Tag: worship

Missing Church

When I was growing up we never missed church.

Really.

I’m sure we must have had one week when someone was sick, but I honestly don’t remember it. “Going to church” was a commitment. It was a given.

Yeah, I know “church” isn’t just a place. It’s not the building.  The New Testament word for “church” is ekklesia, which means “the called out ones.” WE are the church.

But our God cares about places too. He is a God of rhythms, rituals, and rocks. He commanded the Israelites to build a tabernacle, a temple, and to pile stones in specific places so they wouldn’t forget His faithfulness or formation of them. I think “going to church” as an act of worship, is significant. When we “miss church” we miss something more than an item on our to-do list.

In this season of “lasts” for John and I as we anticipate leaving ministry at CPC,  I want to be at church every possible chance I get. I want to be present to all the people in this community I love, and present to God at the same time.

I want to be greeted by Debbie at the door of the Great Room, and sit in “my” pew, and remember all the marking moments I’ve experienced here. I want to serve communion, and receive it too. I want to snag one of Sharon’s famous cookies at the receptionist’s desk when she works on Wednesdays. I want to see Noel in the Bobcat shoveling snow, and hear Jane practicing the organ. I want to eavesdrop as Michelle patiently helps someone who is new and lost and has wandered into the bookstore. I want to hold a baby at Mom’s Morning and pray with the Catalyst community. I want to hug Dinny at the 9:30 service, and give Betsy a kiss in her wheelchair at the 11:00. I want to bring dinner to Families Moving Forward and I want to be run down by rambunctious teens in the hallway on a Wednesday night, and I want to listen as Heather leads the littles in choir song.

I don’t want to miss church. 

Each of these things by themselves is not dramatically significant. But together, like dots of color in an impressionist painting, they create a picture of how God has been forming me.  

Like one of my favorite verses says, “Do not despise the day of small things.” (Zechariah 4:10)

As much as I crave being present in the actual church building these days, it’s rarely convenient to go to church. I may be tired, or want to meet friends for brunch, or there’s snow (dontcha know). But in going at a time I don’t choose, maybe I cooperate with God in my formation as well as worship Him.

The people who sit around me in the pews aren’t always people who are easy for me to love. I may run into someone who’s been super critical, or has different political leanings than I do, or is awkward to talk to. Maybe by not missing church Jesus forms me into a tiny bit more gracious, empathetic person.

The songs we sing aren’t always my favorites. There may be fussy toddlers who are distracting, and sometimes I would rather be making my to-do list instead of trying to listen for God’s Word to me. Sometimes the prayers go too long or the silence is too short. But perhaps Jesus is using these to form patience, or tolerance, or humility in me.

The inconveniences of “going to church”  are exactly the reasons that it’s important for me not to miss. Because bit by bit, God is going to use these things to make me more like Him if I pay attention.

Church isn’t easy. It takes patience and prayer and perseverance. We’re broken people with rough edges, rubbing against each other as we try to follow Jesus. But God uses this proximity to each other and to Him, to create something beautiful.

As John and I transition out of ministry at CPC, we won’t miss church on Sundays (we’ll go to church somewhere!), but we’ll sure miss this church where God has showed up and showed off, and formed us into the people we are today. 

Soul Food Small Bites

Happy Friday friends! Just a few morsels today that I hope will encourage or bring a smile. May your weekend be filled with joy and refreshment!

First, an interview with Lauren Chandler that I thought was really valuable on how God wrings out praise from tough times.

“Worship is saying, ‘You are God. I’m not….'” Lauren Chandler

A dear friend of mine in New Zealand has been sending me posts like the one below, leading up to an event they are hosting called “Reboot, Refresh, Revitalize”. What a great way to start each day – with Scripture and a question to ponder!

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And if you need another reminder of the power and majesty of God this weekend...

 Clouds belched buckets of rain, Sky exploded with thunder, your arrows flashing this way and that. From Whirlwind came your thundering voice, Lightning exposed the world, Earth reeled and rocked… Psalm 77:16-19

And lastly, my favorite Instagram this week…Sometimes you just need a cute puppy pic.

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That’s it for me! What’s brought you joy or encouragement this week?

Why Church?

I’m supposed to like church.

I’m a “pastor” of sorts, and a “pastor’s wife”.

I grew up “going to church” every Sunday. No. Matter. What.

I’ve been a Christian since I was 14.

I’m supposed to “do” church. I’m supposed to like church. And I do.

Most of the time.

But there are days…

Days when I’m tired, or I don’t particularly connect with the person preaching, or we’re in a series on Revelation, or it’s a rare Minnesota summer day and “I want to worship God in nature dontcha know?”

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After all, what constitutes “legal” church? Your small group around the dinner table? Time in the woods reading your Bible? The 5 year olds Sunday School class you teach? Or is it only worship in the Big Church on Sunday? Continue reading

Finding Your Own Walk

In the summertime I feel like a thirsty person at the end of a long run, standing in front of a gushing fire hydrant, mouth open wide to receive big gulps of sparkling, cold water as fast as I can.  In Minnesota summer is short, so we have to drink quickly!  It’s the DELIGHTFUL season of barefoot and bike rides, corn-on-the-cob and birdsong, pink sunrises and living large outdoors. All of the time.

A friend went strawberry picking and made shortcake for our small group.  Another divided his Hosta to share with me (my yard bunny thanks him 🙁 ).  I got fresh vegetables at the Farmer’s Market Saturday.  Today I’ll celebrate a friend’s birthday lunch outside on the lake.  A baby robin, Roberto, rescued from our window well, has become like a member of our family.

Summer, you are so good.

This past week I had the added gift of getting away to a retreat home in Virginia – tucked in between the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Alleghany mountains.  It is a place that has been built with love and prayer and attention to every detail.IMG_7524

I wanted to share some excerpts from a poem, written by our host, Anne Grizzle, in hopes that you might find your own walk with God this summer and “join in the applause”. Continue reading

An Advent Sunday Morning

As I write this it is the first Sunday morning of Advent.  It’s foggy and ugly outside my Starbucks window, but I live in Minnesota so I know snow is right around the corner which makes me so happy.

I’m an early morning person, but I know many are just now lumbering, hustling, shivering, or springing out of bed.  Some to get kids dressed and combed.  Some, bumping around a dark empty house or apartment alone.  Getting ready for worship.

Some will be driving to church with an attitude of habitual going-through-the-motions resignation.

But for me…and for most I think, there is always a glimmer of expectation.  As small as a twinkle light, but it’s there for sure.  A tiny bit of hope that we’ll meet God in that worship space and hear a whisper from Him.

Continue reading

When You See it and When You Don’t

Our daughter Maggie got engaged last weekend.

We exclaim, “Oh, yes!”  We can clearly see God’s faithfulness, His provision, His plan.  And we sing, like it’s New Year’s Eve, with confetti and streamers and hugs

Great is Thy faithfulness O God our Father.”

Two new babies were born to friends this week.  And we sing

“Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not.”

A delightful surprise package of gifts appeared on our back step.

Blessings all mine and ten thousand besides.”

A dear friend was diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer.  And it’s hard to see, but we try to sing

“Strength for today…”

The homeless guys still show up on our corner every day, and we have loved ones who are still prodigals, and others who are single, or childless and don’t want to be.  We want to sing a lovely future into their lives.

 “and bright hope for tomorrow.”

Israelis and Palestinians are killing each other.  Our voices waver a bit…

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth.”

Years ago we took the girls on a family vacation to Colorado.  They were little and excited.  It was the first time they would see the mountains.

But Maggie couldn’t.  She kept saying, “I.  Do.  Not.  See. Them!”

Continue reading

Ascribe to the Lord…

We sang the hymn Great is Thy Faithfulness at our wedding on a hot, muggy July day 29 years ago, and it became our family refrain, sung at every defining moment.

We’ve sung it loud in gratitude.  We’ve sung it haltingly in desperation, we’ve sung it in harmony and with hope.  With tears of pain and tears of joy.

This past year I’ve had the incredible privilege of worshipping with believers on five continents.  Singing “Great is Thy Faithfulness” side by side with folks who were raising their voices in tribal tongues like Tonga, or Aramaic, French, Japanese, Hebrew, Spanish…

In a packed mud church in Zambia where praying for daily bread isn’t an empty phrase and people thirst for living water.

Great is Thy Faithfulness.

Alone in abandoned cathedrals in Italy where God is still present and you hear the echoes of followers long gone.

Great is Thy Faithfulness.

In the Swiss Alps where believers are a minority like a tiny flame trying to bring light to the darkness.

Great is Thy Faithfulness.

In Brazil where girls need to be reminded they are beautiful, beloved children of God first and foremost.

Great is Thy Faithfulness.

In the Bethlehem where Christians pray for peace and refuse to be enemies even as bullets fly.

Great is Thy Faithfulness

In Sri Lanka where everyone helped bury the dead after the tsunami and the sound system squalks and squeals and people fan themselves in the sweltering heat and humidity as they sing.

Great is Thy Faithfulness.

I write these words fearing they won’t communicate the power I feel.  I am not an emotional worshipper, but when I come before the Lord with people of every language, people with burdens I cannot imagine, and faith I cannot fathom, I’m wrecked.  I’m a puddle.

I wonder if you’ve experienced anything like this.  It’s hard to express, and yet, I feel the Lord says to me over and over again “Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name” from Psalm 29 and I have to try.

I think of this as a small glimpse of heaven written about in Revelation 15:9  “All nations will come and worship before You, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

What moves you in worship?

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