Worship Connect

Today’s post was written by Chris Logan, Pastor of Worship Arts at Community Covenant Church in Lenexa, KS.

A few weeks ago I had this killer rehearsal. I don’t mean that in the colloquial sense, I mean that it was really awful and I had images of being run out of the church after about our third note. Come Sunday, people came up to me afterwards very complimentary, people who had worshipped and wanted to thank me for our team’s hard work. I wanted to ask them if we’d really been in the same room together, but instead I politely thanked them and silently wondered if I needed to get my ears checked.

Things, evidently, are not always as they seem.

A week later we had another rough rehearsal, and come Sunday it again was feeling like it would be another one of those days where I try to explain to somebody through gritted teeth how much we appreciate their compliment. But I remember a moment in the middle of our worship set, very distinctly, when all of a sudden words came to me unbidden: “Am I really present?”

It dawned on me that I had somehow detached myself, from the team and from the music … and in doing so, from the Spirit at work in the room. And on confession of this in my head (I’m still singing during this whole inner dialogue), something about the gathering shifted. It became beautiful.

The music hadn’t changed; but I had.

I have this tendency to get so caught up in the minute details that I lose sight of the bigger picture, of why I’m there. After listening to the mp3 both weeks, I can say that the team did a great job; yes, the rehearsals were rough, but after they rehearsed they went home and practiced and really did pull off the music well. The difference seems to be all in my head, how much I was paying attention to God in the room. I spent a full Sunday and part of the next effectively absent because I let myself get psyched out.

One of the other pastors at my church likes to tell us to ‘move slowly through the room.’ It means that we need  to take the time with people who are in front of us, see them as people and not as an audience or as tools. It is the same on stage; we need to let ourselves, even as we stand in front of a mic, move slowly through the room, to practice the discipline of presence. As leaders of a spiritual flavor, we have to remember that things are not always as they seem.  We have to look deeper, see the things floating just under the surface of our own minds and of the people in front of us. The question is always, are we paying attention?

Are we really present?

Today’s post is written by Jo Anne Taylor, Director of Music and Worship at Bethlehem Covenant Church in Minneapolis, MN.

Several Christmases ago, my boss gave me a small box of chocolates. But this wasn’t just candy. “When the chocolates are gone,” she said, “keep the box on your desk. It won’t be empty. It holds a pause, that you can use whenever you need it. It will always be right there, in the box on your desk.”

This week, a worship leader in the Better Together group asked, “How many of you include intentional silence in your worship time?” and I remembered the first time I tried this, in a Lenten Wednesday prayer service.  After about 10 seconds, people started shuffling papers, squirming and coughing. Those ten seconds seemed like an eternity. Week after week, however, as we came to the time for silence, it began to grow and deepen. People welcomed the opportunity to rest in the quietness, to hold the pause that was offered.

In just over a week, many of us will meet in Chicago for the Midwinter Conference. There will be great teaching, plenty of learning opportunities, wonderful worship, and time to connect with others who serve in the Evangelical Covenant Church. May there also be an empty box waiting for each of you, if only a figurative one. Even if you are not planning to attend Midwinter in person, I hope you will connect to the webcasts and contribute your comments throughout the week. Wherever you are, may you know what it means to spend some time in stillness before the Lord, to observe the beauty and joy of a simple pause.

Today’s post is written by Geoff Twigg, Adjunct Professor at North Park University in Chicago. Geoff is a pastor, singer/songwriter, worship leader and ministry consultant, and serves the ECC as a member of the denomination’s Commission on Worship.

Eighteen years ago, I was looking for a break. I had a reasonable career in music, but it meant being away from home and family more than half of the time. The children were nine, seven and four, and my wife was carrying an unfair share of the load of parenting.

The break came when a church offered us a house and enough money to live on for a year. In exchange, we had to move to Pennsylvania and I would become ‘player/coach’ to the church’s worship team. I would lead by example, and share my enthusiasm with those around me. So, we went through the process of obtaining visas; as we were moving from England in a pre-9/11 world the process was exacting but not as tough as it would be today.

By the way, the sporting analogy they used for my job description was a decisive element. Not only did it appeal to my imagination as a sports fan, but it was the same analogy God used to confirm that I should stay in the US permanently.

Another great sporting analogy played itself out this week, and I’m trying to learn its lesson. Five years after we left England, Thierry Henry, a young French soccer player joined Arsenal FC, the team I support in London. After some minor changes to his positional play, he quickly became a star player and, eventually a legend. I loved to watch him play, and his team-mates loved playing alongside him.
After eight years at the club, he moved on, having scored 227 goals and broken many records for sporting achievements. These days he plays for the New York Red Bull in the MLS.

Last month they unveiled a statue outside the new Arsenal Stadium in Thierry’s honor. He attended the ceremony and shed a tear as he explained how much the club had come to mean to him. He had become a fan, he said, upon leaving the Arsenal, and looked back fondly upon his time there.

This week, they signed him again – just for a brief period, before he returns to play in New York – as during the African Cup they need some extra help. He played on Monday and scored the winning goal, a bright and charming moment in a slow and difficult game.
Thierry was positively glowing as they interviewed him after the match. Goal #228 was the first he had scored ‘as a fan’, and it meant more than almost any other. His enthusiasm was positively contagious, and you could tell he was humbled by the renewed success.

I’m still leading worship in the local church, and my calling can still be described in the same terms. What I learn from Thierry Henry, however, is that while my skills may enable me to be successful, it’s my attitude that’s truly contagious. Lord, let me ever be an enthusiastic, passionate follower of Christ.

Today’s post is written by Matt Nightingale, Director of Worship Ministries at Redeemer Covenant Church in Tulsa, OK.

Funny how a simple action can have such a profound impact. It was just about a year ago, in preparation for a workshop I was leading at Midwinter, that I created a Facebook group called “Better Together: ECC Worship Community.” It was just sort of an afterthought… I hoped that the workshop would help Covenant worship-types connect with each other; learn from each other; and share resources, ideas and encouragement with each other. I thought maybe a Facebook group would help us keep in touch with one another throughout the year when we couldn’t be together face-to-face.

Wow. This little group has blown up to over 200 people. We’ve laughed together, cried together, prayed together, celebrated together, complained together (not too often) and shared life together… as well as we can via a keyboard and a computer screen.

I’m a highly relational, sentimental kind of guy. As much as I look forward to what God will do in 2012, what I really love is a good look back. So I have a question for the Better Together crew… What are some of your favorite memories of the past year? Memorable conversations? Profound questions? Funny exchanges? Let’s hear a few stories and celebrate how God has worked among us.

And let’s look forward to Tuesday, January 31, when we will be together again, this time actually in the same room. Please make plans to join us for our first annual Better Together Lunch.

OK, it’s your turn.

Today’s post was written by Chris Logan, Pastor of Worship Arts at Community Covenant Church in Lenexa, KS.

Advent means the season of “waiting.”

It was put in our Christian liturgical calendar on purpose, for it’s in waiting that we build anticipation, and thus we learn to appreciate the gift. Not just in waiting for our presents, but a season where we remember that we didn’t always have a savior.

During advent, we are given the chance to look with new eyes on our faith. We remember a time when our world was without grace. We remember the anticipation of the prophets as the world crumbled around them. We remember the surprise of Elizabeth and Zechariah as they waited for an unexpected act of generosity. We remember the anxiety of Mary turned to unspeakable joy at Gabriel’s announcement. We remember the beginning of the tension between two kingdoms as Herod wrestled with how to respond to the inquiries of the Magi.

And then the dawn breaks and hope arrives, quietly, slowly, unexpectedly.

But it wouldn’t mean anything without the waiting.

This season is our chance to wrestle, to spend the time in the desert so that we see again the value of the oasis. It would do us well, those who live in a culture of such wealth, to learn the value of waiting, of seasons of poverty between seasons of prosperity, of fasting before the feast.

This is the challenge before me, and I believe many of us, this year; to see the value of the season despite all the external trappings foisted on it over the years.

In advent, we spend time remembering that it is our fallen humanity that Jesus came to redeem, and that it is by taking on our skin and our state of being that He redeemed it. Yes, the Cross is important; but it is in the incarnation itself, in God moving into a zip code in skin and sandals, that God began redeeming a broken world. Rather than imposing improvement from the outside, Love came quietly to begin the process of restoration from within, from among us.

And that is worth the wait.

Merry Christmas …

Today’s post is written by Jo Anne Taylor, Director of Music and Worship at Bethlehem Covenant Church in Minneapolis, MN.

Lord, what was it that seemed so crystal-clear this morning, as I lay in bed, listening for your voice?
I remember reading somewhere this week about how our prayer lives are too often centered on us, asking you to work your magic in our lives, while we ignore the needs out there beyond ourselves in your world. And I remember thinking that it was time to start praying for your desires instead of my own.
I may have even made it through two or three sentences before my mind wandered back to the things I knew I would need your help to accomplish today, and I started asking you to help me again.
Instead of asking how I could serve you.

But that wasn’t it. It was something else. … I remember thanking you for the Better Together group, these amazingly talented people who passionately desire to serve you as they lead worship in their congregations. I pondered the difference between our lively faith-based conversations and those that happen in the secular world, where disagreement is seen as a personal attack, instead of a quest for deeper understanding. I marveled at the humility shown by my colleagues as they share their passionately held beliefs while honoring the firm convictions of their brothers and sisters in Christ.

No, it was something else, something simple and true and beautiful, something so obvious,
I wondered why I had not seen it before. …

Of course. Authenticity. That was it. We had discussed an article that accused the Contemporary Christian Music industry of selling short – not only on the gospel, but on the music itself. The author’s implication was that secular popular music was ‘the real deal’ while CCM offered a poor imitation. The Christian message was therefore suspect, because the music itself was not “authentic.” Among the many responses to this charge, one writer reminded us that our worship music needs to have artistic, as well as theological integrity. Too often, churches make the mistake of expecting their music to serve as an evangelistic tool or a recruiting tool. This worship leader wrote:

“Worship music isn’t a tool, it’s an offering; in our art we wrap ourselves, and offer it to God, and we hope others will follow our lead.”

May your worship be authentic this week, as your church prepares to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. May others follow your lead in offering yourselves to God as you join with congregations around the world, singing “Gloria in excelsis Deo!” And may you enjoy candid, open conversations with other Christians that honor Christ by honoring one another.  “Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.” (Philippians 4:5)

Today’s post is written by Geoff Twigg, Adjunct Professor at North Park University in Chicago. Geoff is a pastor, singer/songwriter, worship leader and ministry consultant, and serves the ECC as a member of the denomination’s Commission on Worship.

My friend and I went down from our fifth floor offices to the staff dining area this morning to get a refill of coffee. As we were leaving the lunch room he exclaimed: “Oh, that’s neat. They’re moving the wise men.” It was true – where previously the little models of those following the star were in the corner of the end window, now they’re about halfway across the second window sill. Then he explained further; he and his wife live near a school where they do the same thing. They have a big (maybe even life size) crèche, and it has the figures of Mary and Joseph, animals all around them and shepherds visiting.

At the beginning of December, you can see the figures of the wise men over by the parking lot. Each week when you pass, the magi have moved about twenty-five percent of the way, until it all comes together on Christmas.

When my wife and I were courting, she told me about a great family tradition; one which we continued with each of our children, too. Every year her mother would take large pieces of a heavyweight paper, (one for each child) fold them in half (the paper, not the children) and start to paint a scene on the front. Then, each night after the children had gone to bed, she would spend hours adding to the picture – not only more of the image, but also a small door. The door wasn’t numbered and was barely detectable, but behind lay a further image, often cut from a card or a picture book.

When the children came down to breakfast, they had to find where the calendars were hidden, then find their doors, and see how the revealed image complemented the picture on their Advent Calendar.

Many of us are looking forward to Christmas this year through our celebrations of Advent. In Matt’s blog last week he was asking for comments on your church’s favorite activities, carols and traditions for this season, and although replies were few we all know it’s not because such traditions are rare. We all have our favorite ways of anticipating the celebration of Christ’s birth. Maybe we’re all too busy lighting candles on wreaths, opening doors on calendars and moving wise men around…

Whether you have time to add comments to this blog or not, I pray that this season will bring you joy, excited anticipation and, as we minister together, a deeper sense of Emmanuel – “God with us”.

Today’s post is written by Matt Nightingale, Director of Worship Ministries at Redeemer Covenant Church in Tulsa, OK.

“Prepare ye the way of the Lord…” We’ve been singing these words for the past two Sundays at my church, Redeemer Covenant in Tulsa. And I’m sure that churches throughout the country and the world are singing them as well. We’ve entered the season of Advent. Christ came to this earth, entered our experience as human beings, lived, died and rose again for us. It is the Story we tell in our worship again and again. But it doesn’t end there. Christ came once, and Christ will come again. The Church throughout the world confesses this promise, too, and lives in anticipation of its fulfillment.

How does your congregation celebrate Advent? What traditions do you return to year after year? What’s new this year? Feel free to link to blogs or photos in the comments section.

Today’s post comes to us from Chris Logan, Pastor of Worship Arts at Community Covenant Church in Lenexa, KS.

In lieu of summing up the various discussions on the thread this week (which are numerous, may contain spoilers, and would frankly be difficult to re-read from the tryptophan-induced coma I am currently experiencing), I want to simply open it up and ask a question for your response in the comments section: what about your worshipping communities draws the most unsolicited thanks from you on a weekly basis? Put another way: for what, in your church, are you the most thankful?

Discuss.