WORSHIP. Planning service has always been part of my ministry role description as my major concentration together with worship leading. From as long as three months ago, I have prayed for a dedicated team that could help me plan out worship services, and as expected, the Lord directed me towards the people He's wants to be part of the team.
With the approval and support of the Core Staff or the Pastoral Leadership team to which I belong, I started meeting with the team and I can never lea ve out is the fact that it is the Lord who discernibly superintends our meetings. Anyone who is close to me knows that I hate long meetings. I've always believed that meetings should be brief so there'd be more time to spend doing things for which meetings are convened. But meeting with this team is different. I love how the Lord allows the team to see together what the He wants us to do and address.
Each year, when GCF issues a congregational survey to feel the pulse of the church, the worship ministry is always indicated as the top reason why people keep coming. We have amazing music, heart-felt worship singing, and great expository preaching.
In our three initial meetings, we concluded that: a) our church must grow in our experience of worship, b) we need to look at and address the things we do in our worship gatherings that may not be helpful in deepening our worship life, c) we must help the worship volunteers to be led in a deeper walk.
The execution of the first service we planned and prayed for took place last Sunday. It was amazing! The seamless flow of worship- from beginning to end was totally a work of the Spirit. We prayed that the Lord would allow us to feel the pulse of the church concerning the direction we're headed towards, and He did through the affirmation of the leadership and congregants. The Spirit is leading us to the direction He wishes for us to pursue.
ON BRIDGES AND GOOSEBERRIES. Love takes root. I’ve seen this happen with my own eyes. I have even felt it sprout in my own life.
Tonight, I was talking to a guy experiencing a bad case of the third wheel.
It began like so many false starts- being a simple pontiff- you know, a bridge-builder for another boy to a girl. He was a gooseberry- you know, 'gooseberry' is also slang for a third person accompanying (ie tagging along with) a couple on a date. The two he was bridging and acting gooseberry for eventually fell in love. But he too grew in love with the girl in the process. Now, he couldn't help but remain silent and be resilient.
What's a gooseberry to do? He was living in his perfect little bubble then a friend asks him for help. So he did.
(Okay, this isn't my gooseberry friend)
GREAT EXPECTATIONS.
As humans, we constantly look for something or someone in which to place hope. The response of our spouse. The fruit of our ministry. The guy or girl we have our eye on. The potential of a son or daughter. The success of a business venture or educational pursuit. Hoping in people and circumstances is inevitable. The problem is, each of these things can crumble, leaving disillusionment in its wake. For the believer, though, the disappearance of these things does not signal the end of hope.[1]
Back to relationships (since I know that's why you're reading this). For many reasons — most of them outside our control — potential relationships will fizzle. Sometimes we receive solace when we later see why the relationship would not have worked anyway. Other times we're left to wonder about what could have been. Either way, "hope deferred makes the heart sick" (Proverbs 13:12).
The process is something like emotional whiplash. Over the course of weeks or months, a certain dream seems within reach, and then, suddenly, we're exactly where we started. It's depressing.
So what's the cure to such heartsickness? Whom or what is my object? Scripture never instructs us to hope in anything but the Lord and His Salvation (Titus 2:13). All other hopes are encompassed within that one, fantastic hope. Anything that happens in my life should be purposed to glorify God and reveal that hope to others.
And when I understand the hope of my salvation, I will recognize anew the power and faithfulness of the One who oversees my life. If He is faithful to redeem my sinful soul through His Son's blood, He can be trusted in the other areas as well. [2]
In fact, God rewards those who hope in Him. Lamentations 3:25 says: "The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him." And the Psalmist declares: "No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame" (Psalm 25:3). That is refreshing truth. God will never say, "You were wrong about My feelings for you." His promise is sure.
The next time I have a great conversation or connecting moment with a guy who seems perfect for me, I will hope. God created me that way. But this year I want to set my dreams even more firmly within His care. I want to make Him the object, my Savior and God who never fails. [3]
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1 Suzanne Hadley "Object of My Affection" Copyright 2008 Focus on the Family.
2 ibid
3 ibid
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