Stop singing in Church…No make a joyful noise

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20150612_131958So I cant sing.  I am actually maybe the worst singer ever.  This past Sunday my wife commented to me that I should try not to sing out because I could scare the people around me. (this was in jest)  Once when I was in college at chapel I sat between two choir members and they both asked if I could stop singing for one of the verses because I was so off key it was throwing them off.  I am bad and I know it. On occasion at Church I leave my mic on and others know it, but I still sing.  This blog post has nothing to do with others joking comments. I don’t think anyone of them was seriously asking me to not sing just having some playful banter.

I think everyone should sing in Church.  I think everyone should be an active participant in the worship service.  I sit in the front row of Church and often sit where I can see most of the men and women in my Church skipping the singing part.  This by the way has nothing to do with contemporary or traditional worship services.  Sure sometime the key for the song is unsingable or the hymn uses words no one understands or can sing.  We may have many reasons people don’t sing but if you are not doing it because you are an awful singer please listen up.

The saddest reason I think people don’t sing is because they think they sound terrible.  They are afraid to sing out because they don’t want to be embarrassed.  Well let me tell you something I know as a youth guy.  Your kids are watching.  Your boys sitting in the pew are watching you mom and dad.  They are watching you and thinking Dad thinks this Church thing is dumb, so we think it is dumb.  Mom doesn’t sing so we can check out of this Church thing. Please, please, please sing.  Mom, dad, grandpa, and grandma please sing.  It is better for you to be involved worship, but most important it shows those young people around you that you care about this Jesus.  I know you know and love Jesus. I really want you to show that to others by being involved.  Sing loud and praise the Lord.

In college my favorite line a friend Rev. Dave Herald  and I used to say.  “If you have a good voice sing loud and praise God…If you have a horrible voice sing loud and get back at him!”  Enjoy God’s gift of song, sing to the lord and receive his blessings through the worship services.  Help lead by example to our young people that this Jesus who came and died for us is worth giving praise in response to his good gifts.

Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Psalm 95:1 ESV

Desecerning a Call…what does it mean?

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20150608_224256_001So yesterday at St. Peter’s it was announced that I have received a call to serve as the Director of Child and Family ministry at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Rochester MI.  So at High School youth group we talked briefly about what that meant and a student asked me how do you know what to do? How do you know you made the right decision? I was very glad she asked the question because I think many of us struggle with this as well in our everyday lives.  I am not going to claim to be this great expert but I thought for many of us in ministry it can be helpful to hear what others go through in their process to discern a call. By the way I don’t believe their is any perfect way to discern a call. I thought I would just get some thoughts on the computer screen to let others see how I discern a call.

When I am discerning a call the first and most important thing I do is pray.  I pray, I ask others to pray, and when I think I am done I pray some more.  We cannot underestimate the importance of this step. Everything in the call may seem great, the money, people, location, ministry, and good for family. Its the perfect Church. (This doesn’t exist by the way)  The most important thing I do when I receive a call is pray.

For those who are praying for me it is ok to be selfish in your prayers.  You want me to stay or you want me to come, it is ok to pray that, but I would ask you add this one part to your prayer, may God’s will be done. If you care about me or any worker going through the call process to serve another Church please pray that we will be doing God will in this decision.  God’s will is ultimately done in all this, but we pray that God will let us see His will and follow it.

Every Church worker looks at different criteria for a call.  For me it has always come down to these few questions.  Can I serve this new Church in the way they are asking me to do it? Am I a good fit?  Is my move helping the Kingdom of God? The first question is normally fairly easy for me to answer. The second is the tougher question. The last question I ask myself was shared with me by a DCE friend and it comes from a book he read. (I am not sure of the book or I would quote it here) “Are we leaving a call at the end of the book or at the end of the chapter?” This is probably the toughest question of all to answer.  This is why prayer is so key to these types of decisions.  Most of the time I listen to people who are praying also.  I listen to trusted friends and fellow workers to answer these questions. I talk with my wife and kids about these questions.  I read the scripture in search of answers.  Most importantly I listen. I listen and try to hear God speak the answers to these questions.

Lastly as a point of practice I normally make a decision at night and take an evening to pray about it one more time. If I have that peace the passes human understanding the next morning, I feel comfortable I am following God’s lead. I then start to share with others around me what the decision is. If it is a tough night, and don’t have that peace, then it is time for more prayer.  I want that peace. At a certain point you have to make a decision and you do and then you pray some more that God allows everything to go smoothly no mater the decision.

By the way Church workers are not the only ones who go through this. All people have a call in their vocations. We should all be going through this process when we think about where God is leading us to be and work. It shouldn’t matter if it is a Church, or retail job, janitor or babysitter, we should all be discerning God’s desire for us and where to serve.

So I am asking all of you, will you pray for me as I discern my calling to serve in these two places. Help me to know where Jesus would have me serve his Church. May God lead all of us on the path he would have us travel.

I didn’t hear the sermon…but I saw Jesus and shared Jesus with my squirly neice.

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DSC_0004I have a confession to make. This past Sunday I missed most of what happened in Church.  In fact I apparently missed my Brother in-law Pastor say that we worship three Gods in one person.(All pastor’s have slips  of the tongue) It was trinity Sunday and apparently he made this mistake during the opening announcements of the service. I tried to pay attention, I really did. However for this service I had one job in mind. I was going to keep my niece occupied so my Sister-in-law could enjoy the service of the baptism of her son. My self appointed job was sitting with my niece and trying to keep her quiet and distracted.  She is what I would call a wild child and I love her for it.  During the service I asked her in my quiet voice if I could suck her thumb that she was sucking.  I don’t know why I did it except she was starting to get noisy and point to Mom, and I though maybe it would make her smile. It did and for the whole hymn she kept trying to stick her disgusting thumbs into my mouth. (By the way she has a tendency to stick her hands in her diaper quite often just for the visual) This was the beginning of probably the most amazing worship service I have been a part of in awhile.

You see next my niece went up with all the other little kids and saw the baptism.  It was a very cool moment. When she returned, we spent the rest of the service quietly talking about it. Most of the message I spent pointing at the hymnal I was holding and showing her the baptism picture on it.  I quietly sat and talked with her about how she was baptized when she was a little baby and that one day she would be with Jesus. I talked about how I would be with Jesus because I was baptized too.  She smiled such a great smile and laughed her little laugh all very quietly. She would point to the baptismal font and then to herself and laugh. It was pure joy. We went to communion and I got to share with my niece about Jesus again. She smiled and we had the best time together. I held her and sang a hymn to her. At the last hymn she was tired and fell asleep in my arms. When the service was done the lady behind me said “What I did with that little girl was a miracle.”  I am not sure it was a miracle but It was a great day as an uncle because I got to share Jesus with my 2 year old niece.

It was not a miracle. It was a good weekend. It was a good day.  Two things I hope everyone takes from this story. First it is ok to give up a worship service to help a little one know Jesus and allow others to hear about him. It is ok to just pack it in and say you know what today is about my niece and everyone else in the room. I know parents who miss a lot in the service because they are devoting their lives to help their kids hear about Jesus.

Second and here is my challenge for congregations.  Maybe next week when you see that mom or dad who are struggling with their small child  to listen to the sermon you can sit next to them. Offer to hold one of the young ones during the service so they can hear about Jesus.  Take time with the little ones who are squirmy. Share Jesus  with them.  It can be a blessing for all involved.

but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 19:14

Facebook Christianity and my blurry life…We are all broken, ugly, sinners.

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WP_20150308_16_42_06_ProI know I am not the only one to make this observation; People are not real on Facebook!  We only put the best out for others to see. We will take a picture 5 times if we don’t think it looks good. This can be difficult for Christians and others who are going through tough stuff.  We all post the best picture, video or quote.  We want others to believe everything about us is awesome. I know I do it.  I post when we are doing family game night, reading our bible together or having a family hug moment.  I don’t know that I have ever posted a picture when one of the kids is having a tantrum, or in the middle of a fight.  I know none of you have seen a video of me screaming at my children over something trivial. I never show you my unkempt house, my piles of dirty laundry or the time I left the seat up.  I don’t want people to see those moments.  I want them to see the good. Heck, I only want to see the good.

So it got me thinking, what if for a week we took pictures everyday, every 15 minutes or so? What if I took pictures of the mundane, the broken, and the bad? What if everything posted to Facebook wasn’t the good stuff, but was me at my worst? What if I posted pictures from angles not so flattering to myself or  only posted pictures that are too blurry to see? I suppose some of you would be offended, many would be annoyed, others would look down on me. Many would know for certain what they have always suspected, Steve is a broken sinner. Steve is selfish, Steve is a slob, Steve doesn’t do much right at all!  To be truthful you would all be right.

For those of you who know me, don’t worry I am not going to post pictures every 15 minutes.  You won’t have too unfriend or block my posts…hopefully. I write this because I want us all to be reminded we are broken. I to fail more than I succeed. I to am in need of Christ’s forgiveness.   We all need His grace, forgiveness, and mercy. We need it each day.

If this week you experience in real life the ugly and the broken, and you are ashamed of it. I would try to remind you, Facebook isn’t real life.  It isn’t real Christianity.  In real life the picture is actually blurry and often broken.  You are not alone. Jesus is there  with you.  He had gone through it as well. We have all been forgiven in Christ.

Therefore (Jesus) had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. Hebrew 2:17-19 ESV

Stripping paint… How ministry can be tough when you don’t get to see the end of the project.

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DSC01756This past weekend I was on a retreat with High school students from Big Rapids, Muskegon, and Grand Rapids. I loved it.  I loved talking about Christ with them and on the first night we spent talking about the term whatever.  We focused on whatever we do, we do it for Jesus.  If we hold the door open we do if for Jesus, If we clean up after dinner we do it for Jesus, If we scrape paint we do it for Jesus.

We scraped a lot of paint.  In fact when we arrived we had thought we would be painting.  We came to finish this great project.  Instead we spent 8 hours scraping one building.  It was hard work.  The building was build in 1957 and had at least 6 coats of paint on it.  The process was spread paint remover goop on building, wait 30 minutes scrape, get off a layer or two,  and repeat.  If you waited too long it got dry and stopped working. At one point someone said “Wow this is hard work.” And I said “Yes and we are paying to do it!” It was hard and to be honest. I am not sure we all had the satisfaction of seeing a completely striped building ready for paint. Being the scraper of paint is tough work and not very satisfying.

So I think scraping paint reminds a lot of being a disciple of Jesus. Sharing Jesus with students, friends, families, enemies and everyone in between is tough work.  Sometimes when we spread the good news you don’t get to see it finished. even after you spend a lot of time on it.  We would love for it to happen so quickly. We would love to be able to pray, talk and conversion happens.  You don’t always get to see the beautiful building God is working them into.  You see siding that looks beat up.  You see the little bits of stubborn paint on a person that just isn’t wiped clean.  Sometimes at the end of your time with the building, you don’t see the finished project just a building you worked on.  I can be so frustrating.

I tried to tell the students this weekend.  This project isn’t complete.  We did what God had planned for us to complete.  We followed Jesus. We served and one day the whole project will be finished.  It wasn’t our job to finish it was are call to start the project.

As you think about that person, or family who needs to hear about Jesus, and are frustrated that the job isn’t done remember we all play a part and sometimes we don’t get to see the finish just are part of the process.

What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.  1 Corinthians 3:5-7 ESV