What is God doing? COVID19 Week 3

I recently offered a sermon to our church community reflecting on Jacob's realization (Genesis 28) that God was active in a place that was ordinary. I asked each to consider how they might posture their life in a way to pay attention to God, to seek God's revelation.

If I'm honest, I was preaching to myself. 

The crazy of this pandemic makes it easy to succumb to the oversaturation of information as a means to feel a sense of control. Or is that just me? But maybe, there is redemption being birthed under the surface of my crazy.

This week I emerged from the cloud to sit before God and ask, "How is God working?" While I do not presume to know exactly, I do sense the following 5 L's of God's work in this season of the Church:

a. Lament - Romans 12:15 tells us to "weep with those who weep." A lament is suffering or anguish turned to prayer. Many of the psalms and an entire Biblical book (Lamentations) are focused on humans offering to God our laments. At the same time we follow Jesus who wept over the loss of Lazarus, who wept over the city of Jerusalem. God does not stand afar from our suffering but enters into it with us. Knowing that, we are evermore free to share our laments to God.

• For those who are sick
• For those who are vulnerable
• For high school and college seniors and their families
• For travel plans changed
• For the loss of income
• For the grief over not gathering together

b. Linking Us - It is fun to see the creative ways in which we are connecting with each other, especially in prayer. We need community and the absence of physical touch cannot squelch our need to connect!

c. Liberating Us - Some of our unhealthy patterns, false idols and weaknesses are being revealed. That is good. What we do with those things is what matters. Will you offer to God these things and receive His liberation or will you deny them or numb them and just hurt yourself. One example: our desire for control (and realization that much of this is beyond our ability) is one "issue" that I consistently hear surfacing. We can either admit it to God and seek his healing or we can numb it with alcohol and pornography (two industries whose usage is rising during this time). The Spirit of God will only surface things in your life that God wants to heal. The blood of Jesus is big enough to heal any brokenness and the resurrection of Jesus awaits! New life awaits.

d. aLigning Homes - God is certainly using this time to help each of us see our homes as sanctuaries, where His presence is known. Couples are praying together. Parents are stepping into the primary spiritual leadership of their children. Singles are finding creative ways to connect.

e. aLighting God's People - Jesus is the hope of all the earth and He has sent you as his ambassadors of that Good news. You carry the light of Christ within you. By not gathering together we are choosing to love our community, especially the vulnerable. When I see you support the community, pray for those on the front line, sew masks for the healthcare industry and call on your neighbors I think - this is the church's finest hour! God is using us to share the hope of Christ with one another! 

What are you being liberated from?

For what are you lamenting?

How is God inviting you to reclaim your house as God's abode?

With whom are you connecting?

Preparing to Lead Worship

When I read stories of revival I read phrases like gracious gift and heavens were parted and God gifted us with his presence to describe the encounters with God. The phrases speak about God’s presence as an un-programmed but certainly NOT unwelcome guest. It was as if God’s revival presence showed up simply as an act of God’s mercy.  It was not humanly choreographed, but oh what a sweet dance it was!

This sweet gift of God’s presence is what I crave each and every time the Church gathers for worship.

If we are honest, there are moments in worship where I have felt the closeness of God’s presence. It feels as if everyone who showed up for worship that morning was desperate to connect with God. And God’s presence felt sweet. People were active and participatory and preaching felt like pouring water on thirsty land.

And there are other moments where the exact same liturgy, the same sermon, the same songs, etc. were “done” and yet God felt distant, the people were asleep and preaching felt like digging for water in a desert.

So if the revival presence of God is just a gift, and we humans cannot manufacture an awakening, then what are we to do in planning/leading/presiding in worship leadership?

First let’s deal with a few assumptions:

1. God wants to meet with His people. 
2. Sometimes God’s presence is felt and sometimes it is not. Yet in revivals there is always an undeniable presence of the Almighty that is experienced in undeniable ways. In the Hebrides revival, for example, God’s presence was experienced in one town in signs and wonders and in another town in deep conviction of sin (without signs and wonders). In all cases, the community could not deny the manifest presence of God. 
3. The role of worship leadership is to create space for people to connect with God through liturgy, songs, space, silence, sacraments, etc. Each of these shape us and create a container through which we encounter a risen Christ and allow us to worship God when we leave the congregational gathering.
4. When the presence of God shows up in scripture, people are changed. Darkness flees and new territory is taken for God. 

If my assumptions are true, then what we do matters. As a pastor who is tasked with providing spiritual authority and oversight to the congregational worship, here are ideas for what we CAN do:

1. Confession - The Holy Spirit is holy and as such, sin minimizes the work the Spirit wants to do in worship. It is good practice to confess known sin to God and one another prior to leading the congregation in worship. Acts 3:19 promises that times of refreshing from God’s presence comes after repentance.
2. Anticipation - When we take the bread/cup of communion we feast upon the present presence of God as well as anticipate the eschatological banquet. When we come into worship we hold God to His promise that when 2 or 3 gather in his name, he will be with them. When I hear of stories of revival happening today in the world people say things like, “The difference between those places and the U.S. is expectation. People come to worship expecting God to be present.” What we anticipate, we pursue! 
3. Preparation - God chooses to work with humankind in the renewal of all things. So we humbly work diligently at the various crafts (music, liturgy, sermon-writing, etc.). We rehearse and prepare diligently because we are graciously invited to participate with God. It demands a worthy investment. We give all that we can.
4. Faithfulness - At the end of the day, we are human. And more than performance or perfection, God invites us to be faithful. We acknowledge that we could never practice enough to deserve God’s love. We could never pray enough to be fully prepared. But in each worship service we stand and offer to God our faithful, limited selves.
5. Invitational - Our role is not to perform but to invite those gathered to receive from, respond to and participate with the God of the universe. Our posture, words and liturgy are such that all are invited to participate as both an act of worship in the gathering and as a model for life’s response to God’s grace.
6. Prayerful - Part of our preparation is to pray individually and collectively. Call upon God to release water onto the dry land. Declare God’s Truth over God’s people. Invite God to search your hearts as you lead others. Pray for divine manifestations to be known before, during and after the gathering.
7. Surrendering Results - Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 3, “So neither he who plants, nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.” Again, revival is a gift from God’s hand. If we lift up God, He will draw people to himself. In God’s time. In God’s way. For God’s purposes. 

This intentional environment-shaping work, if nothing else, postures those in leadership to receive from the Spirit of God, to stay mindful of the cross of Jesus and to invoke the mercy and power of the Father’s love. And that work, albeit at times soil-tilling, back-breaking, faith-shaking, monotonous-preparing, is worship. In it all, may God’s name alone be praised.