Passion 2010

Guess where I'll be January 2-5, 2010? Yep, you guessed it ... Atlanta, GA. Kristen and I are going to be volunteers at Passion 2010. I'm so excited for what God is going to do in these days. Check out the promo video!

Psalm 42

Over the past year or so I have been studying the Psalms, using the NIV Application Commentary Volume 1 by Gerald Wilson. The Psalms have proven to be a place of refuge, where I am constantly encouraged in life and ministry, and where my understanding of worship has been shaped and challenged. Today I read Psalm 42 - one of the lament Psalms - and was struck by how the Psalmist dealt with his sorrow. Verse 6 says, "My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember You ..."

Wilson points out in his commentary the value of memory, and of remembering who God is and what He has done when we go through times of deep despair and sadness. He then connects it with corporate worship, and says,

"Worship together is a place of memory. Together we call to mind what it is so easy to forget alone - that God is good and that his steadfast love endures forever for those who trust in Him. Corporate worship counters our society's message of forgetfulness and sends a message both outwardly and inwardly that we are not alone. Worship is a place for testimony and celebration. It is a time for confession and forgiveness. It is a place where we remember the past, receive power to face the present, and conceive hope for tomorrow."

I really resonated with this idea - that coming together for corporate worship is about reminding each other of God's faithfulness and grace in each of our lives. Are we doing our part as worship leaders to remind ourselves and those we lead of God's continued faithfulness to His people, through the songs we sing and the prayers we pray and the Scripture passages we read? It may be exactly what many hurting people need to hear when they gather for corporate worship.

God is GREAT

This past Sunday at ACC I used a quote from J.I. Packer to set up / transition into the song "How Great Is Our God." I was trying to think of a fresh way to transition without resorting to the two most often used methods: 1) Scripture and 2) Prayer. Not that these two methods are bad by any means, but I think it is good to weave in other elements that draw people's attention to the Savior from time to time.

The quote is a bit lengthy, so we decided to have it on the screen so people could actually see it and let it sink in a little better.

Here's what it said:

“Today, vast stress is laid on the thought that God is personal, but this truth is so stated as to leave the impression that God is a person of the same sort as we are – weak, inadequate, ineffective, a little pathetic. But this is not the God of the Bible! Our personal life is a finite thing: it is limited in every direction, in space, in time, in knowledge, in power. But God is not so limited. He is eternal, infinite, and almighty. He has us in his hands; we never have him in ours. Like us he is personal; but unlike us, he is great.” -Knowing God

After reading the quote, I followed up by explaining how and why it grabbed my attention: because magnifying God's greatness and recognizing that he is greater than we are is at the core of what worship is about.