Day of Action

One of my most memorable Thanksgivings was the year I spent as a missionary in Chile.  It was my first Thanksgiving away from my family, and there were very few around me who understood the holiday.  But being away from family and outside the United States brought a special meaning to this day of giving thanks.

I was a little caught off guard when people from Chile would ask me about Thanksgiving. They had no clue, but it gave me a chance to explain it a bit and therefore understand it better myself.  Perhaps it’s what they called the holiday that taught me the most: Día de Acción de Gracias. Literally translated that means “Day of Action of Thanks.”

I used to think of Thanksgiving as a time when I would tell God how thankful I was for His blessings, and tell others how thankful I was for them. But now during this time I realize that being thankful should be accompanied by words and actions.  In both the Old and New Testaments, when we read the word thanksgiving many times it is meant to involve a sacrifice to the Lord that flows from a thankful heart. 

My prayer for this Thanksgiving is that we will express our thankfulness both with words and actions; that we would count each blessing that God has given us and show Him and others how thankful we are.

Dry Mouth

As of Monday, I've been put on vocal rest for a few weeks, until the doctor says I can sing again. I'm glad I can still talk, but I'm trying to do less of that too.

So I don't know that being asked to give up something by your doctor can legally be considered fasting. But it many ways it is much like fasting. It is a very difficult thing to do, and for me I can only do this by the power of the Spirit.

This has all kinds of spiritual significance for me. The first being worship. In my head I've been able to say that worship does not equal music. I know that worship is a lifestyle and I must worship God through my every day actions. But now I'm being forced to live this idea out.

I often like to sit down and write songs to the Lord to express my gratitude, or just something I've learned. But that doesn't happen now. And I've not found that it is easy to write what I am feeling without expressing it musically. I used to be able to sing my thoughts while playing guitar or piano, but now all the musical expression I have is to play on a guitar or piano.

This "fast" is helping me to realize the extent at which music plays a part in my own worship. It makes me realize how much I have taken music and my own musical talents for granted. The good thing is, I'm going to discover new ways to express worship to the Lord. And I'll have to let the Holy Spirit speak for me at times. I am looking forward to this journey - and I'm a little nervous about it too.

Justice and Righteousness

Van threw a magazine in my office today. I'm not even sure if he read any of it. But the cover reads "canned worship". Maybe he's trying to tell me something? I usually put that stuff in a pile of magazines I want to read. It would have gone right on top of Relevant Magazine and the latest Musician's Friend catalog. For some reason I read this one immediately.

The article from the cover was written by David Ruis, and my head is still spinning and processing what he wrote. What stands out most in my mind is basically that there is no authentic worship without justice and righteousness (Amos 5:23-24). If we do not care for others, we cannot worship God.

Reading this I thought about this time last week when we had the youth rally in Vermont. I've never seen our kids worship like that. I've seldom been in any worship service like that. And the reason the worship was so incredible was not because of a great band or a "worshipful" atmosphere. It was great because we were a room full of people who that week had been whole-heartedly devoted to serving God through caring for those around them.

Too often we come to worship wondering what we're gonna get out of it. We hope the band plays the song we like, or we hope they play that old hymn that reminds us of way back when. But the truth is that true worship will not happen unless we devote ourselves daily to serving Christ and serving others. If half the people that sit in our sanctuaries would focus on worshipping God all week through service to Him and through loving people then our corporate worship would be amazing!

So think about that next time you're sitting in church wondering why you just can't connect with the worship. Ask yourself if you've done what God has called you to do in the way you treat others. Maybe if we all do that then our corporate worship will be better than we can imagine. And I think God would like it more, too.