart. Today as we read through the family tree of the tribe of Levi, who were responsible for the temple and worship, we find that there is an entire branch of that tribe whose sole responsibility was music in temple worship.

Music has a special way of affecting our thoughts, our moods, and our emotions. When King Saul was having some sort of mental health episode, it was David and his harp that had a medicinal effect. My iTunes and Spotify playlists are largely broken down by the types of music for different situations and moods. I have quiet music for my morning conversations with God. I have hard driving, intense music for working out. I have feel good music for lifting my spirit in the drab hours of the afternoon. I have cool jazz for rainy days. I have baroque music for when I need to concentrate at work or study. I have hours of easy listening music for the background of dinner conversations.

Today, I’m simply thankful for music and appreciative of our Creator for this gift of expression that is such an integral part of both life and worship.

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A Hint of Heaven

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The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said:

“The kingdom of the world has become
    the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah,
    and he will reign for ever and ever.”
Revelation 11:15 (NIV)

Those who follow along with these chapter-a-day posts will recognize the fact that I’m not delving into the prophetic interpretation and meanings of John’s Revelation. This is a conscious choice. Having studied and taught the book on multiple occasions, I find that a brief blog post on each chapter would never offer enough time and space to adequately address the often complex world of prophetic writing and imagery. In addition, my chapter-a-day posts have always been intentionally devotional in nature. My primary motivation each morning as I read the text is: “What does God have in the chapter for me today?” These posts have never been an in-depth study, but simply a spiritual thought for each day’s journey.

One of the things that has piqued my interest this time through Revelation is the scenes of heavenly worship that John witnessed and recorded. In particular, I find the verses and words of praise and adoration used by the angels, the elders and the creatures fascinating. I have also been pleased to read some of these words and to connect them with songs both ancient and contemporary that are familiar. It’s had me thinking about what I can do with this in my own personal worship.

Today I ran across the verse above and, of course, the familiar sounds of Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus immediately popped into my head. Each year at our high school Winter concert, it is the last piece presented and anyone who wishes to join in can step on stage with the high school choir. There’s always a crowd. It had been a few years since I’d been to the Winter concert, but with Suzanna living with us this year I found myself back on stage with the high school choir this past December. I don’t know if there is something special and powerful in the heavenly words from John’s vision, or if it’s the combination of words and inspired music from Handel’s score, but I can never get through the whole thing without tears.

Reading again John’s vision of God’s throne room these past two weeks, I get the sense that the Hallelujah Chorus is a hint of heaven’s majesty.

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Continuous Personal Worship

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Thai SunsetEach of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying:
“‘Holy, holy, holy 
is the Lord God Almighty,’
who was, and is, and is to come.”
Revelation 4:8 (NIV)

I have been in many different churches over the years representing a wide breadth of Christian denominations. From holy rolling Pentecostal healing services to quiet Quaker meetings to the pomp and ritual of the Roman Catholic mass, I have experienced worship in many different forms. I can’t say one was better than another any more than a great Italian meal is better than a great Midwestern barbecue. They each bring something different to the experience that satiates hunger with its own taste and flair. I can honestly say that I have appreciated how each variety of worship style satiates peoples hunger to worship God with its own unique taste and flair.

In today’s chapter, John has a vision and finds himself ushered into the throne room of heaven. This is not the first time this has happened in God’s Message. The prophet Isaiah described a similar experience (Isaiah 6) hundreds of years before John. In each description, there is “day and night” worship that continually acknowledges God being ‘holy’ (Merriam-Webster: exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness). When Isaiah heard the angelic beings they acknowledged that “the whole earth is full of his glory.” The four creatures John saw poetically acknowledged God’s timelessness as one who “was, is, and is to come.” The 24 elders at the end of today’s chapter worship God for being the creator of all things and giver of life.

In this chapter-a-day journey through God’s Message we have run across few descriptions of heaven. The common denominator in those we have run across is worship in the form of continuous verbal acknowledgement of God. Today, I am thinking about my own personal act of worship, which isn’t confined to an hour in church on Sunday morning. I have found personal worship to be the continuous awareness and acknowledgement of God in my breathing, working, eating, drinking, re-creating, resting, relating, loving, and living. How that manifests itself varies like the rituals of the Quakers and Catholics and I can’t say that I think it matters all that much. I have found that the important thing about personal worship is not what it looks like but that it happens.

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Shiggaion!

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B.B. King All Star Drummerpraise him with the clash of cymbals,
    praise him with resounding cymbals.
Psalm 150:5 (NIV)

When Wendy and I were on our cruise we had the pleasure of being entertained nightly by the B.B. King All-Stars, an amazing group of Memphis based musicians. One night late in the week the band gave the vocalists a break and played a jazz set. They jammed on one tune that continued to build and build in intensity as each musician took solo turns. Towards the end of the song as things reached a fevered pitch, the drummer took off on a frenzied drum solo. I’ve seen, known and played with many drummers in my life. I have never seen anything quite like we witnessed that night. Cymbals crashed, sticks splintered and shattered as he beat the drums, threw caution to the wind, and lost himself in wild abandon. By the end of the song, he’d broken the snare drum.

In the introductory liner notes of some of the psalms you’ll see the Hebrew word shiggaion. No one knows for certain what the ancient musical term means, but the transliteration hints at a word picture of someone reeling as if intoxicated. Scholars suggest that these psalms were raucous songs intended for people to worship with the same loud, ecstatic, wild abandon Wendy and I witnessed in the musicians and drummer.

Wise King Solomon wrote that there is a time for everything under the sun. Certainly, there is a time for thoughtful, respectful quiet worship music. One of the most important lessons I’ve taken from the psalms is that there is also a time for shiggaion.

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Praise Him with Show Tunes

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2012 12 USP Joseph Backstage Girls Grunge LRLet them praise his name with dancing
    and make music to him with timbrel and harp.

Let his faithful people rejoice in this honor
    and sing for joy on their beds.
Psalm 149:3, 5 (NIV)

The lyricist of Psalm 149, writing some 25 centuries ago, describes corporate worship of God with the combination of dancing and music. Anyone who knows me or has followed this blog for any length of time knows that I’m a theatre guy. I majored in it in college and have been actively involved on the stage for many years. So, when I read dancing and music, forgive if me I immediately think: show tunes.

I know that the music and dancing described by the ancient psalmist is far from a Rogers and Hammerstein production number, but I’m also pretty sure that it’s far from being descriptive of my corporate worship experience in Protestant midwest America.

I love that the image the psalmist gave was that the corporate singing and dancing in the day time gives way to singing for joy on your bed at night. Again, I can’t help but think of my experience of being in musicals over the years: Mame, South Pacific, Annie, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. When you are part of a large group of people singing amazing, soul stirring songs while dancing to cardio pumping choreography you can’t help but feel a rush of adrenaline that gives way to a generous release of endorphins. Envision the result: you’re so ecstatic that you go home and jump on your bed at night and keep singing and dancing your heart out because you don’t want it to end.

[Cut to image of the same person sitting in church bored out of their skull, nearly asleep, and looking at their watch while wondering when in the world the service is going to end.]

I will confess that the churches where I have attended over the years have come a long way, at least in the music department. My soul is regularly stirred by the music in corporate worship. I think, however, that it will be a while before I see a conga line or jazz square on Sunday morning.

Nevertheless, as the church enters our most important season of the year, which leads to the most exciting, heart stirring, fist pumping reason for celebration, I personally wish there was a big Broadway style production number on the church’s event schedule for Easter morning.

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The Misplaced Love of Tradition

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Sheet music for the hymn "Now the Day is ...
Sheet music for the hymn “Now the Day is Over” (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the God of gods.
His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the Lord of lords:
His love endures forever.
Psalm 136:1-3 (NIV)

A few years back a colleague of mine began grilling me over a period of time about worship. His church had recently eschewed the traditional old hymns of the church and switched to a more contemporary form of music. Being one for whom change is a difficult thing, my friend was distraught by this change and was anxious to make a case for why it was wrong for his church to have done so.

I can remember the conversation as we rode in the car together, my friend sarcastically referring to what he called “7-11” songs: “You sing the same seven words eleven times.”

He didn’t get a sympathetic audience from me, I’m afraid. I understood his emotions. I was raised on the great hymns of the faith, too. I miss hearing them and singing those beautiful four part harmonies. But, things change. Music changes. Styles change. As for my friends disregard for singing the same line repetitively, that is a musical device that has existed for centuries. You can use today’s psalm as evidence. The phrase “His love endures forever” is repeated 26 times in 26 verses (I guess this would have to be labeled a “4-26” song). Some of the psalms of ascent we’ve read recently are far shorter than most of the popular worship songs of today, and as traveling music I have to believe they were sung over and over again.

We human beings are funny people. Sometimes change is difficult for us, and I find that our love of traditions can at times be stronger than our love of the Creator or of others. Rather than experience the grief of change, we go through the mental and spiritual gymnastics required to cloak change in half-baked theological or biblical arguments which make it look “wrong,” “improper,” or even “sinful.” What a silly waste of time and energy.

I’m glad that despite our foolishness “His love endures forever.”

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A Ceaseless Offering

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art and praisePraise the Lord.
Psalm 135:1 (NIV)
Praise the Lord.
Psalm 135:21 (NIV)

I couldn’t help noticing that the lyrics of Psalm 135 are bookended with praise. I love it when artists layer their work with meaning. The song writer was not only expressing praise, but he consciously chose to start and end with it. What a word picture. Praise is not to be a moment in time but continuous momentum from start to finish. Alpha and Omega, beginning and end. Praise is not a tithe, but a whole and ceaseless offering.

I sit here at the beginning of my day and at the end of a work week…and offer praise.

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