THANKSGIVING DAY

Until around Tuesday night, I still hadn’t decided what passage to preach on for Thursday’s Chapel service at Faith Bible College. After some praying and a walk around Greenhills at 12:15AM, the Lord led me to thoughts about developing an attitude of praise and gratitude, since after all it was Thanksgiving day, although the Philippines does not observe Thanksgiving day officially. I was led to preach on Psalm 105:1-7, a great psalm of thanksgiving and remembrance.

I once saw a bumper sticker that says, ‘If you can read this, thank a teacher.‘ Well that is true. But let’s think a little bit deeper about that bumper sticker. If you can read it, it is because you are alive. It is because your heart is beating. It is because your eyes can see, and all of those things are nothing less than a gift. Every time we give thanks for something we will find ourselves ending up thanking God- from whom all blessings flow. And so authentic worship and authentic living for Christ always begins with gratitude. Give thanks.

As I was studying and writing the sermon, my mind kept racing to thoughts of communion. The Greek word for “thanks” – efcharisto is the root word of eucharist – a widely recognized word that refer to communion. I felt that having communion on Thanksgiving Day after hearing a sermon on gratitude would be so appropriate. I called the Bible College chaplain and asked permission if I may officiate the ordinance of communion at chapel because I’m preaching on Thanksgiving, and it would be great for the students to gather around the table of Thanksgiving– a eucharistic celebration. With the permission of the chaplain, I tweaked the worship order by inserting something that had not been planned for.

Yesterday morning, the Bible college community gathered around the table of thanksgiving by partaking of the symbols of Christ’s finished work. It was a unique way of observing Thanksgiving! I wish I was able to to take pictures of the meaningful chapel service but I couldn’t since I preached and presided over communion.

After lunch, I received an important phone call from Canada for which I am grateful. A church in Canada is sending someone to Manila just to fellowship with me!

Another feature of my day was having had the privilege of spending time with some Bible college alumni who were there for an afternoon denominational district meeting. It was fun hanging out with them, update each other with the happenings in our lives and ministries.

Arriving at GCF at 4:30 for my worship planning meeting, I couldn’t help but be thank God for the people who are a part of the team- kindred spirits.

Before my day ended, I got a text message from a friend inviting me and another close friend to watch TWILIGHT (again)! But before the movie we have dinner together– sort of a thanksgiving dinner at Burgoo. They didn’t serve turkey there so I had steak instead, and again, I thanked God for friends.

When you think back over the year on what all many blessings God has bestowed in ones life, through the hard times and many good times, there are many ways to be thankful.

Life can be hard but through even the tears of struggles that fall one can always draw a sigh of comfort and say YES! I am blessed to be thankful for this and for that in my life. God has truly blessed many blessing on me. I sing Praises to him for many things he has deliverd me through and will still deliver me through.

And at home last night, I spent time thanking God for my family, and everything else.

I am thankful for the gift of life and the capacity to find joy in it. I am thankful for finding my little piece of this wonderful earth and the ability to tend and enjoy all the wonders of growing things. I am thankful for my family, my home church and the warmth and safety and support they provide me. I am thankful for the love of my family and of a few good friends. I feel blessed. I am thankful that I am free in Christ.

TWILIGHT

After my meeting with a new clergyman friend, I went and saw Manila’s advanced screening of Twilight tonight with Lennie and her friend Greg.

I was just chatting with my nephew in Tampa about it and how the vampire-human love flick fever has swept across America. Apparently, in my chat with Josh, he too has contracted the fever.

While standing in line waiting to get into the cinema, I realized I was surrounded by mostly teen-aged girls– who were obviously there just to see Robert Pattinson. Because of them, for the first time in a couple of years, I felt like a kid again!

It was a fun movie– largely due to the fact that every appearance of Pattinson, or a romantic phrase or act, there would be what I could only described as a cacophony of teeny-girly-cheesy-giddy noises accompanied by occasional foot-stomping! I can’t blame them, the movie is cute. I would not be surprised if the makers of Not Another Teen Movie-type stupid flicks come up with a spoof of it!

Twilight is a young adult novel written by author Stephenie Meyer, an active Mormon church member. It was originally published in hardcover in 2005. It is the first book of the Twilight series, The novel is followed by New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn.

The story goes: Isabella “Bella” Swan moves from sunny Phoenix, Arizona, to rainy Forks, Washington, to live with her father, Charlie. She chooses to do this so that her mother, Renée, can travel with her new husband, Phil Dwyer, who is a minor league baseball player. In Phoenix she was a bit of an outcast, so it surprises her that she attracts much attention at her new school, and is quickly befriended by several students. Much to her dismay, several boys in the school compete for shy Bella’s attention.

When Bella sits next to Edward Cullen in class on her first day of school, Edward seems utterly repulsed by her. He even attempts to change his schedule to avoid her, leaving Bella completely puzzled about his attitude towards her. After tricking a family friend, Jacob Black, into telling her the local tribal legends, Bella concludes that Edward and his family are vampires. Although she was inexplicably attracted to him even when she thought Edward drank human blood, she is much relieved to learn that the Cullens choose to abstain from drinking human blood, and drink animal blood instead. Edward reveals that he initially avoided Bella because the scent of her blood was so desirable. Over time, Edward and Bella fall in love.

The seemingly perfect state of their relationship is thrown into chaos when another vampire coven sweeps into Forks, and James, a tracker vampire, decides that he wants to hunt Bella for sport. The Cullens plan to distract the tracker by splitting up Bella and Edward, and Bella is sent to hide in a hotel in Phoenix. Bella then gets a phone call from James in which he says that he has her mother, and Bella must give herself up to James at her old dance studio, to save her. She does so, and while at the dance studio, James attacks her. Edward, along with the rest of the Cullen family, rescue Bella before James can kill her. Once they realize that James has bitten Bella’s hand, Edward sucks the venom out of her system before it can spread and change her into a vampire. Upon returning to Forks, Bella and Edward attend their prom and Bella expresses her desire to become a vampire, which Edward refuses to let happen.

No, I won’t theologize the movie this time. Sorry to disappoint my theologian readers! Maybe in a another blog entry!

A SUNDAY AT GCF ORTIGAS

This is designed to give provide any one who has yet to visit GCF a perspective of what to expect when one attends for the first time.

Every maturing believer in Christ needs to be growing in three simultaneous relationships: with God through worship and trust; with fellow believers through love, edification, and accountability; with unbelievers, conveying the gospel message in word and deed to the end that they would become disciples of the Lord Christ.

These three relationships – with God, the church and the world – involve three distinct actions on our part: worship, nurture, and outreach. These three actions develop in the Christ-follower simultaneously. At GCF, our worship celebration services try to embody all three areas.

Worship comes in many forms and sizes. Worship isn’t just about music– we can worship God by singing and the arts, but there are so many other acts of worship. We have come to understand worship as an expression of our enjoyment of God. In other words, we best glorify God when we fully enjoy him. “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him” (John Piper).

Part of our worship is helping people to see God’s hand in their lives, caring for them, providing for them– and also helping them to understand that there is little else as rewarding than full abandon in worship everyday, not just on a Sunday morning but living our day to day experience and lives under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

One enters the building and is welcomed into a grand lobby.

Friendly people will smile at you, shake your hand and make sure you feel welcome!

You take an escalator to the worship center.

A door is opened for you by our friendly ushers.

You choose a seat which is most comfortable to you…each seat is positioned in a way that it provides a full view of the chancel (stage). 

 

Our services are usually 90 minutes long. In all five services, you can expect to interact with people who are glad to see you. We generally spend time singing together, praying, reading from the Bible, and listening to truth about how we can better love and live for God and others. The messages you’ll hear about are both deep and practical, dealing with everyday issues.

We begin our time of worship with singing songs of praise and worship led by a team of vocalists and a band. Music at GCF can be best described as a fusion. We are a contemporary church that remains in love and attached to Christianity’s historical expressions and elements of worship. It has become our goal to span every musical genre and worship expression. At any given service, we sing songs by modern worship music composers after a grand rendition of an ancient hymn, or Jazz praise side by side a Baroque anthem. The primary benchmark for choosing songs however is the Word of God, upon which our faith is founded, and should point to the person and praise of God alone.

As a way to encourage others, people who have experienced God’s salvation, healing touch, and faithfulness stand and tell their story.

 

We join our hearts in prayer. We invite people who have praise items or a prayer need to stand. A church member or a pastor/leader stands alongside them to pray with them.

We give our offerings to the Lord while we sing a song of worship.

 

The choir sings a song of worship!

A benchmark of GCF is our commitment to preach the Word as it is. We believe in handling the Word of God carefully and rightly; preach what it says, live out what it teaches. Whether behind the pulpit at our large corporate worship times or small group meetings, Sunday school classes or mentoring, our primary tool is and will always be God’s inerrant Word.

 

At the end of the homily, the pastor pronounces God’s blessings on people.

We often incorporate other elements into our services such as a drama, dance, video, or musical selection that helps drive home the theme or topic we’re discussing. We celebrate communion every second Sunday of each month and celebrate baptism every third Sunday.

We have a library you can spend time in with a good book.

 

We have a counseling center for those who need someone to talk and pray with. 

We have a prayer room where one can spend time in solitude with God.

People fellowship with each other at the lobby and fellowship hall over coffee.

We hope you’ll join us this Sunday and we look forward to meeting you. Attending a new church can be intimidating at first, so we want to make you at ease as possible. We encourage you to arrive early to look around the building, get acquainted with others, locate the cry room/nursery and classrooms for your children, and find a good seat in the auditorium.

Our Welcome Center staff and Greeters are eager to help you in any way possible. Please stop by the Welcome Center for a cup of coffee and cookies after the service. Also, feel free to contact us ahead of time with any questions or for assistance with driving directions.

GCF is teeming with life and activities all week– small groups, Wednesday worship, Bible studies, Saturday youth worship, and many more- take place, all designed to provide venues for the worship of God, and the growth of His children.

ON AUTUMN, AN AFTERNOON AND AN AUTHOR

Autumn is absolutely beautiful! Well, all seasons for that matter, are beautiful. Too bad seasons are what we people living in the tropics miss out on. Manila has four season too, so a friend said, dry and drier and wet and wetter!

I got this two amazing photos from a new friend on facebook. But I’m pretty sure things have changed since these were taken. I was on the phone with some folks from Wausau, Wisconsin and was told that it’s been consistently 20degrees F cold in the area. Winter has come quite early this year.

At any rate, I love the colors of autumn, and cold weather. I have said on many occasions that I have, since high school, concluded that my body is not made for tropics! That’s why I look forward to going to Baguio! It’s 15-degree C weather is always a welcome change for me.

This afternoon, I went for a walk around Greenhills– looking for a place to have my first meal of the day. First meal? You ask. Since the semester began, I have not had a full day off and so I devoted my entire Saturday (today) in bed, to literally take a sabbath, otherwise, not resting will take its toll, eventually. So back to my walk. I wore a shirt, shorts and slippers, but even then, I was perspiring like a three mugs of water had been splashed all over my head!

I love–miss–cold weather! Thoughts of it make me conjure childhood memories. I remember biking around my hometown about this season as a kid needing to wear a sweat shirt. As a kid, I looked forward to the ”ber” months because it meant a change in temperature– waking up in the early mornings I would walk to the window and see a blanket of fog covering the rice paddies across the road from our house. The fog extended its cover from the road and up to the hills of the Sierra Madre which provided a beautiful backdrop to the rice paddies. Before breakfast, I would wrap myself with a quilt and run out into the yard and take a few big breaths of fresh cool air– fascinated with the smoke that came out of my mouth each time I exhaled!

After school, I take my bike out and ride around town with a friend. Each armed with 20-peso bills, we had merienda (snack) at the nearby bakery near the town hall, wait the sun out and begin biking again to admire the homes with amazing Christmas lights and to check out the cute girls who would normally hang out at the street corner close to the general store!

On Saturday mornings at 5:30, my friends and I would ride up the hills where another friend lived. He would invite us for a special breakfast and we would bike around the surrounding hills. Last I heard, the hills we used to bike around in has been developed into a nice residential subdivision called Timberland, but still largely unoccupied.

The hills of San Mateo- Timberland

When we reach the valley at around 8, we would unload our knapsacks which always contained baon (food and drinks) to share with each other. We would sit close to the banks of the stream and eat our baon. We would wade in the water and before 10:30, we would all be back home watching TV.

San Mateo-Montalban River

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A friend I have not seen in a while, Ben Khoo has recently gotten married at the Hillsong Church chapel in Baulkham Hills. My goodness– all my friends are getting married!

 

Ben and wife in the convertible infront cute modern Hillsong chapel

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Cool thing- one of the authors of the book UNChristian, David Kinnaman left a comment on my wordpress blog! He is the president of the California-based, internationally-known, Barna Group.

I was elated to find out it was really him who commented and immediately sent him a reply. Al though, I wish I could tell him that I have read his book, but I haven’t. Ten weeks ago, I placed an order on Amazon.com and they actually confirmed the order. Now I wonder where my copy is.  It hasn’t arrived. I’m not sure if it’s coming. If it doesn’t arrive before Christmas, I’d have to place another order.

This is what the website has to say about the book:

Christians are supposed to represent Christ to the world. But according to the latest report card, something has gone terribly wrong. Using descriptions like “hypocritical,” “insensitive,” and “judgmental,” young Americans share an impression of Christians that’s nothing short of . . . unChristian.

Groundbreaking research into the perceptions of sixteen- to twenty-nine-year-olds reveals that Christians have taken several giant steps backward in one of their most important assignments. The surprising details of the study, commissioned by Fermi Project and conducted by The Barna Group, are presented with uncompromising honesty in unChristian.

Find out why these negative perceptions exist, learn how to reverse them in a Christlike manner, and discover practical examples of how Christians can positively contribute to culture.

ON PIZZAS AND PROFESSORSHIP

Yesterday, after my Worship Studies class, I went to the office to get coffee andwas told that it was pay day for the professors and staff of Faith Bible College!

I got my first fruit! And since I only teach one course per week, I received the equivalent of I’d say 0.5% of my “day job” pay! But it’s a great blessing and is still something to thank God for! After setting aside the tithe, I spent the rest of it on an afternoon snack- that was all it could afford! Yeah, it was that small! No, not really. It was good enough to buy four large-sized pan pizza and a few bottles of soda for about, I’d say 18 people!

The pizza party was at the prodding of the registrar and the administrative assistant saying that there has been a long standing tradition at Faith that new professors treat other staff and some students for pizza when their first salary is received! When the pizza’s all gone, I was told that such tradition never existed!

What a bunch of liars! Haha! Albeit a lie, I had a great time interacting with people at the pizza party.

With all that comes with this new professorial stint on my days off while I maintain the post in the local church to which God directed me, I’m led to think of ways in which I could be a blessing to my students and co-faculty; how in some ways, I would engage in the discipleship of some future church leaders. 

I found three statements that I feel applicable, not just in my life as i teach adjunctively.

The first was a quote attributable to C.S. Lewis that I’ve shared with you on other blog entries: “What you do screams so loud I can’t hear what you say;” in other words, whatever you say you think or believe, will always be trumped by your actions.

The second thought: Be thoughtfully intentional; as in, if you’re an effective teacher you spend a lot of time with lesson plans, if you’re a successful financier of one sort or another, you spend a lot of time with business plans, and so on. Even more than these, focused intentionality is required of loving, nurturing and enduring relationship.

The third thought: Do the harder thing – go the distance. Relationships that really matter require sweat and sacrifice, truth-telling and forgiveness, time and attention, humility and perseverance.

The fourth thought: Spiritual matters should not be separated from routine life. Spiritual matters should be completely and fully integrated into regular life and not relegated to compartmentalized moments or people. If you manage to identify yourself as a follower of Christ on Sunday, the next six days of the week should be no different.

Jesus said in Luke 6:45, “The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good.” And I got to thinking: Are we committed to producing good? What else can we do? Until we act, the good that might be accomplished remains in a frozen state, inert, unrealized, unborn, only so many words.

UPRISING! A Revolution of Faith

Over dinner last night after church, I was asked to say grace before meal by the same folks I was with the entire weekend! We bowed and I started praying—-and closed by saying:

“….Lord, there’s just so much to thank you for for the things that You did over the whole weekend! We don’t have time enough to mention every one of them over dinner…But You know what’s in our hearts…they all say, ‘Thanks!’”

And I don’t think one blog entry would suffice for all that happened either.

Uprising! A Revolution of Faith! That’s the theme and title of the young adults’ retreat I joined last weekend– around 60 young adults convened at the Word of Life Camp.  

For young adults who lived most of our lives in a revolution-clad history, we are familiar with what it means for our stomachs to churn over things we see; and as a twenty-three year-old in January 2001, my small band of seminary buddies walked from Quezon Memorial Circle for a prayer rally to EDSA Shrine where we joined hundreds of thousand others who have the same gut-churn. Two days later, we had a new president! 

EDSA Dos- I was there!

It’s called a Revolution of Faith because people were invited not to a regular retreat away from the city and feel good. Instead, the strange thing about the retreat was that it asked people to feel bad– to feel a churning in the gut, and act on it! No. It’s not a guilt-tripping, hell-fire-brimstone type of retreat. It was designed for the regular Christian to be committed to the Great Commission of Jesus Christ– leaving our comfort zones, choosing to take a road that’s out of the way, hearts breaking for the things that break God’s heart. It was issuing a call to become a part of a spiritual revolution and revival.

I loved the composition. The crowd composed of bankers, engineers, educators, government workers, small and large scale entepreneurs, regular employees, students, musicians, medical and allied professionals, IT specialists, and many others spanning almost every sector- from descendants of old business taipans to children of working class citizens.

All through this past weekend, I was thinking about this: When my life comes to an end, what do I want to be remembered for? What do I want other people to say about me? What do I want to have written on my tombstone? I know that for some people, the thought of passing away is gory, blood-curdling and scary. But that’s what I thought over the past weekend.

A few weeks ago over All Saints Day, I was walking over tombstones which reminded me of one tombstone found in Scotland by someone I know. The tombstone read:

Here lie two women who were truly beheaded

because they would not renounce their king, Jesus Christ.

Now, to be very very honest with you; I certainly do not want that to be on my tombstone– for one, I am not a woman; second, to be beheaded is simply a cruel way to go! But every one who reads such a tombstone will know what those women stood for. They stood for the cause of Christ. And the retreat last weekend called for that- standing for Christ.

On Friday night, I spoke to the men’s group about struggles and choosing to glorify God in the midst of temptation. Making ourselves vulnerable is not something we men are known for, but that night, the men were so led by the Spirit to be that which we would not normally want to be. 

We also talked about how sometimes, we Christians– churched people- become the actual obstacle for the healing to the unchurched! Dan Andrew Cura, president of Far East Broadcasting and an elder at GCF spoke on the Cost of Discipleship, with some references to the new book by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons, UNCHRISTIAN. Dan Cura gave examples of Bible characters whose gut churned for things that broke God’s heart and acted on them.

Ultimately, the call to radical and uncomfortable discipleship was issued, and as I observed from the back of the camp’s sanctuary, 95% of the campers stood, walked down the aisle, sealing their commitment to live for Christ in radical discipleship!

Picking up from my earlier thought– I wish to be known and remembered as A Radical Disciple and Worshipper of Jesus Christ!

I stand out in red!

 

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In other news:

Josh and Ruth have been away for three weeks now.

They’ve gotten quite adjusted to the time, life and all. Ruth is looking into getting into a nursing school at a local university in Tampa next semester, while Josh is interested in and preparing to getting into a magnet School for the performing arts. They both get bored at home since their mom has to go to work all day, and unlike in the Philippines where there are always activities happening any time of the day, their community becomes a ghost town between 8AM to 5PM– and hardly anyone comes out of their homes so they always looked forward to weekends when their mom would take them out shopping and eating. They’re still getting used to 2-story malls with large parking lots without that many people! I jokingly told Josh over YM that when I was little malls only had one floor and a stinky basement!

The two are in the process of getting their IDs and driver’s tests!

I miss them so much!

Their photos from the weekend before last.

 

The International Plaza and Bay Street, Tampa

 

Josh and Ruth

A part of the outdoor mall (looks like Eastwood!)

In a mall looking very Christmassy!

 

Ruth and mom, Rachel (my sachi)

YOUTH WORSHIP

Over lunch yesterday, Chette, our Youth Director called my name across the long table and said, “P. Jon, last night when I got home, all I wanted do was sing– not the LSS (last song syndrome) kind of singing, but really just worshipping God– Api and I. It’s a joy that’s just so uncontainable.”

Over the morning’s pastors’ meeting, Chette’s husband, Api (a pastoral intern) asked me to suggest a song about a life of worship which he could use for his preaching on Saturday.

What’s with the uncontainable joy and excitement? Well, last Saturday, the Youth Ministry of GCF has launched the new worship service with a very hip style especially designed for youth and young adults.

Althought I wasn’t there last Saturday, members of the Worship Planning Team for Adult Sunday services were there to observe and they only have positive stuff to say about the Saturday worship.  I have been told that the worship time was so amazing and the preaching was spirit-led that more than a dozen non-Christian youth and young adults who came as guests made professions of faith during the altar call. 

That brings GCF to a total of seven services throughout the week and weekend.

What an awesome God we worship! What important responsibilities lie ahead of us. What a great company of friends joined together to claim the same faith as a matter of absolute necessity if not altogether possible, holding one another accountable to one another for the building up of Christ’s kingdom.

All praise to HIM who reigns above…blessed be the name of the Lord!

 

waiting to begin

praise and worship 

Pastor BJ preaching

 

Fellowship after service

Thanks for the photos, (Pastor) Ian de Ocampo!

tired but blessed

Today’s services are awesome! A good turn out of folks and I met four new faces in the morning services- Americans Chris Timberlake, Adam Hussey, Will and French girl, Lucy. Adam is interested in joining a young adult Bible study, Chris is an import basketball player, and the two are students. I also met four (2 gals and 2 guys) in their 20s at the Vesper Service. There were a few other first timers whom I failed to meet. Snap!

I love meeting first timers in a church our size where anyone can be mistaken for a newbie even if that one person has been attending for years. A couple of weeks ago, I met a guy for the first time and he’s been attending GCF for seven years– about as long as I have been on staff. Perhaps a poor reflection on my part as a Worship Pastor; then again, that sort of stuff happens in a lot of megachurches! Rick Warren claims that he’s memorized every face and name when Saddleback numbered 3000, and then his brain fried!  There’s more than three thousand of us in the membership and so I try to meet as much people as I possibly can. Key phrase: as I possibly can.

Tonight, I was reading one of the guest’s blog and am glad to learn that he’s been ministered to in our services through the songs, the prayers and the preaching. But more than just ministering to people, the Spirit also helps us minister to the heart of God through worship- acknowledging Who He is, praising Him for what He has done, and obeying His Word. And then, we are sent forth to be change agents in a world in need of Christ.

We heard a pretty challenging message from guest speaker, Ro Penaranda (Youth Director, Union Church of Manila) based on 1 John– a new command given to love one another on a higher level! Communion was very meaningful, especially when we sang In Christ Alone (My Hope is Found)!

Surprisingly, I feel really exhausted today. Well, for one, I led worship in four services! Add to that the fact that when I lead worship, I don’t just stand and sing. I give worshipping– including singing, directing the band, etc.- my all. It’s what athletes refer to as “leaving everything on the field.” I have been leading worship at GCF for the last seven years but I have never felt this tired at the end of the day. For the first time I feel like all my energy’s been drained and all I want to do is lie down, sleep and wake up three days from today! I have the joy of the Lord, but I am physically exhausted- maybe it’s the humidity outdoors, or perhaps the noise pollution in the metropolis, pressures at work, working on the budget, among other contributors. I really don’t know. Thank God this weekend I’ll be out of town– it’s our young adults/singles conference– and have a time with the Lord far from the hustle and bustle of city life!

In times like this one, I feel the Lord issuing an invitation for me to be drawn to the ground/floor and spend time on my knees.

CAPACITY FOR AWE

This blog is meant to be have been entered yesterday but I didn’t have time to sit and write.

Capping the day was a long overdue dinner with Joy and Lennie at Eastwood. I arrived home around 12MN. Well, actually, I only had a cup of cappuccino since Leslie, a member of the Worship Creative Planning Team which met from 4 to 7:30PM, brought a huge party tray of mixed sushi and maki in celebration of her birthday tomorrow- the whole party tray of sushi was shared between four people. The drizzly day began for me with a nice early dip in the condo pool and I was off to Faith Bible College (to teach).

After the Chapel Service, I walked to my classroom and saw a piece of 8×11″ sheet of paper taped to the door. The sheet is a print out of the schedule of classes which meet in that room. My subject read, “WORSHIP AND LITURGY – J. LAS.”  With my eyebrows raised, I came into the classroom feeling a need to correct the course/subject name/title.

A liturgy is a set form of ceremony or pattern of worship. Christian liturgy is a pattern for worship used (whether recommended or prescribed) by a Christian congregation or denomination on a regular basis. The word liturgy, which means “public work” was used among Greek Christians during the Byzantine era to mean public worship in general. So “Worship” and “Liturgy” in the context of the class I teach have pretty much the same meaning. And thus, I told the class to change the subject title to Worship Studies.

The Worship Studies class grew with an additional three students enrolling yesterday morning. I am not sure if if will still grow next week. Hopefully, it will.

I love how the students participated in yesterday’s discussion. There was not a student who did not interact. Even the most shy participated. They have been told on the first day that the only homework I require of them is to that thay read and prepare for class discussions based on the guide questions found in the syllabus. Yesterday’s discussion revolved around Psalm 19– The General and Special Revelation of God: the Reason Behind Man’s Innate Drive to Worship.

Based on how the Lord reveals Himself in nature and more importantly, Scriptures/Spirit/Jesus, it’s time to reject our ruts, and forge new forms of prayer and praise to offer as an acceptable sacrifice to God.

It’s time to discover our true relationship with God — to see ourselves as creatures made by a loving Creator.

It’s time to do our work in the church with creativity and imagination, making all our efforts a tribute to our truly awesome God.

So let’s do it, let’s focus our energy, intelligence, imagination and love on the challenge of making our words and meditations acceptable to God. We can begin this by acknowledging that it is GOD who is at the center of the universe, not human beings. It is God who is the intelligence at the core of life, not even the smartest of people.

George Washington Carver, an African-American educator, late in life, was asked what he thought was the most indispensable thing for science in the modern age. Carver replied, “The capacity for awe.”

The capacity for awe. What a strange thing for an academician to say! But how true. Awe is what opens our finite minds to the infinite intelligence of God. Awe is what connects our limited hearts to the limitless love of the Lord. Awe is what helps us to see God’s glory in the sea and the land and the moon and the sun; to see God’s glory in our family members and friends and fellow human beings.

MY FAITH AND OBAMA’S

Barack Obama is the President-elect of the United States! A friend of mine said, “At least it’s not Hillary!” I live thousands of miles away in a totally separate sovereign nation, so why should I care? Did I care when Dmitry Medyedev or Nicolas Sarkozy were elected as heads of their states?

These last several hours I have received messages and heard statements containing mixed feelings. And I’m pretty sure there’s no other way but to accept the fact that America has a new president that holds views not necessarily representative of their own. I saw the Jim and Linda Davis at the church cafeteria at lunch today. I asked if they voted. She said, “Yes…but I’m afraid somebody else is winning.“ At the Communications Department at church a couple of hours ago, I spoke with some folks. I told them, “So, Barack is it, huh?” And I got this response, ”Come quickly, Lord Jesus!” Whether I like it or not, the results of yesterday’s election will affect my country and the world.

I never rooted for Obama simply because our views clash. But some time ago, Obama delivered this speech, and his message on faith seems convincing enough that we share the same faith.

“…in its historical struggles for freedom and the rights of man, I was able to see faith as more than just a comfort to the weary or a hedge against death, but rather as an active, palpable agent in the world. As a source of hope.

And perhaps it was out of this intimate knowledge of hardship — the grounding of faith in struggle — that the church offered me a second insight, one that I think is important to emphasize today.

Faith doesn’t mean that you don’t have doubts.

You need to come to church in the first place precisely because you are first of this world, not apart from it. You need to embrace Christ precisely because you have sins to wash away – because you are human and need an ally in this difficult journey.

It was because of these newfound understandings that I was finally able to walk down the aisle of Trinity United Church of Christ on 95th Street in the Southside of Chicago one day and affirm my Christian faith. It came about as a choice, and not an epiphany. I didn’t fall out in church. The questions I had didn’t magically disappear. But kneeling beneath that cross on the South Side, I felt that I heard God’s spirit beckoning me. I submitted myself to His will, and dedicated myself to discovering His truth.” (read the full address here)

After reading the whole speech, I conclude that our faith is not entirely the same. But he won, and it’s a historic one. What else can people do?

 

Travis Doucette, a song writer and worship leader wrote:

A word to my conservative Christian friends . . .

“Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.”

- Romans 13:1

Let’s keep this truth of God on our hearts and minds before we blow a gasket here, people.

Truth be told, I attend a conservative school where many (as myself) would have desired John McCain to win this election…..character is often most clearly shown in defining moments of victory and defeat. I have never seen so much class in the way John McCain, an American hero congratulated Barack Obama and the way Mr. Obama spoke of Mr. McCain. Here we have two capable leaders full of incredible, proven character that have dedicated their lives to public service for our well being.

Our only response now is to . . .

1. Celebrate the good – don’t miss the opportunity to relish this historical racial milestone.

2. Believe in the hope – even when we don’t get ‘our way’. True character and maturity will be demonstrated in our poise, right here, in this moment. Will we be part of the solution or just continue on in complaining that we didn’t get our own way?

3. Trust in the One who holds it all together – Colossians 1:17

and finally and perhaps most importantly – PRAY.
It’s our responsibility to pray for our leaders.

I challenge every believer to keep these things in mind before you start preaching doom and disaster.

God’s on the throne. Let’s believe in His able hand to guide and direct the new President of the United States, our leader, Barack Obama.