Tag Archives: church

The Rhythm of Worship

A quick Google search on a definition for “rhythm” provides, among many, the following:

  • In the widest sense, a dividing into short portions by a regular succession of motions, impulses, sounds, accents, etc., producing an agreeable effect, as in music poetry, the dance, or the like.
  • The harmonious flow of vocal sounds.
  • The pattern of recurrent strong and weak accents, vocalization and silence, and the distribution and combination of these elements in speech.
  • Procedure marked by the regular recurrence of particular elements or phases.

We are surrounded by a variety of rhythms in our lives everyday. We tend to intentionally create rhythms (a.k.a. schedules) to provide order and structure for life. I think we are naturally inclined to live in rhythm. After a really busy season of life we naturally are drawn to take a step back, take a few days off, maybe a vacation. We can’t live in high gear all of the time, it wears us out.

I wonder if the same is true for our worship gatherings – they need rhythm, which by definition is variation. Perhaps the high times of great celebration would be a little bit more meaningful if we had more subdued reflective times in between. And then, maybe there are times when we don’t need to live in either extreme.

I think how we go about creating rhythm looks different in every church’s context. I had a discussion this past week about the church year calendar. For us at The CORE, celebrating specific times of the church year builds a natural rhythm of highs and lows, busy and calm, celebration and reflection, into our worship gatherings.

Do you think rhythm in worship gatherings in important? Do you build rhythm into your church’s worship gatherings? If so, how?

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Who’s Qualified?


I was reading the latest Catalyst Monthly newsletter this week and came across an article from Justin Wise about burnout in the church. While the burnout part resonated with me because I think I’ve been there, the line that really caught my heart’s attention was this one:

“While the intent behind ordination is good and true, unfortunately it has built an artificial distinction between “professional” Christians and “regular” Christians.”

(I will apologize now for the soapbox I may climb on during the next few moments)

Even being on staff at a church, I totally get this because I feel it. I feel like many people look at me as only “semi-professional” because I don’t have a degree from a seminary that hangs on my wall. If I’m honest, this is something that way back in the cobwebs of my heart bothers me almost daily. The feeling of not being quite good enough, not quite as qualified as someone with that degree.

Perhaps part of the reason it bothers me so much is I don’t understand the reasoning behind that thought process. I could hypothesize about it, but I won’t…at least for now.

What about you? Have you experienced the “more qualified” mindset – from either side? What do you think the reasoning is for it?


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Brought to You by the Letter “Y”

Call it venting. Call it a rant. Call it “up on my soapbox” if you want. But, I have something I need to get off my chest, an observation I made last week at the Dirt Conference and realized is true for us most of the time.

We sit in the main sessions at conferences and listen to speakers who talk primarily about the WHY. They remind us to focus on the WHY and that in the end the WHY is what really matters. We nod our heads and utter verbal agreements to what they are saying.

Fast forward one hour, at most, to the labs or breakout sessions and it seems as though we have completely forgotten about the WHY. The questions that are asked oftentimes aren’t completely answered by the presenters. I think that’s because you cannot fully answer the WHAT until you understand the WHY. And the WHY is different for all of us. If you know who you are and WHY you do what you do the what naturally flows out of that. When I look around at churches or individuals who we would say “don’t get ‘it’” more often than not it’s because they have completely forgotten about or couldn’t ever define the WHY.

Everything that Jesus did while he was here on earth flowed from WHY he was here – redemption, love, and service. And most of his lessons focused on WHY. More often than not God gives us guiding principles, principles that focus on the WHY, not 3 step, 5 step, or 7 step solutions. Why then do we find a need to have one for everything we do in the church?

WHY did you put that image on the screen? WHY did you sing that song? WHY is your church using twitter? WHY that video? That sermon series? That event? That print piece? That font? WHY did you focus that light where you did at the intensity that you did? WHY?

Because bottom line, if we can’t answer WHY then the what will not be effective long term. Now I get that it’s easy to lose sight of the WHY. It happens to me too. I would just encourage us to challenge ourselves to always go back to it. We may just wake up one day to realize that working from the WHY has become a habit.

Do you stay focused on the WHY? What are some tips you can share for keeping that focus?


Comment Visual Worship

Churchy Words

I was listening to Ski’s sermon during worship last night and realized, no matter how hard to try, we still tend to use a lot of “churchy” words in worship. Two that we talked about last night, and Ski did a great job explaining were ‘grace’ and ‘mercy.’

I have to be honest. Growing up, I learned that grace was “God’s undeserved love” but I’m not sure I ever learned what mercy was. A couple of years ago I heard a gentleman giving a speech tell a great story describing the difference between those two words. Every time I hear either one of them, I think of that story. I’d like to share it with you.

One day a dad came home from work and said to his young son, “Let’s go get an ice cream cone.” The boy looked at his dad confused. He asked why they were going to get ice cream. You see, usually the boy had to earn such rewards. His dad said he wanted to teach him a lesson and ice cream was going to help.

So, the two headed out to get ice cream. As they were enjoying their treat, the dad said to his son. “You didn’t deserve this ice cream. You did nothing to earn it. Just as you do nothing to earn God’s love. In fact, you don’t deserve his love. But, he gives it to you anyway. That my son, is what we call grace.” The child nodded and smiled at his father. He said, “Dad, I like grace.”

The two finished their treat and headed home. Later in the evening the young boy got into trouble. He and his father both knew it was something he should be punished for. As the father prepared to dole out his son’s punishment he suddenly stopped. The boy looked at his father in disbelief. His father looked back at him and said, “Son. I’m going to teach you a different kind of lesson right now. You deserve this punishment. You did something wrong and you know the consequences. But, I’m not going to punish you.” The child looked at his father in amazement and simply said, “But I don’t understand, dad.” His father proceeded to explain that he was showing the boy mercy. “You see,” he said, “God’s mercy is when he doesn’t give us the punishment that we deserve. The ice cream you got earlier tonight was grace, it was something good you didn’t deserve. But not receiving this punishment that you do deserve, that’s mercy.”

The boy recalled in his mind the ice cream from earlier in the evening. He looked at his father with a big smile and said, “Dad, I LIKE grace. But I LOVE mercy.”

That story just helps lay out the difference as well as the meaning of those two words so clearly in my mind. In my opinion, they’re both great words. And they’re both words that can only be rooted in our Heavenly Father. Without his loving example we wouldn’t know what grace or mercy was like.

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From the Lips of Children

A Sunday school teacher asked her children as they were on the way to church service, “And why is it necessary to be quiet in church?” One bright little girl replied, “Because people are sleeping.” -Unknown

I pray this isn’t your church. If it is how are you going to fix it? God’s Word is powerful but it doesn’t no good if people don’t hear it because they’re sleeping or they’ve tuned out.

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