One of my favorite worship songs…

I usually don’t like YouTube covers of songs (actually, I avoid them like the swine flu).  But this one really touched me – one of my favorite songs, possibly my favorite Vineyard song.  And beautifully done.

Incidentally, here’s a video of the original song set to slides.  Very worth listening to.

 

Love this quote

“If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling around with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” – C.S. Lewis

Sad Song

Great song from one of the best albums I own.  Obviously, written in the aftermath of Sept 11, 2001.  One of my favorite artists – not so much for his music (although I do like it) but for his heart and his understanding of God’s kingdom.

The ideas this song proposes have been a significant part of my growth into a philosophy of non-aggression, namely that the appropriate response to violence and hatred is spiritual brokenness and pity, not more hatred.  And it helps me to understand (in light of such an extreme expression of human brokenness) why exactly Jesus had to come to earth.

So when I hear “we will never forget” I agree. We can never forget that the same spirit of hatred lies somewhere in each of us, just waiting to come out in a bitter thought, an unkind word, a lie, a curse, a gesture, a punch, a shot, a war. And the cycle perpetuates itself. But the solution isn’t retribution, it’s forgiveness. The Way has been made.

Sad Song
Shaun Groves

There’s always music in my mind
Orchestrations for my life
Oh this symphony sometimes
Plays like a sad song, sad song

September morning on my couch
Trembling hand across my mouth
Watching life go down in flames
I sang a sad song, sad song

Can you hear the old broken melody
Blowing through the trees of Eden
Out across the heart of all humanity
Such a sad song, sad song

Now the sun sets on the sands
Bombs like rain spill over man
While orphans made of flags and steel
Cry out a sad song, sad song

Can you hear the old broken melody
Blowing through the trees of Eden
Out across the heart of all humanity
Such a sad song, sad song

I can see the Man of Sorrows through this pain
Broken body, bloodied face
He’s crying out and making way
To end our sad song, sad song

Pondering this verse lately…

Psalm 34:14 Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.

Wesley’s commentary says: “Study by all means possible to live peaceable with all men. Pursue it – Do not only embrace it gladly when it is offered, but follow hard after it, when it seems to flee away from thee.”

a new thing

Last night I was sure I was under spiritual attack.  God is doing so many awesome things and it’s getting hot in the kitchen.  I mentioned something about the attack on Facebook, and briefly conversed with Jordan Gentes about it.  Shortly afterward Jordan posted this:

“And you ask, why is there attack? It is because I am doing a new thing, there is a volcano about to blow over this nation, God is bringing revival, and the evil one is trying to break us. At the end of this torment and attack there is a light says the Lord, for the enemy cannot stop my will.” (Spoken to me at 10:05AM, July 16, 2009)

To our knees!  There is something amazing going on – let’s be prayerful and humble, or we’ll miss out.

I see God calling out a generation for His glory, a generation disillusioned with the world and consumed with Him.  We’re attempting big things for Him, and we’re expecting great things from Him.  But we are frail.  We are broken.  God, sustain us, or our hypocrisy will be far worse than that of those before us.

Don’t have anything of your own to say? Good.

A bunch of interesting thoughts came together in my mind today.  First, for some time I’ve been wanting to write and record more music and possibly even go into music full time.  Yet I feel as a songwriter like I have nothing original to say and no original means with which to say it.  And today God responded.

A few minutes ago, I read Mark 7.  Mark finishes the chapter by saying: “People were overwhelmed with amazement. ‘[Jesus] has done everything well,’ they said. ‘He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.’” (NIV)

I am the mute man.  For years I didn’t have anything to say about God or truth.  Then, in the course of about a week back around Sept. 2003, I went from not speaking to not being able to shut up.  But I rarely have anything original to say.  Why can’t I express myself like a normal songwriter?  I can only seem to write songs directly tied to the Bible.  This has pained me for some time.

Then I remembered what Jesus said:

For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak.

I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me. (Jn. 12:49, 50 NASB)

It’s not my job to speak my own things, even good things.  Some may have that privilege, but right now, all I have to say is what the Father has shown me: love, truth, beauty, purity, life, and those things mainly as they are reflected in God.  I always used to pin my unoriginal lyricism on lack of skill, and perhaps that’s involved, but maybe not.

God is capable of telling people not only to speak, but also to NOT speak, even if we want to.  Ezekiel retells what God told him: “I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you will be silent and unable to rebuke them, though they are a rebellious house.” (Ez. 3:26, NIV)  Perhaps that explains a lot about my writing.

God continued: “But when I speak to you, I will open your mouth and you shall say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says.’ Whoever will listen let him listen, and whoever will refuse let him refuse; for they are a rebellious house.”

I identify with Ezekiel.  In part it’s because his experience was in some ways similar to my own, and I get the impression it was not always pleasant.  It’s no wonder the word translated “oracle of God” (as in the message God gave) can also be translated “burden.”  God told Ezekiel (I think in chapter 3) that if he refrained from speaking what God told him, he (Ezekiel) was responsible for the people’s failure to obey.

So here’s the point.  I finally realized that right now, I don’t have anything of my own to speak.  And that’s good.  It means that I’m just going to have to be like Jesus, and speak the things which God gives.

As I ponder this post before publishing, the word blazes in my mind: RESERVED.  Like front pews at a funeral, like keywords in computer programming, like a bride-to-be waiting for her husband, like an executive parking space.  Not for anyone else – don’t even think about it.

I’m acutely aware of my hypocrisy right now, of my blindness and brokenness.  Thankfully the only prerequisite for effectiveness is the Spirit and the sovereignty of God.  To which I say:

Take my voice and let me sing
always, only for my King.
Take my lips and let them be
filled with messages from Thee.
Take my silver and my gold
not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect and use
every power as You choose.

- Havergal

Thought of the day

Listening to “How He Loves” from DC*B’s new CD (due out this September).  Here’s one of the coolest lines to me:

And I don’t have time to maintain these regrets
When I think about the way He loves….

Incidentally, they have the full song posted on their MySpace page.

Hey Me!

I was listening to Above The Golden State this morning (buy it if you don’t have it – I’m serious.  I met Michael at their Missoula concert and he’s definitely worth hearing) – tracks 7 and 8, which are a terrific song about love and a compelling reading of I Corinthians 13’s famed definition of love.  Sure got me thinking about work, about this weekend, etc.

“And though I give EVERYTHING I own to feed the poor … but do not have love, it profits me NOTHING.” I Cor. 13:3

Hey, Christian!   Hey husbands.   Hey fathers.   Hey ME!!   Hey pastor, do you serve people you don’t care about?   If God is telling the truth (and He is), you’re not doing them (or you, or HIM) a favor.  And, recursively, if I post this and do not have love – it profits me NOTHING.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems to follow that love is pretty much everything.  Good works are a display of love – either that or they’re nothing as far as what you gain from it.  And I gather from this passage that it’s definitely possible to do good things and not love.  So strive for love.

Incidentally (or not), I get to lead at least three worship sets this weekend at VCF Dillon’s campout at Lewis and Clark Caverns (and possibly co-lead one here in Dillon on Sunday morning).  As I take on this wonderful training opportunity, I’m so in need of LOVE.

Information does not equal knowledge

Thought for today:

Action is often the bridge between information and knowledge.  For instance, I can possess information about Christina (such as that she likes flowers a lot and likes the colors orange and purple together), but I don’t really KNOW her love for those things until I get her orange flowers in a purple basket.  I reap the pleasant rewards and find joy in her joy.  The experience changes information into knowledge.

Likewise, there is a wealth of information available about God. But until we DO something about that information, we don’t really know God – we just know about Him.  

Information that is not acted on is irrelevant, or even dangerous.  It’s what we do with the information we have about God that matters.  Let me say it another way: 

What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?

Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.  If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?  

In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.  But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”  Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.  

James 2:14-18 (NIV)

Among The Poor

 

The below lyrics are from Jeremy Riddle’s new CD “The Now And Not Yet.”  I have a few thoughts that I will share at the end.

Lord I’ve said I want to serve You
I’ve been so eager to love
And how I’ve longed so much to find You,
Just to be where You are

But it seems I’ve forgotten
Where You are and what You look like
I hear Your words speak to me
As You remind me again

You’re among the poor
You’re close to the broken
The least of these
The lowest of the low
You’re among the weak
The hungry, the thirsty
As I do unto them
I’ve done unto You

We are Your people, we bear Your name
God we claim to seek Your ways
But have we neglected Your cries
And have we looked past Your face

You’re among the poor
You’re close to the broken
The least of these
The lowest of the low
You’re among the weak
The hungry, the thirsty
And as I do unto them
I’ve done unto You

See My face, look in My eyes
Hear My voice, don’t ignore My plight

I’m among the poor
I’m close to the broken
The least of these
The lowest of the low
I’m among the weak
The hungry, the thirsty
And as you do unto them
You’ve done unto Me

 

I got this CD at a particularly unusual time in my life, when I was seeing the pain of people around me so much.  And this really encouraged me.  If I understand what Jeremy was saying, he’s talking about the physically poor.  And we know from the Bible that Jesus had a special place in his heart for the oppressed and poor.  But this became real to me in a different way. 

God is near to the brokenhearted.  Those people who are suffering around me are specially cared for by God.  He doesn’t necessarily make it easier for them, but He is near to them.  He weeps with them; He is torn by their suffering. 

 

But here’s the point.  He wants us to be near to them too.  Seriously, think about it.  Who would you choose to spend your time with?  The happy, wealthy, ’spiritual’ people?  Or the strange guy in the back pew whose marriage is on the rocks and who no one seems to care about?

People, if we say we know God, it’s time to wake up and look at God’s priorities.  And more so, to make them our own.  One of the most instructive verses to me in the whole Bible is James 1:27.  ”Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world” (NASB).  It’s that simple.  Love God (and therefore keep yourself pure), and love others (therefore, help the helpless).  Who would you seek to be near to?  If you want to be near to God, you have to get near the people He is with.  As we do to them, we’ve done to Him.  And (according to the Bible) if we don’t do it for them, we don’t do it for Him.  You cannot love God and not love others.

One striking thing about godliness is that it doesn’t require degrees in theology or in ancient languages, nor does it require money or power.  All it requires is love for God and for others – God will supply the means.  His power is so much greater than our learning, money, power, etc.  All he really wants is a willing heart that says “all I have is Yours.”  He will supply the tools for the willing worker.  And learning isn’t bad – we just have to keep it in perspective.

It doesn’t always look like we think it will.  It might look like my aunt, who worked in a home for struggling moms-to-be in California; it might be like my sister who worked in an orphanage in Africa.  It might be just smiling and saying hi to that weird guy at church that no one likes, or being a loving parent when your child has just pushed you over the edge or needs special care.

Please, in this time of economic hardship when everyone is trying to take care of themselves, it has never been more important to think about the needs of others!  As we do to them, we’ve done to Him.