Jon Green

Last week, American Idol ended their "Idol gives back" episode with everyone on stage singing the popular worship song, "Shout to the Lord." I must admit it was kind of cool, but also not so cool.

On the one hand, seeing that song being used on American Idol makes me happy that we live in a country where that type of expression is even possible. I really get excited about the possibility that even maybe one person could have seen that song sung on prime time TV and been caused think of Christ or motivated to go to a church the next week. For these reasons I was excited to see people singing a worship song on TV. However, it also raised profound questions for me.

I am constantly concerned about the corporate aspects of worship music. For this reason, I have great concerns about Christian expression of worship to our Lord, to our Savior, being lumped in as if it were the same as a good song by The Beatles. I worry about what that says about the way Christians worship. I also grow concerned about the worship leader as pop star. Don't get me wrong I love music by Chris Tomlin and Darlene Zchech, but to see them going out on tours and selling merchandise and practically functioning as pop stars on the back of worship songs, makes me worry about where our worship is focused. I even know people who function as "deadheads" for worship leaders; they are willing to travel to parts of the country to see So-and-So in a "Worship Concert." Are we beginning to place emphasis on the wrong object for our worship?

A couple of years ago, a man visited our church and talked to me after the services. He asked me if I was more in favor of Vineyard worship or Hillsongs. He said that he probably would only come back if we played more songs by Hillsongs. That was a really sad conversation, because for him worship was about singing songs that he liked, not singing (any)songs because God likes it. My worry with worship songs ending up being sung by pop stars or on TV shows is that we end up sending messages to the non-Christian world that we worship Idols too(such as songs, or the people who write those songs, or the emotion we feel by singing those songs, or our own preferences of which songs are good); and not the almighty, living Father who sent the Son to die in our place so that we, by faith in Him, can live by the power of the Spirit. That should be our focus in worship. That should be what we show the world. That should be our aim when we worship together. We should long to sing a song because we long to praise God...not because it's our favorite song on the radio.

'til next time...

There's a man in our church named Bob. Bob has horrible rhythm, but he absolutely, unashamedly, unwaveringly loves music and singing to God. I must confess that, in my more anal moments as the worship leader, I am tempted to wish that he were not so enthusiastic. However, I am always challenged by this to remember that he is teaching me by his enthusiasm. This is why I love Bob. He helps me to remember that things like the music, the keeping of time in the service, getting on stage at the right time, making sure that the announcements don't go on too long, wearing the right clothes, whether the sound is perfectly mixed, and even my own attitude are not the point of corporate worship. Bob helps me to remember that corporate worship is about glorifying only God, not me too, and enjoying the presence of others who adore Him. That's why I love Bob.

This week I am re-posting a blog I posted in October. I am doing so for two reasons. The first is that I believe it to be an important question that warrants discussion and I only got 3 comments (and two of those were from friends I regularly discuss this with). The second reason for re-posting is that I am completely unoriginal and can't think of anything better to say today. ;)

"A common debate in the world of art and music in the church is regarding the division, or lack of one, between sacred and secular. One side says that the bible clearly teaches that we are to be holy, called out, sacred. This means that our subculture, music, art, businesses should be sacred, or to put it in other terms- Christian. This side says there are Christian businesses and secular businesses. The same logic applies to music and art. If an artist is a Christian, they should be producing sacred art, or art that is about "spiritual things." So, if a Christian writes a love poem, it should be a love poem to God, not said Christian's wife(and if it is to his wife, it can only be "Christian" if it doesn't talk about sex, and if it does mention sex, he should never, ever let anyone see it- after all the Song of Solomon is only in scripture because it's about Jesus and the Church, right?).

The other side of this argument argues that the bible also teaches that holiness is internal, not external and that God is the creator of ALL things, including racy love poems...to God or your wife(depending on your take of SoS.) This group would say that if a Christian makes it, that's what makes it holy, or even broader still- if you see it as beautiful at all then God has given it to you as a revelation of His beauty, because he is the giver of all good things. This means that Christians can use or create anything as part of their faith be it gathering in an oak grove because it's pretty, or using a moving piece of music by Metallica as a part of their worship service, or writing and publishing that racy poem about their wife, or painting only works about the crucifixion. Everything's fair game and nothing is more Christian or less Christian, the Christian is the person, not the work.

So, what do you think?"

This Sunday marks the beginning of Advent. This season of the year is often a hard one for me. It's not that I get lonely or melancholy thinking of lost loved ones or anything like that. I get sad because I usually hear lots of comments from Christians, some that I know, others that I don't such as in the media, about how fun Christmas is and how mad they are about advertising campaigns saying "Happy Holidays," instead of "Merry Christmas." What saddens me about this is how much stock we put into how shopping is portrayed.

It seems that we as Christians want for shopping for gifts and going to parties to be recognized as Christian activities, so much so that we're willing to wage verbal warfare for that cause. However, this year something gives me hope. This week I am posting something I read on a blog called "Monastic Mumblings." My hope is that you will read and be inspired to not care about whether Abercrombie or Macy's presents a Christian message for the holidays, but rather to care about taking it upon yourself to embody Christ to your community this holiday season.(I also have a Christmas wish that people will not only read the blogs, but leave comments too...maybe I should go tell Santa)

"Put Christians back in Christmas"

"People have been concerned for a while about putting 'Christ back into Christmas' There have been lots of suggestions offered such as writing government officials, going on a boycott of some company, Cable news crusade, or buying a 'Christmas defense kit' from some ministry apparently consisting of vinyl bumper stickers made in China and costing more than they could possibly be worth.

There is another way to celebrate the Incarnation! We could try doing what He said, and be about His reason for coming here! We could put being a Christian back into our Christmas celebrations!

It was DL Hawker who said: 'People get more upset about the word "Christmas" being taken out of things than the fact that there are people in the world who spend the holidays alone each year and no one even seems to notice.'

Maybe every time we see the word 'Christmas' being left out of something, we should take the opportunity to find a person being left out, and take them in. Leave the world to their political correctness, and let’s just worry about being spiritually correct.

If that isn’t the Gospel I don’t know what is! So this Advent and Christmas season, lets look to [be] positive, rather than complain. What could we do to bring Jesus a bit closer to someone? Be Jesus to those who need to see Him, put being a Christian back into Christmas!"
http://monasticmumblings.typepad.com/monastic_mumblings_a_fria/2007/11/put-christians.html

A common debate in the world of art and music in the church is regarding the division, or lack of one, between sacred and secular. One side says that the bible clearly teaches that we are to be holy, called out, sacred. This means that our subculture, music, art, businesses should be sacred, or to put it in other terms- Christian. This side says there are Christian businesses and secular businesses. The same logic applies to music and art. If an artist is a Christian, they should be producing sacred art, or art that is about "spiritual things." So, if a Christian writes a love poem, it should be a love poem to God, not said Christian's wife(and if it is to his wife, it can only be "Christian" if it doesn't talk about sex, and if it does mention sex, he should never, ever let anyone see it- after all the Song of Solomon is only in scripture because it's about Jesus and the Church, right?).

The other side of this argument argues that the bible also teaches that holiness is internal, not external and that God is the creator of ALL things, including racy love poems...to God or your wife(depending on your take of SoS.) This group would say that if a Christian makes it, that's what makes it holy, or even broader still- if you see it as beautiful at all then God has given it to you as a revelation of His beauty, because he is the giver of all good things. This means that Christians can use or create anything as part of their faith be it gathering in an oak grove because it's pretty, or using a moving piece of music by Metallica as a part of their worship service, or writing and publishing that racy poem about their wife, or painting only works about the crucifixion. Everything's fair game and nothing is more Christian or less Christian, the Christian is the person, not the work.

So, what do you think?

This week's question is:

Why is communion meaningful to you? Also, Is it important to take communion every week? If so why? If not why?

Be Salt and Light

Alright, so I'm back from vacation and here is part three- Which is more important in a worship service, variety or consistency? This can apply to music, sermons, format, etc.

Please remember to make sure that you reread your post before you post it to make sure that it makes sense. Everyone's been doing a good job with this, but it's easy to forget that you can't read tone of voice or inflections. So just a reminder to be considerate of this when replying.

Be cities on hills.

So the next question is:

How important to you is it to have a linear service? Does Paul's admonition in 1 Corinthians for order in a service necessitate linear motion, or can we have order in a non-linear way? Is it important that after the sermon we have some sort of list to go through such as a liturgy(song, song, prayer, song, offering, etc.)?

Could we just have a time of worship that includes music, prayer, communion, offerings, meditation on scripture, but maybe all of those things are happening simultaneously and you're involvement in any one of them can happen in whichever order you want? Maybe you go take communion when the band starts playing, then you go to another area of the room and spend some time in quite prayer, then you go back to you're seat and sing along with the music before going to the back of the room to give your offering? Just a very loose example.

Alright, so for everyone who checks out this post, here is the deal. I am polling a focus group with questions about elements of the Sunday service. This is looking like the best forum for that, so we're going to try it. If you read this post and would like to comment, you are more than welcome. However, if you are not in the focus group, please don't dominate the comments on some pet-peeve issue of yours, the discussion really is intended for them. But like I said, please feel free to participate.

So the way this series of posts will work is that I will pose a question or two about a single element of the Sunday service and then leave it there for discussion. There will probably be at least six or seven of these posts over the next couple of weeks, so keep your eyes open and your head on your shoulders.

First up: The Offering

What if we didn't pass baskets to take the offering? What if we put big boxes in the back of the room and just asked people to put their stuff in there at some point during their time with us on Sunday morning? Is taking the offering during the service important theologically? Why or why not?

The Worship Leader

Back in the day, when churches started singing in four part harmony as a congregation, there was a prevalent need for someone to lead the group. Some guy stood up in front of everyone and conducted the group as if he were conducting a choir. The worship leader was born. There was a need for organization in the singing, plus the organist usually sat at the back of the room, so it was convenient for the director to stand facing the crowd so that the organist could see. This moment was the first time in the church's history that someone was appointed to stand and lead facing everyone from the front. Up until that point the people of the church either sang in unison as it required in the liturgy, or they followed along with what they could hear from the choir and instruments behind them. This change happened 150 years ago during the Evangelical movement.

For many of us, we can't imagine what worshiping at church would be like if we couldn't look at someone else to be inspired. However, we must remember that the focus of worship is God, and Him alone. When we are focused on the leader of singing, we are distracting ourselves from worshiping the true and living God. Often it is much more challenging to focus my attention on glorifying God with what I do, than it is to just stand, clap, sit, pray when the worship leader says so.
So I guess the challenge in this post is, "Can you worship without a leader?"

Yes, being inspired by someone else can be a good thing. And yes, there needs to be someone organizing the music and providing inspiration through the music, whether it be through text or the instrumentation. But our focus should never be on those people, it should always be on glorifying God. We should never be focused on people, the details of the morning like where we sit, or whether the words on the screen keep up with the song, or whether we like the clothes the pianist is wearing, or what our favorite song is. We should always have our minds singularly focused on giving God glory and expressing our thanks to Him with joy and humility.

Although it is nice as a worship leader to get your ego stroked a little:)

I am going to be making a series of blog posts related to misconceptions about worship and faith. This first one is just a comment to a video by Brian Mclaren that describes a common problem in the church well. I really like what he has to say about worship and how sometimes we trivialize the reality of faith by demanding certain experiences or feelings when we come to worship.Whether those are feelings of nostalgia, like hearing a song we love, or feelings of great emotion, we often define our worship by these. I think the biggest problem with that is not these experiences are bad, but that they become our definition of worship and choke out the reality that God and His grace should define our worship.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPRKCmYuCWA

So this week I sent some friends a link to an article I read that I found thought provoking. It has generated quite the conversation and I thought it would be fun to extend the conversation a little bit. So, this week I am posting the same link here. It's a pretty quick read, but make sure to think about it. I think that it's very important to carefully consider what's being said about how we as Christians can seek to relate to our world in a way that carries the Spirit of God into our communities and workplaces in a graceful way.
Anyway, here's the link...happy reading and please comment so that there can be dialogue about this topic.

http://www.theresurgence.com/greg_wright_2007_movies_morality_and_ratings

This week I was thinking of what to write for my blog, and I didn't have many ideas. I mean sure, I could comment on what Eric posted last week, or talk about something of vast theological importance ;), but nothing was jumping out at me...until last night.

I got a call from an old friend that I haven't spoken to in years. His brother was in an accident on Monday and is dying and he wanted to talk to me. He was hearing from people all day about how sorry they were and his only thought was, "None of these people really understand how I feel." Then he called trying to get a hold of me, because he remembered that my brother died several years ago. I have to say I was caught off guard. It hit me more than I would have expected. Talking to him last night was very close on many levels: He had been close friends with my brother when they were in middle school, His brother was dying, and he wanted to talk to me about how I dealt with my own experience. Needless to say, it was a tough night. But it got me thinking, as I know all times like these do, about how much I neglect for the sake of immediacy. I fail constantly at living with the big picture in mind, but rather focus on all the piddly little things that occupy my mind like yard work, and instead of just getting those things done while focusing my attention on eternity, I let my mind and my heart wander to the mundane so easily.
So I guess my blog question today is, am I the only one who does this?

Many times in my life I've been told that talking to someone about Jesus is a "war." There's warfare going out there in every home and every work place. Today I was confronted with something though. On my way to work I turned on the Christian radio station and in about 2 minutes heard diatribes for at least three different moral political issues by a leading voice in the Christian community. That's a pretty normal occurance. However, today it was somewhat thought provoking.

You see, about a half hour before my ride to work, I watched a news story on the CBS Morning Show(I tried to post a link, but CBS doesn't have it up yet) about religion in the work place. It seems that dozens of Fortune 500 companies are now converting conference rooms into "Meditation and Prayer" rooms for people of all religions in their companies to come and pray during the work day. While their motives are most likely driven by the bottom line, they are inviting conversations about God to come into the workplace.

I couldn't help but think:

Why is the Christian news railing against the enemy, and our need to pass legislation because the proverbial powers of the world are against us; yet a secular news station is reporting that Non-Christian businessmen are gladly welcoming "spiritual conversations" into their companies? How many Christians own businesses but are afraid of having a Muslim pray in their board room? How many Christians are there who refuse to do this because it "conflicts with their values?" Are "We" missing the mark?

Praise God for using non-Christians to open the doors to having open and honest conversations about Him.

This week, I am conflicted with whether I this this funny, or offensive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKJonM0fM54&mode=related&search=

jon

This video seems to me to sum up the way some people see Jesus. I see things like this and I am constantly convicted of the more subtle ways in which I come to Jesus seeking entertainment from Him and his Church.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTzXJMU1sLc

Lord, make us instruments of Your peace.
Where there is hatred, let us sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is discord, union;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.

Grant that we may not so much
seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we
are born to eternal life. Amen.

-St, Francis of Assisi

"Once we had no delight in God, and Christ was just a vague historical figure. What we enjoyed was food and friendships and productivity and investments and vacations and hobbies and games and reading and shopping and sex and sports and art and TV and travel...but not God. He was an idea -even a good one- and a topic for discussion; but He was not a treasuer of delight." -John Piper, Desiring God

I have had a lot of conversations and read a lot of articles lately that all seem to be claiming to think about God, but they are all focused on things that God gives us. Not God.

I had one conversation lately with a man who was very convinced that focusing on his sin was the proper perspective from which to approach everything in the Christian life. If He would just remember his own sin and why he needs grace, he would have the proper attitudes. His ideas about talking to people about God's love started with his own sin. His views about what kinds of songs to sing, prayers to pray, sermons to preach; all of it started with a focus on him as a sinner. The problem is that caused him to never talk to people about God's love, or sing songs, or pray prayers, or listen to sermons.

I think we need to spend more time getting to know God.

It is through knowing Him that I am convicted of my sin. It is through having joy in Him that I am prompted to sing. It is understanding His power and authority which leads me to humility. I think that many times I focus on learning truth, singing joyfully, or being humble about my sin, rather than focusing on knowing God and letting truth, love, humility, and joy follow.

What do you all think out there in the Blogger universe?

“No matter how Andre Agassi finally bows out of the U.S. Open, the hero's welcome he'll hear from the fans will make the reception he got after his second-round victory … seem like a church function.” -SI.com

“If Christ's mission was truly accomplished and if the Kingdom of God is alive then Christians ought to be the most celebrative people on the planet throwing the best parties and social events. If the Gospel is true one would think that Christians would be the best at 'getting their party on.'" – Anthony Bradley, TheResurgence.com

What do you think of these two quotes? How do they relate to the way we approach God in worship? What do you think they say about worship?

So I'm reading the DaVinci code, and there's one thing i can't figure out. Why is it that any fiction writer assumes it's ok to write about Christianity in a way they would never consider writing about Islam(for fear of national riots), Judaism, or Buddhism? Is it that Christians don't take it seriously enough? Is it that non-Christians in the western world don't see Christianity as a "real" religion, but as an institution that is exposed to debate? What are your thoughts?

It's time for me to post a blog and I've got nothing. I mean it, nothing. You'd think after a few weeks I'd have something worth writing about, but no. I have nothing inspiring to say, no clever stories - just a question.

What does it really mean to be a part of the culture around us, to positively contribute to the world, and yet not be affected by the things "out there?"

what do you think?

I have been thinking a lot lately about the way in which we as Christians represent Christ to the world. How can we tell people about who Jesus is without sounding like spiritual carnival barkers? “Come and see the God-Man! See the most spectacular event of all time. He’ll heal what ails you and make you whole. All for the cost of only a solitary prayer! And, for an additional nickel see the Bearded Lady!” Or maybe we sound more like military recruiters. “You know, if you enlist now you get out just in time for the resurrection, and we even have a rewards program where you can earn extra leadership in heaven.” Either way, that is not our Lord and that is not the Gospel. So how do we present the Good News that God cares about broken people who don’t have options?

One way: Stop screening our acquaintances to make sure that we are only around “godly” people and spend time with the same crowd Jesus did. Get involved in people’s messy, unorganized, broken lives, and show them the Grace of God. Only then does the body of Christ become a real person and not something you see in a movie with George Carlin standing next to it.