“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
Mattew 11:28-30 The Message (emphasis added)

Studies have shown that people have a natural inclination toward music with a tempo close to their heart rate. In other words, our bodies have a natural and unforced rhythmic drive within them. To play a piece of music with a tempo faster or slower than our natural inclination takes a very deliberate and intentional focus.

Musically when we force the rhythms and tempo, it becomes out of sync and loses it’s character, inherent beauty. The focus becomes on the musician rather than the music.

What happens when we seek to bypass the unforced rhythms of grace? Do we become out of sync? Does our character suffer? Do we become less beautiful? Do we become the focus?

I was reminded of that story as I was reflecting on a humbling and encouraging truth for any person in any type of leadership within the church:

God was at work long before you arrived on the scene and He will be at work long after you are gone.

Oftentimes people in a leadership or influence capacity are highly visionary. We come into a situation with grand ideas of how we’re going to accomplish all that we’re going to accomplish. It’s easy for our own visionary tendencies to crowd out the much grander vision of what God has already been up to.

When we first moved to Texas, there were occasions when someone would begin sharing with me a meaningful story involving one of the people who previously led the ministry I currently steward. In the beginning, I wasn’t quite sure how to take those stories. Were they wishing that person were still around? Were they being somehow passive-aggressive? But as time went on, God helped me to see these stories as an insight into what He had been and is current up to. These are stories that I need to celebrate!

God is at work. It’s not about you. Celebrate.

The trussing was donated by COHer, Ed Bandy. I hung black fabric using zip ties and five strips of crinkled up aluminum window screen. Throw some color on the screens using four American DJ Mega Bars and there you have it! Simple, versatile, and very inexpensive. The LED light bars are a great addition because it will allow us to change colors to match the environmental projection easily during gatherings.

My life began like any other man held beneath a mother’s loving gaze
Somewhere between now and then I lost the man I could have been
Took everything that wasn’t mine to take but Love believes that it is not too late
Only one of us deserves this cross, a suffering that should belong to me
Deep within this man I hang beside is the place where shame and grace collide
And it’s beautiful agony that He believes it’s not too late for me

This is how Love wins, every single time
Climbing high upon a tree where someone else should die
This is how Love heals, the deepest part of you
Letting Himself bleed into the middle of your wounds
This is what Love says, standing at the door
You don’t have to be who you’ve been before
Silenced by His voice, death can’t speak again
This is how Love wins

Did you see this moment from the start that we would drink this cup of suffering?
I wonder, did we ever meet? Childhood games in dusty streets
For all my many sorrows and regrets nothing could compare to just this one
That in the presence of my King I cannot fall upon my knees
I cannot carry You up to Your throne; You instead, will carry me back home.

This is how Love wins, every single time
Climbing high upon a tree where someone else should die
This is how Love heals, the deepest part of you
Letting Himself bleed into the middle of your wounds
This is what Love says, standing at the door
You don’t have to be who you’ve been before
Silenced by His voice, death can’t speak again
This is how Love wins

What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood, nothing but the blood
What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood, nothing but the blood
Cause this is what Love says, standing at the door
You don’t have to be who you’ve been before
And silenced by His voice, death can’t speak again
This is how Love wins.

I’ve read and quoted Romans 12:1 countless times.

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is true worship.” Romans 12:1 (TNIV)

This morning as I was going through a devotional, I was encouraged to look in the remainder of Romans 12 for some very practical ways of offering our lives as worship. For whatever reason, I had never made this connection between the first verse and the remaining 20! So I started making a list of what I found. I’m sure I missed a point or two, but here’s what I found just in Romans 12:

1. Don’t fall in line with the ways of the world. (v.2)

2. Be transformed by renewing your mind. (v.2)

3. Go for God’s pleasing will. (v.2)

4. Don’t get a big head. (v.3)

5. Be identified by your faith. (v.3)

6. Submit to one another. (v.5)

7. Use the gift(s) you’ve been given for the benefit of others. (v.7, 8)

8. Be sincere. (v.9)

9. Hate evil. (v.9)

10. Cling to good. (v.9)

11. Be devoted to one another. (v.10)

12. Honor others. (v.10)

13. Maintain your passion for God. (v.11)

14. Be joyful in hope. (v.12)

15. Be patient in affliction. (v.12)

16. Be faithful in prayer. (v.12)

17. Share with those in need. (v.13)

18. Be hospitable. (v.13)

19. Bless those who hate you. (v.14)

20. Rejoice with those who rejoice. (v.15)

21. Mourn with those who mourn. (v.15)

22. Live in harmony. (v.16)

23. Keep pride in check. (v.16)

24. Associate with those others wouldn’t expect you to associate with. (v.16)

25. Do not repay evil for evil. (v.17)

26. Do what is right. (v.17)

27. Strive to live at peace with others. (v.18)

28. Do not seek revenge. (v.19)

29. Submit vengeance to God alone. (v.19)

30. Feed your enemies when they are hungry. (v.20)

31. Quench the thirst of your thirsty enemy. (v.20)

32. Do not be overcome by evil. (v.21)

33. Overcome evil with good. (v.21)

Obviously this isn’t a list to simply be checked off or just another set of things to do, but it certainly gives us more than a starting point of offering lives as worship—our love expressed. What quickly jumped out to me in this list is how much of it involves our interactions with other people.

Does anything about this list stand out to you?

We used to do a professional postcard mailing out to area neighborhoods, but for the past few years we’ve simply provided in-house printed invite cards for people to share with friends and neighbors. It seems to work just as well, if not better. We also try to put things on Facebook for people to share. I put this promo together last Wednesday as something people could share. The project was created in After Effects using a background that I already had and some stock audio. From start to finish, it was about a seven hour project. Probably too long, but I’m still learning!

Christmas Eve at Hope 2012 from Community of Hope on Vimeo.

As followers of Jesus, I believe we always have a reason to be thankful and to praise Him. Just typing that last sentence makes me feel like some sort of expert who has everything figured out and even has an organized sock drawer. But that is not the case. (Neither the expert part nor the sock drawer.) This Thanksgiving, no matter where life finds you, may we be Obstinately Thankful.

Don’t be content living off of rumors of who God is or only from someone else’s revelation. God will speak to you if you will listen for Him. I’ve never heard the audible voice of God, but He has spoken to me time and time again through His Word, His people, and His Spirit.

In his book, Secondhand Jesus, Glen Packiam writes,

Rumors grow in the absence of revelation. Every time we keep God at arm’s length, declining an active, living knowledge of Him, we become vulnerable to rumors. Lulled by false comfort and half-truths about God, we—in Keith Green’s famous words—fall asleep in the light.

What is God saying to you and how is He leading you today? What would happen if we all strived to live so connected to God that we were ready at all times to hear from Him? If Abraham had been operating on three-day-old revelation, he would’ve killed Isaac.

What is God saying to you today?

“I admit I once lived by rumors of you; now I have it all firsthand—from my own eyes and ears! I’ll never again live on crusts of hearsay, crumbs of rumor.” Job
(Job 42 The Message)

I had something in mind for the design, but I couldn’t find an affordable way to make it happen. With the ancient-modern nature of the series, I was wanting to use natural and earthy materials to create a warm vibe. It would need to work complementary to the EP media, but also look attractive when EP isn’t being used.

On Thursday night of last week I mentioned at the end of the worship team rehearsal that I still wasn’t sure what I was going to do. I asked if anyone had some shipping pallets that I could have access to. Sure enough, Wylie (acoustic guitar) was able to help me out! Of course, I still had no idea what I was going to do with them! I just knew that one of the best solutions is to find something simple and repeat it over and over again.

The part of this design that I’m most proud of is the candle holders. They’re 2″ wood screws with a large washer hot glued to them. The candles are all LED to avoid a spontaneous evangelistic outreach to the fire department.