Tenuto Volume 3

                Well another semester has come and (nearly) gone and I am left to reflect on what I can take away from the experience.  The first observation I have to make is that when it comes down to it, it is very difficult to memorize music and lyric, especially when you are used to performing with the words flashed on the screen in the back of the room.  I have learned once again that, with the exception of God Himself, my wife is probably my most valuable asset in the ministry.  I have learned that it is difficult to juggle an online course with several courses that meet in the classroom, and I have been reminded—once again—how much I dislike writing papers.  That aside, I have learned quite a few very useful things in the last twelve weeks or so, but, like so many other things it doesn’t matter how much you learn it’s how well you can apply it.

                In reflection I have been reminded of how important it is to cast a vision, a vision that necessarily informs us of our purpose.  We cast a vision for what we want our lives to look like ten years from now, or what we would like to see our children doing when they grow up—some of us want to envision what we want to do when we grow up.  Leading worship is no different.  To be fair, the Worship Pastor or Minister of Music needs to be the one—in conjunction with the Holy Spirit and the Pastor—who casts that vision for the people leading worship.  In fact all of our worship services need to focus on a vision.  Simply put, our vision is the glorification of Jesus Christ, through music and spoken Word.  Our music must always point the congregation to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; yet, it is more important that the sermon laid on the heart of our Pastor be heard.  Our vision, therefore, should be to musically support the Word of God given through the Pastor. 

                Another point of reflection lands in our hearts straight out of the Letter to the Philippians:

Christ's Humility and Exaltation

⁵ Make your own attitude that of Christ Jesus,

⁶ who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God  

as something to be used for His own advantage.  

⁷ Instead He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a slave,

taking on the likeness of men.

And when He had come as a man in His external form,

⁸ He humbled Himself by becoming obedient

to the point of death—even to death on a cross.

⁹ For this reason God also highly exalted Him

and gave Him the name that is above every name,

¹⁰ so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow—

of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth—

¹¹ and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.  Philippians 2:5-11 (HCSB)

Our whole vision of worship needs to focus on the gospel and this song written by the Apostle Paul explains that gospel very succinctly and to the point.  Our focus needs to exemplify and glorify that sacrifice.  Remember, we did not earn our salvation.  Remember, we have all sinned (Romans 3:23), the penalty for that sin should be our own death (Romans 6:23), but, because of God’s great love for us, He sent His only Son to take that penalty for us (Romans 5:8) so that when we accept the free gift of Salvation, WE SHALL BE SAVED (Romans 10:9-13)!  How can we not Worship Him?  Our responsibility is to make absolutely certain that the people who come to Worship on Sunday morning hear this message and are given an opportunity to respond to this message. 

                It is true that only the Holy Spirit can cause us to Worship, and it is also true that only the ones who have accepted Christ can truly worship; however, we must never forget that in each service there are those who come who have not accepted Christ and are only with us to fulfill their “religious” duty.  This makes it all the more important that we worship and allow a time of response.  My warning is that when we as a church fail to allow the non-believer to respond in our worship services, then we have become no different than the Pharisees and Sadducees of Jesus’ time, because even the temple had a place for the gentiles to participate even though there was not usually an opportunity for a gentile to become a believer.  Our focus, Our Vision needs to be threefold:  1. Worship God with all that we have and are because of what He has done for us, 2. Direct all Worship to the Father in all we do, and 3. allow others to join the family of the living God.  That is our responsibility.

For HIS Glory

Russ

Mark 10:45

HBC Mission Statement

Our God-given mission is to: Provide opportunities for vibrant and meaningful worship and encounter with the Living God Who changes lives and answers prayers. Teach our church family from the Word of God what they need to know to be godly, productive, Spirit-filled, soul-winning Christians. Demonstrate and communicate to all people God's unconditional love and His willingness to receive those people who place their trust in Jesus as Savior and Lord. To encourage and build up people, and function as a genuine center of caring ministry to our church, our community, our country, and our world. The use of our physical facilities should be maximized to this end.

Tenuto Volume 2

Random Act of Culture, or Deliberate Expression of Praise?


Acts 1:7-11

Recently, I was shown a "Random Act of Culture" by the Philadelphia Opera Company and a slew of local church choirs, university choirs, and community choirs as they milled around the Macy's Store in Philadelphia..  The store itself is built in the shape of a cross and, for the shoppers, equipped with an enormous pipe organ - no doubt the predecessor to modern elevator music - to be used in the store to enhance the shopping experience.

What was really neat is that as the shoppers and extras are milling around the organ is being played as usual.  At a predetermined time, the organist begins the opening refrain of "The Hallelujah Chorus" by George Frederic Handel.  How awesome it must have been to suddenly hear all the extras begin praising God in the midst of Macy's Department Store.  The bystanders were taken by surprise, and wow, the emotion brought about by the song being sung forth in praise of our God!

This caused me to reflect upon the second coming of Christ when He will return and claim us as His own; how when no one is expecting it, the trumpets will sound and we will all be taken home. The Bible says that we will not know the time or the place of His return:

"He said to them, 'It is not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by His own autority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witness in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.'" Acts 1:7-8 (HCSB)

We are also told the manner of His return:

"After He had said this, He was taken up as they were watching, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.  Whil He was going, they were gazing into heaven, and suddenly two men in white clothes stood by them. They said, 'Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you have seen Him going into heaven.' " Acts 1:9-11 (HCSB)

It is this that we look forward to, the second coming of Christ, the time when He will establish the Eternal Kingdom of God, the New Jerusalem. All will be judged, those who have been saved and those who have not been saved.  The part that should bring us the desire to worship is that those who have been saved really deserve the same judgment and condemnation the unsaved will receive; however, because of the grace of God and the free gift we have received, we stand without condemnation.  How awesome it is going to be when we hear the trumpet sound and are raised to meet Him in the air!

Now, when reflecting upon this "Random Act of Culture," I believe that he God of the Universe orchestrated this moment to creat a DELIBERATE EXPRESSION OF PRAISE.  Don't forget to worship God in all you do, not just during this time, but throught the entire year.

Tenuto Volume 1 (dated September 18, 2011)

te·nu·to /təˈnutoʊ; It. tɛˈnutɔ/ [tuh-noo-toh; It. te-noo-taw]

adjective  Music . (of a note, chord, or rest) held to the full time value.

As I read the first chapter of Philippians, I took special note of verse 27.  When I read, I look for points that I feel specifically point to Worship, and Philippians 1:27 certainly fit that bill.  One of the areas many Christians fail to fully appreciate is Worship. We want to fit it into a small box, relegating it to something we do on Sunday. We tend to look at it as the music, or perhaps the sermon. We want to think of it as something we come and do at church, in order to get a recharge for the upcoming week.

There is much more to it than that. During the next year, we will be taking points about worship and hopefully gaining a much better understanding of what this thing we call worship really is. Today we are going to focus on Philippians 1:27;

Just one thing: live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or am absent, I will hear about you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, working side by side for the faith of the gospel." Philippians 1:27 (HCSB)

When I read this, all that I have been taught about worship flooded through my heart and my mind locked into one of the least understood facets of worship in our churches today, that being that true worship is about our daily walk. When was the last time we thought about the fact that worship involves our everyday actions and behaviors? We are told in 1 Corinthians 10:31 "Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for God's glory." (HCSB) Everything we do at home, or school, or work needs to be done to glorify God, as an act of worship.

When we accepted the saving grace of Jesus Christ, we did not sign on to a scheduled thing such as work, where we are scheduled to worship God on Sunday morning between 9:15am and noon, then between 6:00pm and 7:00pm etc; or like the military where we are to be Christians 24 hours a day 7 days a week, but, were only responsible to worship when we are "on duty." We signed up for a life change, where we are to allow the Spirit of the living God to indwell us and direct all of our actions, and guess what, that includes our worship. We must become so controlled by the Spirit that everything we do, no matter how menial or grand, is for the purpose of worshipping God.

Returning to Philippians 1:27, we must understand that in order to live our lives in a "manner worthy of the gospel of Christ," we need to do our jobs as if God himself is our employer, raise our families as if they are God's and not ours, and yes, budget our time as if it all belongs to Christ. Are we detecting a theme here, I hope so.  Everything we do must be for the glory of God, which is our reasonable act of Worship.

We worship God, because He saved us from the condemnation we so justly deserve. A Christian comedian from the 1980's, Mike Warnke, once said that he did not like our hymns because of the constant reminder of our sinfulness, "I come before thy throne of grace and throw myself upon my face, I know that I am but a worm...so step on me God and watch me squirm." Of course everyone laughed and dismissed it as funny, but, isn't there some element of truth to the parody?  We are so totally unworthy to approach God because of our sinfulness that we cannot ever hope to get out of the muck of our sin; however, when Christ died as a substitute for each of us, we saw the real value God places on us. We saw His love provide the one chance we have of climbing out of the muck of sin and becoming children of God.  When we worship, we must be always aware of the gift it is for us to even be able to approach His throne in worship. Praise God for our forgiveness.  Praise God for the fact that our debt is paid.