Worship

Somethig has been bugging me for some time now, and that is the conditioned response that everyone gives towards worship. Now correct me if I'm wrong but when I view worship biblically those people were nearly exploding within themsevles when they would worship, it was truly just them and God in that moment, and they were delighting in praising Him. The would dance, they would sing, they would literally explode as they praised God. I have noticed that within our culture today we look to do anything but explode, I would almost venture to say there is more passion and purpose displayed by people when they are a concert then when they are entering into the Almighty's presence. As I sat back and watched this at the Jack Johnson concert this year this really struck me, I have been observing this within myself and within other that I encounter since that concert. I feel that we approach these performers that are singing about things that are so trivial when compared to the splendor of God with more of a passion then we approach God.
This is a tremendous problem. I feel that we have lost the heart of worship, we have allowed worship become something that we have to do in every single service, and we correlate it purely just to music, and sanction it to one place and one time of the week instead of living a life that is constantly worship, and walking in God's presence seeking His elation with the offering we have provided.
Worship is more then just chapel or Sunday mornings but it is a life long venture. We naturally seek to be fulfilled through someone taking joy in who we are, we feel valued, like when you were a little kid and you attempted to make breakfast in bed for your parents, it turned out to be terrible but they were so elated with your effort, with the passion you put forth to show that you loved them that much to make a complete mess of the kitchen. You feel most valued in that time because although you came up short and made a mess your parents were still so thankful for your heart. Now that is a stretch because most parents now would freak with the messed up kitchen, but I think you get where I am going with this. We are a people that are constantly looking for value, we seek it in the relationships we strive for and in the trivial materials we purchase on a constant basis. We try to push the piano up the hill when in fact we don't have to toil with that task but just look to the one who has provided for us with adoration. When we worship (especially with our lives) we find value, we see that despite we can never truly be good enough, that we can never reach the level of perfection that God is he still comes to meet with us. Does that not give us value? When I think about it worship might be best thing in the entirety of our lives that we can do to find out value, it might be the only thing.
Now I feel that we have been conditioned to worship in just one particular way most of our lives. To stand completely still, maybe lift up our hands, eyes must be closed, when did this become the standard? I believe it started with those attempting to be respectful of the Spirit moving, when did you ever see someone at a concert being completely still just waiting to get through it, no they paid their darn good money to be there, they are going to enjoy this concert for all it is worth, and why did they pay money to be there? To see someone they admire, someone that they feel gets who they are perform and sing songs that speak to them, they let the music take them over, they will throw their hands in the air, they will jump, shout, sing, scream, they will basically explode at that moment. Why is not the worship we have an opportunity to take part in seen in exactly the same way? Today in chapel a local worship minister came in to do worship for the entire student body, what happened in that chapel is what I believe every person needed, they needed to see that to worship must let the music, let God's Spirit take you over, to allow yourself to truly experience God during that time and not wondering what the person next to you is doing or thinking, within that moment today it was just us and God. Why does it take such a special worship leader to envoke that in people? Is it because we need someone to help us to get half way with God?
Why don't we explode into worship?
Whenever I truly think of this explosion I think of my older brother P.D., not let me give you an accurate description of P.D. he is a 26 year old with the heart of a child, he pursues the world, he pursues his Father in heaven the same way that a child would by letting himsefl explode. I can remember it being something that I was emberassed by growing up seeing my odler brother explode into dance during worship (it looked something like River Dance meets Micheal Jackson) but the more and more I continue to look at it, I believe P.D. was the only one during those musical worship sessions that truly understood what it meant to meet with God.
I can remember a scene from a favorite movie of mine called Keeping the Faith, within this film Ben Stiller is a Rabbi and Edward Norton is a Priest, they are best friends who grew up in New York together. There is one moment in the film where Ben Stiller is attempting to get his Temple to worship, as they have lost the heart, the feeling of the joyous song they are singing. In order to get them to feel the Spirit he brings in a Gospel choir to lead the congregation in worship. What happens is amazing, the entire congregation explodes into dance, they have caught the heart of worship, they understood exactly what it means to come before the Father provide Him with an offering of praise.
So why do we not Explode into worship?
If we are to truly enter the heart of God we must look to explode within ourselve to make our worship time so personal that it is just us and God there. We must understand that in doing so we find our most ultimate value, we have to let the Spirit take us over and lastly we must seperate ourselves from anyone else there and make it personally between us and God, approaching him as a child without fear or inabitions of what those around us will think if we Worship our God.

Cj-out

True Meaning of Christmas

It has occurred to me, the true meaning of Christmas. Yes I am aware of the redemptive plan of God; I like to think I have been studying it ever since I was reborn. But something else occurred to me, something that a friend and I were discussing and I constantly have been challenging people to think in this way since. Some may see it as a what-if scenario, I think it is no where even close to a what-if, it is something that happened at Christmas, it is essentially what we celebrate this time of year and that is the incarnation of the Son to include us into Triune God. This will take some explaining, but just as we celebrate Easter as the ultimate redemption of man I think it is only part of God's plan to redeem man. Yes Christ had to suffer the weight of humanities sin and lay His life down to pave that road between us and God but his very presence in this world brings us back into God. Now God does not do this out of necessity, because does not 'need' anything. Many people ask why does God 'need' to love us? The answer is simple God does not 'need' to do anything, he is complete, he is fulfilled no matter what he does, the redemption of man did not affect God in a way that would make him less. When man was torn from God what happened was a separation. God 'loved' his creation so much that he formed covenant after covenant with humanity so that they may be saved. He did not do this out of need but out of Love. Whenever we talk about who God is or what God is we must always take it back to this key statement, God is Love. God did not need to redeem humanity he chose to do it, because God creates out of freedom. Back to my original point however, this time of year really makes sense to me now, as you see I have provided a picture an ancient diagram of the trinity. Whenever we look at these three figures of the triune God we must look at them, with equality, distinguishability and with unity. The figure of the Son is of one substance with the Father we call this homoousious - it means of one substance. This is the divinity of Jesus, through the kenosis however, Christ becomes one substance with humanity. Christ is both fully human and fully divine, not like a swirled ice cream cone of one substance in body spirit and nature. Christ coming to earth this venture into humanity, becoming homoousious with us includes humanity into the figure of the Son. Humanity included into the triune God that we serve shows us 2 distinct things 1) God loves His creation so much that He chose to include it in Himself (When God created the cosmos He created it ex-nihilo - out of nothing, including humanity in the Trinity makes us something, it makes us part of God) 2) Brings forth the goodness of humanity. If humanity was not essentially, naturally good the why would God look to include it into his full goodness. God would not allow Himself to be impure; he knows the goodness that humanity has within it (this also shows that no man is to far into the darkness to come back to the light).This for me is the ultimate reflection of God's love. I truly believe that when we look at God's love, we have to see what He has done through just the gift of including us in Himself. It gives us value, gives us purpose, and shows us how much we are valued. Feels good doesn't it.

Cj-out

Profound Impact

I was watching the film "It's a Wonderful Life" tonight. There are very few films that can drive me to tears every time I see them, "It's a Wonderful Life" is one of those films. I watch it maybe once a year, yet I consider it my favorite movie of all time, it is because I believe it tells such a genuine and amazing story of the human condition. We live our lives, constantly struggling to pursue excellence, or comfort in our lives, we never truly see how comfortable we are, and how comfortable other people are because of our presence. We do not have the foresight to actively see that I believe. We do however get enveloped into the worries of each day, and when we get a turn of bad luck begin to think "woe is me," we forget what our lives should truly mean. If we were given the gift George Bailey was given, to see the world we live in without us in it we would understand how much not only we mean but what that world we have built around us means to us. Each of us has been put into a unique place at a unique time for a reason. The purpose for each of our lives is different; no man lives the same lives as his brother or sister. I think a problem arises when we compare our lives to those around us. It is crazy but we never seem to think of success and look at our own lives, we look to the hero's that we grew up idolizing and never equate ourselves into that same arena ever. If we were to each look back and take a look at the journey we have walked then all we should see is success, life is an uphill battle and any mohill that is conquered is a victory. Enjoy the journey of your life. Although you might not know where it will end up, at least you know the ride will be interesting, and let God decide what is success and what isn't, I think he is a better judge, with a better view than any man woman or child that has been or ever will be on this planet.

Enjoy the Journey; you are already a success - keep striving for more.

Cj-Out

Perfect

I think we all feel the weight of perfection bearing down on us constantly. Our jobs or our friends demand us to be flawless, therefore we must feel that we have to be everything to everyone, we feel we always must be a different flavor of ice-cream to whoever we meet. This line of thinking can make anyone go insane. I personally have had the task of perfection during this week of my winter break; perfection is not only desired but expected. I took a job this week subbing for someone’s paper route. Within this line of work you are required to work every day of the week from 2am - 5am. You make very good money but the strain on your car and your mentally acuity can be enormous. Within this line of work you are expected to deliver every one of your papers to every single person on your route, on time. You strive to hit every single house on your list (I almost feel like Santa Claus, just to romanticize it a lil for ya) which should not be a hard task to accomplish, but then humanity comes and mucks everything up for you. When you miss a house you get a complaint and if you get a large amount of complaints, well then you have to find a new line of work. It is something I had been striving for on this route - perfection. I have fallen short already and it happened so fast that I was not even aware of it until later (the next morning). For me I have no other choice then to let these expectations rule my life at the moment. The expectation of perfection, this standard that the Indianapolis Star has set governs my very being at this point. I hope that you do not have to live up to standards like this within every area of your life. I think we tend to allow ourselves to take on so many expectations that we eventually collapse. Eventually something will come along and take us down; it will knock us out of our quasi perfect state. Much like my beloved Indianapolis Colts. Perfect 13-0 record until they met the San Diego (always goes down smooth) Chargers, they were out matched, out willed, out played in this game, the team that played appeared to be only a shell of the team I had seen rise to the occasion week in and week out to keep their perfect streak alive. While it broke my heart I some how felt relief within the loss. I think the more "perfect" things we have around us the higher we hold ourselves to that standard of whatever "perfect" may be for each of us. To have a team that was so close to achieving the perfect regular season and then fall short reminds us, I believe that it is ok for us to fall short, we are human. We can not be everything to everyone we can only be one flavor and we should be alright with that. What is funny is that since we have this impossibility of perfection within our world that is merely on our own merits. Perfection can never be accomplished when it is based upon our own glorification that will happen. Nothing in this world is perfect. The definition of perfect should have a picture of God under it. Of everything we observe in our world, we should know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the one atoning instance of perfection can only come when we put aside our own personal glory and look to glorify the only one who can truly be perfect. This is something I have been working to understand this year within my own life. True success, true perfection only truly comes when we seek the Glory of God and look for His blessing up on the mission we are about to undertake. It is when we put for the Glory of God within our lives that we then truly become the universal flavor to all people. We can transcend the insanity of living a life that constantly shifts to please man. My paper route has been a task of perfection I have attempted to accomplish on my own. So far this week I have had two complaints (I would attest that neither of them are my fault) so much for my idea of doing the perfect job this week - with what I have been exploring in the realm of God's Glory, should I truly be so surprised.

Cj - out

Sweet and Sour - Love and Pain

I just got back from my paper route and I am laying in bed, but before I drift off I have to let you all know I believe that what I can only say sounds like a large animal, and I am talking elephant big, is sleeping in the room right next to me. With each breathe I am allowed to understand what it means to be a circus worker sleeping with the animals. I'll just turn the "for Lovers" mix up as usual to drown it out, but just thought I'd shake something that occurred to me this morning before I start my post. A bonus from doing a paper route over break is that I have literally 3 hours every morning to really think about things. Delivering papers is a pretty automatic process so your mind can drift to whatever and you can still perform your task as a high level. This morning I kept being drawn back to pain, it is what we feel in some small way every day of our lives, whether it is physical pain, social pains, or just the pains of living our very limited lives we all experience some sort of pain everyday. What got me thinking about this topic was the recent death of James Dungy the son of my beloved Colt's head coach a man I respect completely Tony Dungy. I can not imagine the pain that comes from having to bury your child. I think it may only truly be described as a weight, any pain that is even close to that, that I have felt in my life felt like weight is tied around my heart and it just tugs harder and harder breaking me over and over again in the process. I imagine this is exactly what the Dungy family is going through at this moment. I personally have never had a loss that close to me happen, but I have been second hand many times to tragedies striking in this way. Earlier this year a close friend of mine lost her little brother who I feel safe to say had more use on this planet then I did, and her describing the pain that she felt really gave me an insight into this pain. She would tell me that there would be moments where she would laugh at the memories and then moments where she never thought she could be happy again. It brought back an idea that I caught in one of the shadow lands films and that is that the pain we eventually feel is part of that love that we share. That the two go hand in hand, our hearts need love but it does not come without eventually feeling pain. The relationships we have now, the people that we love, those that we care for we truly must cherish because eventually the pain will come. When we hold these things in balance we gain a new perspective, life is more then about just pain and more then about just love. Life is about the sweet and the sour, and you never truly know how sweet the sweet is without tasting the sour. My prayers and hopes are for each of you that currently taste the sour, may you find the sweet again very soon. If you need a model, look to a man I respect who tastes the sour right now.
Cj-Out