Music is Worship

It’s in the moments when you are completely silent that you can reflect on how profoundly limited language is to communicate. In the very same moment, with nothing but the sound of wind through the trees, the soft chirping of sparrows or the ambience of your favourite song playing through your ipod you can realize just how powerful music is. There is something about music that compels us. There is something about it that communicates a deep, inward expression, foreign to the restricted world of words. In some mysterious way, music seems to fill in the blanks that words can’t quite reach.

In fact, there have been countless times in my life where I have heard really nice sounding words, but I never really understood them until I heard them sung. This last weekend was one of those moments. Two weeks ago this Saturday my Grandma went to be with Jesus. “Grammy” as her grandchildren called her. The funeral took place this last Saturday. The funeral was very much a celebration of her life. The tears that were shed were both of sorrow and of joy. Sorrow because she loved so well and she will be greatly missed. Joy because she is experiencing the very thing she devoted her life to sharing and experiencing: eternal life with Jesus. Leading up to the funeral we had been talking about this as a family, sharing meaningful moments and stories of her life. We had been more or less discussing how the most important aspect of her life was her faith in God. In the perspective of my Grammy’s entire life, through all the laughter, talks, warming up blankets in the middle of summer because it was never quite warm enough for her, opening Christmas stocking together, through all of that the most important part of Grammy’s life was her faith. It wasn’t the fun we had together, it wasn’t the memories, it wasn’t even how great we felt because of her. It was her deep and passionate pursuit of God’s love which she showed all her life. With hours of tears from the moment of her death I thought about this. The funeral on Saturday opened with some kind words of Grammy and a reminder of the significance her life possessed because of Christ. After this, we all sang a hymn and then my sister sang a song on her own. The song she chose was a common one I had heard many times before in church, “When it’s all been said and done.” That was exactly what we were saying about Grammy before the funeral. Just like the lyrics of the song say, “When it’s all been said and done, there is just one thing that matters. Did I do my best to live for truth; did I live my life for you?” Powerful words. Powerful words that I really never understood until this past weekend. As my sister sang the opening verse, the words of the song started to come alive. As the music continued, the words grew stronger and stronger, drawing their very life from the music that surrounded them. What happened next, though, changed everything. At the beginning of the second verse, my sister suddenly became very quiet. For the rest of her song her eyes welled with tears as she fought through each note with little more than a loud whisper. Even now, trying to write this is near impossible without crying. There in that quiet moment, the song became beautiful. The words of the song gained life, and for the first time I realized the depth of what it means to live for truth above all else. My Grandma lived that so well. Her life reflected the very words of this song to God.

The day after the funeral I was driving out to a hillside overlooking Cochrane with my girlfriend. We were listening to a mixed CD she had made for me because of my Grandma passing away. It was filled with carefully chosen music, soft, reflective and peaceful, just exactly what I needed. I mentioned to her on the way out to the hillside how much I loved the worship songs she chose. She turned to me with a smile forming in the corner of her mouth and said, “well, they’re not all Christian songs, but they are all worship songs.” I asked her what she meant and she responded, “Well, it’s the beauty of the music and the passion and hope behind it that makes it worship.” My first thought was, “Well, she may be crazy, but at least she’s a looker.” I thought about it a little more, and I can’t say that she was right, because we have a little game going where we keep score on who’s right and I’m not about to let her win that game. I will say, however, that there is profound depth and truth to her words (that’s different that saying “she was right,” right? Right? Ah well, at least I tried).

In all seriousness, her words changed my perspective on worship. It’s not about the words. For that matter, it’s not about the music. Words are just words and notes are just notes. Without passion and deep inward expression, words and notes are just noise. But with hope and personal connection words and notes can become musical worship to God.

Ephesians 5:19 says to “make music in your heart to God”. Verse 20 tells us that in doing so we will “give thanks to God for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”. Make music in your heart to God. There are three things there: Make music; in your heart; to God.

Make Music.
In your heart.
To God.

It doesn’t say, “make music with your mouth to God”, it doesn’t say, “make music with a pretty sounding instrument to God”, it says, “make music in your heart to God”. It is not about the notes. It is not about the words. It is not about saying the right creed or doing the right thing or being Christian or non-Christian. It is about the beauty that comes when music is made in your heart to God. It is about worshipping God from the deepest part of your soul. Worship is not absent of emotion in order to make sure you are worshipping “properly”, but very much out of our emotion and exactly what our soul is feeling to the very corners of who we are. This is why we can be standing in church and singing the words of a hymn or chorus and not be worshiping at all. At the same time, for the same reason we can be making music, out loud or quietly, with or without words, with our voice or with an instrument, yes even with or without sound, we can be making music that is not a “Christian” song and experience complete worship to God.

Make music in your heart to God.

That is exactly what Grammy did her entire life. She made music in her heart to God. Whether it was through her morning devotions, her kind words to her grandchildren, her endless support of the church and people in need, her deep love of family, or her prayers for each of her children and grandchildren whom she mentioned by name each and every morning, my Grandma lived to worship God. The very life she lived was beautiful music to God.

When you attend a funeral, especially one of a loved family member, you begin to realize how finite your own is. You begin to reconsider the routines and programs on your weekly schedule. All of the hours we spend stressing and planning around the minutia of life’s routines are meaningless in comparison to the life God has given us to live for him. Actually, it’s really quite laughable. Everything we think to be important in this life by worldly standards is entirely pointless. Yet, we are consumed by how our life looks to other people.

Consider this: What if we were less focussed on how our life looks to the world and more focussed on how the worship of our life sounds to God.

If we could hear the sound our life makes as God hears it, would we hear beautiful music or chaotic noise?

I have to admit, I love the CD my girlfriend gave me. I listen to it basically non-stop. Just yesterday I was listening to the song, “Kiss the Rain” by Starfield. There are no words, just a piano playing softly, peacefully, beautifully. It’s one of my favourite songs on the CD. After reading Ephesians 5:19-20, I thought to myself, “I want my life to sound like this.”

I am convinced that God was completely aware of the limitations and restrictions of language when he gave it to us to communicate. I think that’s why God gave us music. Music allows us to share something that we could never share with language. It makes the words in Zephaniah 3:17 stand out to me:

The LORD your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing.

God quiets me so I can hear the music of how he loves me. He wants me to hear not the words of how he feels, but the richness of his intimacy. Beautiful.

I encourage you, take a moment this week and listen to a quiet song without words. Listen to the music. Listen to the passion. Think about the music that your life makes. What does it sound like?

You may or may not know my Grandma. Either way, I wonder, can you hear her song? Can you hear the music her life made to God? You know, if we all sounded like that, each in our own experience and with our own unique personality, I think we might truly know what beauty sounds like. Because when it is made in our heart to God
Music
Is
Worship.

24 Things

Today is my 24th birthday and I thought it would be appropriate to post this. Here are 24 things I’ve learned this last year:

24
God can use even the simplest moments of your life to prepare you for the future, even letting you see a piece of the future in your present. So pay attention.
23
There’s no use wasting your energy trying to be someone else. The best gift you can give the world is to be completely and entirely you
22
When you get older, your hair thins out, making shaving your head quite an interesting experience
21
Your friends are the ones you trust the most, which makes you the easiest target for them to prank
20
Giving up something you love is really hard, especially when that thing gives you energy, warms you up and tastes like the best birthday you’ve ever had all in a cup. Coffee, how I miss you.
19
Canada is massive, diverse, extraordinary and free, making it in my opinion the most beautiful country on earth.
18
Although a green Sebring may be a gramma’s car, it’s good on gas, nice to drive, and definitely grows on you
17
TV, youtube and videogames are an incredible waste of time, but sometimes an incredible waste of time is exactly what you need. Mostly they are just a waste of time, though.
16
Pop, slurpees, lattes, shakes, floats; these all taste wonderful, but water actually does taste quite nice. It refreshes you better than any other drink and it is infinitely healthier for you. Oh, and it’s cheaper. You have every reason to choose water as your drink of preference. Coffee is basically water with awesomeness added, so that is acceptable to me as well.
15
Macbooks are one of the best selling laptops of all time and arguably the most popular computer among college students. The ipad is one of the most compelling pieces of mass produced technology in the new millennium. The iphone makes every other cell phone look like a walkie talkie. Ipod is a household term for a music player; some kids have no idea what an mp3 player is. Businesses love them. Homes can’t get enough of them. Some companies would crash altogether without them. I don’t care what you think, the fact of the matter is apple owns.
14
No matter where you are or who is around you, the new baby in your family is by default the cutest baby in the world.
13
Laughing is extremely good for your health, and among other things, your abs. I am fully convinced you can have a six pack if you laugh enough
12
A number, be that a statistic, money, attendance, phone number, password, or whatever else it may be, means nothing save the human being behind it.
11
Never run after an ideal or dream when the main reason is to benefit yourself. It always ends poorly
10
Confronting people is downright hard. I hate it. It makes people angry. But it is infinitely better to confront people than to let the anger grow into hate in my own heart
9
You are good at what you love in one way or another. And if you spend enough time discovering and nurturing your passions, you will learn to love what you are good at.
8
You will always make time for what you want. “I don’t have time” is just another way of saying “I don’t want to”. As young adults we have the hardest time committing to anything, not because we are the busiest, but because we, more than any other group of people, have next to no idea what we actually want.
7
Youth are awesome. If you love them and have the patience for them, they will blow your expectations out of the water almost every time
6
Complaining about others is very easy and doesn’t solve anything. Interestingly enough, the things that bug me most are usually the things I am most guilty of
5
God’s plan, though it may not turn out the way you wanted or expected, is definitely best
4
Even when there looks like no direction, no possibility, no answer, no point and no hope, God provides. Every. Time.
3
Someone who prays for you, hugs you, stays up at night for you, listens to you, cries with you, laughs with you, compliments you and believes in you definitely, without a doubt, loves you more than you know.
2
The people closest to you are the people you will likely hurt the most. That is why humility and forgiveness are so important
And the number one thing I’ve learned this last year is:
Jesus is alive and compelling by nature. He doesn’t need you to want him, he wants you to discover how very much you need him.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this! You have a special place in my heart. My prayer is that these words would serve to encourage you and give you hope.

Here's What I Think

Here’s what I think: I think that Facebook status updates are abused by far too many people far too often. I mean, I am genuinely interested in getting to know people, but do I really need to know when you are showering? I think there is a limit. In fact, I think there should be facebook police that give people a fine for unnecessary status updates. Or how about a fine for too many status updates in one day. It would be kind of like a speeding ticket, except online. “Sir, you are currently travelling 50 in a 30 status update zone. That will be $200.”

Here’s what I think: I think that there are too many choices at fast food joints. The slowest part of “fast food” is waiting for people to decide what they want. Either people should be more decisive or fast food joints should have fewer choices. I guess I could learn patience too.

Here’s what I think: I think that people far too often say things digitally that they would never say in person; texting and emails mostly. There is something about not having to look the person in the eyes and saying something that gives people false confidence in themselves. Whether it’s a compliment or a criticism, if you can’t say it to the person’s face, you should question why you are saying it at all.

On that note: people, don’t flirt with someone over texting or email in a way that you would not do in person. In fact, if you want to flirt with someone, your best chance of success is in person. Every time. Yes, yes, I know I’m single right now, but I also know I’m right about this one. This is more of a “here’s what I know” post rather than a “here’s what I think” post. But I felt compelled to say it.

Here’s what I think: I think that if you don’t sweat when you work out, you have no business going to the gym. If you want to flex in a mirror, your washroom at home is free. If you want attention from that cute guy or girl, try talking to them. Again, talking is free. If you want people to see how good looking you are, hate to break it to you, but if you are in the gym or not, you still look the same. Just accept it and save your money; no need to buy a gym membership. If you want to check out people who are working out, you are a creep and getting fit is the last thing on your mind. Do us all a favour, save the gym for those of us who ACTUALLY want to use it. Because believe it or not, my gym membership was NOT free. Thank you.

Here’s what I think: I think that playing co-ed sports is a bad idea. I mean, seriously, how is a guy supposed to concentrate on the game when there is a smoking hot girl on the other team who has the ball. I mean, is he going to go up to her and steal the ball from her to impress her? And he can’t play hard against her because what if she gets hurt? I mean, what if the two of them go hard for the ball (playing soccer of course), kick the ball at the same time, causing the girl to sprain her ankle, start crying, and causing the guy to look like a complete bonehead, all the while crushing the guy’s hopes and dreams of ever getting the girl’s number? I will leave it up to your imagination whether or not I am speaking from personal experience on this one.

Here’s what I think: I think that the only way you are going to succeed in New Year’s resolution is by starting before New Year’s. The reason resolutions don’t work is because people don’t know what commitment is. Figure out commitment first and then figure out a resolution.

Here’s what I think: the weather is extremely interesting. I mean, you could spend hours just talking about different types and shapes of clouds. You could spend more hours just talking about the crazy storms and non-seasonal weather. Weather is extremely interesting. As such, it is a perfectly acceptable opening conversation piece.

Here’s what I think: if you have read this far, I am extremely impressed and a little encouraged as well. If you have not read this far, well, your loss.

Here’s what I think: Youtube is going to overtake TV soon in terms of time spent viewing. I think people are more interested in watching ridiculous 5 minute clips than the terrible sitcoms on lately. I enjoy Big Bang Theory, Simpsons, Sports and News. The rest is a waste of time. I for one would watch 5 minutes of youtube way before losing valuable brain cells to the likes of American Dad or NCIS. Also, I find it amazing how entertaining some commercials are. I would go on youtube and watch half an hour of old spice adds or Reebok “Terry Tate” adds before half the stud on TV any day.

Here’s what I think: Facebook’s days are numbered. It was an incredible fad, I will give it that. And, it has lasted for quite a while, but its days are numbered; especially considering the fact that it keeps changing the appearance and settings. Seriously, what is up with facebook messaging these days. I can hardly read a message from someone now without looking forever just to see where the conversation originated. And what is up with the security settings? Every month it seems some new adjustment has been made that alters my security settings so that anyone and everyone can have free reign over all my content. It’s bad enough having the top of the screen on each person’s profile detailed with: “Name... Home City... Current City... Status... Relationship status... Cell phone number... address... family... who you’re voting for... where you are right now” I’m quite surprised it doesn’t say, “Social Insurance Number... Credit Card information... Medical history.... When I will be back home... best times of day to be robbed and/or kidnapped...” But now with the bi-daily changes in security settings, who knows what’s next. Facebook’s days are numbered. At least in my books.

Here’s what I think: I’m glad you took the time to read this. I should do these more often. What do you think?

Kyle

I am Resilience

I am roots in the ground.
I am a pillar in the foundation.
I am a brick in the mortar and
I cannot be moved.

I am strength to hope and hope to fight
I am will to risk and risk to try
I am resilience and
I cannot be moved

Not by anything
Not by wind, not by wake,
Not by trials will I break.
Not by crowds, not by friends,
Not by failures will I bend
I am faith and
I cannot be moved

I will press against the tide
I will stand against the wind
I will push against the current
I will grow against the storm
I am courage and
I cannot be moved

If the odds are against me
I would push forward and conquer
If there is no one beside me
I would refuse to give up
If my past says I can’t and my present is impossible
I will yet believe and not doubt
I am established and
I cannot be moved

Yes I am established in One who is greater
One and only One
And by Him and through Him and in Him alone
I have meaning and purpose and reason to live
And by his grace
I am saved and
I cannot be moved

~ K.G. Miller

Never Expected to Start Like This

I have a very odd demographic for my youth group. It adds quite an interesting flare to my first year of full time ministry here in Lethbridge. Let me break it down for you:
My youth group is whack. Ok, no, not my youth exactly (although I’m sure even they would admit to certain moments of ‘whackness’), but more so what I have to work with in terms of the nature of the youth group and my leaders. Let’s start with the boy/girl split. A normal group of kids in a youth group would be slightly male dominated. Where I am, we are heavily female dominated. 80-90% of the group is made up of females on any given night. WOW. That’s all I can really say about that. I’m sure you can only imagine what that must be like for me on a Friday night. But, oh, it gets much better. Not only is the group made up of mostly females, but the large majority of the group is Jr. High, super hyper –active females. Pure energy all the time. I do admit, for the most part, this is awesome. I love the energy these girls bring to youth. It’s contagious for everyone. But, too much of anything is never a good thing... that’s where my youth leaders come into play to help.
Thankfully, yet oddly enough, I have a female dominated youth team. In fact, I only have one guy leader and the rest are girls. This is a much needed balance to the nature of the youth group we have at the moment. I think the best part of this is that my leaders are all so quality. It is so wonderful for the youth to have someone that’s been through their own same stuff to look up to. Having these quality female leaders to be there for all the girls that show up to youth is such a blessing, both for the girls and for me.
There is one more odd component of youth this year. I am particular in using the word “odd” as not to elude to some negative nature in this component, because honestly and truly it is a blessing. I have a huge youth leadership team for the size of youth I have. In fact, I have more youth leaders than I have youth on some nights. I’ve had to start turning leaders away, which I absolutely hate to do. I have to admit, I am quite confused why God would provide more leaders than youth. Maybe he is helping me prepare for growth. Maybe he is giving me a unique opportunity to bring depth. Maybe I will never fully know why.
One thing I am sure of is this: when God wants to accomplish something, he will always provide the means to do so. If you only get one thing from this post, get that.

Who’s the one confusing it?

This is a response to the last post that Joel put on here. Right off the bat I want to say, I couldn’t agree more with you, Joel. These have been my exact thoughts lately. I have been thinking and praying about where the ministry should go here, and every time I do God brings me back to the conviction that everything we do must focus explicitly and intentionally on him. Of course, to someone reading this, even someone like myself as a recent graduate of Bible College, this sounds pain-stakingly obvious. Why else would a ministry be run in a church except to focus on God? For that matter, why else would we as Christians do anything except to focus on God? You know what, that’s actually not a bad question. Unfortunately, however, it’s not always that easy.

Here in my first few weeks of trying to relaunch this ministry, I have to confess that the majority of my energy has been spent on trying to figure out budgets and programming. Let me tell you, it’s very easy to begin thinking that these things, the numbers and systems of running an organization, are the reason the ministry exists. More than that, we become so easily blinded by the unknown of the future that we think somehow the right numbers and systems will provide us security. Have you ever been there?

It becomes even more confusing when we begin to see there are certain things we do or have that may not actually be bringing us closer to God. Perhaps some of these things may be bringing us further away from God and purpose for existing. But these things are so hard to let go of because they are attractive to us, and likely attractive to others. Take the hyped up games at youth for example; not to say at all there is no place for these, but what happens when we start relying on these to increase the numbers of our ministry? What happens when these things become the focus of why we exist? What happens when the people in our ministry come primarily because of entertainment and socialization? Even more, what happens when those in our ministry leave as soon as we teach them how to grow closer to Christ?

And so, while the question may be simple, the answer is not always as obvious. The answer may even be confusing. The question, then, is why. Why is the answer so confusing to us? In looking for the answer, perhaps it has much less to do with the answer, but the one trying to answer. I think as humans we have this habit of trying to find every solution outside of ourselves. It never has anything to do with us because, I mean, after all we have it all together. How could we possibly be part of the problem? It must be someone or something else, right?

If we took some needed time and breathed deep of humility and correction I think we may find the confusion lies in our need to justify the comforts and securities around us. We don’t like the idea of running a ministry that will hold people to character and conviction. We would rather hold to the things that we are familiar with and can somewhat seemingly control: numbers and systems. We would rather keep things comfortable in the name of being “seeker friendly”. We would rather suggest morality than warn of the eternal consequences of sin and lovingly restore a sinner. We would rather keep our doors open, hoping that somehow, somewhere a lost soul will come to us looking for answers than go out into the world with urgency to tell the world that purpose has been found in the Son of God who paid our penalty on the cross and rose from the grave to conquer death once and for all.

Who’s the one confusing?

You see, when we try to justify, things become confusing. When we focus more on compromise than conviction, our perspective becomes blurred even to the point that we firmly believe what we are doing is good even if it is not bringing us closer to God. However, something different happens when we hold on to our conviction in Christ. In Christ, there is no confusion. For those who are in Christ, there is no confusion because by the Holy Spirit they have the mind of Christ (cf. Rom 8:1-15). Therefore, in Christ there is no confusion. There may, however, very likely be difficulty and pain, but when it comes to right and wrong, there will not be confusion. If you find yourself asking of your ministry, “I wonder if this is honouring to God,” you have a much more serious issue than trying to figure out what events to run.

So forget your events, forget your numbers, forget vision planning. Do you have a passion for Christ? Do you desire with every piece of your being to know, love, serve and proclaim Jesus at every moment? Is it your inmost purpose to bring others closer to God?

How much clearer things would be if we focussed on Christ!

Dispel the confusion, hold on to conviction.

Re: How Would You Start?

Starting up a ministry is something that isn't easy. It's the question I have been asking myself over the last month and a bit. Where do I start, what are my priorities? At first, my biggest priority was getting to know people. Meet with this person, meet with that person. Chat about this, talk about that. It was a good way for me to get an idea of what is going on here at NAC but also to get to know the people that I will be working with. Also, I started to plan. Get things planned for the year and even start to dream and vision for the next three to five years. Where to we want to be and who do we want to be were the questions I was asking and trying to answer. As much as those things are great and will probably help me in the long run, over the last week I have started to change my thoughts. This is what I read that changed my mind:

"The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord,
But the prayer of the upright is His delight
The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord,
But He loves one who pursues righteousness" -proverbs 15.8-9

Looking at it now it seems pretty simple. Pursue righteousness and be upright and God will be happy with you. I think what I got from this is that how I should start up my ministry here is to focus on myself. Make sure I am pursuing righteousness and being someone who is upright. I also need to be praying though. So if there are three things that I am going to put in priority for starting up in full time ministry, these are them: pray, pursue righteousness and be a person who is upright. Easy huh?