07 Oct 05 Draw Near
I imagine most people would be surprised to learn that I am not a “let’s try this because it’s different” kind of person. Like many, I’m comfortable with certain things a certain way. This invariably leads to ruts and we know how comforting a rut can be. We also know how stagnating a rut can be.
I’m willing to try new things and experience new things. If possible, I like to know the reason behind the new thing or new experience. A reason that does not cut it with me is “because we can.” There is major gulf between “because we can” and “because we should.” In my mind “because we can” is all about me, whereas “because we should” is more about our people.
In the realm of public worship I’ve been both on the receiving end and the distributing end of new and different things. I know there are have been times in my life as a worship leader where new things have been done simply to do something new. Again, that is not necessarily a bad thing. No one ever got out of a rut by talking about it or dreaming about it. You get out of rut by grabbing hold of the steering wheel and deliberately guiding the car in a different direction.
The conference has been a challenge to me in various ways. As a worship leader I believe it to be healthy to be asked to do things that are different. This helps me keep close tabs on my own feelings and emotions regarding things that are different so that I will not lose sight of the fears and struggles of others. I say fears because when all is said and done most of our objections fall in the realm of fear.
We’ve been programed to believe that change leads to strange fire which leads to death. Talk about something that needs to be changed “because we should”! Less talk about strange fire and more talk about perfect love would do us all some great good.
1 John 4:17-18 (NCV) This is how love is made perfect in us: that we can be without fear on the day God judges us, because in this world we are like him. Where God’s love is, there is no fear, because God’s perfect love drives out fear. It is punishment that makes a person fear, so love is not made perfect in the person who fears.
Last night I chose to attend a worship time that was different from my normal range of experience for a variety of reasons one of them revolving around a Mandolin and an Accordion. I went with a certain set of expectations which were completely met and was challenged beyond these expecations in other ways.
I chose to participate in prayer and reflection for Christians in countries whose governments are hostile towards Christ. I chose to participate in prayer and reflection for myself as one sent by God to be like Christ. I chose to receive a blessing, to be anointed with oil by a godly white haired saint. My eyes were filled with tears as she spoke words of God into my ear.
But what you need to know is that before participating in these different activities I sat in my chair for a long time wondering why. I wondered what the people I was with would think. I wondered what those who knew me in that room would think. But most of all, I wondered what God was thinking. There was no peel of thunder. There was no cloud. There was no voice. Only a decision to draw near. More than anything else I wanted them to see in my someone who was not afraid to draw near.
It’s going to be different and look different for each of us on many levels. We have to keep in mind the reason for our experience with God is to draw near. The God who made all things invites us to draw near. His invitation comes with a great promise and a great challenge.
James 4:8-12 (NCV) Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you. Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against a brother, or judges his brother, speaks against the law, and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge of it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you who judge your neighbor?
The promise is being near to the heart of God. The challenge is getting there with humility and openness leaving behind a judgmental spirit or attitude. Whatever your “change tolerance” might be I urge you to draw near as often as you can. It’s worth the risk.
Hebrews 10:22 (NCV) let us come near to God with a sincere heart and a sure faith, because we have been made free from a guilty conscience, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.
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Would have been great to have been there. Injoy and be filled up, overflow alittle.
Great thoughts Randy.
A natural cynic, I tend to have the same feelings whenever confronted with a new type of worship. “Why am I doing this? Are we being different for the sake of being different? What’s the point?” Almost every time, I find myself looking at God in a new way and, more importantly, I feel His love differently and more intensely.
Try it all. Dare it. As long as so many prayers are being offered up all weekend, how can you help but be blessed?
As Jesus said to the woman at the well who was busy enumerating the differences in worship btw the Jewish faith and that of the Samaritans, “those who worship God must do so in spirit and truth”. That is and should be the primary consideration.