What Do They See?

During our first service on Sunday mornings, we have a "children's message" where someone does a mini sermon for the children.  This week's was about running, specifically focusing on the story of Derek Redmond, and in the midst of the message, Andrew, my 3 year old, piped up: My Daddy runs 5K!

There are a lot of things that we as parents do that our children just naturally pick up on, and for me, running is one of those things.  Andrew especially likes running and can't wait until his next "race."  He wants to "run 5K" and, much to his brother's chagrin, claims to have run a 5K already (he has done a 5K, but it was in a stroller, while Jonathan completed one on his own). Actually Andrew's run was a kids' run in collaboration with the Thanksgiving 5 miler I ran - it was more like 100m than 5K.  But who's counting?

Andrew has a little toy "listening device" with an earphone, and often when I am getting ready to go out and run, Andrew will get that toy and put the earpiece in and announce, "I'm going running."  He associates my iPod with running - not a bad association, as that's almost the only time I wear my headphones.

This should stand as a reminder to all of us: our children are watching us.  What do they learn - not just from what we're trying to teach them, but from what they see us doing?

Hard Time Blogging

I've had a hard time blogging recently because much of my time has been consumed with other things.  I believe in blogging, and it's a good outlet for me - somewhere to put my thoughts on "paper" - but especially with the Bible reading challenge, that time just isn't as plentiful.

Plus, since January, I've been making an attempt to write in my actual journal as I read the Scriptures.  I've enjoyed doing that as a spiritual discipline in the past, but lately I'd gotten away from it.  But the side effect of writing in my journal regularly and of reading scripture for well over an hour each day is that the blog gets a little less attention.

Thanks for continuing reading!

Last Night's Weird Dream

Last night I was craving salsa, so before I went to bed, I ate some chips & hot salsa, and I was just expecting some weird dreams.  I was not disappointed.

I dreamed that there was some super-evil bad guy who was plotting some kind of super evil, and he had hostages he was planning to kill.  He and the hostages were on a bridge over a large river.  I was not on the bridge; in fact, one other person and I were the only ones who could stop this bad guy, because we knew how to cross the raging river.  He didn't know that there was a ford where one could walk across in water only up to knee level.  We had a plan and a gun, and we were planning to cross the river and kill him before he killed the hostages and wreaked his evil havoc.

We were crossing the ford when there was a terrible splash.  Somehow the evil guy had fallen from the bridge. He did not land on or near the ford; he landed in deep water, and it became quickly apparent that he could not swim.  He was drowning.

Shortly, he washed up on the bank, not breathing.

We rushed over to where he was; I knew that he would  die if CPR were not administered right away.

...and I woke up.

What would you have done - would you have saved his life, even though your original plan was to kill him?

Learning Something New

I love getting exercise (no surprise to you if you know me), and I find running therapeutic.  Honestly, when I go running, it's usually because I need to.  Partly because I've become an endorphin junkie, partly because it's my quiet time with God, partly because it's the only time when I have the patience to listen to sermons, and partly because of the physical challenge, but I need my runs.

As we've been blasted with snow lately, running just hasn't been my preferred option.  Sure, I could run, and some of my colleagues don't let a foot of snow keep them from running outside, but I'm just not into wet feet and slipping and sliding (and the potential for injury).  So I've been trying cross country skiing.

Though I've done it a few times before, it's really something new for me.  I had to figure out how to dress for it (hint: treat it like a run; otherwise, I'll overheat immediately!); I had to figure out where to go (there are some very nice trails nearby, but getting there is the issue), and I had to figure out how far is a decent workout.  But even more important than those has been this: I'm figuring out what motions are best.  I found that if I pick up the skis (in a running motion), I can go a little faster in the short term, but it has been causing a snow build-up on the underside of the skis, which, in turn, slows me down when I try to slide the skis (even downhill). So I have to learn how to move most efficiently.

This is something that carries over to all of life.  Whether we like it or not (or recognize it or not), things are changing.  If nothing else, every day we're all one day older.  Technology is changing things faster than ever. And life and ministry requires us to develop new strategies.  Sometimes what seemed to work before doesn't really work anymore, and what seemed most efficient isn't anymore.  Sometimes making assumptions (like I, who assumed that a running motion would be faster on the skis) just leaves us bogged down.

This is especially true for the church, who sometimes gets bogged down in "the way we've always done it."  I'm not talking about church tradition (United Methodists base our belief primarily in the Bible, but we acknowledge that we interpret the scriptures largely through our reason, experience, and tradition); tradition is rich and beautiful and helps connect us with years of Christians who have gone before us, and tradition helps us from making the same mistakes made by those who went before us.  I'm talking about an "this is how we've always done it" attitude. 

What are some methods that might need updating in your life?

Worship Leader/Lead Worshiper

When I was growing up in church we always had a song leader - someone who would stand in front of the congregation and direct (usually musically trained well enough to actually direct) the singing.  Sometimes they would add some wrinkles into the singing, like saying "power" sixteen times instead of two in the line "There is power, power, wonder-working power in the blood (in the blood) of the Lamb (of the Lamb)." Usually they would stand in the pulpit to lead.

As churches adapted to having worship bands, a specific person was the "worship leader" - assuming the same role, just with a band behind him/her instead of piano and organ, with a hand-held mic instead of the pulpit mic. But as worship bands became more common, there came some backlash against the typical worship leader.  Some began to think that the worship leader was too visible, that the "worship" was becoming a "show" and instead of glorifying God, it was glorifying gifted singers/musicians (especially the one person who was most visible).

And so we began to see the rise of the "lead worshiper" - check out your praise and worship CDs or this article by Jeff Deyo - the idea is that the only difference between the person in front and the person in the pews is position (and microphone and/or instrument). That what the "lead worshiper" is doing is simply worshiping. certainly not putting on a show.  It's all about God, and the congregation is simply invited to worship along with the lead worshiper, who is "really" just worshiping.

The difficulty with this is that some of us need some help worshiping.  No, I'm not talking about those who are clap-impaired and don't know which beat is proper to put the hands together.  I'm talking about those who don't necessarily realize or recognize that our physical posture actually impacts our spiritual openness.  A lead worshiper wouldn't necessarily tell a congregation to "raise holy hands" but would just raise his/her hands in worship.  And most in a congregation (who aren't used to raising hands) would never think of raising their hands just because a lead worshiper was doing so.  Simply put, a lead worshiper isn't a worship teacher - and that's one thing that most congregations need. 

Even at the National Pastors Conference a couple years ago, one of the neatest worship experiences was led by a professor of worship who taught us (pastors) about posture (think about it; are you going to be more open to the Holy Spirit if your arms are crossed against you or if your hands are open in front of you?) about the Temple and the Presence of God, and other things.  Though the music "wasn't my favorite style" (an easy excuse not to worship fully), I felt more freed to worship with all of me...

This past Sunday, Chad led worship for us - not just as a lead worshiper (which he has usually been), but by instructing us in worship, how to worship, to give our whole selves in worship.  It was fantastic. 

That said, (from his standpoint) it wasn't all about him teaching us - he was worshiping with his whole heart and was also teaching us and leading us in worship.  Sort of a lead worshiper worship leader.