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So, there’s this pop group from Finland known as “The Leningrad Cowboys.” And some time ago they had a televised concert in Russia. And at that concert they were joined on stage by the Red Army Choir – an all male group of Russian soldier singers and musicians…
And they performed, “Sweet Home Alabama.”
And this is the, err, umm, interesting result…
(Hat tip to Larry D. for the video!)
We were ready for a little bit of a letdown today - last week was so incredible, we couldn’t expect to do it again this week… right?
WRONG! The worship band – with 50% different personnel than last week – was amazing. Great song selection and musicianship, some nice change-up surprises in a couple of arrangements, everything was awesome! I continue to be pleasantly surprised from week to week at the growth and improvement of the team. I think I speak for everyone when I say, “Keep it up!” (Hey, who was that “new guy” on the drums?)
The final installment of “Words that Change the World” found us looking at Jesus’ final words spoken to His followers before He went back to the Father — what is known to us as the Great Commission. It was a challenging message for me to preach, and I know it was hard to hear… But we can no longer give ourselves an “excused absence” when it comes to outreach and evangelism. We have it in our grasp to make an eternal difference in the destinies of other people, so why are we bailing on that so much of the time? We saw three reasons for being concerned and involved in outreach and evangelism: 1) God loves people, 2) Jesus commands us to get involved, and 3) God expects His church to grow. We also saw that our mission field is wherever – and whenever – we are.
Next week we’ll kick off “Homerun!” – a series of messages to help us take our walk with the Lord to new levels. Messages in the series include, “Hitting the Grand Slam!” “No ‘I’ in Team,” “Two Outs, Bottom of the Ninth,” and “Clinching the Title.” Invite someone to come with you each Sunday during the potentially life-changing series of messages.
At the end of the service, I shared the need of a family that has attended our church sporadically in the past. As usual, you responded with Spirit-inspired generosity, and we were able to give a gift that will meet their immediate need and help make a good start on future needs. Thank you to everyone who participated.
Have a great week!
I’ve liked David Foster’s definition of “religion” since I first heard it: Religion is man trying to boss God around… During the message last Sunday, I believe the Lord gave me another distinguishing characteristic of religion:
Religion is one believer saying to another, “You can’t be pleasing to God until you are pleasing to me.”
And the truth is that at the dark heart of religion is the need to control — either God, as in Foster’s definition, or other people, as in my definition…
“You’ve got to look like I think you should look… do what I think you should do… read what I think you should read… worship like I think you should worship…” The list of stuff religious people want to make sure others are doing is endless.
Paul reminds us in Galatians 5:1 that “it was for freedom that Christ set us free…” and that we should stand up to any attempt to put us back into slavery.
I don’t know about you, but it took me too long to shake off the chains of “performing” and “conforming” to gain the approval of whatever “religious authority” was trying to control me at any given time. I had to learn – and I’m still learning - that when I came to Christ, I didn’t get a rule book or a to-do-list… What I got was a relationship with a Person who loved me at my worst behaved moment enough to sacrifice His life for me.
“But, but, wh- wh- what about obedience?”
Excellent question – the answer to which involves learning the difference between “in order to” and “because of.” I want to grow in my walk with Jesus, be conformed more and more to His image, and be obedient, not “in order to” achieve some status, standing, or acceptance, but “because of” His loving, graceful pursuit of me.
When we no longer “do to be” but “do because we are,” then we’ll know we’re a little further down the road in our journey from religion to relationship with Christ.
I got my C3 dvd’s today! I can’t wait to watch them and catch the things I missed in my notetaking, and hear again those things that rocked me!
More C3 posts will surely follow…
Wow! The word that keeps running through my mind is “unbelievable!” But I do believe it because I was there!
Easter weekend was amazing! Can I talk about Saturday in a “Sunday Replay” post? When we got to the church Saturday morning to set up for the Community Egg Hunt, the snow and wind were blowing around 30 mph and the ground was starting to get covered… We set out the 5000+ eggs anyway – and then waited while we nervously joked about how much harder it would be to pick up the eggs if nobody showed up… But the folks of our community came through! Attendance was down some from last year, but we had waymore people than I expected! We shared the love of Jesus by giving the kids who came a memorable experience and by giving away iPod Shuffles, bicycles, and sidewalk chalk and paint sets.
And then came Easter Sunday… We hosted the Community Sunrise service at 6:30 AM. (BTW, did anyone notice that the sun didn’t actually come up until 7:30? Take note for next year, Planning Committee…) The community choir did a fantastic job on “No More Night” and a nice-sized crowd stayed after for breakfast.
We reset the house for our worship service and sat down for a few minutes to drink a cup and catch our breath…
The service was positively breathtaking! A full house, lots of new faces, and the worship band definitely banged it out of the park! So many people I talked to said they wanted worship to go on and on! For future reference, I could have used another round of “Thank You” – that simple song moved many of us to tears.
The fourth installment of our “Words That Change the World” message series found us considering the question, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” Too many people look for life in dead things: stuff, success, excess… But real life, true life, can only be found in a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Our amazing volunteers came through big time – parking cars, serving food, cleaning, moving chairs, taking care of children… Thanks so much for all you do!
Here are some quotes from a couple of emails I’ve received since yesterday afternoon:
“I just wanted to thank all of you for the best Easter service my family and I have ever been to! The worship was what [we] needed today!”
“Loved being in church yesterday!!!!! It was a blast!!!”
We really were given a great day by the Lord!
Is anyone else sensing a renewal of purpose and commitment to reaching our community for Jesus? I am so excited about the future of Jubilee! We’re not where we want to be yet, but we’re definitely on our way!
Have a great week!
This article definitely bangs it out of the park! Anthony Robinson is a United Church of Christ pastor and writer from Seattle. This piece first appeared as a column in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Read on and be challenged! (Hat tip to “Norm” for bird-doggin’ this one!)
Articles of Faith: Seven habits of highly ineffective churches
By Anthony B. Robinson
On the theory that a capacity to laugh at ourselves and our foibles is good for the soul, I recently wrote a piece for use in my own denomination, the United Church of Christ, called “The Seven Habits of Highly Ineffective Churches.” I suspect it can be generalized, with some mental editing, to temples, synagogues and other religious congregations:
1. Elevate mediocrity to a spiritual discipline. Figure out where average falls and aim below there. Doing things with excellence, joy and flair may make someone uncomfortable. God doesn’t really expect much anyhow.
2. Take no risks. A successful practice of risk avoidance is often best achieved by sending any and all new ideas to a minimum of four boards or committees who understand it’s their role to say no to any new ideas. This process may need to be reinforced by remarks noting how a particular idea might make the church liable, cost money or ruffle feathers.
3. Practice the following evangelism strategy: “If they want us, they know where to find us.” Assume that everyone does know where you are and what you are. It also can be helpful if your building looks like a medieval fortress. If you don’t have that going for you, encourage ushers and greeters to look like palace guards as they perform their role.
4. Blame early and often. Maintaining dysfunction in a congregation is made easier if scapegoats are regularly identified. In some congregations, ministers make wonderful scapegoats. You may also blame “newcomers,” or “people who don’t understand how we do things in this church.” If all else fails, blame the conference, the denomination or Satan.
5. Always be prepared to make an account of the excuses that are within you. Have an all-purpose excuse such as, “I’ve just been so busy” (elaborate at great length just how busy you are, implying that no one else is busy). Occasionally try out a creative new excuse, such as, “Our dog ate the printer-ink cartridge and required an emergency appendectomy. He is now very busy, too.”
6. Make it clear to all that the job of the pastor(s) and staff is to keep everyone, meaning church members, happy. Think of your church as the “Love Boat” and the pastor as the cruise director and activity planner. The job of clergy and staff members is to keep everyone on board happy. If someone is unhappy, it’s a sure sign your pastor is not doing the job.
7. Spend as little money as possible. Even though you may enjoy spending money on personal things like a car or a cruise, you can demonstrate your commitment to modesty and simple lifestyle at church. The very best programs cost nothing. And why would your church building need renovation? If it was good enough for your grandparents, it’ll be good enough for your grandchildren.
“Fox and Friends” is always on one of the TV’s at the Y where I work out in the mornings. The volume is turned down and the closed captions are on… Now my understanding is that on a live broadcast, a real person is transcribing what is being said into a computer program that encodes it for the captioning process. Those people work hard, and I’m sure they’re wonderful people, but sometimes the mistakes that make it onto the screen are hilarious:
Barack Obama’s pastor, Jeremiah Wright, was described as his “mental tore.” (Considering some of the stuff that has come to light the last few days, that one may not be too far off…)
On Monday, St. Patrick’s day was repeatedly referred to as “said this Patrick’s day.”
Al Sharpton was identified as “reveal Sharpton.”
It’s funny to me because I have another point of reference – but it must be very confusing to the person who depends on the captions for accurate information.
Anyway, it got me thinking about how Christians talk to each other… It must sound like a secret code to folks who aren’t members of the club. Why do we ask people to “share with” us instead of “telling” us what’s going on in their lives? Why do we try to “be a blessing” to someone instead of just helping them out?
The cross and the concepts of atonement and justification and redemption and propitiation are tough enough for those who are far from God to get their heads around. Why do we compound the problem by making them learn another language, or at least another dialect?
What a terrific day we had at Jubilee! We had guests in the house and that’s always exciting… The “change up” in worship turned out good… heartfelt responses during ministry time… It all added up to a tangible sense of excitement and enthusiasm that is growing in our fellowship!
Week three of “Words that Change the World” found us taking a fresh look at two more of Jesus’ statements from the cross. “It is finished,” meant that His suffering was over and our salvation is secured. “Father, into Your Hands I commit my spirit,” speaks of Jesus’ intimacy with the Father. Having carried the sins of the world, Jesus could now place Himself and eternal destiny in the Father’s strong hands. We are invited into that same place of intimate fellowship, safety, and security – in God’s hands is the safest place to be!
We’ve got a busy week ahead – getting 5000 eggs stuffed and ready to go for the Egg Hunt on Saturday, setting the house for hosting the community Sunrise Service on Sunday, and preparing to welcome many guests for our Easter service later that morning — a huge “thanks” in advance to everyone who will tote, move, cook, park cars, greet, usher, and otherwise serve in the days to come. We’re going to need “all hands on deck!”
I almost forgot! Our new “Portable Baptistry” will arrive Monday afternoon! The folks at Tubs2Go have been great to work with, a very easy, smooth transaction. Now the challenge: will we get busy and put it to use?
Have a great week!
Another thought provoking post from David Foster, pastor of The Gathering in Nashville, TN… He is talking about an interview of Steve Ballmer, #2 man at Microsoft and one of the wealthiest men in the world.
The interviewer asked Ballmer, paraphrasing, “You’re a billionaire many times over… Why do you still work?”
Foster continues:
“I sat up and took notice to that question because it really does go to the motive of why we work. Here are the four things that Ballmer said without hesitation… this is something obviously directly in his sweet spot.
1. I love what I do. Isn’t that interesting? If you love what you do, money loses its value to motivate over time.
2. We’re changing the world. There’s that pesky little word again. Doesn’t he know we can’t change the world? Computers can’t change the world. They’re just sand after all.
3. I work with really great people. Again, another core issue that keeps coming back over and over again. If you’re not working with really great people, you need to find some way to get around them because no amount of money or benefits will make up for people that you don’t like or trust.
4. I love a challenge. What you’re really saying when you say you love a challenge is that you love really stressful, ulcer-producing situations. You love things that keep you up at night. You love burdens. You love to carry heavy loads and do the impossible.
Think of these big four. Are they all a part of your life? Even if you’re a billionaire, these are the master motivators that will continue to keep you in good stead over time.”
After I read that, I spent some time thinking about those responses and how they apply to my own life and ministry…
Natalie Grant’s new CD “Relentless” is amazing, and “In Better Hands” is one of my new favorite songs…
The video is pretty cool, too!
