Worship

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

The Fairest of Ten Thousand

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My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand. Song of Solomon 5:10 KJV

Singing “The Lily of the Valley” this Sunday, brought back memories from fifty years ago, of the occasional Sunday night when we would pile in the car with friends and head off to visit the Blue Bluck Pentecostal Church. Though it was a little church out in the middle of nowhere, we would find it packed to capacity every weekend. The “worship team” consisted of the pastor, playing bass fiddle, accompanied by three guitars as well as piano. When the people sang, “Lily of the Valley”, they would clap and stamp their feet. In that little church with its wooden floors the energy would cause the floorboards to roll beneath us in waves. But of all the memories, what stands out most was of one older gentleman, who would get so excited during the singing that between stanzas he would shout out, “O glory! Hallelujah!”. His voice practically shook the rafters and had me jumping out of my skin every time he did it. Now, we may be far too proper for such an outburst in our church today, but I don’t think Jesus minded a bit. In fact, if we have truly put all our faith in Jesus, then on the day that we sweep up to glory to see His blessed face, I will bet my bottom dollar that, “O glory! Hallelujah!” will be one of the most timid expressions of our worship! Try to imagine that we will see those Seraphim and Cherubim, that Isaiah told us about crying “Holy! Holy! Holy!” so powerfully that the threshold of God’s throne room will be shaken. Then Abraham, Issac, Jacob, along with Peter, John, James and Paul will fall on their faces and cast their crowns before the feet of Jesus in worship and God’s glory will fill the place. Then, for a certainty, we will know the depths of the truth behind the lavish words of praise in this old hymn. We will be reminded of how He never forsook us, that He fed us with His manna all along the way and that His presence remained a wall of fire protecting us and that His mighty hand led us safely all the way.

Nothing But the Blood

/ pastorpete51 / 3 Comments

But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ. Ephesians 2:13 NLT

I still remember the “I Found It” campaign, launched by Campus Crusade back in 1976. Billboards, bumper stickers and even lapel pins sported that phrase. The intent was to stir conversations, that would give Christians the opportunity to share the message of Christ. It was an interesting approach, but its message that, before being saved, we were searching for Christ and had somehow found Him, doesn’t line up well with the Bible. The entire Gospel is rather about Jesus coming as a shepherd searching for His lost sheep. He didn’t come because we were looking for Him, but because He was looking for us. The Good News of salvation is that the Holy Son of God, gave Himself as an innocent sacrifice for people like us, who had rejected Him. On the cross, as His blood poured down its timbers and touched the ground, a miracle occurred, a door opened wide, and a love story was told. Through the blood of Jesus, God reached out and claimed us as His own. “How can I be included?” you might ask. The answer is that, if God can redeem a failure like Peter, who had denied Him at His trial, a hater of Christians like Paul, and a doubter like Thomas, who demanded to put His hands on the nail prints before He would believe, then He can redeem you and me! In fact, I can’t find a thing, until He finds me first, not because of what I have done but through “Nothing but the Blood of Jesus!” Last Sunday, we introduced that hymn into our growing songbook at the nursing home. I hope you will enjoy listening to our simple rendition of this classic, coupled with the more contemporary Maranatha song, “White as Snow.” Have a blessed day everyone!