Leading worship

What’s Good in Contemporary Worship? Day 2- Bilingual

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Holding her hand, he said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means “Little girl, get up!” Mark 5:41 NLT

I have always been intrigued at the various times within the Gospels that Jesus switched from one language to another. After all, why would Mark tell us in today’s verse that these specific words were spoken in Aramaic, if that were not the language Jesus was already using? Hebrew was the language Jesus would have been spoken earlier, and ironically the Gospel of Mark was then recorded in Greek. Throw a little Latin into the mix, as the tongue of the ruling authorities in Judea, and you will begin get the idea of the linguistic world that Jesus lived in.

Having attended a Brazilian church in Pennsylvania for sixteen years and serving on the worship team there for several of those years, I had to learn to move from one language to another daily. Quite often the set of worship songs we practiced included both English and Portugues as well a few that had verses which flowed from one to the other. What I learned in those days was that while praising God this way, our differences didn’t disappear, but that we began to mirror the verse in Revelation of people worshipping from every nation, tribe and tongue. (Revelation 5:9)

Today in America, there are over 43 million people whose native tongue is Spanish, and that number is growing rapidly, both through immigration as well as by birth. While the primary language of our nation remains English, it certainly won’t hurt, especially in the church if a few more of us could at least blunder along a bit in Spanish. Remember, Jesus commanded (not suggested) that we make disciples of ALL nations (Matthew 5:19). I have found that one way of making disciples is through bi-lingual worship. Our churches should not be where we battle, over which language is better. Rather, the Church of Jesus Christ is where including everyone means being able to communicate with them, and what better place to begin than during our times of worship? One of my favorite examples of this is called Be Alright (“Todo va a estar bien”). In this delightful song, Danny Gokey, Evan Craft and Willy González Cruz, combine to present the message that we can trust God’s goodness in the midst of difficulties and changes. With everything going on in the news lately, their message is never more important than right now. Once again, I welcome everyone’s input, but I do suggest that your comments will be more helpful if you listen first. Thanks so much! Be blessed, Dios lo bendiga, and Deus te abençoe!

What is Right About Contemporary Worship?

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As one of the older folks in our church, I have lived long enough to see an enormous change as decades have passed. From disputes over using hymn books versus displaying lyrics on the wall, to whether drums should be allowed inside the church, it sometimes feels as if we have been in a running battle over the subject of worship. Lines have been drawn, verbal weapons stockpiled, and strategies devised to prove that others hold inferior opinions and worship styles to ours. It is certainly easy to find something wrong. In fact, the secular press has done a bang-up job at pointing out the failures of Christians. And without dispute, there have been instances of compromise, worldliness and confusion that have crept into our corporate worship experience. But that is nothing new. Every generation has had its failures, including my own. But our hope is not in styles, talents, or personalities. Our hope lies in the Spirit of the Living God who has never left. He has remained with His church, generation after generation for the twenty centuries since His outpouring on the Day of Pentecost. He has always been at work renewing, restoring and remodeling as pleases Him best. Despite those things that annoy and irritate we older saints, about contemporary worship, our energies might be better employed in discovering what is good, lovely and of good report among those newest offering today. I will be delighted to hear others weigh in with their ideas, song suggestions and even disagreements this week as I endeavor to share a few songs that I have found to be a blessing. So, I thought, “Why not begin this series of the newest and best with a new version of the oldest hymn that we know of. ” Here is Chris Tomlin’s rendition of the ancient text of what has come to be called, “The First Hymn.” Have a blessed day everybody!

 Let each generation tell its children of your mighty acts; let them proclaim your power. Psalm 145:4 NLT

Silence of Worship Part 2

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Psalm 105:4 Look to the Lord and His strength; seek His face always

On Sunday the worship team did a wonderful job and when one of the leaders broke out into praise in Spanish I almost felt like I was back at our old home church where our praise alternated between English and Portuguese. But if you were following this conversation yesterday you know that we did not look at corporate praise as wonderful as that is but instead at the first two of four different kinds of silent worship in Psalm 105. While these are unseen, they are not less important than playing singing, blowing trumpets and dancing, which were all accepted forms of public praise in the Old Testament. The invisible parts of our worship life are like the roots that support trees and keep them alive and growing even through the quiet dormant seasons of the year. So this morning let’s dive into the second pairing of how we worship without words.

Look to the Lord and His strength When we come to worship the first thing we must notice is not the décor of the sanctuary, the outfits of the worship team or the appearance of the person next to us. What we need to see is invisible and that is The Lord and His strength. That is because as Corrie Ten Boom once said,

“If you look at the world, you’ll be distressed. If you look within, you’ll be depressed. If you look at God you’ll be at rest.”

Worship must begin from a place at rest. Everything around us wants to take away the rest Jesus offers and replace it with some form of urgency. Our minds fill with ideas of this or that which must be done tomorrow, physical pain in our body reminds us of our human frailty or hurtful memories clamor for attention like spoiled children at a candy counter. But if just for a moment we first look to the Lord, immediately the strength of His arms will hold us and we will find rest in His presence.

To seek His face always! – When I was small I would run to my mother whenever I fell down for her comfort and if needed wait while she put a put bandage on my knee. But once mom had doctored my hurt, I ran back to my play. But seeking the face of God always means more than just experiencing His healing touch. He calls us to come and sit down beside Him, learn His plans for the day and then walk with Him every step of the way. He doesn’t want us to just seek His face when we fall down but at every moment and always!

Today I close with one of my favorite hymns sung by Tricia Brock: Jesus I am Resting Resting written by the Irish missionary Jean Pigott in 1876

Jesus I am resting resting in the joy of what Thou art

I am finding our the greatness of Thy Loving heart