expressions

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Heaven to Earth

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

painter largeI used to live in an apartment close to downtown Fort Wayne. My roommate and I would frequently hold Bible studies with our friends in our small living room. One of our favorite things to do after the study was to engage in a rousing game of Bible Trivia. So in the spirit of random Biblical facts, I’d like to pose a question: Who was the first person mentioned in Scripture that was said to be filled with the Holy Spirit? It’s an interesting question that has an even more interesting answer. The man’s name is Bezalel.

Most of us have probably never heard a sermon preached about Bezalel; in fact most of us probably don’t even recognize his name. He wasn’t a great prophet or a mighty judge. He wasn’t a grand king or one of David’s Mighty Men. He wasn’t a High Priest or one of the Patriarch of our faith. Bezalel was an artist. Click to continue »

Gently Radical

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009

Jamie Sullivan, a good friend of mine, recently wrote a devotion for some of the women in our church. Her writing touched my heart deeply. That being the case (and with her permission of course), I decided to use the “copy & paste” method of writing this week. I pray you are touched by her writing as well. Be sure to check out Jamie’s blog for more of her thoughts.

perfumeThe woman written of in the gospels who anointed our Savior was just an ordinary woman. However, her expression of love is legendary.

When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, and as she stood behind Him at His feet weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.” Luke 7:37-38

This scene painted in Luke 7:37-38 (see also Matthew 26:1-16, Mark 14:1-12 & John 12:1-11) awakens a feeling in me, best described as “gently radical.”

During this time in history women kept their hair pinned up. Paul even goes so far to say in one Epistle that a woman’s glory is her hair. Yet, humbly she departed from the culturally accepted thing, took her hair down and used “her glory” to serve Him tenderly. Click to continue »

So You Think You Can Dance

Thursday, April 2nd, 2009

kids_dancingOnce a month we invite a praise team from another local church to lead a night of worship at come2go. A couple weeks ago we had a group in from a Lutheran church. About half way through the evening, two little girls went right in front of the stage and began dancing, laughing & enjoying the music while the rest of the people in attendance looked on and smiled at the adorable scene.

As I surveyed the room, my heart touched along with the rest of the people’s, I thought to myself, “Awww, faith like a child”. I then realized that as those words passed through my mind not only did they contain a sense of endearment, they also contained a hint of sadness. It was as if I also said to myself, “I wish I had faith like a child where I would not think twice about being the only one in a room full of people that stood up and danced, laughed & enjoyed my time with God.” In that moment I longed for the innocence & freedom that those girls were enjoying.

One of my favorite accounts of King David’s life is when he brought the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem. Click to continue »

Lifting Hands in Worship

Thursday, March 26th, 2009

lifting_handsAfter High School I enrolled in a Discipleship Training School in Ensenada, Mexico, which was offered through a mission organization called YWAM. It was a spiritually significant time for me as I was encountering God in personal ways that I never had before. It was a time of intense spiritual surgery…God being the doctor and me being the patient of course.

Before coming to Mexico, I had been in the traditional Lutheran church almost exclusively. But I had enrolled myself in a school where the students had different denominational backgrounds. Needless to say I began seeing expressions of worship that I never saw in the Lutheran church; one of them being the lifting of hands while worshipping.

I vividly remember when I began to break out of my shell and lift my hands when I worshipped. As my hands were in the air, I would slyly scan the room, even look behind me, to see if anyone else was lifting their hands so I wouldn’t be the only one doing it. Well, it turns out that I wasn’t so sly, because after a little while I started to get lovingly mocked for my insecurity. Because it was all in good spirit, the teasing of my friends actually helped me realize that I had no reason to be insecure.

Lately I’ve been studying the different expressions of worship that our found in the book of Psalms. Click to continue »