Martyn Joseph - music to move me (out of a place called "Complacency")

A worship Pastor tired of worship music?
Sometimes I get so tired of "worship" music. Which may sound odd coming from a worship pastor. But it's true. Sometimes the tired lyrics and worn cliches and Nashville scene make me question when does worship music stop being about the next greatest anthem and start being about God. How do we sing songs about God anyway? How can we sum Him up in a pithy four liner? Obviously we can't. But we try. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. People have been doing it for centuries. We will always try to understand the mystery, to express the inexpressible. That's how God has made us. That's what makes us human.

Some great worship albums
There are some worship leaders who I keep returning to. Eoghan Heaslip is one (I love his albums "Mercy" and "Grace in the Wilderness"); Paul Oakley's "Unafraid" is a powerful stripped back live acoustic with some of the most beautiful lyrics (see Moth to a Flame) - I keep coming back to this album. Delirious? and their earlier acoustic work is often powerful (see Find me in the River or "When All Around Has Fallen", or "I've Searched for Gold"). Matt Redman's "Facedown" album is a keeper. As is Graham Kendrick's "What Grace". But it's rare that listening to worship music moves me in the way that perhaps the author would like it to.

A Grander View
What I've discovered is that I find true worship music in the strangest places. What's the difference between "worship" music and worship music. Just that worship music moves me closer to God. Sure it depends on how I'm feeling, what mood I'm in, but lately I find I go elsewhere other than traditional "worship" albums to encounter God. For example, Taize music, or Sacred Polyphony. My journey even takes me to Icelandic prog-rock artists, Sigur Ros, with the grand sonic landscapes they paint, that somehow bring to mind the greatness of God. Classical music, such as Eric Satie's Gymnopedie or Clair de Lune by Debussy. Gorecki's "Sympony of Sorrowful Songs" moves me (try closing your eyes and listening to this all the way through without crying. )

These songs and many more move me to worship - not in any linear way, but in a way that somehow encompasses me and gets me feeling and experiencing the mystery and beauty of God.

Martyn Joseph
But now to Martyn Joseph - a Welsh singer songwriter who I've seen here in Canada numerous times. He moves me out of a place of complacency. He moves me to remembering that God has placed me on earth to be someone who honours God and to do something to honour God. All without ever saying remotely referring to either of those points. Interesting. I could tell you all about him. Or I could point you to a couple of youtube videos of his. Here. Here. Here. You can also download some free songs from his website here. This is one of the places where I discover worship music.

Cheers
Dan

* Disclaimer - I love modern worship music. I respect worship musicians. I love singing worship music. I just know that worship music is greater and deeper and more than the latest offering from (_______) fill in the blank.

Everyone's slave

"Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.
I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings" (1 Corinthians 9:19-23)

“Accompanying Mother Theresa, as we did, to the Home for the Dying, to the lepers and unwanted children, I found I went through three phases. The first was horror mixed with pity, the second compassion pure and simple, and the third, reaching far beyond compassion something I had never experienced before- an awareness that these dying and derelict men and women, these lepers with stumps instead of hands these unwanted children were not pitiable, repulsive or forlorn, but rather dear and delightful; as it might be, friends of long standing, brothers and sisters.
How is it to be explained—the very heart and mystery of the Christian faith? To soothe those battered old heads, to grasp those poor stumps, to take in one's arms those children consigned to dustbins, because it is his head, as they are his stumps and his children, of whom he said that whosoever received one such child in his name received him.”
- Malcolm Muggeridge.

Something moved in me as I read this: "I make myself a slave to everyone".
Isn't this the battering ram that smashes down the tenuous walls of my so-called rights, my individuality, my self-worth, my self-preservation and every single reason that I create not to reach out in the power of Christ's love to others? Oh, to bend every cell of my being to the purpose of reaching others for Christ; becoming their slaves, letting them own me. Becoming like them. Because that is the only doorway through which I can bring Christ into their lives.
God, break me - make me Your slave, that I might be slaves to all.
Amen.

You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body (1 Cor. 6:19-20)

Prayer? Exciting? You off your rocker?

(taken from the Prayer Today website; which I discovered through Winchester Wesleyan Church’s Website)

MOTIVATED BY PLEASURE

When you have had a delightfully delicious meal at an elegant restaurant no one has to twist your arm to get you to go back the second time. No one has to force you, or ask to a second time, to eat a candy bar, or go to the beach, or go on a date with the person you are in love with. You do those things again and again because you enjoyed them. Pleasure motivates us.

YOU DO WHAT YOU ENJOY DOING

Jesus often spent a whole night in prayer to God. At the outset of his ministry he spent forty days and forty nights in prayer. How did he do that? I would fall asleep sometime during the first hour. I know, I’ve tried.

The secret is not in expanding your list of prayer requests to read off to God like a shopping list, nor is it to set a marathon goal of two hours of prayer, or twelve hours of prayer. Extended times with God were possible for Jesus, and for you, when you enjoy those prayer times. You do what you enjoy doing.

HEAVEN - NOT AN EXTENDED WEDNESDAY NIGHT PRAYER MEETING

So, we need to find ways to break the old stereotypes of prayer as long, boring, monologues of never-ending requests to God, about things that we have little or no interest in. If prayer is a taste of heaven, then it should be enjoyable and create a craving in us for more. How horrible if heaven turned out to be an extended Wednesday evening prayer meeting! I think even Jesus would fight to stay awake in one of those sluggish vigils.

HAPPY, ENJOYABLE, INTIMATE
How do you make prayer interesting? Do it God’s way. The Scriptures are filled with examples and admonitions toward prayer, and hardly any of them is an encouragement to spend hours listing prayer requests to God. Part of prayer is certainly asking, but that is not the substance of prayer. Prayer is a relationship to God. That relationship needs to be happy, enjoyable and intimate. Bottom line, prayer should to be enjoy God. The famous Westminster Shorter Catechism answers well the question concerning the chief end of man.

The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. It is the prime directive! It is the purpose for which we were created. It is what heaven is all about.

JUST STREETS OF GOLD?

If heaven were just mansions and streets of gold then God could have left us here on earth with those amenities. But heaven is where God is. And, as the song says, Where Jesus is, ‘tis heaven there. If we don’t enjoy God’s presence and conversation here on earth, how will we ever endure eternity in heaven?

SMOOTH, RICH, BITTER-SWEET CHOCOLATE DESSERT

What do you delight in? I delight I delight to sit by the sea and watch the waves crashing onto the shore. My wife and I can do that for hours in silent timeless wonder. It’s delightful. I delight in soaking in a hot tub when my back and neck are aching from a long day of hard labor. I delight in a deliciously prepared, well-seasoned meal at a fine restaurant with friends and good conversation, then to finish it off with a smooth, rich bitter sweet chocolate dessert and an expresso coffee.

None of these delights compares to the delight I have found in a day or few days of retreat alone with God. When prayer becomes delightful, extending it is never a problem. (continue reading article here)

To continue reading this excellent article, taken from the Prayer Today website; to take the next step deepening your relationship with God through an exciting life of delightful prayer, click HERE. On the resulting page, just click on "How to pray all day". Also available on this page: "Cross of Prayer" and "How to Pray for an hour". For the original manuscript, taken from www.prayertoday.org, click HERE

May these insights draw you closer to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as together we resist our natural pull towards a dry, boring, unadventurous faith and instead decide to move deeper into a love relationship with our Creator, Saviour, Judge, Friend and Lover.

Cheers

Dan