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<FONT font="Times"><SIZE size="4">Though you'd like to see me in action!</FONT>



<URL url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzqH5hQE-Sk">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzqH5hQE-Sk

I was reading in one of my favorite books on worship, Worship God by Ernest B. Gentile, copyright 1994 by Bible Temple Publishing in Portland, Oregon. I use it as a reference book, occasionally as a devotional, sometimes just as personal encouragement. He regularly exhorts me in my worship and praise life. (Available used on Amazon for under $4 plus shipping; the charts alone are worth the $$.)



On page 79 of that book, there is a wonderful chart entitled "The Drama of Worship". I've taught for years that worship is a human reaction to God and His actions in our lives. Gentile's illustration really sums it up. God initiates, we respond. That little formula is the building block in worship and in our Christian walk. To a sensitive, ready soul, God points out sin, I confess it. He forgives it, I express my thanks for the onus being removed. God loves me, I love Him back. God reminds us of a prayer need and we pray. He answers, again we give thanks both for the answer and for His willingness to use our vessels of clay. Call and response. Isn't that what life in Christ is about?



It is a drama. God has written a grand script for countless stages, for countless individuals, for countless "acts" in each individual story. We use drama in so many ways--the drama of everyday life, the drama of serious life situations like health crises or working through financial woes. Drama. Instead of protagonist and antagonist, this drama has a benefactor and a respondent. Great concept, IMO.



Think about the implications. Employ and enjoy those implications. The drama is really the dialogue between God and believer. And someone else said it's really the dance of the ages. God invites us onto the dance floor. We can accept or not. It's that pesky "free will" thing. Will we dance or not? Will we react to God's instigation? My last entry dealt with dance and the broken heart. This drama is very similar, really, yet another analogy to explore how we can encourage believers to engage with God. As a Christian in a liturgical tradition, I see the invitation every Sunday. I hear it in the liturgy. I see it in the Eucharist itself. Even walking into the worship space, I'm struck by the sight of a crucifix, with Christ's welcoming arms open wide, inviting me to ponder the mystery of His willingness to die on my behalf. He invites, I respond. He saves, I worship!



Gentile's diagram is an amazing thing. If I can get permission to reproduce it, I will. It is displayed as a 12 point ping-pong pattern. God instigates, I respond. At each level, I grow, God responds to my respond by adding another aspect. I respond by growing closer to him and growing healthier and healthier. His twelfth point is that "man is now a restored, refreshed, commissioned person" who leaves the "encounter with God rejoicing and celebrating."



Such a deal! I respond to His love by bringing to the floor a life that's broken and doesn't work. He heals even the reluctant volunteer, equips and "commissions" me to be an icon of what He is willing and able to do with a fallen human. When people see the changes He makes, they often ask how the changes came to pass. I get to tell them that the "how" is a He. Powerful stuff!

First, in case my bishop reads this, I must confess my transgression. I told him the source of this little quote was actually a fortune cookie. Not exactly. It was actually from the wrapper of a little Dove chocolate. My wife's favorite candy and better than most fortune cookies in so many ways.



I found this amazing little bit of wisdom: "It is the heart afraid of breaking that never learns to dance." This is a line from "The Rose" sung by Bette Midler and Janis Joplin (who Bette portrayed in the movie "The Rose") and attributed to Amanda McBroom. It's a part of a profound quotation and pretty profound in and of itself. I don't want to psychologize our participation in worship (or lack thereof), but it might be helpful for pastors and worship leaders to consider a little of why people don't enter into worship and praise.



Most of the people I've known who are able to enter into worship and praise without inhibition are well-adjusted and fairly well healed up from the traumas that life dealt them. Those I've known who were UNable to enter in are people who have difficulties with relationships. These are both very broad and generalized statements, but for the moment, let me put these folks on a bell curve. Ten percent at either end do not fit into the pattern. The rest of us lie in the middle on either side of the middle point. That peak of the bell is the point where one achieves the point of healing where one can again embrace his God with a whole heart or at least one that is on the downward part of the healing curve. If I am so damaged and unhealthy that I can't have a healthy relationship or did not have healthy relationships with the important people in my life, how can I have a healthy relationship with my God?



Back again to the snippet from "The Rose". How many Christians cannot give themselves fully in worship or even fully in their relationship with Jesus because they are afraid of being hurt or disappointed? Because their hearts have been broken so many times that they can no longer trust even their creator? How many of us harbor unrealistic expectations and as a result cannot fully trust? I know that I've been there in human and divine relationships. How many have been fed a flawed theology like name-it/claim-it, realized it did not work and gave up on either church or God or both?



My understanding of one of the seven Hebrew words for praise, halal, has to do with praising with abandon, abandoning inhibition, abandoning concern for public image, abandoning awareness of self and replacing it with awareness only of our Lord. (editor's note: There is one oddball phrase that has its root in this word and Strong translated it as clamorously foolish. Better translations would agree with the clamorous part. English of his day was very different from ours.) Think of this as you think of David taking off royal robes and dressed only in his linen, priestly ephod, dancing with abandon before the Ark, before the people of Israel, and before his God. He was not concerned about anyone's opinion of him or how he looked. He was concerned about loving on his God with all, all, ALL of his strength, heart, soul, and mind. He gave it his all.



Think about Romans 12:1 and presenting my body as a living sacrifice. That's what David did. His whole being in an act of worship or praise. That's the goal.



But now, the secret to healing. If we can come to a point of accepting our hurts and purposing to look upward instead of inward, God will meet us and accept that offering of obedience. As we learn the habit of looking up instead of in, God will heal in so many ways. So much of our hurt comes from rehearsing old hurts, not from recent stuff. "I was hurt when I was 12, so I've never trusted anyone in the 50 years since" means that I've been arrested in that area for five decades! When I learned to look up, He touched my heart, healed my wounds, and equipped me to forgive the one who hurt me and to confess my lack of trust. In a sense, just purposing to actually move in praise or worship can be a silent confession of unspoken sins relating to trust, fear, unforgiveness and more.



When we as leaders offer this sort of encouragement, some may be able to release long held hurts and fears. What a great day that will be.



One fun little side note is that another Dove candy was put in my hand today. The "wisdom" from that piece? "Be the first to hit the dance floor!"



Dancing FOR Jesus, Dancing WITH Jesus. <URL url="http://www.theologyweb.com/campus/archive/index.php/t-27144.html">Perichoresis, anyone?

tirpot:



I was humming a chorus today, and it was almost a Bill Cosby "Noah" moment where I heard the Lord.

:ding: *ding* "What does that phrase mean to you?"



"The fruit of my lips giving thanks, Lord?" "Yes, the fruit of lips. What does that mean to you?"



I nearly did an Elijah response, "Thou knowest, Lord". It was pretty much as though He knew I was going there. That phrase in the song played on a loop, virtually ignoring the rest of the song! Scriptures came to mind, old teachings came to mind. Psalm 51:15 says "Open my lips that my mouth might declare Your praise." Hosea 14:2b says, "Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously, that we may present the fruit of our lips" Hebrews 13:15 says about God-pleasing sacrifices, "Through Him (Jesus) then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name."



Looking in Strongs, the Hebrews citation talks about fruit in the context of either fruit from tree or vine, or offspring as in fruit of one's loins or "the fruit of your womb, Jesus Christ." Hmmm. The Hosea citation is even more powerful and colorful. The phrase might better be translated as "the calves of our lips" instead of fruit. Add the Psalm 51 citation and the point is that the offspring of our very mouths is to be a sacrifice (like that calf from Hosea) to be offered up as sacrifice. David talked about not offering sacrifices for which he did not pay. Sacrifices not only are required of us, but are pretty much defined as having to cost us something. No cheap offerings of sacrifice to the God of the universe, right?



All of that went quickly through my head. And as I furled my brow, wondering where He was going with that. Then one of my comments from Evangelism, Part 2 came to mind. Sheep beget sheep, not shepherds. Hmm. Sheep are the fruit of a sheep's womb. And then another scripture came to mind, that out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. Stay with me here, it really is not a large stretch. It is going to make you connect some dots, though.



What kind of stuff comes out of my mouth, especially at work? Gossip? Slander? Rumor? Innuendo? Criticism of employer, supervisor, coworkers, or the infamous "system"? Salty language? Sly or risqué comments? Snide comments about clients? Those things come out of my MOUTH, but they come as the overflow of my unconverted heart. Or at least my not completely converted heart. Aeeeee.



This is about walking carefully, circumspectly, thinking about what's about to come out of that awful thing, my mouth. James talked about the tongue and how it is like the rudder of the ship. Same as out of the heart... Control the tongue/mouth and the body comes under control. How do we control the tongue, since the mouth speaks in response to the content of the heart? We have to get our hearts "saved" or fully converted. Taking thoughts captive, guarding out lips and mouths, all those things meaning moving ever toward the fullness of maturity, or {i}teleios[/i].



:geezer: "Okay," I hear you say. "What does that have to do with evangelism?"



Have you ever followed a car with heavily Christian bumper stickers and watched them zoom at 90 miles an hour in a 55 mph zone? Ever seen that same driver holler angrily or obscenely, shake a fist, or make other offensive gestures? Does the through run through your mind as it does mine, "And I should follow Jesus with your example? What's He done for YOU?" Bumper stickers and flawed casual conversation from a known, recognized, self-proclaimed Christian source does NOT present a good witness. When someone hurts, can that person receive ministry or counsel from a heart that overflows like that?



At least in part, evangelism is the way we live our lives and by that clean walk, we earn the privilege of offering an introduction to our Lord, the very solution to the problems of a co-worker, a country, a world.

We had a POWERFUL time in worship on Sunday.



Sunday's praise set started out with "Mighty One of Israel". The adult Sunday school class had talked about evangelism and how it generally works, corporately and individually. You've probably heard that it's really not just the pastor's job to evangelize. Shepherds don't make sheep, SHEEP beget sheep! The second verse of that song is this



<COLOR color="#EBEBEB">.........</COLOR>The Lord shall cause

<COLOR color="#EBEBEB">.........</COLOR>His glorious beauty to be seen

<COLOR color="#EBEBEB">.........</COLOR>The desert shall bloom and rejoice

<COLOR color="#EBEBEB">.........</COLOR>Say to them that are fearful of heart

<COLOR color="#EBEBEB">.........</COLOR>Be strong and listen to His voice



The Lord had a word for us in that verse, an instruction. How many people do you know that are deserts, devoid of bloom, dry, lifeless and hopeless? This verse is all about personal evangelism. Our goal is that His glorious beauty should be seen. How can that help the desert/lifeless soul bloom and rejoice? We need to recognize them and speak to them (those that are fearful of heart and dry and desert property) and encourage them to learn how to be strong by listening to HIS voice. Every saint can share a little about how He has changed that saint. Often the sharing that there is a power that changes is enough to draw the dry one. We can then tell them to listen.



The chorus of the song says:



<COLOR color="#EBEBEB">.........</COLOR>His voice shall be heard

<COLOR color="#EBEBEB">.........</COLOR>In the power of His Word

<COLOR color="#EBEBEB">.........</COLOR>The Mighty One of Israel



That's how the weary, dry soul can be strengthened. Find the source of the strength! The POWER of His Word!! The song crystallizes a lot of points from various psalms and does not directly quote the Word, but surely does express the major point that there is POWER IN HIS WORD!! Somehow, Christians know this but forget it so easily. Can we trust Him and His Word to actually be and do what He says they will?



That really started some things going. The music leader began to sing it again, slower. The bishop came down and called a man forward for prayer. I think I put Pete on your prayer list. He fell off a ladder and suffered brain damage. He called Pete down for prayer and asked the musicians to play it again while he and Pete danced (!!!!!!) together under a prayer shawl. The Jewish prayer shawl or tallit (tah LEET) is a very rich symbol of what prayer is about. The tassels at each corner of the garment represent the Hebrew name of God from which we adapted Jehovah, or Yahveh. The Jewish man wraps himself in the shawl to pray each day, often several times a day. The picture is wrapping himself in God, and in all the richness of the provision of God's word and laws. The Law to the Jew is not an onerous thing but a great gift. It's the fence on the playground, not the huge list of no-nos that some make it out to be. That's how most enlightened Jews see it.



So, while four tall guys held the tallit high, Pete and the bishop gently, slowly, delicately, did a number of turns together. Some of the turns were a little like a square dance move, some were elbows links and pivoting. He asked the dancers to come back down and surround them and use their tambourines to the music. Pete was glowing. I believe that we're going to see the day when Pete and the bishop dance arm in arm and Pete won't need his cane any more! Talk about an evangelistic event. God's healing power draws believers and unbelievers alike.



There were other things that went on, too, but those were the two biggest ones. Well, one other word also came out that was pretty amazing. One of the women in the congregation stood and shared that she feels pretty clunky about moving during worship times, but that she heard Father tell her to share that for her and for others in the room, that it was as hard for them to move in worship as it was for Pete to even walk. He wants to heal that too, but we have to be willing to begin moving.



Powerful day in the Lord.



The whole issue of how we can be personal ambassadors/evangelists for Jesus is a tough and tricky thing. For me, the hardest part is one of the lines from the song quoted above: "Listen to His voice." I'm sure that no one reading this has every been as guilty of whining as I, but let me share. Like many in the American and western cultures, I can be awfully self-focused. When my feet hurt, when my feelings are hurt, when no one loves me or listens to me, all I can hear is the shrill sound of my own whining. I don't think I even breathe! If I could still my being for long enough that He might get a word in edgewise, He might talk to me about solutions to my woes and ills, and more importantly, He might just point out someone who needs a prayer or a pat on their back or a playful nudge to get them off the self-pity dime, to be strong enough to be still and hear His voice! Evangelism to the unsaved, ministry to the saints.



This does not take much in the way of training, just the ability to hear Him and to obey. Not much polish needed to pat a back, give a decent "atta boy" or "atta girl", or to say, "Are you okay? You like you might be down today. Anything I could pray about for you?" Not too hard, eh? You can do it, and so can I, if I'll only listen for that Voice, and be willing to be His hands and voice to another soul.

I was on my way home from church on Sunday and had Christian Radio on to accompany me on my journey. Haddon Robinson on Radio Bible Class led the discussion. The premise of the broadcast was looking at one view of evangelism in the workplace. I think we’ve all met someone like the guy portrayed on their program, someone who sees his duty as being to evangelize openly and aggressively at his work place. The roll-play they did reminded me of a couple of people that I’ve known over the years, who are convinced that God has given them their jobs so they could buttonhole each employee and customer about Jesus. Haddon and his discussion group went on to gently correct that view of life and to guide such folks back to a scriptural view which I greatly appreciated.



The one statement that was quoted from a respected, but non-scripture source was a quote alternatively attributed to St. Francis of Assisi and Martin Luther that I’ve loved for years and that still makes me smile whenever I hear it, “Preach the gospel always. If necessary, use words.” I would have loved for Haddon to have had the time to continue the teaching. Think about some of the phrases from old and new testaments that address the attitudes that we are to have toward those in charge. We have to interpret a bit as there were very few “employers” in Bible days. No one “went to work for the king”, right? You were a servant. That might translate better as slave. You could also be an indentured servant, having sold yourself into the situation for a number of years to pay a debt or to receive some financial benefit. For our purposes, I’m going to talk about employers, since I willingly enter into a pay for work environment with them. A kinder, gentler form of indenture, as it were.



What is my attitude to be toward my boss, my coworkers, and the people with whom I come in contact? How DO I manage to bring Jesus into those situations? In my mind, this is a critical situation. I come in various levels of contact with perhaps hundreds of people each day. Some of those are eye contacts while walking the aisles at work. Some of those are conversations with coworkers about work topics and nonwork stuff, too. Some of the contacts are with supervisory folks, and some are with customers. How can I “preach the gospel always” without violating people’s personal space and turning them OFF to Jesus by pushiness?



A couple of scriptures come quickly to mind. First, there is an O.T. reference that tells us that God hates rigged scales. Honest business dealings with customers, maybe even tilting that scale slightly to the customers’ advantage, will honor the customers, and will present an attitude that will make friends and influence people. There is also one N.T. reference that guides me, referring to servants/slaves or for us, employees, telling us to do our work enthusiastically, as unto the Lord, or in some translations, to the glory of the Lord. To me, that means making sure that we’re giving 100% of energy and focus to the job tasks at hand. In many companies, the prevailing attitude is to do the minimum amount needed to meet expectations or contract agreements. Is that glorifying God? Is it doing “as unto the Lord”?



Romans 1:16 might be seen as in apposition to this: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” Anyone who knows me understands that I’ve pushed the last phrase of the verse for a long time, but what about at work? Consider the guy at my workplace who has one of the largest collections of Christian tee shirts that I’ve ever seen. I’m not sure, but I think that I spent 6 months working near him and did not see him wear the same shirt twice! Most of the shirts were pretty low key. Some of them were pretty pointed. I do not recall him every saying a word about Jesus! He made himself a bulletin board and bore witness to what he wore by hard work, a good attitude, and a clean mouth. No cussing, no bad-mouthing of fellow workers, bosses, or the organization. That’s one approach. People notice shirts and bumper stickers, but they also notice when the attitude doesn’t match the message.



Then, there is a guy at work who sees his daily challenge as meeting the eyes of people in the workplace, smiling while walking and greeting those who would be greeted with simple words. The rest of the challenge seems to be how many frowns, grimaces, or neutral faces can be turned into gentle smiles and hellos. His efforts seem to work. Fellow employees watch for him and begin to strike up conversations. The pleasant presence seems to be a welcome change in what can be “the daily grind” kind of environment. His smile welcomes people into his space and reminds folks that it doesn’t have to be a downer, that there are pleasant moments. I’ve also seen that smile gain him entrance into people’s lives with questions like, “Why are you always smiling?!?!” His answer is a quiet explanation of his gratitude to God for His provision, for a good job, for good health, for sun, for rain, in all things, and that he just can’t keep that inside. That answer brings him opportunities for further ministry nearly every day! Prayer, words of comfort or counsel, encouragement to push on and do that good job, even reminders to fellow believers that they need to be giving to their jobs, “as unto the Lord” when they might be slacking just a bit. Pretty cool. Not only that, people started watching for the smiler, looking to greet him before he greeted them! There is an impact for good.



Other believers in the workplace deal with customers. When there is a smile on their faces and an obvious pleasant tone in their voices, customers react positively to the attitudes! How does that fit? AS UNTO THE LORD! Or another little bit of scripture that talks about entertaining angels. We can’t know how our words and attitudes affect others. We can suspect, but we won’t know unless someone asks and we are thus given permission to share the “why”.



Just as the guy at work challenges others with a smile, daring them to smile back, I’d challenge you, the readers, to consider ways to earn the trust and privilege of sharing Christ in your public and work environments through your demeanor, your work ethic, and your words about others in your workplace. These are hard issues, and can be tough habits to break. I’d also encourage you to challenge other believers in your work place to think and respond biblically to the challenges of evangelism in the marketplace.



Will you share your own thoughts?