Brad Delp's falsetto tones ring out in my ear, "It's more than a feeling...more than a feeling...when I hear that old song they used to play...it's more than a feeling." What could possibly be more than a feeling?
One week ago today we headed up a mountain to visit Camp Ghormley, FOS youth's annual winter camp (visit fosyouth.com or foscamps.com for more information). We left changed. And yet, every year kids return from camp on a spiritual "high" that they seem certain will evaporate and suddenly they find themselves clinging to the thoughts of the next big even to reestablish that high, or that feeling. Just a few days ago a kid asked me, "What if I don't feel God? It doesn't really feel like He is close to me. I just can't feel it." Or so often I have heard, "I am trying to worship but I am not really feeling it."
What swells in my heart in those responses is not anger, inasmuch as it is indignation. We have taken what was intended for God and made it about ourselves. Worship is our giving praise to God for all that He has done, it is the stirring of our affections for Him in the face of His greatness. It is not goosebumps and a warm feeling spreading over our body as the bridge to our favorite song gets as loud as possible while the drummer's lead foot pounds the kick into the microphone causing our microscopic hearts to pound at the same pace...this is not worship.
Worship is not inspired by music alone, nor is it inspired by anything else alone. Worship is inspired by God. Our worship of God is not dependent on how good the music is, or how good the preaching makes us feel. Our worship for God hinges on one fact- "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." We have never and will never deserve the mercy of God, but He has granted it to us without reason. That to me is reason to worship. That stirs my affections for Him in all things, not just a "warm-fuzzy" lifting my hands. To know that the God of the universe loved us enough to send His Son to die for us, not because we are great but because He is, so that we could be with Him in eternity is enough to awaken worship in my heart. What does it take for you? A "motivational speaker" making you "feel good" when you leave the church on Sunday? A loud speaker with a sub-woofer the size of Sioux Falls, South Dakota pounding your rib cage to death? Or the message of the Gospel, "For while we were still weak (dead), at the right time Christ died for the ungodly." Is that enough for us to devote our lives to a most holy God no matter what the cost? I hope so...or else we are guilty of idolatry.
A student sharing her story said this: "I never thought I was a bad person before. I didn't have a lot of 'sins' to confess outright. Then I realized- I'm TERRIBLE! I fail so much, and yet God loves me because Christ died for me. I don't know what to do with that other than love Him back."
I can still hear the music..."When I hear that old song they used to play...more than a feeling...I begin dreaming...it's more than a feeling..." Is it more than a feeling? Indeed it is- it's called faith. Even when you can't "feel Him" anymore, you know He is still there.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Monday, December 7, 2009
Hope
At Evergreen Christian yesterday we talked about Hope. We commenced an Advent series that will last 4 weeks, covering the topics of Hope, Love, joy, and Peace. As I sat watching the film "Shawshank Redemption" today, Andy Dufresne's voice called to me at the end of the film. He said in a letter to his friend Red:
"Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies."
This was a continuation of an earlier conversation the two had while spending their 18th year in prison together (Red was at approx. 36 years). Andy had began to speak of music as a glorious object of hope, saying that in prison you need music so you don't forget "there are places in this world that aren't made out of stone. That there's something inside... that they can't get to, that they can't touch. That's yours."
Red asks, "What are you talking about?" To which Andy responds, "Hope." The final part of that conversation comes from the man who had been behind bars for nearly 40 years. He says, "Let me tell you something my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane."
Red was right. Hope is a dangerous thing. It can drive a man insane. It is a simple act to concede defeat, to surrender. When a person is in the midst of difficulty the easiest move to make is to drop everything and become content. It is natural to become content in struggle because when it happens, things can only get better. If we constantly look forward to something with hope and that thing never comes, we are dealt a crushing defeat. To surrender all arms and to lose hope is to say that rescue will not come. In that, we protect ourselves from disappointment.
It is far more difficult to hope. It takes greater courage and determination to hope in something greater...but most of us do take that risk. Most humans dare to hope for a good life, a good marriage, a nice job, true love, quality friends, etc. When those things fail hope is lost, or it shifts to something else. But when there is nothing left- what do we hope in? When you are 80 and those dreams have passed, is there hope left? When you don't have money to pay for school, is there hope? When your marriage isn't what you expected it to be, is there hope? Can there be hope in the midst of the dark night of the soul?
My answer is a resounding yes. There is a part of us that "isn't made of stone. That they can't get to...that they can't touch. That's yours..." That part will not surrender hope at any point. And that part is from God. He created us as beings of hope, and gave us hope.
Thursday I spent most of the day choking back tears, holding back the dam of emotions that had welled up over time. That night the dam broke. The tears flooded my face and the all too familiar feeling of hopelessness warred against all that I knew. All my beliefs were thrust into action, and I was forced into action. It was in that place that this came to mind, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope." (Romans 15:13). In calling to mind that the God I believe in is the God of Hope, He created hope. He stirred it in my heart to hope in something and in that moment to know that all was not lost. There was hope. Despair was defeated on the cross 2000 years ago and because of that I can now abound in hope. My soul is so filled with hope in knowing that one day I will see the sweet face of my Savior, the one who gave me hope, and my hope will become something more, it will become reality.
At the end of Shawshank Redemption, Red is walking across a beach in Mexico and narrating with these words- "I find I'm so excited, I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it's the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend, and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope."
You were right Red- hope is a dangerous thing. But hope in God does not go unfulfilled...will you dare to hope? Will you be so bold as to stare despair in the face knowing that the tunnel ends, and his mercies are new every morning? Will you hope? I hope you will.
"Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies."
This was a continuation of an earlier conversation the two had while spending their 18th year in prison together (Red was at approx. 36 years). Andy had began to speak of music as a glorious object of hope, saying that in prison you need music so you don't forget "there are places in this world that aren't made out of stone. That there's something inside... that they can't get to, that they can't touch. That's yours."
Red asks, "What are you talking about?" To which Andy responds, "Hope." The final part of that conversation comes from the man who had been behind bars for nearly 40 years. He says, "Let me tell you something my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane."
Red was right. Hope is a dangerous thing. It can drive a man insane. It is a simple act to concede defeat, to surrender. When a person is in the midst of difficulty the easiest move to make is to drop everything and become content. It is natural to become content in struggle because when it happens, things can only get better. If we constantly look forward to something with hope and that thing never comes, we are dealt a crushing defeat. To surrender all arms and to lose hope is to say that rescue will not come. In that, we protect ourselves from disappointment.
It is far more difficult to hope. It takes greater courage and determination to hope in something greater...but most of us do take that risk. Most humans dare to hope for a good life, a good marriage, a nice job, true love, quality friends, etc. When those things fail hope is lost, or it shifts to something else. But when there is nothing left- what do we hope in? When you are 80 and those dreams have passed, is there hope left? When you don't have money to pay for school, is there hope? When your marriage isn't what you expected it to be, is there hope? Can there be hope in the midst of the dark night of the soul?
My answer is a resounding yes. There is a part of us that "isn't made of stone. That they can't get to...that they can't touch. That's yours..." That part will not surrender hope at any point. And that part is from God. He created us as beings of hope, and gave us hope.
Thursday I spent most of the day choking back tears, holding back the dam of emotions that had welled up over time. That night the dam broke. The tears flooded my face and the all too familiar feeling of hopelessness warred against all that I knew. All my beliefs were thrust into action, and I was forced into action. It was in that place that this came to mind, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope." (Romans 15:13). In calling to mind that the God I believe in is the God of Hope, He created hope. He stirred it in my heart to hope in something and in that moment to know that all was not lost. There was hope. Despair was defeated on the cross 2000 years ago and because of that I can now abound in hope. My soul is so filled with hope in knowing that one day I will see the sweet face of my Savior, the one who gave me hope, and my hope will become something more, it will become reality.
At the end of Shawshank Redemption, Red is walking across a beach in Mexico and narrating with these words- "I find I'm so excited, I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it's the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend, and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope."
You were right Red- hope is a dangerous thing. But hope in God does not go unfulfilled...will you dare to hope? Will you be so bold as to stare despair in the face knowing that the tunnel ends, and his mercies are new every morning? Will you hope? I hope you will.
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