{"id":1777,"date":"2011-12-16T18:29:37","date_gmt":"2011-12-16T23:29:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/?p=1777"},"modified":"2011-12-16T18:29:46","modified_gmt":"2011-12-16T23:29:46","slug":"crystal-clarity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2011\/12\/crystal-clarity\/","title":{"rendered":"Crystal Clarity"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2011\/12\/snowy-tree.jpg\" rel=\"prettyPhoto[1777]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1778\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2011\/12\/snowy-tree-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Crystal Clear\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2011\/12\/snowy-tree-300x225.jpg 300w, http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2011\/12\/snowy-tree-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><em>Today&#8217;s post is written by Jo Anne Taylor, Director of Music and Worship at Bethlehem Covenant Church in Minneapolis, MN.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Lord, what was it that seemed so crystal-clear this morning, as I lay in bed, listening for your voice?<br \/>\nI remember reading somewhere this week about how our prayer lives are too often centered on <em>us<\/em>, asking you to work your magic in <em>our<\/em> 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 <em>your<\/em> desires instead of my own.<br \/>\nI 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 <em>me<\/em> again.<br \/>\nInstead of asking how I could serve <em>you<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>But that wasn\u2019t it. It was something else. \u2026 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.<\/p>\n<p>No, it was something else, something simple and true and beautiful, something so obvious,<br \/>\nI wondered why I had not seen it before. \u2026<\/p>\n<p>Of course. <em>Authenticity<\/em>. That was it. We had discussed an article that accused the Contemporary Christian Music industry of selling short \u2013 not only on the gospel, but on the music itself. The author\u2019s implication was that secular popular music was \u2018the real deal\u2019 while CCM offered a poor imitation. The Christian message was therefore suspect, because the music itself was not \u201cauthentic.\u201d 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:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\"><em>\u201cWorship music isn&#8217;t a tool, it&#8217;s an offering; in our art we wrap ourselves, and offer it to God, and we hope others will follow our lead.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>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 \u201c<em>Gloria in excelsis Deo!\u201d<\/em> And may you enjoy candid, open conversations with other Christians that honor Christ by honoring one another.\u00a0 <em>\u201cLet your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.\u201d (Philippians 4:5)<\/em><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-report-this\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc?moderation_action=report_form&#038;object_type=post&#038;object_id=1777&#038;width=250&#038;height=300\" class=\"thickbox\" title=\"Report This Post\">Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today&#8217;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 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Crystal Clarity - Worship Connect<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2011\/12\/crystal-clarity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Crystal Clarity - Worship Connect\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today&#8217;s post is written by Jo Anne Taylor, Director of Music and Worship at Bethlehem Covenant Church in Minneapolis, MN. 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