between the beauty & chaos

Have you checked out the new Aaron Ivey album yet?  You should!

Secondhand Jesus Review

Last Friday I read through the new Glenn Packiam book Secondhand Jesus.  Glenn is one of the worship pastors of New Life church in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  He runs the New Life School of Worship and regularly leads worship for the college ministry there, theMILL.  I’m sure you will recognize the church name New Life first from the Ted Haggart scandal and then from the shocking tragedy that happened there only a couple of years later.

This book is primarily about the wake-up call that happened as a result of the former scandal.  He calls this the first of many what-the-heck moments that happened that caused him to reevaluate his walk with Christ, and his ministry to the Church.  In this book he talks about four rumors of God that have crept up in the “suburban church.”

#1: God will give me what I want.

#2: God can be added to my list of loyalties.

#3: God is pleased with my goodness.

#4: God prefers specialists.

I won’t go through the rumors, I’ll let you pick up a copy of the book and let you do that yourself, but the fourth rumor is the basis for this book.  When I read the title, “Secondhand Jesus,” I assumed that it was about spreading the gospel.  Instead the title refers to the cosmic game of telephone that many Christians have chosen to play.  Rather than getting their information straight from the source (Christ himself through the Bible), they have contented themselves to learning about Him from secondhand sources.   This is why when you ask many Christians why they believe what they believe, they can’t tell you.  Too many people skipped the steps to reach conclusions, and are satisfied with being told the answers by someone else.  I wonder if this isn’t the reason that when I read the book, UnChristian, I saw such a disconnect between who and what Jesus calls His Body to be, and what we actually are.

To talk about each of these rumors, Glenn walks through the story of the Ark of the Covenant.  He does so in a straightforward fashion.  I found the book an easy read, yet it was deeply insightful and often convicting.  I found Glenn’s openness throughout the book to be refreshing.  He closes the book with a description of the tragedy that happened only a short time after the scandal that caused him to reevaluate his walk.

I would highly recommend you grab this book.  Read it with an open heart and mind

New worship CDs coming out

Boy, there’s some great stuff coming up in the worship music world.  There are several albums coming out soon that I’m really looking forward to hearing soon, so I thought I would share them with you.

Already ordered, and I’m waiting with baited breath for, the new Keith and Kristyn Getty album, Awake the Dawn.  What can I say, I’m growing more and more attached to the Getty’s modern hymns.  I’m sure you will be singing many of these songs someday in church.  Actually, if you come to Grace, you already are!  You can listen to previews of the album here.  Future favorites:  Come People of the Risen King, By Faith, Benediction, and who doesn’t love to listen to an Irish person read Psalm 57 in a full on Irish accent.  I should move to Ireland long enough to pick up an Irish accent……

There are actually a couple of albums coming out on the 23rd (of June) that I’m really looking forward to.  The first is beauty & chaos by my cousin Aaron Ivey. He is one of the worship pastors at Austin Stone church.  Since I got Spur 58’s (his old band) indie cd, Image of New, I’ve loved the way he does hymns, and his original songs are sweet.  He has promised a site redesign with streaming audio of his new album soon, so keep an eye on aaronivey.com.

The other cd I’m looking forward to is Rumors and Revelations by Glenn Packiam.  Harmony folks will recognize songs like My Savior Lives which has been used by Hillsong.  Also he has cowritten songs with a bunch of guys, including Paul Baloche’s Your Name.  Glenn is one of the worship pastors at New Life Church, which I’m sure you will recognize.  If not, watch this video.  Glenn has written a book calledSecondhand Jesus partly about these experiences.  Review to follow.  Anyway, Glenn is releasing a cd on the 23rd.  You can listen through most of the album here.  There’s a sort of Psalms feel to the songs that I appreciate.  These songs will be in my playlist and I’m sure some will make their way into Sunday mornings.  Take a listen to Burning in Me, For Love I Sing, I Will Stand ….. Take a listen to the album.  I’ll put up a full review after I’ve lived with it for a while.

Other albums I look forward to hearing, but don’t know anything about.  July 14, Robin Mark is releasing a new album.  August 14, a new Hillsong album comes out.  On August 25, it seems like the worship community is all releasing an album.  Ditto Sept 22, then we get into Christmas Album season.  Check out newreleases.com for details!

Psalm 27 Part 1

The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. Psalm 27:1-2 (ESV)

Have you ever been lost in the dark (talking literally here). I’m a stereotypical male in the directions category, so being lost isn’t a cause for great concern. I’ll figure out where we are and where we’re going eventually. Being lost in the dark is a totally different matter though. I don’t like to drive to unknown places in the dark but walking around on a pitch black night can be downright scary. This was us. We weren’t just lost, we were wandering around in pitch black, clueless, no point of reference, no hope that we might find our way. We needed God to light our lives and Christ to set our feet on the path. Listen to the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 42:6-9:

6 “I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, 7 to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. 8 I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols. 9 Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.”

He calls us to show His light to others! This is a common theme throughout the Psalms and the Bible. God is great! Don’t keep it to yourself. Yet we have a bunker mentality as Christians. At whom are most of the ministries of the church aimed at? Who are our friends? It’s almost like we have a “bring them to church/youth group so the pastor can preach the gospel to them” mentality. BTW, I’m preaching to myself above all here. Get to know the “heathens” (kidding) around you. Have them over for a movie night. Have a bonfire. Invite your neighbors over for dinner. Before you venture out, I would encourage you to read UnChristian. It’ll give you a startling view of what your “unbelieving” friends probably think about you. Then become friends with them. Love them as they are. Don’t love them just because you’re going to share the gospel with them. Be friends long enough for them to notice there’s something different about you. For that to happen: a) there has to be something different about you!! b) your friendship has to be solid enough to talk about spiritual matters. Above all, pray for them! We used to talk about 3 friends. Have 3 friends always that you’re praying for that God might open their hearts to the gospel of Christ.

I’ve ventured pretty far off topic here, so let’s return to verse 1! We’re at a severe disadvantage in terms of intuitively understanding the word stronghold here in America. Places like Ft. Riley are strongholds protected by technology and fence. We don’t see the unassailable aspect of it. I grew up next to the Iowa State Penitentiary, but that’s really designed to keep people in, not out. I don’t think I really got the stronghold concept till I visited Ireland. The sheer size of the castles is intimidating. When I read passages like this, I can’t help but think of Ireland and places in Israel like Masada, which was built into the mountain right to the sheer cliff face. Yet all of those fortresses were assailable. Masada was conquered (it took the Romans some fancy engineering to build a ramp), along with the awesome castles in Ireland are the ruined castles. We have something greater yet in the Lord. He is the unassailable stronghold of our lives. With that, who do we have to fear? When evildoers attack, it is they who fail! When you are under siege, remember this and praise the Lord!

Psalm 150

" Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!" (Psalm 150, ESV)

Wow, I think the psalmist managed to put every instrument of the ancient world in here. I suppose he felt the need to hammer his point home. Let’s start with all the instruments and then end up back at the beginning.

Ah, the trumpet! What a biblically foundational instrument to play. Trumpet players must be in a higher echelon of God’s people…. JK. We first hear about the trumpet inExodus 19:16-20, where the trumpet announces the coming presence of the Lord. The trumpet was used to call the people of Israel (Lev 23:24, Num 10:2, Num 10:8). Also, the trumpet was used often in war, but I think it’s important to notice the significance of Num 10:9. The trumpet was used so the people might be remembered before the Lord. Fast forward to the New Testament, and we see in 1 Thess 4:16that the Lord’s coming again will be announced by the sound to the trumpet of God.

Next we praise Him with the lute and harp. Unfortunately we don’t actually know what any of these instruments looked or sounded like. We can infer, but that’s it. When I think of a lute, it’s almost like a guitar with a whole lot of strings, but like I said, that’s speculation. The harp referred to here is the lyre.. I think I’ve got a mental picture of these two instruments, but then I read 1 Chr 16:28 where it says they made loud music on harps and lyres (same Hebrew words). I had pictured these stringed instruments as being a soft sound, but perhaps not. I would guess the author is simply poetically contrasting the “brass” (actually likely a ram’s horn, although in Numbers the Israelites were instructed to make 2 silver trumpets) with the stringed instruments.

Boy, I hate to even bring up the next verse in the Baptist church……. 

The tambourine was an instrument associated closely with dance. We see dance as a part of praise throughout the bible in places like 1 Chr 16:29 where David was being undignified in his praise to the Lord. We get the picture from the ensuing argument with his wife that fear of man should not drive our worship, but rather our reaction to the Lord. How much does the fear of man drive our worship today? Say you’re a person who likes to raise their hands in worship? It’s a biblical expression in worship (Ps 28:2, Ps 134:2, Lam 3:41, 1 Tim 2:8). Some people feel called to lift their hands in worship, some don’t. Both are okay, it’s accepted in the Bible, but it’s not commanded in the Bible. If you were a person called to raise hands in worship, and you were in a congregation with hands down, would you raise your hands? Why not?

The same case of using every instrument we have at our disposal is again built with the cymbals. Clashing cymbals aren’t the most elegant of instruments. There isn’t a lot that you can communicate with a cymbal. There is no finesse to a cymbal. Cymbals are not poetic, or orderly for that matter. Yet the psalmist says that we can praise the Lord in cymbals. For whom do you crash the cymbal? Do you draw attention to the Lord, or yourself?

So who should be doing all of this praising? Everything that has breath!!!! We look forward to the day when every tribe, and every nation and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. How wonderful it will be before the throne, in His sanctuary Praising the Lord.

My Savior My God

Boy, talk about being clueless as to songs to be found in the hymnal. I’ve been going through the hymnals I’ve got in the office, and I ran across I Am Not Skilled to Understand. I thought, wow, this is a really up to date hymnal. Duh! Aaron Shust used this old (1873) hymn by Dora Greenwell as the basis for his song. By the way, I still take issue with the chorus. I contend that he could have easily said My God He was, My God He is, My God He always will be, rather than always gonna be. I cringe every time I hear that.