Extravagance and Circumstance

Today's readings (1 Kings 8:63-9:9; and Acts 16:25-end) for morning prayer ask serious questions about our worship.

God responds to worship. He appears to Solomon, in person, after worship. He sends an earthquake to free Paul and Silas, after worship.

However, there are two characteristics, two principles of worship we see at work here.

1. Worship must be extravagant.

Solomon is a wonderful example of this spirit of worship. Funny really, David (his father) is seen as the worship-leader - after all he wrote the songs, played the lyre - but here we see Solomon leading the people with:
- Profuse Sacrifice - "the bronze altar before the LORD was too small to hold the burnt offerings" (1 Kings 8:64). Is your worship too large for the altar? Could anyone describe your worship as over-the-top? Excessive?
- Vast Assembly - this was a huge gathering - HUGE! Now...please don't think I'm advocating for large congregations only. However, there is something electrifying when lots of people come together to worship. We know that large crowds take on their own personality - sometimes an evil character (the Nurenberg Rallies? the summer 2011 riots?).
In a week's time 80-100,000 people will gather at Wembley Stadium for the National Day of Prayer and Worship. I'm sometimes quite sceptical about these sorts of events...but perhaps that says something about my approach to worship - I'd rather have my small personal offering rather than come together with thousands of others to pour my worship into one space?
- Significant Time - this act of worship took 14 days (v.65) - two weeks! Imagine an act of worship that takes the same time as the Olympics!! Do we schedule an hour and a half a week for God, for worship? Think about it: there are 168 hours a week, one and a half of those is less than 1% - LESS THAN ONE PERCENT!! Some of us spend more time on the loo.
[And don't go giving me that nonsense that "we're always worshipping!" - yes, I know...our lives are one long act of worship, but tell me... are the other hours of your week punctuated with the aroma of sacrifice - holy and pleasant (Romans 12:1f.)]

- Not Embarassed - Then we come to Paul and Silas, who worship to witness. As they worship others hear them - they aren't in the least bit embarassed to worship. I get squirmy if a non-Christian friend gets in my car while I have worship on. Eh? Why am I embarassed to show the world what I believe?

The picture that is built up is one where worship that moves God is worship that has a personal cost: it costs time, our reputation, it might inconvenience us (imagine the logistics of getting 100,000 people together)...but that's the point. Worship that costs us nothing does not move God. He is unimpressed and unmoved by worship that doesn't show him how much he's worth!

2. Worship defies circumstance.

Solomon "had achieved all he had desired to do" (1 Kings 9:1). He was in a place of blessing, a place of abundance. And he worshipped.

Paul and Silas had been attacked, put on trial, stripped, beaten, then severely flogged, thrown into prison, placed in stocks and under guard (Acts 16:20-24). And they worshipped.

You know this. I know this. But we try to ignore it.

God deserves our worship regardless of our circumstance.

Whether you are experiencing a time of closeness to God, of fulfillment and pleasure. Or whether you are experiencing the desert years, the dryness of spiritual disillusionment, the pain of loss, the struggle of ill-health. Whichever end of the spectrum you are on: worship!

How do we do this?

Develop a pattern in our daily lives where we try to more of the following: pray, sing songs of worship, consider ways we might offer something to God - our money, our abilities, our time, our home, our lives.
Develop an unembarassed lifestyle - don't switch that Christian CD off when your colleague walks into the office, or hide your Bible.
Develop a settled schedule - a habit - of worship that you complete regardless of the amount of sleep you've had, your health, the age of your children...whether or not you feel close to God.

I commend to you (and to me) this lifestyle of worship.

And it is my prayer that as we engage with this two things will happen in your life: firstly, that God will hear your prayers; and secondly, that your friends, family and colleagues will hear your prayers; and that both will respond!

The Man Drawer

Of all the descriptions for the Wisdom literature of the Old Testament, the man drawer is one of the most imaginative!



Makes me chuckle every time!

Cell last night continued our look at Proverbs - one of the five Wisdom books.

Proverbs is a book we often overlook; its pithiness makes it awkward to 'study'. Nevertheless, look at Proverbs we did. Now I must be quite honest, I really enjoyed the lesson-esque nature of our cell meeting last night, and I want to give our vicar, Paul, props for doing such a helpful overview of the book - both in his sermon on Sunday and for us to recap at cell.

So here are his notes:

The 'Wisdom Literature' is the name often given to the bunch of books in the middle of the Bible– locate them in your Bible and thumb through to familiarise yourself with their layout. (they are Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs).

They are like the 'man drawer' of the Bible, containing books that don't belong anywhere else. We are probably more familiar with the first five books and the histories that follow, and with the prophets. These tell the story of God's dealings with Israel and his speaking to them, 'thus says the Lord'!  The Wisdom literature is more about people reflecting on life with God.

Get hold of the pages of Proverbs and ruffle through to see the structure (dont' spend long on this, just get an overview of how the land lies):

ñ  ch.1-7 – instructions to the reader (addressed as my son) to pay attention to what follows

ñ  ch.8-9 – Wisdom personified as a female calling everyone to come and be instructed.

ñ  ch.10:1 - 22:16 – Proverbs of Solomon – pithy sayings to make you think.

ñ  ch.22:17 - 24:34 – Sayings of the Wise – more anonymous proverbs

ñ  ch.25-29 – more Proverbs of Solomon

ñ  ch.30 – Sayings of Agur

ñ  ch.31:1-9 – Sayings of King Lemuel

ñ  ch.31:10-end – The Wife of Noble Character

Although many of the sayings seem to be in a random order, certain themes emerge. Look up some of these and talk about what they tell you.  (You could get different people to each look up one of the verses in each theme.)

ñ  God and man – for example 9:10; 19:21

ñ  Wisdom – for example 1:1-7; 8:4-11

ñ  The Fool or simpleton – for example 14:15; 1:32; 17:16, 18, 21, 24, 28.

ñ  The Scoffer – for example 21:24; 22:10

ñ  the Sluggard – for example 6:6-11; 26:13-16;

ñ  The Friend – for example 17:17; 18:24; 27:6; 27:10

ñ  Marriage and family life – for example 5:15-20; 19:13; 21:9; 14:1; 31:10-end

Proverbs is about the ordinary stuff in the 'man drawer', the stuff made up of keys and batteries and coins and phones and menus, how we deal with our homes and families, our work and communications, our eating and talking and the stuff that makes up ordinary life.

Not bad eh?

Worship Leading

I have two immensely fulfilling and rewarding roles in church that take up a good chunk of my time: worship leading, and cell facilitation.

I've decided I should write more about how and why worship is so important to me: some of it’s quite biographical, some theological, some practical. I don’t know if it’ll help anyone other than me, but I have come to realise that I've spent large chunks of the last 19 years involved in worship, for last 12 years leading.

These days I then to lead at Pudsey Parish Church (my home church) at our evening service. For a few years now our evening service has been café church (style) buuuut it’s gone through a number of revised formats to keep it alive. We appear to be somewhat rare in the diocese as an Anglican church with an evening congregation – although most attendees are morning folk who want more, there are a few evening-only folk.

On occasion I lead at the morning service, which is GREAT fun and a very different dynamic.

I'm also called upon by my good friend Robin Gamble for events, most recent was the Hope & Gamble events at Bradford Cathedral.

It’s fair to say that I’m given a lot of freedom to pick songs, arrange them, rehearse them as I want, and then essentially suggest to the vicar/leader the running order/order of service. It’s also fair to say that I am pretty conservative with my suggested batting orders, although I do have a preference for periods of sung worship (I might have to comment at some point about the pedants who keep forcing me to say ‘sung worship’)

I really enjoy leading worship, it's a massive privilege. Hope you enjoy my perspectives.