Emerging Worship Blog

“I hate Christmas!” Even though it was several Christmases ago, I remember it vividly. I was standing in a long line at my local Walmart when I overheard a fellow shopper muttering it to herself. In a weird way, I think it was what many of the people around me were thinking.

It’s an overstatement, of course. We don’t hate Christmas, but there are times when I hate what it does to me and those around me. There are presents to buy, cookies to bake, travel plans to make, and cards to write. We feel like we’ve got to make our children’s dreams come true, our in-laws feel at home when they visit, and make everyone in our lives feel special with the trinkets we buy them. And we attempt to do all of this on a deadline shared by almost everyone around us. So the stores run out of the hottest toys and gadgets, the lines get long, people become rude and inconsiderate, and blood pressure boils over in parking lots. The pressure is nearly unbearable on this the most joyous time of the year. 

Odd, isn’t it? Our celebration of the birth of the Prince of Peace causes all of this turmoil. Maybe there’s another way.

Worship Series

During this Advent Season (the four Sundays leading up to Christmas) we are going to explore some possibilities during worship. How can we spend our days away from the Christmas “rush” and use this time better? In the four weeks we will explore how to

• WORSHIP FULLY because Christmas really all about Jesus
• SPEND LESS and free our resources for things that truly mater
• GIVE MORE of our presence: our hands, words, time and heart
• LOVE ALL including the poor, the forgotten, the marginalized, and the sick – in ways that make a difference. 

New! Sunday School Class at 11:00am

We will use the Advent season and Advent Conspiracy  to kick off a new 11:00 a.m. Sunday School class. We will be studying the Advent Conspiracy DVD curriculum together! Meet others who come to Emerging Worship and as we encourage and support one another as we seek to have a different experience this Christmas.

Let’s do this thing!
Let’s conspire together to have a holy Advent,
and a more blessed Christmas!

I’ve been reflecting on the still unfolding “balloon boy” saga. What a mess. I was worried with so many others when the news broke. I was relieved when I heard the balloon was landing, then saddened when I heard the balloon was empty, then angry when I read yesterday that the police said the whole thing was a hoax. How could somebody do something so manipulative just to get their reality show noticed? How could they use their kid as a pawn in such a game?

With a little distance though, I’m coming to a truth that I need to explore about myself. These people went to great extremes to get noticed, to achieve their fifteen minutes of fame, to be in (or return to) the spotlight. They crossed the line. But what about me? What do I do to get noticed? What am I willing to compromise?

I am one who stands up in front of a group of people on a regular basis to speak and/or sing a song. I am also one who writes blogs, devotions, newsletters and articles, and one who would like to write professionally. I also share my thoughts on Twitter and Facebook. I’m not going to put my son in a balloon anytime soon, even though he is 13, but what am I willing to do? Am I just trying to get noticed or am I doing what God is calling me to do? Am I sharing Him, or am I promoting me?

There’s my struggle. What about you? How do you keep your ego in check? Are you willing to bend the rules to get a promotion? Are you willing to look the other way to avoid a conflict? Are you willing to leave out parts of the story so that you look better? Our egos can tempt us the cross the line. It’s probably a good idea to think through where that line is for you and ways you might already be crossing it without even knowing it.   

Not too many of us are going to pretend our child has flown away in a flying saucer balloon so that we might get our fifteen minutes – that’s extreme. But lots of us are willing to bend the rules a little to get what we want.

Maybe balloon boy has a lesson for us all. A lesson in humility.

I just finished reading Donald Miller’s latest book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. I bought it on Friday and today is Tuesday. Needless to say, I couldn’t put this book down. I left Leonard Sweets Three Simple Words at the office over the weekend, and only intended to read a few pages of Million Miles in the meantime.

Miller was given the opportunity to think about story, the story of his life, as his memoir, Blue Like Jazz, was being adapted to be turned into a movie. What an opportunity! He learns that life is all about the stories we write. If we want a better life, all we need to do is enter a better story.

What an inspirational read. Go get it and let me know what you think.

The Return of the prodigal Son by Rembrandt

You may know the so-called story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32), one of Jesus’ parables. But you may not know as much about it as you think. The word prodigal doesn’t mean one who runs away and returns, as I always thought it did. Rather it means, “Rashly or wastefully extravagant” or “Giving or given in abundance; lavish or profuse” (Source: TheFreeDictionary.com). Maybe you are a crossword puzzle afficiando and you already knew that, but that is a revelation to me.

Timothy Keller, in his book The Prodigal God, takes a look with fresh eyes at this parable we think we know so well. He puts the parable in context noting that it is told to a crowd of predominately Pharisees and “religion scholars” (Luke 15:1-3) – religious guys who were a whole lot more like the older brother in the story than the younger. So maybe this story is less about the brother who runs away and more about the brother who stays home and at the end of the story resents his younger brother and thinks that somehow his father owes him. Is this how we see our relationship with God?

The prodigal in this story is not the son who wastes all that money. Rather, that adjective best describes the generous father, God, who continues to give extravagantly of himself for his sons. What a great story of the love of God for all of us, whether we wander or stay with him. What a great story of failing and forgiveness. And what a warning that we never want our attitude to be that of the older brother.

Join us in worship beginning October 25th for a sermon series called Prodigal God. Explore with us our God who loves this extravagantly. May we heed the warning of this parable to avoid becoming older brothers whose pride causes us to miss out on the party in the end!

This is a re-post from Pastor Joe’s blog called “Working It Out.”

A new worship gathering is starting at my church, Tri-Lakes United Methodist in Monument, CO. Our staff struggled to find the right descriptive title for this new venture. We wanted to convey that this worship was unlike the two Sunday morning worship services we currently offer. We wanted to stay away from the word contemporary because we felt that connotes a style-only description, and we know this gathering will be much more than the same old church with a band instead of an organ. Eventually we settled on the title Emerging Worship.

Some reading this know that emergent is a church word, and a loaded one at that. Some hear the word emergent in this context and think of pandering to make the Gospel palatable to the masses while giving up too much. Others, like me, are excited by the word emergent because it signals something new and relevant; a holistic theology. While we hinted at the loaded church-word, we didn’t use it. We used a derivative, emerging.

e·merg·ing (adj.) – 1. coming to maturity 2. coming into existence (from Princeton University’s WordNet)

If I do say so myself, I like the name a lot. Whether you have been a Christian for decades, or you just want to explore what it means to be a Christian, your faith is emerging – coming to maturity, coming into existence. None of us has arrived. All of us are in a process of having our faith become known to us and to others around us. Calling worship emerging says that no matter where you are in that process, you are welcomed, accepted, and loved.

I found a quote from Tim Gallwey in Dave Ramsey’s The Total Money Makeover quite helpful in my understanding of what it means to be emerging:

When we plant a rose seed in the earth, we notice that it is small, but we do not criticize it as “rootless and stemless.” We treat it as a seed, giving it the water and nourishment required of a seed. When it first shoots up out of the earth, we don’t condemn it as immature and underdeveloped; nor do we criticize the buds for not being open when they appear. We stand in wonder at the process taking place and give the plant the care it needs at each stage of its development. The rose is a rose from the time it is a seed to the time it dies. Within it, at all times, it contains its whole potential. It seems to be constantly in the process of change; yet at each state, at each moment, it is perfectly all right as it is (W. Timothy Gallwey (The Inner Game of Tennis) as quoted online).

That’s what I want TLUMC’s Emerging Worship to share with those who attend. None of our faith journeys is complete. We all need to grow, change, and develop. Yet, at the same time, we are perfectly all right where we are.

Starting September 13 a new worship experience is coming to Tri-Lakes United Methodist Church. It’s not church like you have experienced before. If you are seeking for an experience with God, but aren’t sure you really want to come to church, this may just be the place for you.

There will be a message, but it won’t really be a ’sermon’ most weeks. It won’t be a teaching, but you’ll probably learn something you didn’t know before. For us worship isn’t about one person transmitting information to a group, but rather a group being led to discovery through interaction with one another, and more importantly with our living Lord, something about themselves, one another, and their Creator.

The praise team is rehearsing songs that will help to usher us into the Kingdom of God. Pastor Bob and Pastor Joe are working on themes for the new worship. Video clips are being collected. Scripts are being written and interviews filmed. We’re praying, reading, asking questions, generally preparing our hearts and minds for this new gathering.

September 13, 9:30 a.m. Join us!