Numbers 32:20-Deuteronomy 7

I am often guilty of always wanting to move on to the next thing. If it's Sunday I'm thinking about Monday. If I'm on vacation I'm thinking about going home. I have a real difficulty living in the here and now.

When I began reading Deuteronomy tonight I realized that the first several chapters were just a rehash of Israel's past 40 years in the wilderness. Come on! Really?

With a more objective attitude I began looking for ways in which I could apply this brilliant summary that Moses was giving to his people. Though it's connections are loosely tied, I do think there is merit to celebrating the past when worshiping in the present. In fact, we did a little of that this weekend at South Side.

We spent some time telling stories of how leaders in our congregation have contributed to the life of our church and made it what it is today. Leaders like Joy McDonald, Walter Curzan, and Mary Blakely were all honored. Fitting for Memorial Day Weekend I guess. Even though my "eagerness to experience the future" probably wouldn't have led me to execute this idea, I'm glad we did.

In Deuteronomy Moses proclaimed the famous Shema - "Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all you soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children..."

I guess repeating the past sometimes is alright. It may even help us worship God more fully.

Numbers 21:8-32:19

We've all heard it said, "Everyone worships something."

There's definitely truth to that statement. I think if any Christian examined their own lives we'd realize that many times we try to worship several things. Sure God is "at the top of the list," but what's at a close second? How many times does it encroach or surpass our Creator for pole position? (Indy 500 reference...I grew up there give me a break)

In Numbers 25 we read a great story about a man named Phinehas. Probably not a name in a your baby names book, but either way he was the grandson of Aaron - the previous high priest. The Israelites were getting friendly with foreign women and "bringing them into their tent" AKA - "making whoopy" with these women. This was not good. The text says that as the people were weeping in repentance some hot shot brought a women in right before Moses...how rude! In the end Phinehas jumped up and shoved a spear through the both of them. Sounds like something out of a movie if you ask me.

While I respect Phineha's attempt at purity, tonight I'm more interested in the brazen disregard this guy (okay...we can say we) can have for God's law. How many times have we repented (true meaning=turn around) only to commit the same sin directly before God. I guess this is not a new problem.

Numbers 8:15-21:7

Humility.

That leadership quality seemed to be very pronounced in today's reading. At one point, the text said that Moses was a very humble man. In chapter 20 we see that when Moses and Aaron to the Tabernacle, "they fell face down on the ground. Then the glorious presence of the Lord appeared to them..."

In many ways people view my role on Sunday mornings as "facilitating" that interaction between God and man. I have grown very uncomfortable with this "feeling." To begin with, who am I to generate God's presence? Quite frankly as New Testament believers, we always have the Holy Spirit within and among us. If that's the case then why do people comment - "I felt God's presence in the service today." I wonder if this is said because I arranged service elements for people to become emotional. You know - warm fuzzies. Maybe it was a specific song, or the way we "did" communion, or a soloist that give people chills. I'm afraid that I and others are all to eager to conjure these experiences. The other side of this is that if we don't see people crying, moved, or passionately singing then we must have done something wrong. Right?

As I look at Moses and Aaron it seems that they were most concerned about defaming God by haphazardly entering into the Tabernacle. Funny because I'm only thinking "haphazard" when people miss MY opening song...and it's normally a good one.

Leviticus 26:27 - Numbers 8:14

I have to admit. Today's reading was a little bit of a chore. I'm currently at my in-laws house, and everyone is watching television in the family room while I'm reading the official counts of all the tribes. I press on...

Today's worship insight would have to be how God set apart the Levites to serve him in acts of worship. Even today people debate whether or not music ministers are really clergy.

In some faith traditions they are simply musicians who are employed by the church. They may or may not believe in what they're singing. Their role is to "perform" on Sunday morning, and no amount of pastoral care is expected from them. On the other end of the spectrum is those in worship ministry who are encouraged to shepherd their volunteers. They can marry/bury people, and they expected to live a life that models the content of their Sunday morning presentations.

Fortunately, in my opinion, my church is in the latter category. I enjoy being a pastor. Early on in my pursuit of ministry I decided to adopt a philosophy of ministering to people through the avenue of worship. I may or may not be doing music ministry my whole life, but I do think I will serve as a pastor in one form or another for at least the foreseeable future.

Leviticus 14:33-26:26

Don't...
Don't...
Don't...

Unfortunately this is the impression that many people have of Christianity and the church. A new cliche is that Christians are known more by what they are against then what they are for. I'm afraid that Leviticus doesn't really help that perception.

I had a great conversation today with some guys at work (Scott, Ryan and John) about loving God and People. Scott proposed that the way we love God is different then the way we love people. He continued to articulate that Scripture teaches loving God is an act of respecting and obeying him. He even went further to say that men in general (fathers and husbands) mirror this longing to be respected and obeyed. Furthermore we are occasionally guilty of trying to be active for God - doing things in the church, helping people, etc - all in an effort to show love towards him. While this isn't necessarily bad our motives are often times selfish.

I'm not sure that there is a crystal clear line to draw between the two, but I do think his idea has some merit. As I read through the litany of ceremonial demands I'm reminded how much God wants us to look different then the world around us. We are just pilgrims here. Perhaps when I'm longing to show my love, or leading others in their own expression I should focus on simply obeying him.

Lord, show me where I need to be more obedient in living a life that shows my love towards you.

Leviticus 1-14:32

Today begins my second week. So far this process has really been enjoyable. I do think it is helpful to blog because I daily feel the pressure to complete my reading.

This evening I ventured into the land of Leviticus. Oh it is so weird. Reading about boils, rashes, menstrual cycles, split hooves, and animals that scurry make this book live in a completely different world. As I was reading I was reminded about how my job as a "lead worshiper" would have looked much different in the Old Testament. I would trade in my Scriptures, songs, and instruments for tools to kill, smear, and sprinkle. It all seems so grotesque.

The verse that had the most impact was right at the beginning.

"Lay your hand on the animal's head, and the Lord will accept its death in your place to purify you, making you right with him."

The foreshadowing of how Christ would ultimately allow God to accept his death to "make things right" between God and man. Thank you God for the substitutionary atonement of your son Jesus Christ.

Exodus 29-40

"Aaron saw how excited the people were, so he built and alter in front of the calf."

Once again there were many things that I considered commenting on today, but this verse really smacked me around. As a worship leader how often am I more concerned about the "excitement of people" rather than their obedience of following him.

Ironically this happened while Moses was having a little chat with God about their conduct. They couldn't wait for him to come down off the mountain so they though they'd handle things on their own.

Aaron was their pawn and he played into their pressure nicely. As any leader I'm sure Aaron was eager to gain their approval, but to quote one of my favorite preachers, Mark Scott - "When the church is consumed with the nod of God rather than the applause of people it will be faithful to its calling. The result is that is will always find itself a bit out of step with the culture."

Exodus 15:19-28

Confession: I often take myself and my role on Sunday morning too seriously.

I'll get back to that soon. As I was readying today's passage I really wanted to write about the Sabbath. I reflected on how it seemed to be very important to God and how I don't think we know how to find Sabbath rest at all...especially those of us whose job is centered around days of worship.

But then I got towards the end of the reading and it focused on the design of the temple, the ark, and the priestly garments. I am often accused (and rightfully so) of being to wound up. When it comes to Sunday mornings I have a plan, and I like to work the plan. Everything else is unplanned and therefore undesired.

Ouch! I know how it sounds. Way to leave room for people, their feelings, and their response...not to mention the work of the Holy Spirit.

Trust me - I see and realize the weakness in my natural born tendencies to revere order. On the other hand, I think we may have a lot to learn from today's reading. Several times I read, "Take great care to...", "Skillfully...", "with care be sure to..."

Bottom line is that God does care about quality. Sloppiness does not honor Him, and last-minute planning is often just a byproduct of our laziness. I realize that at times these thing cannot be avoided, but at least for today I'm a little less convicted by my opening confession.

Exodus 1-15:18

Today was the first day in Exodus. It really is amazing how fast it goes at this pace. Today's text was a lot of Moses whining, then Pharaoh and Moses going back and forth. Honestly it kind of felt like a ping-pong match.

Eventually I read about Passover. I really enjoy this text because its roots are still felt in corporate worship every Sunday. It's amazing to me that I can read the initiation of Passover in Exodus and 4,000+ years later we did something similar today. Obviously communion is still quite a bit different, but it goes all the way back to there.

I also love how the nation of Israel was intentional about their families worshiping together. They were taught to teach these things to the younger generations. Personally I think we may have made a mistake when we started farming everyone out to different areas of the church on Sunday. Children go here, teens go here, adults go here and we all meet up together for lunch afterward. I realize that it's hard to really lock into a service when you're trying to corral a 2 year old...trust me, I know. But sometimes I just wish we were a little less segregated. I think we could all learn from each other more if we were given the opportunity.

Genesis 40:12-50

I attended a wedding today. It wasn't a wedding of anyone I really knew, and no, I didn't crash it. I worked it. I ran sound. As I was sitting there I couldn't help but to notice the communion table had become a unity candle table. I thought it was ironic because on the front it said, "This do in remembrance of me." I looked around realizing that there were likely some unchurched people attending the wedding, and I couldn't help but to wonder if they noticed the inscription.

I don't get really bent out of shape over the communion table, or other physical elements used in worship, but I do think they hold some significance. Either way I was faced with the fact that at it's core a wedding has elements of a worship service: a sermon, a pastor, a church, singing, prayers, communion (sometimes), commitments, and I'm sure there are other things as well.

In the Old Testament it seemed that people often worshiped at significant times in their lives. Their worship looked a lot different mostly because it was in the form of sacrifices. In Genesis 46 Jacob is traveling to Egypt to be reunited with his son Joseph. When he came to Beersheba he offered sacrifices to God. This wasn't the fist time this had been done there. It was a significant time in his life so he worshiped.

So I wonder what place worship has in significant life moments: weddings, births, deaths...things like that. Any thoughts?

Genesis 28:20-40:11

I remember reading my friend Mike's blog when he got to this day. He commented polygamy and how it didn't really seem to work out well. I would have to agree. This reading seemed very sexual in general. Either way it was interesting to see how Abraham's family continued to grow.

In Genesis 31 there is quite the little hunt after an idol. In my mind I picture a small wooden thing similar to a statue. I'm not really sure what they would have been like, but it all seems silly in a way. Laban was very intentional in his desire to find these idols. It is easy for me to dismiss this foolishness, but then I'm reminded how eager I am to watch TV, catch up on social networking, or waste my time in so many other ways. At times it seems like these things have and even can become idols in my life ultimately stealing away my attention from God.

Genesis 17-28:19

Today I was at Lincoln Christian University attending a seminar for Worship Studies Graduates. Honestly it's been really fun - all the joys of class (discussion, good food) without any of the hard work (papers, etc.). Today we talked a lot about worship being formative. In other words, does what I do as a worship minister form people? If so am I helping to form their spirit or just their intellect?

Today's section of Genesis has so many well known stories in it. One of these is Abraham and Isaac. I can remember playing Isaac in Junior High at a church play so automatically this illustration is already "special." Abraham follows God and takes his son to be sacrificed. Let's be honest: at some point this is just weird isn't it? The fact that God would suggest this kinda bothers me. Perhaps this is a bigger problem now that I'm a father...but seriously!?!

I guess what I'd like to take away is that Abraham was so committed in his worship and devotion at this stage in his life. He was definitely formed...and not just intellectually. What kind of faith risks are encouraged from those who worship with me on a weekly basis?

Genesis 1-16

The old familiar stories... It's nice to read about creation and Noah. Heck, I even got into Abraham's life today. Thank you for the break-neck speed of reading in 90 days. There was one mention of worship that surprised me a little.

At the end of Genesis 4 there's what seems like a random verse that says:

"At that time people first began to worship the Lord by name."

As I looked into it there's a good reason why I never had noticed this before. Every other translation has something like "called on" or "invoke", not "worship. Thank you NLT for trying to be easy to read. Too bad it may not really be a good translation. Either way I guess the point is that even in the midst of evil (i.e. Cain's descendants) people still did honor and revere God Almighty.

Introduction

Call it fad, trend, bandwagon...yes it seems that people, lots of people, are reading the whole Bible in small chunks of time these days. Many of my friends have made the journey and I thought perhaps it was time for me to do it as well.

I have often picked up with Genesis on January 1 to make it somewhere in the major prophets as Sprint arrives.

This time I'm going to try to do it in 90 days. I have an easy way to access it (thank to my iPod touch and YouVersion). I have at least one friend that is proceeding with me, and I have you...whoever you are. On top of that it's summer and there's really nothing on television that's worth watching.

I decided to try and comment daily on some sort of worship insight that I may have gleamed from that day's reading. I realize that this may be much harder on certain days, so it may get a bit creative. Either way I am a worship minister and I am very familiar with some key worship texts (John 4, Romans 12, etc.), but how about some of those other books. What will they teach me? Only time will tell.

I'm not sure who will end up reading this (if anyone), but if you do I hope that you can find it useful as you pursue a life of worship.