"First Wednesday" Tonight!

Starts at 6:30 sharp! I can't wait.

It's all worship

In the last couple of decades the evangelical church has allowed itself to place a distinction between "worship" and worship. Sound confusing? We are.

In many churches the musical part of a service (we call them "gatherings" - "service" here is action not an hour on Sunday) has become the "worship" and the sermon the "preaching" or "teaching". And in most churches the focal point of the gathering is the sermon. Many see the music as optional (especially if their favorite song or style of music isn't being done).

I have a hard time with all that. First, I believe my whole life as a Christian is supposed to be involved in worship. "Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." That's worship. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, strength". That's worship. So to relegate it to an hour (or like us, an hour and 15 minutes) is not exactly what God had in mind.

Sunday we did an experiment. Probably we should experiment more often, because like any church our group or individual, it's easy for us to get into habits and ruts. Here's what we did.

Instead of beginning the Gathering with a song or two like we usually do, we began with a greeting and jumped right into the teaching. The singing part of worship came later.

Lately we've moved into a rut of having such a good time eating doughnuts and drinking coffee in the lobby that we forget when the Gatherings start. Consequently when the Worship Gathering begins worshipping a lot of people are gulping down and coming in after everything has started - some as much as 15-20 minutes late. Not a few. As many as 25% is my guess. And frankly, for those who have come to worship (which is our purpose) it can be a distraction.

"Excuse me, but could you slide down so I can have a seat?" It's tough to focus on God when you're constantly being interrupted by someone coming in late.

It was hard on me Sunday. The first ten minutes of my sermon there was a steady stream of late comers coming. Our guys did a great job of finding them seats. But it was a challenge for me to keep my focus on teaching with so much movement. And it was distracting for those who arrived on time. And I'm sure that there were a few people genuinely embarrassed for being a distraction.

My guess is that for a number of folks, it's OK to come in late during the music. After all it's kind of entertainment before the real stuff, right? It's the warm up act, isn't it? So wrong. As a pastor I'm concerned we're losing sight of the purpose for our gathering. So Sunday we flip-flopped and put the sermon first, hopefully to bring home a point. Gen. Jackson was known to give orders to shoot stragglers. I don't think we should go that far, however!


The Worship Gathering at church is vital to the health of the church as she worships together. It's a time to get real with God and His Word together. It's a time to turn our full attention to God together. And to do anything together means we have to be where? Together.

What are we saying to God when we say, "I'll come in and be involved whenever I feel like it?" What are we missing out on when we miss even a word of a song or a prayer? Could it have been potentially life changing for me?
We'll experiment some more, and hopefully more often. Maybe it will cause a few to wake up a little earlier and be excited to meet with God and His people together.

Eat your hearts out

The picture was taken Sunday morning, 11-4-07 at sunrise on the beach here in Nags Head by Frank Brown, III. He was in church that Sunday, came back Sunday night for communion and had this photo in a frame for us.

"Praise his glorious name! It is far greater than we can think or say. You alone are the LORD. You made the skies and the heavens and all the stars. You made the earth and the seas and everything in them. You preserve and give life to everything, and all the angels of heaven worship you." (Neh. 9:5-6 NLT)

And to think I could see this every day if I just got up early enough! (BTW, our sunsets over the sound are just as amazing!)

A trash can at the front door

[The discerning have noted that recent posts have indicated that I've been miffed recently with a trouble spot in our church. ( See "Faithful Shepherds") We're dealing with it and expect to move beyond it soon.]

Yesterday I came to church struggling with anger over things I've discovered in the past two weeks. I'm a shepherd by calling, and as such have learned to be defensive and protective of the sheep in our care. Thus, when I sense that the sheep are in danger, I get angry. "Not on my watch!"

I made it through the first gathering OK. No real distractions. But in the second gathering I realized (thank You Holy Spirit) as we were singing, "Holy, holy, holy, is our Lord God almighty; the One who is and is to come", that while I could sing the words and appreciate their meaning, the anger I brought in with me was blocking my ability to worship God with my heart.

With that awakening, I was able to lift my hands and truly declare to God His holiness and sovereignty and eternal glory. An amazing thing happened. My eyes became wet with tears as I realized that my worship was replacing my anger. Soon, I was saying, "Lord, I'll let you have the anger". And He took my burden and gave me rest in my spirit.

Worship can't co-exist when in my heart I'm harboring anger, even when I believe the indignation to be righteous, because it (the anger) is filling my mind instead of the glory of God. Worship happens when I put away all the clutter and give my total being over to praising and glorifying Him.

Maybe we need to have a big trash container outside the church door for us to dump the clutter in as we enter.