a beautiful mess

disclaimer: this philosophy of ministry has been years in the making and is not a result of any single experience whether positive or negative, professional or platonic, vocational ministry or corporate america, one person or another. think more along the lines of, the butterfly effect.

continued from making moonshine or a philosophy of ministry, i

releasing debts and debtors instead of raising fists and fighters.

ezra records that the leaders led the way in unfaithfulness. this is not an excuse, though it is part of our history. it’s not the way things should be, but it’s the way things could be if, and when, we begin believing we have a right to things which are not ours: be it land, wives, feelings, or otherwise: the truth is, we are no longer our own: we gave up that right and all others – but it was not all for naught – we gave up our rights in order to receive an inheritance greater than everything! however, we are a forgetful, fearful people, notoriously quick to incur debt (and leaders are not exempt: think israel, enron, me, you – is there anyone who really doesn’t fit in this category? al gore, i am sure…). all this to say,

we must be a people living in the habit of forgiving others as we’ve been forgiven, unconditionally* or we will surely become a people indebted to much more dangerous things than people.

we are only as free as our hands are open: if we are a community holding on to debts or debtors, we are unable to receive/utilize with open hands the freedoms and liberties which are already ours in christ jesus.

for example, we can not effectively or consistently give water to our brother with one hand while clenching the throat of our sister with the other.

this is also a throwback to the politics of yeshua: neither nonviolent or passive, he was consistently and deeply creative in his practice of forgiveness (while never needing to be the recipient).

living toward redemption now rather than learning about it later.

if we are not a local church living toward and into redemption now – we will not be when it matters most. not that we can never become a redemptive community, but like any destructive choice**, there will be natural consequences accompanying our journey – again, nothing we can’t overcome, but certainly those which we’d rather avoid.

substitute singulars for plurals more often than not.

i have journaled about this previously in a note called, of singulars and plurals – and i repeat the idea here again: when we come together to sing or read, we should be together. are we a local body or are we bodies meeting locally?

please hear my heart: there is nothing wrong with the songs which are written in the first person singular – but doesn’t it make sense that they are to be sung in the first person singular? when we come together to offer praise to GOD as a whole (albeit, only local) church body, shouldn’t our verbiage reflect such a move?

the whole worship experience is shifted when we lead in this fashion. where songs typically isolate the “i, me, my” we breathe out the current reality of “we, us, ours”.

for example. a rightfully popular verse with an incredible message to you and me:

No guilt in life, no fear in death,
This is the power of Christ in me;
From life’s first cry to final breath.
Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home,
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand.

but now envision standing between your brother and sister in the midst of tens, hundreds, or thousands, while inviting a whole new meaning to emerge:

No guilt in life, no fear in death,
This is the power of Christ in us ;
From life’s first cry to final breath.
Jesus commands our destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck us from His hand;
Till He returns or calls us home,
Here in the power of Christ We’ll stand.

the imagery that unfolds is vastly different because language is vastly powerful. all the sudden, we are being reminded not just of our individual journey, story, hardships or experienced miracles – rather, we are, quite literally, composing a different song! and, i would argue, we are potentially creating a different future – but that’s a whole other journal ;]

the point is. when we come together to worship as a local body, let’s do it, already! i would encourage you to pray this through, and then, if you sense the spirit so lead, talk to your worship leaders.***

speaking in regards to a local church, change does not occur over time – like many are led to believe; change occurs when a group of people begin doing what

[i believe the third and final post will be posted sometime this week or early weekend]

*the definition of interpersonal forgiveness has been marred beyond belief. offering forgiveness is independent of how one feels, because it does not imply that all will feel better, or even good; offering forgiveness does not mean we’re “letting anyone off the hook”, it is the act of releasing another person to GOD; offering forgiveness does not mean that all the offending party(ies) consequences vanish or that interpersonal life will all the sudden be restored to it’s former state, rather, it is an acknowledgment of trust in GOD that he can deal with people better than we can. forgiveness is a great reversal whereby we come to the truth that if we have not released the other to GOD’s discretionary judgment, we ourselves are in need of the very same thing (!*) again i say, if we are, figuratively speaking, consumed with ‘holding back’ our br0ther or sister, are we not also being held back with him or her? we are thus prevented from moving forward because we are, in every sense of the word, unforgiving.

** because, for the person who knows to do good and does not do it…

*** worship leaders: with the understanding that “worship” is not just “music.” a good example of a bad example is, “you know, our pastor’s messages are great but the worship is just okay.” where worship is expected to be understood as “music.” let’s also actively reform this misconception and poor orthodoxy while we’re at it :]