Today I wanted to post the second part of my short sermon series on worship (part one can be found here). The full audio version can be found on the PRV website along with the audio file of part three presented by Shelton Taguma from Zimbabwe.
Core Values
I was re-reading our core values this past week when I ran across a beautifully written statement about this:
“God is eager to be known and experienced by all. We believe that God is searching for lost humanity in order to draw us into intimate relationship with Himself. In response to God’s initiative, we value the life-changing power of the experience of His presence.
The primary place where that relationship is nurtured and developed is in the act of worship – both private and corporate. So, experience-based worship is the central activity of all that we do in the Vineyard. It is worship that causes all else that we do to become an act of worship. We experience God’s presence as a palpable reality when we worship. As we worship we become increasingly sensitive and response to the Spirit’s presence so that we can do as Jesus did: “See what the Father is doing,” (John 5:19) and support His work with our lives.”
We are a people of the presence of God. We seek His presence as a child seeks their parents – as a calf is drawn to its mother, so we are to be drawn to the presence of the Lord.
This desire to be in the presence of God affects how we worship as a community for it must be:
- Regular
- Real
- Non-religious
- Relevant
- Contemporary
- Simple
- Love-song-oriented
- Honest
- Free
- Warm
- Open
- Personal
- Tender
- Non-manipulative
- Non-hyped
- Sincere
- Intimate
- Music
(the above list was drawn from Alexander Venter‘s book about the Vineyard called “Doing Church”)
There is just something powerful about music as it has a way of uniting our mental, emotional, and spiritual parts into one. It connects with us in a way that is deeper than our mind – we remember songs more so than sermons (which is why we need to be careful about the songs we sing and/or listen too)….
Continue reading Worship: The Heart of Worship
A friend of my recently shared this short essay by CS Lewis about Christmas in the book “God in the Dock.“ After reading it, I just had to pass it along as it hits the nail on the head:
“Three things go by the name of Christmas. One is a religious festival. This is important and obligatory for Christians; but as it can be of no interest to anyone else, I shall naturally say no more about it here. The second (it has complex historical connections with the first, but we needn’t go into them) is a popular holiday, an occasion for merry-making and hospitality. If it were my business to have a ‘view’ on this, I should say that I much approve of merry-making. But what I approve of much more is everybody minding his own business. I see no reason why I should volunteer views as to how other people should spend their own money in their own leisure among their own friends. It is highly probable that they want my advice on such matters as little as I want theirs. But the third thing called Christmas is unfortunately everyone’s business.
“I mean of course the commercial racket. The interchange of presents was a very small ingredient in the older English festivity. Mr. Pickwick took a cod with him to Dingley Dell; the reformed Scrooge ordered a turkey for his clerk; lovers sent love gifts; toys and fruit were given to children. But the idea that not only all friends but even all acquaintances should give one another presents, or at least send one another cards, is quite modern and has been forced upon us by the shopkeepers. Neither of these circumstances is in itself a reason for condemning it. I condemn it on the following grounds.
1) “It gives on the whole much more pain than pleasure. You have only to stay over Christmas with a family who seriously try to ‘keep’ it (in its third, or commercial, aspect) in order to see that the thing is a nightmare. Long before December 25th everyone is worn out — physically worn out by weeks of daily struggle in overcrowded shops, mentally worn out by the effort to remember all the right recipients and to think out suitable gifts for them. They are in no trim for merry-making; much less (if they should want to) to take part in a religious act. They look far more as if there had been a long illness in the house.
Continue reading “What Christmas Means to Me” by CS Lewis
As I mentioned before, there is currently a theological war going on within evangelicalism on the same scale of the Protestant Reformation and the Fundamentalist–Modernist Controversy of the early 1900’s. The crazy thing about this ‘war’ is that it is really NOT about theological matters or even doctrine (unlike some of the other theological splits and wars).
This battle is more about control and the worldview through which one reads the Bible.
Jimmy Spencer put it this way last week on Tony Campolo’s “Red Letter Christans” blog:
“Over the past couple years we have seen a growing hostility between conservative and more legalistic traditions of Christianity here in the USA and the more progressive traditions who focus more on loving and serving others. This doesn’t cleanly break across strictly denominational lines either.
Watch.
You’re witnessing something big right now.
You’re witnessing a new split in Protestant Evangelicalism
This thing is going to split wide open.
I’m not saying it is a good or bad thing…but I can tell you it’s coming. It doesn’t have all the vocabulary put to it yet—but it is coming. It has been a bit under the radar for much of the Christian world—but it will spill out into the streets and the media and be a fullblown separation.
We have all felt tremors of this thing coming for a couple years now…
Rob Bell’s book will play a huge part in triggering this split.
This is not just about theology.
It’s about control of the story of Jesus.
It’s about the entire framing of God and The Gospel.
It’s gonna be something we mentally mark
It’s gonna start something big
It may not be nailing 95 theses on a door…”
Continue reading Rob Bell, C.S. Lewis and the Split of Evangelicalism
Old jewels may get a tad dusty for lack of use, but they always retain their value.
C.S. Lewis’ classic book “Mere Christianity” is one such jewel. Originally given as a series of BBC radio talks during the early 1940’s in England, this book is just as powerful and valuable as the day it [...]
This past week was the 2010 Northwest Vineyard Region conference this week in Boise. It was a wondering time full of God’s refreshing waters.
The timing of the conference was amazing as we entered into the week pretty beat up. Yet, God continued to show up and met us where we were at.
I’m [...]
Chuck Colson has an unique writing style full of stories of his adventures working with prison inmates around the world. His book “Loving God” is one of my all time favorite books – and one of the few that have made me cry.
“The Faith” is Colson’s attempt to boil all of Christianity down into one simple volume for new believers, old-believers, and/or skeptics who want to see what it is all about.
Nothing like a challenge. 
Actually, Colson does a really good job for the first half to three-quarters of the book. He stayed true to the Bible and the essentials of the faith – highlighting those things that unify Protestant, Catholics and Eastern Orthodox believers. In other words, he tried to major in the majors and minor in the minor.
However, there are two things that I do not like in the book.
My first objection is a tad petty… but, here is goes. Near the beginning of the book, Colson mentions that he is going to describe the up-most top items in Christianity. He even writes down the number of items he is going to be talking about – only he never lists these items out nor does he refer back to this comment in the rest of the book (which is why I don’t recall the number he gave or what items he considered to be ‘high priority”)… 
Continue reading The Faith by Chuck Colson
The first phrase that came to mind when I sat down to review Don Williams’ new book Start Here was: “It is the new Mere Christianity”.
It may sound crazy, but that is what it is…Don Williams follows in the foot steps of CS Lewis in trying to put and describe the mysterious and [...]
“To a growing body of people, the simple answers now seem simplistic, the certain answers less certain.” – Ken Wilson
That is me.
The simple answers no longer work. Nor does certainty.
What I do know is that I know and love the Person who started it all; The Person who created time and [...]
It was a random act – an unplanned movement – a situation with no pre-planning. Saturday evening at 9:40 pm and we were walking home after a long day downtown… it was at that time in space that we noticed Prince Caspian was playing at 9:45 pm…. end of story.
Now for the flick
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Some people like CS Lewis, others like Stephen King – still others prefer Shakespeare (these are the folks hanging around the shawdows of society). Me – I like Bede.
Who? Did you say that dreaded three letter word?!!! Be still my heart – do not fail me now – for some people have not [...]
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