One bit at time
I am constantly amazed at the way in which God works; at times frustratingly slow, yet sometimes so fast I don’t even realize what is happening. I guess its that feeling that you are traveling on a bullet train somewhere, but you don’t know what the destination is, or how far you still have to travel. All I can see is that something is growing all the time; I really wish I knew what it was!
I recently attended a worship music conference in Auckland simply named, noise; quite an apt name really, I often think our worship crosses that line between praise and noise, not that it is necessarily a bad thing. I am sure that when the Israelites were marching around the walls of Jericho that there was a great ‘noise’ in worship to God. Regardless of what the name given to the conference implies, I found much of the workshops and seminars quite useful, if not, then at least entertaining or inspiring. Hillsong United’s seminar on fostering youth worship reminded me that worship is not just about the music, in fact, music is not just about the music; without people, music has absolutely no purpose. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. (1 Corinthians 13:1) Worship is all about the people, because God is all about the people.
I was able to hear, for the first time, Brooke Fraser talk about Jesus. Nothing really original to me, but it definitely gave me insight into Brooke’s heart which filled the ‘inspiring’ part of the day. Jeff Crabtree is a absolute legend; even though the pianists in the seminar really railroaded the questions and there was not room to talk about how to play the keyboard (which was the name of the workshop) what I did hear confirmed what I was already doing, filling me with great confidence. To finish the day off I was privileged to be led into worship by Hillsong United, which was really really really good. *grins broadly*
There was a really good reason for me writing this…escapes me now….oh yes; something growing. While I was at this conference I was really challenged with what I believed was Gods direction for my life, not just the here and the now stuff, but the long term stuff; the ‘purpose’ driver. Up until quite recently I thought that this thing had a lot to do with music and to and extent I think that is definitely true; but I am beginning to think that it may only be a part of what God has planned for me.
A little more on what that plan might be
I’ve been thinking recently a lot about evangelism and how we do it, how we are supposed to do it, and how I am meant to do it. Evangelism for me is something that we are all called to do, in whatever sect of society that we are placed in (according to our talents). What really gets me excited at the moment is the idea of how we can best use the tradition of Easter and Christmas to actually speak truth to those in our community who would otherwise never get to hear it. I think for too long we have shied away from big events like these because while they may attract a persons interest for that moment during the event, they do not necessarily mean a life long commitment which is what being a Christian is really all about. So my big question of the moment is: how can we show Christ to our community in a way that both sparks their interest but also sustains it. For me this means a direct linkage between the community at Windsor Park, small groups, etc and the events that draw many into our church at Christmas and Easter.
I am of the current opinion that Christmas is simply the precursor or the preview of the main event that occurred at Easter and yet we do not give equal importance to both during the Christmas season. I often feel that when I see the Christmas message I am left thinking, ok…so what? How many in our community really understand what is so important about a baby being born that was supposedly the son of God? Without the whole story, we are left wondering why all of this happened. Now I’m not saying this to simply criticize or even to say that we do not include this message at Christmas; I am merely questioning the importance we place on Christ’s death at Christmas.
The next question I ask myself is why do people come to Church at Christmas? I certainly cannot speak for those that are not Christians but I believe that, in general, people will come to church for Christmas because of its nostalgic effect, it reminds them of Christmas’ when they were a child. What I would love to see happen at Christmas is that people would come into the house of God to experience a nostalgic carol service and leave touched by Christ in a way that they can no longer deny the legitimacy of God, and the truth that we are so desperate to share with them. In my childlike youth, with its lack of discernment or wisdom I could not possibly share how this idea is done but I pray that there are those in our community at Windsor Park that do have that passion and drive to see such an opportunity as Christmas presents to share Christ’s love to our mission field.
In saying that, what I envisage for a Christmas event is a service that takes people on a journey, emotionally and spiritually. This journey must include the life story of Christ from his birth and more crucially to his death and resurrection. What surrounds the main service must express the community that Christ has fostered at Windsor Park, if people hear about this Christ that has touched the lives of so many, they are going to want to see who these ‘so many’ are; that they are real people like you and me. I think it is important to use the different media that we have; there is no use writing a play when we do not have a group of talented actors who work on this thing all the time. It is much better for us to play to our strengths, to show what is real in our community; the creative arts: music, art and video etc. I have heard many people talk about the ‘wow’ factor in revelations they have received from Christ and in the same way, I want to see people walk through the doors of our church and have the ‘wow’ factor hit them like a speeding train. We could say that all of this seems so much when as Christians we really don’t need all of this but we are on a mission field, our missionaries must be equipped with the tools they need in the society they are in. If we are not meeting our community where their expectations lie then we cannot hope to grab their attention, even for a moment. I think that is part of what makes our mission field so difficult, it asks so much of us.
