Occasionally I have been blessed with mentors, good mentors. Some of them I work closely with others I have more of a long distance relationship with. From them I learn a great deal which moves me forward in ministry and faith. As grateful as I am for them they all have one major flaw; they are removed from me far too early. I seem to only get a couple of years (max) with them before they move on. One such mentor was Michael Spencer, aka the Internet Monk.
Michael has largely shaped my ideas of gospel centered preaching. Michael taught me that the sermon is not a moral lesson that improves the lives of believers. The Gospel isn’t “Your Best Life Now”. The Gospel isn’t “10 Steps to a Happy Marriage”, “How to Live a Stress Free Life”, “3 Steps to Financial Freedom”, “From Good to Great”, or any numerous pep talks so popular in modern Evangelical preaching. The Gospel claims are quite contrary to the claims of many sermons. For true believers in biblical times faith lead to death and many trials, not health, wealth, and happy fuzzy feelings. But the Gospel is the power of salvation, the forgiveness or sins, and life with God here and forever. The Gospel is freedom from that which kills us.
In spite of his historic orthodoxy Michael was not a bible thumping fundamentalist. He very much embodied the spirit of the Apostle Paul where he saw himself as the chief sinner and the most insignificant of all teachers. Michael also had nothing but warmth for those around him and his harshest criticism was saved for the self righteous, not the lowly sinner. His Gospel teaching was that like of Jesus, out of love and compassion with the aim to heal. He was far kinder than even his favorite preachers, but he was just as honest.
Michael is also responsible for my movement back into liturgical worship and celebrating the Christian Year (or liturgical calendar). This year at my church we have celebrated Advent, Christmastide, and Lent as they were intended to be celebrated, which has made a huge impact on our worship and faith. Drawing from the ancient traditions our Sunday morning worship has been more focused on the work of God than at any other church I’ve been to. This has really reawakened the concept that Sunday morning worship should never be “The Sunday Morning Show with Pastor Brendan and the New Life Band”. With Michael’s emphasis on ancient liturgical worship I have a greater resource to teach the church that Sunday is about honoring God not trying to make people happy or win people to our church. We haven’t perfected our worship but it has been nice to reconnect with how Christians for thousands of years worshiped our Lord, and I have Michael to thank for that.
This last November I got a chance to connect with Michael via email. After chatting with him very briefly he agreed to review my sermons to determine if I was preaching the Gospel or Moralism. We both decided it might be best to do so after Christmas. However, sometime around Christmas Michael was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. He passed away this last Monday, the day after Easter…how very fitting.
Michael’s Blog is where I learned at his feet. It is currently be taken care of by his friend “Chaplain Mike”.
He also has a book coming out this fall titled Mere Churchianity which I highly suggest you pick up and read.
Christ had died
Christ is risen
Christ will come again…with his saints including Michael Spenser
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Friday, April 2, 2010
Music and Worship
I was in Laguna Beach for Palm Sunday and decided to attend the local Episcopal Church (St. Mary's)for worship. It wasn't until the service ended that I noticed something strange, we didn't sing a single song during the service! Judging by the fact that I didn't notice this until the end, showed me that I really didn't miss it. To be fair, as a pastor I get pretty burnt out on hearing people's complaints about church music. The hymn people want more hymns, the praise people want more praise songs, the younger people want more rock, and the older people hate drums. If there's one thing that people are going to fight over in a church, its music.
This isn't just about my church either. I know churches that split their services just to cater to people's musical tastes. I know some people prophecy the death of churches who refuse to switch to modern music, while others leave if there is too much change in the music. Let's not forget you can't have a successful church plant without a rockin' band. It seems to me Christians forget they aren't the audience on Sunday morning, God is. The songs aren't meant to please them, they're meant to please God. When we complain and demand our musical wants and desires we're like the child who sees his/her sibling opening up a birthday gift, while we demand we "help" them open it and play with it. Sunday's gift of music was never intended for our enjoyment.
So it was a great relief to go to a church where the whole service was focused on prayer, scripture, and communion. There was music at this service, once while a young girl gave an interpretive dance to "I can only imagine" and another time it was a soft instrumental behind a narrative reading of the Passion of Christ. Yet even in those two instances, I didn't feel like an audience member waiting to be entertained. It was clear that those two times, as well as the rest of the service, it was all about honoring God. My enjoyment of those actions were pretty meaningless to the flow of the service. I left relieved, feeling like my worship was unencumbered by squabbles and fights of what is often dubbed "the Modern Worship Wars." I left California with a complete lack of faith in music as a suitable tool of worship.
But then I went to my church's Maundy Thursday service, a worship experience virtually bathed in music. Not only did the dedication of the music team pay off, but the music itself unfolded the story of the last supper, the betrayal, the crucifixion, and meaning behind it all. That service would not have been nearly as effective at positioning our hearts on the cost of sin and the sacrifice of Christ without the music. The music acted both as the prayers of the people and the sermon. The songs reminded us the events and spurred us on toward holiness. But therein lies the crux, the music changed us but worship is not intended for our change but for God's glory. It would appear that last night the music was for us, even though we sought to make it for God.
There is a thin line between worship and entertainment. Need proof? What makes a worship service a "good service"? Is it that we honored God, or that we were entertained i.e. we "like it"? However, I don't believe the two are mutually exclusive, we can have a good time in a way that honors God. I believe our Maundy Thursday service was an example of this (though "entertained" isn't the right word for that service). We were moved by the music we made but the focus was entirely on God. I guess that is what I long for. I long for our hearts to be content in worship, not with how we are worshiping but who we are worshiping. Then let the best of our talents honor the best of our intentions. I long for beautiful melodies of music to express the songs of our heart.
A big thank you to the Elders, Deacons, Musicians, Vocalists, and technicians that made last nights service possible. May God bless you for seeking to honor him.
This isn't just about my church either. I know churches that split their services just to cater to people's musical tastes. I know some people prophecy the death of churches who refuse to switch to modern music, while others leave if there is too much change in the music. Let's not forget you can't have a successful church plant without a rockin' band. It seems to me Christians forget they aren't the audience on Sunday morning, God is. The songs aren't meant to please them, they're meant to please God. When we complain and demand our musical wants and desires we're like the child who sees his/her sibling opening up a birthday gift, while we demand we "help" them open it and play with it. Sunday's gift of music was never intended for our enjoyment.
So it was a great relief to go to a church where the whole service was focused on prayer, scripture, and communion. There was music at this service, once while a young girl gave an interpretive dance to "I can only imagine" and another time it was a soft instrumental behind a narrative reading of the Passion of Christ. Yet even in those two instances, I didn't feel like an audience member waiting to be entertained. It was clear that those two times, as well as the rest of the service, it was all about honoring God. My enjoyment of those actions were pretty meaningless to the flow of the service. I left relieved, feeling like my worship was unencumbered by squabbles and fights of what is often dubbed "the Modern Worship Wars." I left California with a complete lack of faith in music as a suitable tool of worship.
But then I went to my church's Maundy Thursday service, a worship experience virtually bathed in music. Not only did the dedication of the music team pay off, but the music itself unfolded the story of the last supper, the betrayal, the crucifixion, and meaning behind it all. That service would not have been nearly as effective at positioning our hearts on the cost of sin and the sacrifice of Christ without the music. The music acted both as the prayers of the people and the sermon. The songs reminded us the events and spurred us on toward holiness. But therein lies the crux, the music changed us but worship is not intended for our change but for God's glory. It would appear that last night the music was for us, even though we sought to make it for God.
There is a thin line between worship and entertainment. Need proof? What makes a worship service a "good service"? Is it that we honored God, or that we were entertained i.e. we "like it"? However, I don't believe the two are mutually exclusive, we can have a good time in a way that honors God. I believe our Maundy Thursday service was an example of this (though "entertained" isn't the right word for that service). We were moved by the music we made but the focus was entirely on God. I guess that is what I long for. I long for our hearts to be content in worship, not with how we are worshiping but who we are worshiping. Then let the best of our talents honor the best of our intentions. I long for beautiful melodies of music to express the songs of our heart.
A big thank you to the Elders, Deacons, Musicians, Vocalists, and technicians that made last nights service possible. May God bless you for seeking to honor him.
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