Continuing on with the post that I wrote yesterday, I want to take a look at some more of the dynamics of our Saturday night meeting at Rapha.
Being a Vineyard Pastor (Association of Vineyard Churches), one of the things that we put at the top of our list is WORSHIP. We realize that worship is a multifaceted thing that covers every area of our lives. In fact, if you want to truly define worship, then it would be as a lifestyle. I live my life as worship unto the Lord. My job is an act of worship unto God. My going to Wal-Mart to pick up some groceries is an act of worship unto the God. In other words, I want to live a life that is pleasing to Him. A life that extends to more than 2 hours on Sunday morning and 1 hour on Wednesday night.
In this lifestyle of worship, we come together with other believers and have a corporate time of worship.
This is where the dynamics really take a change. To be in a group who truly desire to be in the presence of God.....to sing to Him and not about Him is pretty incredible. Music is an important part of our worship. Music has the power and ability to influence us greatly..........either for good or bad. I remember the first time I went to a Vineyard service back in July of 1991. Brook Finlayson had invited me to not just come to the service but to play bass guitar on their worship team. The worship lasted for well over an hour. I was use to the old 3 hymns....sing the 1st, 2nd and last stanza. (Didn't you ever wonder why we never sang the 3rd verse? We always skipped it. I thought maybe there was a hidden message in the 3rd verse we weren't suppose to see.) But I noticed during the worship time at the Vineyard, that the people were engaged in different postures. Some stood and sang with their faces raised to heaven as if they were being soaked in God's presence. Others raised their hands toward heaven as they sang, as if it were an act of surrender unto God. This was not what I was used to in a church service. I was offended and yet at the same time, I knew something was going on here in the worship that was different than what I was use to. Now before I go any farther, I want to stop and say that these behaviors did not make these folks super spiritual. It was just different. Different doesn't mean better.......it just means different. From that night, I began kind of a spiritual journey to learn more about worship.
In the Vineyard values statement, it reads that Worship is our highest calling. It was the reason we were created and is part of our fellowship with God. Out of worship comes the desire to do the things God has called us to do.....feed the hungry, heal the sick, visit those in prison and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
One of the things I quickly learned that worship wasn't, was that it wasn't a performance. It wasn't about whoever was up front doing the playing and singing. Whoever occupied that place was to lead every one who had gathered into the presence of God. The music was the means by which we focused our hearts and minds on God as sang of our love for Him. To tell you the truth, it wasn't much different from what we read in Psalms and the way they worshipped.
Psalm 150 reads:
Praise the Lord!
Praise God in His sanctuary.
Praise Him in His mighty expanse.
Praise Him for His mighty deeds.
Praise Him according to His excellent greatness.
Praise Him with the trumpet sound.
Praise Him with harp and lyre.
Praise Him with Timbrel and dancing
Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe
Praise Him with loud cymbals.
Praise Him with resounding cymbals.
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord,
Praise the Lord!
According to this scripture, everything and everyone......no matter whether you are saved or not....believer or unbeliever.........is called to cry out and praise the Lord.
Due to the transitory nature of the group we have on Saturday night, music and worship is a big part of why we do what we do. Most of the men who come through the program only stay for 7 weeks. That means I have 7 opportunities to influence, teach and demonstrate what worship is. One of the things that we have done is to take secular songs and re-write them to be used as worship songs.....
Songs such as Can't You See, by the Marshall Tucker Band has been written to proclaim God's saving grace by declaring...."Can't you see, what this Jesus has done for me!"
Johnny Nash's song I Can See Clearly Now, has been re-written to be an anthem of praise to God's healing power to open our eyes to see the truth.
These are but a few of the songs we have "taken back" so to speak and integrated into our worship sets.
We also do a lot of original songs that we have written over the years. One of my desires is to write songs for what I would call a RECOVERY HYMNAL. Songs that reflect the thankfulness and journey of those who have come out of addiction. One such song I've written is called Twelve Steps To Heaven and it even incorporates a little bit of What A Friend We Have In Jesus into it. The songs are simple and singable and it is something to behold when that room comes alive on Saturday night and you've got a group of men singing at the top of their lungs.
Next Saturday we will be celebrating our 6th year of having church there on the Rapha compound. It doesn't seem possible that 6 years have gone by, but they have. We continue to see God move in our meetings...not because of me or anything I do, but because the room is filled with hungry hearts needing to meet with Him. That is worship!
God on you....
mb
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