Christianity - Worship

Thu - November 20, 2008

The Advent of.... Advent

My first iPhone app is now up

After months of literally no sleep and a nasty bout with a nagging memory leak, I'm happy to announce that our first iPhone app - Advent08 - is up on the iTunes App Store! It's an Advent calendar, with virtual doors that open up each to reveal a devotional each day. I'm really proud of how it turned out. I think its a beautiful mashup of classical art, hymns, scripture and prayers and I pray that a lot of people will be lead to a deeper faith and a more blessed Advent through it. We've talked here in the past about serving our neighbor through our vocation and art, and thats what we aim to accomplish with this app.

Here's a few images to give you an idea of what the app looks like:

Check it out - this link opens it up in iTunes - and let me know what you think. Also, we'd like any help we can get in spreading the word. Advent is less than a week away (November 30th) and we'd want as many people as possible to hear about it before then.

We've formed a company called iHabitus. and we're hoping to roll out more of these in the near future. Here's our official statement: iHabitus was founded to foster the daily practice of faith through the use of modern technology. iHabitus develops software that delivers Christianity's rich cultural traditions using the latest technological advances in a way that is careful, reverent and deliberate. The company's process is careful, because technology can too often lead to distraction over devotion; it is reverent, so to act as ambassadors of Christ; and it is deliberate, so not to let the medium define the Message.

Wed - July 4, 2007

Comment on praise songs

Mere Orthodoxy had an excellent post on praise songs, and I wanted to comment

Matt Anderson, friend and blogger at Mere Orthodoxy, posted recently on the undying debate between praise songs and hymns. I started to comment there, but then my comment started growing so long I thought it would be easier to post it here. Read Matt's post first to get the proper context.

First off, let me grant wholeheatedly your second cheer. Though I am not a big fan of praise songs, I have to commend them for making scripture verses easily memorizable. Almost all of the bible verses I can rattle off by memory are ones that I used to sing (Psalm 5, etc).

Cheer #1 - When telling your wife you love her, is it more meaningful to just say I love you, or to sit down and write her poetry? One obviously requires more effort and is beautiful, though both could convey love.

Cheer #3 - This assumes that the individual is the most important part of the worship service and that we are gathered as individuals, not as a community of believers (or better yet, the entire church catholic). I think this underscores the big difference between those who like more traditional services and those who like contemporary. Traditional folks, like myself, see the overemphasis on the individual in society (particularly American society) and think the worship service shouldn't reinforce this. We see worship as a gathering together of God's people as a whole - not as just a bunch of individuals. This is why we like to recite confessions and prayers together, whereas contemporary-minded evangelicals would recoil at this thought because it would be inauthentic for the individual not to say whatever is personally on his mind.

Jeer #1 - I think you have hit the nail on the head here. This, along with the individual/community difference, may be the heart of the matter. For me, its not a debate about hymns vs. praise songs - both can be good, and just because something is writtten recently doesn't make it instantly bad - but rather a question of do we want to throw out long standing traditions just for what we think will be hip and bring people in? In our service at my Lutheran church, we read an Old Testament passage, responsively read a Psalm, read a New Testament passage and a Gospel passage. This along with the sermon (which properly understood should proclaim the texts we just heard - of which my pastor does a good job)

The other difference, along the same lines, is prayer. In our traditional service, it seems like we're always praying - we pray to begin the service, we pray to end the service, we pray together for confession, we pray before the sermon, we pray for all the concerns of our individual members as a body..... you get the idea. I don't remember a lot of prayer being in the more contemporary services unless it was highly directed - like the sinner's prayer after an altar call - or individualistic in nature (time of silence for individuals to pray, but not corporate prayer).

One last thought - I recently went to an ice cream social with a local Presbyterian church. To open the event, we sang hymn version of Psalm 100 together. There was probably a 100+ people singing in 4 part harmony and it was beautiful - I mean knock your socks off pretty. How sad that we might not have many churches left who have ever even heard all 4 parts and who will no longer remember how to sing hymns because we have thrown them out in favor of the uni-melody of praise songs.

Sun - November 12, 2006

Prayers of the Church - 11/12

This Sunday morning, I will once again be praying for my church

Holy and Gracious Father, You have orchestrated all of history by Your Word. You spoke, and all that we see came into existence. You called to us while we were dead in our sins, while we were your enemies, and that Word brought us from death to life. We confess that we have much to be ashamed of in your presence, but our hope remains fastened to Your death on the cross and Your resurrection, for we know that there you have once and for all cancelled our debt.

Lord in your mercy, Hear our prayer

On this Veteran's Day weekend, our thoughts are with those who have chosen to serve this country in our armed forces. You have given the sword to government, and we pray that it would wield it wisely at all times to punish those who do wrong and protect the good. To be a soldier is to fulfill that vocation - a difficult, yet necessary, task. Be with all those who are currently serving, comfort their families and bring them home safely. Be with all those who have served and heal their hearts and bodies from the scars of war. Give wisdom and righteous judgment to those elected officials and military commanders who must decide where to send our military - may they never rush us into a fight nor shrink from one already upon us.

Lord in your mercy, Hear our prayer

We pray for our church. We ask that you would penetrate our hearts with the power of Your Word - in the sermons, sunday school classes and in the sacraments. Protect us from division, and help us to always edify each other in love. Be with our Pastor, Russ, and his family - help him to be diligent in his studies and courageous in his preaching. Help our church leaders to lead with wisdom and make sound decisions for the future of this congregation.

Lord in your mercy, Hear our prayer

We pray for those who don't yet know the glory of Your salvation in the Cross. Use us as your ambassadors to faithfully carry the Gospel to our family members, co-workers, and friends. Use this church as a beacon of light to this community. Work through missionaries to carry that Gospel to the ends of the earth.

Lord in your mercy, Hear our prayer

We pray for our loved ones who are sick or in need of your care. We ask that you would heal and comfort them. Mold and shape all of us through any difficulties and inspire in us confidence in your promise that all things will work together for our good. We silently bring before you now all those in need......

Into Your hands, we commend all for whom we pray, trusting in Your mercy, through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who taught us to pray:

Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those we trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

Sun - October 22, 2006

Prayers of the Church - 10/22

My prayers for the church

Father in Heaven, we thank you for the great mystery of our adoption as your sons and daughters in Christ. Thank you for your son, Jesus Christ, the firstborn of many, who has purchased and secured our adoption and inheritance with His holy and precious blood. We know and confess how sinful we have been, and so we praise you that we may bring our prayers before you this morning as your children, confident in Christ's work and your promise of redemption.

Lord in your mercy, Hear our prayer

We praise you for the wonderful gift of fellowship. Thank you for bringing us together here as members of your body. We ask that you would use this church, that we would bear fruit and be used a your ambassadors to our community and our world. We pray for our Pastor Russ, and his family, that you would continue to strengthen his preaching, and strengthen our church through his preaching. We pray you would bind us together as a church body, that we might edify one another.

Lord in your mercy, Hear our prayer

We praise you that we are able to gather freely and openly to worship you this morning. Thank you for the freedoms and blessings we enjoy here in America. We ask that you would make us good stewards of all that we have received and that we would not forget our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world who suffer under persecution. Grant that they would remain faithful in the face of oppression and boldly proclaim the truth of your Gospel. We pray for our national, state and local leaders, that you would preserve the freedoms we enjoy by granting them wisdom and protecting them from corruption.

Lord in your mercy, Hear our prayer

We pray for our loved ones who are sick or in need of your care. We ask that you would heal and comfort them. Mold and shape all of us through any difficulties and inspire in us confidence in your promise that all things will work together for our good. We silently bring before you now all those in need......

Into Your hands, we commend all for whom we pray, trusting in Your mercy, through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who taught us to pray:

Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those we trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

Sun - August 20, 2006

Prayers of the Church - 8/20

I am praying this morning for my church

Gracious Lord, we have much that we regret and confess to you. Our sins are many, yet your grace is more. We hold to the promise of the Cross and, having just now received your true body and blood, bring to you our prayers, confident that you have forgiven us.

Lord in your mercy, Hear our prayer

We thank and praise you for the many blessings you have poured out on us - as individuals and as a church. We thank you for the privilege of being able to freely gather to worship you and ask that you would be with those around the world who must gather in secret and in fear. Strengthen all of us through the preaching of your Word, your Sacraments and the fellowship of believers. For Reformation Lutheran Church, we ask that you would continue to use our church. May we bear fruit pleasing to you, and never cease to boldly proclaim the truth of your Gospel.

Lord in your mercy, Hear our prayer

We pray for our leaders, for our President, congressmen, state and local officials and for the leaders of this church. There are many ways to lead poorly, and so few to lead well. Give them the humility, wisdom and conscience to know the right path to choose.

Lord in your mercy, Hear our prayer

We pray for the sick and needy on our hearts. Draw them closer to you during this time, and give them the strength they need. Even when we do not understand your means, we trust your Word that you are working all things for our good. We silently bring before you the people on our hearts.......

Into Your hands, we commend all for whom we pray, trusting in Your mercy, through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who taught us to pray:

Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those we trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

Sun - June 18, 2006

Prayers of the Church - 6/18

I am praying for my church again this Sunday

Holy and Gracious Father, You have orchestrated all of history by Your Word. You spoke, and all that we see came into existence. You called to us while we were dead in our sins, while we were your enemies, and that Word brought us from death to life. We confess that we have much to be ashamed of in your presence, but our hope remains fastened to Your death on the cross and Your resurrection, for we know that there you have once and for all cancelled our debt.

Lord in your mercy, Hear our prayer

On this Father's day, we remember and recognize the gift of fathers. We thank you for the men who have raised us, for all their sacrifices and prayers for us, and for Your work of shaping us and training us through their vocation. For those of us who are fathers, we praise you for the amazing blessing of children. We pray today for all of our fathers and those here who are fathers. Give them strength and courage to be able to lead their families and raise their children well. Most of all, we thank you for the glorious and gracious blessing that You make Yourself known to us as our Father. You have adopted us as Your sons, through Your Son's work on the cross, and we are amazed and in awe of this truth.

Lord in your mercy, Hear our prayer

We thank you for the blessing of all the freedoms we enjoy, especially the freedom to worship you openly today. We ask that you would watch over our nation and give our leaders wisdom and courage. We pray for our president George, the members of his cabinet, all members of Congress and the Supreme Court, and all of our state and local officials. There are many who would seek to use their power to destroy rather than defend the freedoms you've given us, and we ask that you would protect us where they would not.

Lord in your mercy, Hear our prayer

We pray for our brothers and sisters throughout the world, especially those who suffer for your name. Be with the harassed, tortured and martyred Christians throughout the earth, and give them and their families courage and boldness to preach the Gospel in the face of opposition. Preserve and strengthen their love for those who hate them, and make their work fruitful. We also pray specifically for the missionaries we support. Keep them safe from harm and use their ministries to spread the Gospel.

Lord in your mercy, Hear our prayer

We pray for Reformation Lutheran Church. You have been so gracious to this church and we thank you for continually working in our midst. We pray that you would strengthen our unity, that you would help us to build a strong community of believers that encourage and edify each other. We pray that you would watch over our new building project and that you would use it to draw new families to this church that they might be fed with the truth of your Word as we have been. We ask that you would watch over and care for our Pastor Russ, and Jamie and Abigail. Keep them healthy and care for them. Give Russ the dedication and wisdom to preach your Word to the fullest of his abilities.

Lord in your mercy, Hear our prayer

We pray for those in our church and our families who are sick or in need of Your care. We ask that you would comfort and heal them. Father, we know that you are with all who are suffering. Even when we do not understand what You are doing, we know you to be a gracious God, and we trust that we will rejoice in your finished work at the end of history. It is in this spirit that we humbly and silently bring before you the needs we have...

Into Your hands, we commend all for whom we pray, trusting in Your mercy, through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who taught us to pray:

Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those we trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

Sun - May 28, 2006

Prayers of the Church - 5/28

I was asked to do the prayers for our church, here is what I'll be praying on Sunday

Almighty God, Lord of Creation, Father Son and Holy Spirit, we have gathered to worship you today, and we praise you for the wonderful things you have done for us. We praise you for Your Provident hand, working throughout history to carefully craft every facet of reality. We praise you for the work you are doing in this Church and in the lives of the people you have brought here.

Lord, we confess that we are far from worthy of your attention. We ask, with the Psalmist from Your Word, "What is man that you are mindful of him?" It is only by your grace that we are able to present our prayers to you, and it is only through your death and resurrection, Lord Jesus, that we are able to stand here before you today. Thank you for calling us out of our sin and death and bringing us into new life.

Lord in your mercy, Hear our prayer

This Memorial Day Weekend, we thank you for the freedoms we have. We thank you that we are able to gather together today as a church body, and bring our prayers and praise before you without fear of persecution. We thank you that we are able to carry the message of your Gospel freely to those whom we work with, our neighbors, our friends and anyone else you put in our life. We thank you for the brave soldiers who have fought for this, who gave their lives that we might be free to thank you openly today. We pray you would watch over and guard the brave men and women who are at this very moment in harms way in order to maintain these freedoms. Bring them home safely to us, and comfort and strengthen their families while they are away. We pray also for all our elected officials, and those they appoint. We ask you would give them wisdom, and keep them from the myriad of temptations that face them.

Lord in your mercy, Hear our prayer

We thank you for this Church. We thank you for bringing all of us together and creating the fellowship and community we have here. Heal us where we have hurt each other, and help us to manifest the love that would you have called us to. We pray for our Pastor, Russ, that you would keep him diligent in his studies, give him wisdom and courage to continually bring the truth of your Word before us each week. Give our leaders wisdom and discernment, and help them to guide our church.

Lord in your mercy, Hear our prayer

We thank you for the great calling of sharing your Gospel abroad. We pray that you would raise up missionaries and pastors from this very congregation to faithfully carry your Word wherever you take them. We pray for the missionaries that we support - that you would protect them from persecution and bring great fruit from their efforts. We pray also for our brothers and sisters around the world who are being tortured or martyred for your sake. Give them and their families courage and boldness in the face of difficulty, and use their suffering to proclaim your suffering to a lost and broken world.

Lord in your mercy, Hear our prayer

Thank you for your constant grace in hearing the many prayers we have. We now silently bring before you all the prayers and petitions on our heart....

Lord in your mercy, Hear our prayer

Into Your hands, we commend all for whom we pray, trusting in Your mercy, through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who taught us to pray:

Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those we trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

Sun - June 26, 2005

Prayers of the Church - 6/26

Its my last week leading my church in prayer

We praise and worship you this morning, our Heavenly Father, for you alone are worthy of our praise. The wonders of creation, too numerous to name, were formed by your Word. You speak, and all the universe stands ready to obey your command. You sustain it in an intricate beauty and balance, as a reflection of your own perfection, order, steadfastness and beauty. We praise you this morning for your greatest work - that you took on flesh to suffer as an atonement for our sins. We praise you that you have chosen and called us, and quickened our hearts to be able to worship you today. We anxiously await the day when you will call us home to Heaven, that we might worship and enjoy you fully and forever.
Lord, in Your mercy, Hear our prayer.

We thank you for Reformation Lutheran Church, that you have given us this place to gather to worship you and to be reminded of the great work of salvation you have done in our lives. We thank you for the gift of fellowship and for all the saints that you gather here at our church. Help us to serve one another in Christian love, that we might always be ready to welcome new saints to this church and that we would glorify you in our unity here. We pray for our pastor, Russ, that you would continue to grow his faith and knowledge of you, and that you would use him to accurately and faithfully preach your Word to us.
Lord, in Your mercy, Hear our prayer.

We thank you that we are free to worship you, without any threat of persecution or consequence. We know that many of our brothers in Christ throughout the earth do not share such liberty. Help us to cherish our ability to worship you, and help us to use all of the gifts you have provided us to aid your Church throughout the earth. Comfort all of our brothers in Christ who suffer for the sake of your Gospel.
Lord, in Your mercy, Hear our prayer.

We pray for those who do not know you. We pray for the people who live in the community around this church. Help us to be a clear voice, proclaiming the truth of your Gospel. We ask that you would use the ministries of this church to lead those who do not yet know you to saving faith in your finished work on the Cross. We pray also for those in other countries far away from us. We pray that you would use our missionaries to reach them with the truth of your Gospel, and we pray that you would raise up missionaries from this congregation to carry your Great Commission to all the ends of the earth.
Lord, in Your mercy, Hear our prayer.

There are many things going on in our lives and the lives of our friends and families that we want to bring before you. Settle our hearts with the comforting knowledge of your Providence and help us to trust that you hear all of our prayers. We silently lift up our prayers now........

Into Your hands, we commend all for whom we pray, trusting in Your mercy, through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who taught us to pray:

Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those we trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

Sun - June 19, 2005

Prayers of the Church - 6/19

For my third week, I lead the prayers of my church

Holy and gracious Father, Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Comforter and Counselor Holy Spirit, we praise You our triune God - three in person but one in unity and power. You alone are God and we give thanks to You today for your amazing power in creation, your mercy and grace in salvation and your excellent and tender work in our lives. We are in awe of the wondrous things you have done, and we rejoice that though you are so greatly transcendent, you have condescended to not only redeem us, but to claim us as your adopted sons and daughters. On this Father's day we thank you, our Heavenly Father, for being such a glorious and wonderful father to us. We long for the day when we can rejoice in the fulfillment of all your work and worship you in spirit and in truth without the blemish of sin.
Lord, in Your mercy, Hear our prayer.

Heavenly Father, we rejoice too even in our sorrows, as your Word has commanded us: "We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because Your love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." We have family and friends who are struggling with difficult times in their lives - from illness and infirmity to the emotional pain of damaged relationships. We confess that all these problems are due to the corruption and death that our own sin has brought into this world, but we also know that you have rescued us from our sin and you use these times to sanctify and strengthen us as your Word promises. Be with all those who are hurting, and use this time to conform them more fully to the image of Your Son.
Lord, in Your mercy, Hear our prayer.

We also pray on this Father's day for our fathers. We thank you for their role in our lives and for how you have used them to shape us. We lift up all fathers to you, and all parents, that you would sanctify them and empower them to raise their children well. Give them the knowledge, the conviction, and the ability to be excellent fathers, that their children would better serve, love and praise you.
Lord, in Your mercy, Hear our prayer.

We pray for those in authority, in both our church and our nation. We ask that you would be with all the members of the church council, those who serve on committees, the missionaries we support, and everyone who is active in this church. Give them wisdom to carry out your will, and we pray that they would actively and anxiously long to serve you well. Guide them through the power and truth of your revealed Word. Be with our nation's leaders as well. Help them to promote righteousness and punish those who do evil. May they use their power fearfully and carefully, and preserve them from corruption.
Lord, in Your mercy, Hear our prayer.

Lastly, we lift up our individual concerns to you. We bring our prayers silently before you now, and ask that you would give our hearts rest in the grace of your Providence......

Into Your hands, we commend all for whom we pray, trusting in Your mercy, through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who taught us to pray:

Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those we trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

Sun - June 12, 2005

Prayers of the Church - 6/12

I lead my church's prayers again this week

As I said last week, I am leading the prayers for my church every Sunday in June. Here is the prayer I wrote for tomorrow's service.

Righteous and Holy Father, we confess our sin to you and our lack of any worth in bringing our prayers before you this morning. But we cling to the promise of Your Gospel - that Your Son's death on the Cross has atoned for our sins, and that you have given us His righteousness, in order to restore us in our relationship with you. We hold this promise very dear, and we praise you for the wonders of Your grace in saving sinners from your righteous and deserved wrath. We rejoice to be able to bring our prayers before you this morning.
Lord, in Your mercy, Hear our prayer.

We lift up Reformation Lutheran Church to you - sanctify all of us through the proclamation of your Word and conform us to Christ's image through education, that you may use us as ambassadors for Your Gospel here locally, and that we would boldly send and support missionaries throughout the earth. Be with our Pastor, Russ, and help him to grow in knowledge and faith and continue to be faithful to Your Word. Be with our missionaries and all of our brothers in Christ throughout the world, as they suffer persecution and difficulty in bringing your Gospel to others. May you keep them faithful and strong, and comfort them. Strengthen our unity together as a church body, and help us to lift each other up in prayer and love.
Lord, in Your mercy, Hear our prayer.

We pray for our nation and our nation's leaders, that you would give them wisdom and sound judgement. We thank you for the great privileges and blessings we enjoy. Help us to use our blessings to bless others, here locally and throughout the earth. We pray that you would watch over the men and women who serve this country in our armed services. We ask that you would keep them safe, and bring them home to their families when their work is done.
Lord, in Your mercy, Hear our prayer.

There are many concerns and prayers that privately weigh on our hearts. We silently bring those before you now, and ask that you would help us to trust in Your Providence......

Into Your hands, we commend all for whom we pray, trusting in Your mercy, through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who taught us to pray:

Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those we trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

Sun - June 5, 2005

Prayers of the Church - 6/5

I've been asked to lead our church in prayer this morning

As part of Lutheran liturgy, we always have a portion of the service where the congregation prays together. In my congregation, a member of the church leads the rest of the congregation in prayer. For the month of June, I have been asked to fill this role. At one time, we wanted to put the weekly prayers up on our church website, but since it is still in a beginning phase, I thought it might be nice to put them up here on the blog.

The congregation response is in bold - as part of the liturgy, the congregation not only listens to the prayers, but responds and joins in them.

Holy and gracious Father, we gather to praise you this morning. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your Throne. The Heavens declare Your righteousness, and all peoples have seen your glory. We praise you for the wonders of your creation - from the beautiful inner workings of single celled organisms, to the glorious orbits of planets. You sustain our world in provident precision, and our very existence hangs on your gracious watch over your creation. We thank you even moreso for your gracious providence in our lives. You provide everything our families and our church needs, and we thank you for the comfort of the promise that You will work all things for our good. We ask that you would use all of us, Your servants, as instruments of your providence.
Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.

We pray for the ministries of this church. We pray that you would keep us steadfastly faithful to your Word in all we do, as it is the foundation of this church, and we pray that in all our actions we would glorify you, as that is the aim of this church. May our worship always glorify You, and may our proclamation be founded on and filled with the truth of Your Word. We ask that our education programs would continually strengthen our minds and hearts in the knowledge of Your Word, that we might be prepared to seize any opportunity to be used by You. We have friends, family and co-workers who need to hear the truth of your Gospel - give us boldness and wisdom to proclaim it to them, and let your Holy Spirit work through that to create and sustain faith in their hearts. We also ask that you would use this church to carry the Gospel to people and places with whom we do not share culture or language. Raise up missionaries from this congregation, and bless and use the missionaries we currently support, that we might fulfill the Great Commission you have given us, and that all nations of the earth would praise You.
Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.

We thank you for our nation, for the freedom we have to gather in Your name without fear of persecution. There are many of our brothers in Christ throughout the world that do not share this freedom. Help us not to take this for granted, but instead be good stewards of the blessings you have given us, that we would be a blessing to the Church throughout the world. We pray for our nation and our nations leaders, that you would give them wisdom on how to preserve the great freedoms we enjoy, protect us from harm, and punish those who do evil. We pray also for those brave men and women who serve in our military in order to protect us - be with them and protect them.
Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.

Lastly, there are many concerns and prayers that weigh on our hearts. We bring them before you now silently, and ask that you would answer them in the glorious wisdom and gracious timing of Your Providence......

Into Your hands, we commend all for whom we pray, trusting in Your mercy, through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who taught us to pray:

Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those we trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

Sat - March 12, 2005

Worship songs

My friend Van's criticisms of contemporary worship songs and my thoughts

My good friend Van (you might remember him from this post) wrote me and a few friends a well thought out email on worship music, after attending a men's retreat that featured a lot of worship music. Since I can't seem to convince Van to blog, I thought I would post his thoughts here on my blog, along with my response.

First off, Van's thoughts:
I know I've beaten this horse over the head until all that's left is a bloody puddle, but I'm going to continue to do so. Our men's retreat last weekend (which was great, by the way) got me thinking again about these songs and why nobody really seems to have a problem with them.

Open the Eyes of my Heart has always bothered me. ("Always," meaning after I stopped and thought about the lyrics for a while.) Elder Bakke pointed out to me that the phrase "open the eyes of my heart" is based on a passage in Ephesians. Apart from using the key words "eyes" and "heart," I would say very loosely based on it because, other than those particular words, the passage bears no other resemblance to this song.

Ephesians 1:18 says:
"having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints.."

Of course, this passage is about understanding (not "seeing") how great a salvation has been secured on our behalf by Christ. Quite different from the lyrics of the song. Minus all the repetition, the song says: "Open the eyes of my heart, Lord...I want to see you." Despite the fact that God has repeatedly warned us "Man shall not see me and live" (Ex. 33:20b), this song seems to be asking to really see God and His glory. What else can it mean?

To be fair, the song does go on to say: "To see you high and lifted up, shining in the light of your glory." This is clearly an allusion to Isaiah 6:1, where the prophet says that he "saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up." But, the song has already taken the metaphor of Ephesians 1:18 out of context. So we also ought to consider the context of Isaiah's statement:

"In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!" And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!"

What does this passage teach? First, it is an historical account of something Isaiah saw. As a narrative, Scripture does not teach that this is something we can expect or should desire to experience. In fact, Scripture teaches us quite the opposite, as indicated previously.

Next, the passage describes the awesome holiness and terrible power of being in the full presence of God. Our Lord is described as the most holy of all ("holy, holy, holy"). Even the angels cannot bear to look upon Almighty God's holiness, and they shield their faces.

Finally, we note Isaiah's response. Isaiah is confronted by his sin and God's holiness and exclaims that he is doomed because he has seen God. Isaiah anticipates his immediate destruction, knowing full well that "man shall not see Me and live." The fact that Isaiah is immediately consolled and given pardon to continue to stand in God's presence is also a point of historical fact--not something we should expect.

Isaiah's response to seeing God should be our response were we ever in his shoes. And yet, "Open the Eyes of My Heart" repeatedly cries out "I want to see you! I want to see you!" While I submit that it is possible that the author of the song means that he wants to "see" God in a non-literal way (e.g., "I want to 'see' your kingdom come, your will be done."), I have no reason to believe this is the case. The song makes no distinction between Isaiah's personal experience as a matter of history and our normative personal experience (i.e., what we can and should expect to happen). Remembering also that this song has already taken biblical concepts out of context and I see no indication of a level of theological or poetic sophistication that would indicate that the author intends anything other than to personally experience God's glory through an immediate, supernatural experience that God has already forbidden.

One final complaint with this song is the amount of repetition. The Hebrews used repetition to convey the superlative (e.g., "good, better, best," or "holy, holier, holiest). Because English has the ability to express the superlative, this manner of speech is atypical. However, "Open the Eyes of my Heart"--like vast numbers of other modern praise choruses--sings the same words over, and over, and over. This isn't even done in the Hebrew. Rather, this endless repetition has much more in common with pagan mantras, used to illicit an alterered state of consciousness in the participants. Knowing that "praise and worship" time is often experientially-driven, this is not so hard to see. But the rhetorical question must be asked: what part should pagan mantras have in the worship of the One True God? And yet, it's present in this song. It's common for the congregation to sing the word "holy" 18 times or more! Enough already!

Christ has told us that the Father is seeking people who will worship Him "in spirit and in truth." If our worship music cannot accurately express Truth as it is revealed in Scripture, then the best of intentions do nothing to excuse us. The fact is that there already exists heartfelt worship music that captures the Truth of God's Word--both inspired Scripture and non-inspired hymnody. Modern musicians had better belly up to the Scripture and strive to become astute theologians, capable of conveying Truth in good poetry with melody that captures the mood of the lyrics, else I want none of it. Instead, give me the hymns of Newton, Toplady, or Watts--or, better yet, give me the Psalter.

and here's my response:

I have to agree with you, and I'd add that it is not unreasonable to conclude that this song is about a personal, emotional experience because it is written by a culture that is intentionally focused on the personal, emotional experience. It's no stretch, in fact, its really taking the author at face value.

The question is, why do people who know better keep singing these songs, and why does it seem so controversial to question them? Why is it that we are so slow to question what we include in our worship when God seems to be very specific about the way in which He is to be worshipped (see Korah's rebellion or the well-intentioned move of Uzzah)? I think a lot of people who would read what you wrote would agree on the face of it and then sorta shrug and say "so?" or worse yet, be mad at you for making a big issue out of something so trivial or contentiously reading something into a basically good song. In short, I think most people value the ease (these songs are often easy to play and most people know how to sing them) and unity these songs bring, and are simply unconcerned about any of the consequences.

I guess it all really illustrates two major cultural problems that we have as Americans - gnosticism (reflected here in the obsession with the individual's personal tastes and experiences over any idea of the corporate nature of worship) and an obsession with individual freedom that can tend to elevate the will of man to equality with God's sovereign will. Americans need to be told that even if there was no governmental rule to bind them, they would still be nowhere near truly free - you can choose what you want to do from a limited subset, but your will is always contingent on God's will and you really have quite a small subset of choices.

David, at A Physicist's Perspective, has a slightly related post that is also worth checking out.