"Christian" is a Noun

Well, tomorrow is Thanksgiving, so I'm finishing up some stuff today and heading down to Greenville, SC to visit my family for a couple of days. Last night, David and I led worship at Tirzah ARP near Newport for their Thanksgiving thing. We had a good time, and it was nice to visit with another body of believers and hear some of their stories. Tirzah has been around something like 200 years, and I appreciated their quest to remain true to who they've been while embracing newer forms of communication/worship. Andy Putnam (their pastor) is another Mac aficionado, and I enjoyed seeing his set-up.

Any way, this morning I was reading an interview with Rob Bell of Mars Hill Church in Michigan. He's an interesting guy who has drawn his fair share of praise and criticism from other Christian leaders, but he said something that I've felt for a long time-- just much more eloquently than I:

"I don't believe in Christian art or music. The word Christian was originally a noun. A person, not an adjective. I believe in great art. If you are an artist, your job is to do great art and you don't need to tack on the word Christian. It's already great. God is the God of Creativity. Categories desecrate the art form. It's either great art or it isn't. Followers of Jesus should have the first word instead of coming late to the game with some poor quality spin-off. Let's talk about things before everyone else."

Everything about the Pastor's call mixes art and science (creativity and concreteness): public speaking, counseling, writing, music, events, etc. It's a very fulfilling role to have in a community, but we fall short so many times. We play catch-up to real artists because we're not willing to push out of our comfort zone and inspire creativity in our congregations.

An artistic community is built on trust, but I wonder, do we always have that trust in the Church? The artist must have the trust of those around him/her in order to take risks. Risks by their very nature can lead to success or failure, but we must take them.

How can we support leaders (volunteer or otherwise) in our ministry and let them know that when they take risks, we are there for them to celebrate success as well as overcome failure?

"Unless the Lord Builds a House..."

My wife and I were talking yesterday about how much we're looking forward to Thanksgiving. It's that time of year where busyness sets in and the day-to-day work schedule begins to feel like it will never let up. I'm sure you notice it, too once the cold weather sets in. You don't necessarily feel it in your body (stress is physical), but you sense it in your soul (burn out is emotional). We add a lot of activities to our plates this year in addition to our regular work load. Family needs become more significant, too. I found this verse to today in Psalm 127: 1-2. It spoke directly to my heart during this busy work season.

1 Unless the Lord builds a house,
the work of the builders is wasted.
Unless the Lord protects a city,
guarding it with sentries will do no good.
2 It is useless for you to work so hard
from early morning until late at night,
anxiously working for food to eat;
for God gives rest to his loved ones.

At LWC, we're beginning a new sermon series that should tie in well with the extra challenges we face during the holiday season. It's called Learning to Live in Harmony. We'll be studying the book of Matthew and getting some inspiration from a fantastic book: The Peacemaker by Ken Sande. It should be a very practical series on resolving conflict and restoring balance to your home.

Enter

It's been 2 weeks now since we studied Psalm 100 as part of our LWC Band practice. I arrived at LWC in 2002, and a study of the Psalms was an important part of what I wanted to do each week with our artists. I honestly expected to be done by now (there are only 150 psalms), but you know how it goes...

Any way, Psalm 100 is familiar to a lot of folks because it is the source of "He Has Made Me Glad," a hymn I remember from my upbringing in the Southern Baptist Church. When we sang it, it was fast, clappy, and had a touch of saloon-style piano playing. Honestly, I've never thought much of it.

When we looked afresh at God's word the other night, though, the first word of verse 4 jumped out at me:
"Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.

For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations."

That one word, "Enter," says so much. Or maybe it doesn't say so much. Here's what I mean. It doesn't say:
-Wait around at his gates until you feel thankful.
-Walk through his gates and see if he makes you want to praise him.
-Ignore his gates...they won't do you any good any way.

The message here is this: We enter the gates of God's presence thankful for what he is doing; anticipating what he will do. His love "endures forever"( v. 5) There are too many Sundays where I myself enter his gates with a bad attitude, thinking "I hope God shows up today."

In reality, He's always there. God's presence if always good. He's always worthy of thanks and praise. Sadly, we're not always ready for him.

Now, each Sunday when I walk through the thick metal doors of our meeting place at Bethel Elementary School, I'm reminded to enter, not wondering what God is going to do, but looking forward to being a part of what he is already doing.

photo by Declan McCullagh