wrapping up

Well. It has nearly been 2 months since my team and I stepped foot on Indian soil amped to see what God had in store. I was amped to be back in a country God has been placing heavily on my heart the last year and a half, and pretty naive to how different this year was about to be. It's been real eye-opening this season, as last year I somehow seemed to see only the good things in India. This year has been a reality check, and thinking about long-term life in India God seems to be showing me what it could involve, good and bad. India's an amazing country, with some of the most beautiful, colorful, hospital people I know. And boy. how the local churches blow me away each time I see their passion in worshipping and praying to Papa. It's also a challenging country. Rubbish is in abundance, and the pollution in the metropolitan cities is said to be like smoking 10 cigarettes a day. Having breathed in pollution the last 2 months, my lungs burning as they strain to find just a slice of the clean air I grew up with, my cold only worsening even though I've had it for 7 weeks, I can tell you that the air is indeed like smoking 10 cigarettes per day. We spend alot of time living among locals and did not see other white people for days at a time. In this areas we faced the language barrier, which can make simple things like finding a broom to do your work duty with exhausting. We left convenience behind-at times, the internet was a 15 minute walk, 15 minute train ride, and 15 minutes more walking away. We gave up personal space-I'll never forget the day Martin and I stepped onto what we thought was a full train, hanging on the edge, only to have someone grab me and shove me in as 10 more ppl also wanted on to the train. We gave up silence-the horns, dog barking, yells of shop owners wanting our money, yells of "chai, chai, chai coffee" on the train never seem to end.

But it was totally worth it.

Because through all this we were blessed to be a blessing, and to be blessed. We had the privilege of worshipping and praying and just plain hanging out with God's children in another nation. We had the privilege to tell children in an orphanage how much their heavenly Father loves them. To lay hands and pray for healing. To tell other travellers about our amazing God. To have our horizons massively expanded. The list could go on and on...

But internet time's up. I'm excited to be back in NZ in a few days, from where I shall post more as I process more. Bless you!

sustenance

A sweet-as verse a friend read to me yesterday...

"...now He offers you the true bread from heaven. The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world...I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty." -Jesus (John 6:32-5)

a beautiful waste

Well. Lesson learnt today? Don't walk away from computer whilst wearing headphones connected to said computer. Right. Now that I've successfully untangled myself long enough to grab my journal...

When Dalton was here awhile back we had an Adoration night, and he was singing something so good I wrote the gist of it down...

I've waited a long time to break this alabaster jar
but You're worth it
I wanna hear You say
my life is a beautiful mess
here at Your feet
I wanna be like David-after Your heart
like Mary-choosing that which was best
as I sit at your feet pouring out fragrant oil
May my life have no agenda
just adoreYou
love You and be loved
waste my life at your feet
it's the one thing I desire...



Psalm 27:4 "the one thing I ask of the LORD-the thing I seek most-is to live in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, delighting in the LORD's perfections and meditating in his Temple"


PS: God MARVELS at you!

God's cry

I'm reading a fantastic book right now, called "After God's Own Heart" by Mike Bickle. It's about becoming like David. What set David apart as a man after God’s own heart was his unrelenting passion to search out and understand the emotions of God.

I'm not very far in, but love it so far. One thing I love is how Bickle expresses God's attitude toward us, and I just wanted to share that with you...

“turn because I am married to you. My heart burns with longing and desire for intimate fellowship with you. I yearn for close relationship and encounter between My heart and your heart.”  

kiwi national anthem

an absolutely amazing song, with phenomenal lyrics... click here

E te ariki

I just want to share some lyrics with you, of a beautiful Maori song we learnt weeks ago for the national gathering...


E te ariki
whakarongo mai ra kia matou
e te ariki
titiro mai ra kia matou
tenei matou o tamariki
e whakapono ana matou kia koe
aue aue
te matua te tamaiti, wairua tapu e


O God
listen to our call
O God
look kindly upon us
here we are, Your children
we place our faith in You
Father, Son, Holy Spirit

something's missing

I read a sweet-as blog post the other day that really hammers the nail on the head...

Something has been stirring in my heart. There's an unsettling; a cry for more in our worship.
Over the last decade there have been many amazing songs written that have inspired the Church and drawn millions of people into a response of worship. The quality and choice of excellent worship songs has perhaps never been better. But are we missing something?
Reading Martin Smith's book "Delirious" I was struck by his comments:
"We've become too song focused, and in truth I believe that we need to be more worship focused. We've lost the ability to push aside the songs and replace them with 25 minutes of crying out, opening our hearts and heads with the raw worship of God who's within us. With Kevin (Prosch - a pioneer of spontaneity and prophetic worship in the 1990's) you never knew what was going to happen at any point in a worship session, but in church today, often 6 songs in 29 minutes, you make sure you get your 2 most popular ones in there so they get a decent boost up the CCLI charts."
I fear that for many of us in our corporate expression of worship we've allowed the song to become king! Are we more focused on getting the songs right and the arrangements sounding huge, than we are on preparing our hearts? Are we expectant in leading a time of worship because of a great new song that connects or because God is at work?
I'm desperate to see more freedom in our worship. To move beyond the songs. The songs in themselves have never been the final destination in our worship. Simply a vehicle to facilitate our worship. How amazing would it be to spend 30 minutes standing in silence in our times of worship simply because people are blown away by the majesty of God? Wouldn't it be exciting to see congregations take over the worship spending 20 minutes singing their own songs and words in response to God's mercy?
Worship is a spiritual activity. If we want to recapture more of God in our worship, more freedom and more of God's power, it will come through following the lead of the Holy Spirit. I've been thinking about how we can step out more in the spontaneous. Not for the sake of it, but simply because we're hungry for a more authentic, raw and profound encounter in worship. Here's some thoughts:
1. PRIVATE CRY: Someone once said, "worship leading is taking your private cry and making it public." How much are we spending time alone crying out to God? Singing our own songs? Offering up our messy and heartfelt cry? If we want to step out and lead in this - we've got to engage with it ourselves.
2. LEAD WITH THE END IN MIND: In the 'Seven Habits of Highly Effective People' Steven Covey writes about the importance in leadership to begin with the end in mind. When leading worship what are we trying to accomplish? Is it to teach great new songs? Is it to encourage people to 'feel great?' Surely it's about people being freed and released to meet and encounter Christ. To spend time in his presence. To respond with gratitude and thanksgiving. Ultimately it's about relationship - intimacy. Worship is about glorifying God and enjoying him forever.
I've observed in the way I lead worship that often I try and make each session of worship the most amazing time. Nothing wrong in that - but in doing so I came to realise that I wasn't taking risks. I was in danger of focusing so much on the present that I wasn't leading with the end in mind. I wasn't thinking about where I wanted to see the worshipping life of the church in 6 months. I was taking all the leadership and responsibility of leading of worship on myself rather than placing the responsibility on the congregation. As worship leaders we need to be training, encouraging and inspiring people in their worship. We need to release their song and cry of praise and adoration. We're not about performing, we're about encouraging participation. We don't want consumers, we want a people consumed with God! In releasing this, let's not be afraid of mess and a few mistakes. It's part of the journey. It's part of relationship.
3. RADICAL FRINGE: This isn't about a haircut - but it's great to find places to step out in spontaneous, free flowing worship. Whether it's a group of mates, a prayer meeting or creative worship night. We're currently trying to put a few dates in the diary where the agenda is simply to meet with God and to step out. There's no pressure of leading a congregation. It's relaxed and a safe place to experiment and grow in this stuff.
God is up to something. I believe there's a real need for worship leaders to seek more of God's Sprit and lead in our worship. Never at the expense of content and sound theology, but surely there is a place where we move beyond the songs and find ourselves overwhelmed and undone.