Tuesday, April 27, 2004
I posted this to my other blog, but thought since it is arts and ministry related I would post it here too.
True Believers
I'm sorry I haven't blogged in a few days. I had a good excuse but I'll get to that in a second. First of all a word of thanks to Youth Specialties for making Radically Real their featured blog of the week. It would figure that the week that this happened would be a week when I was away most of the week, which leads me back to my blog.
My excuse was simple. The reason I haven't blogged in a while is that I spent the past week at a gathering of true believers. These people are amazing. They are united in their cause and thought they come at their cause from a multitude of different angles, they all have a common thread that they cling to passionately. They are united, they look out for one another, and for the most part, they don't let their differences divide them but rather look at it as diversity in their body. When their common thread is threatened they unite and mobilize for their common good.
By now you may be wondering what really cool ministry retreat I was at and how can you be a part of it. Well, sadly, it's not a ministry retreat, but rather a music teacher's conference, but there are a lot of things this group could teach us in the church. First off these people come together from a variety of disciplines. Some are choral, some are instrumental, some are classical, some are jazz, some teach in early childhood and elementary schools while others teach in secondary schools and even some of the area's finest colleges and universities. That is a lot of diversity. That is enough to tear a lot of organizations apart, yet it does just the opposite. You see, while they are diverse, they rally around a common thread, music and teaching that music to kids. Can the church say the same?
We are Methodists and Baptists and Brethren and Pentecostals and Catholics and Presbyterians and on and on and on. Are we united around our common thread, Jesus Christ and spreading His Gospel or are we splintered over a bunch of things that won't matter at all when we reach the Kingdom?
Right now many music teachers are feeling threatened by things like No Child Left Behind (I love you Mr. president, but this program is a "train-wreck"), budget cuts, their subject being seen as non-essential (though who would really want to live in a world without music), etc. They could fracture and go every man for himself, say, "to heck with everyone else, I'm going to save my position," but instead they unite for the common good. They support each other, not just for their own good, but for their students and ultimately for their common thread, the love of music.
Church, we face threats too. The freedoms of Christians in America are being eroded on a daily basis. What is our answer? Will we unite behind our common cause, the cause of Jesus Christ or will we continue to go every man for himself and remain fractured and ineffective? Read Jesus' prayer for the Church in John 17. It seems pretty clear what Jesus would have us do. Major in the majors, unite behind Jesus and make a difference. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. How about you?
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True Believers
I'm sorry I haven't blogged in a few days. I had a good excuse but I'll get to that in a second. First of all a word of thanks to Youth Specialties for making Radically Real their featured blog of the week. It would figure that the week that this happened would be a week when I was away most of the week, which leads me back to my blog.
My excuse was simple. The reason I haven't blogged in a while is that I spent the past week at a gathering of true believers. These people are amazing. They are united in their cause and thought they come at their cause from a multitude of different angles, they all have a common thread that they cling to passionately. They are united, they look out for one another, and for the most part, they don't let their differences divide them but rather look at it as diversity in their body. When their common thread is threatened they unite and mobilize for their common good.
By now you may be wondering what really cool ministry retreat I was at and how can you be a part of it. Well, sadly, it's not a ministry retreat, but rather a music teacher's conference, but there are a lot of things this group could teach us in the church. First off these people come together from a variety of disciplines. Some are choral, some are instrumental, some are classical, some are jazz, some teach in early childhood and elementary schools while others teach in secondary schools and even some of the area's finest colleges and universities. That is a lot of diversity. That is enough to tear a lot of organizations apart, yet it does just the opposite. You see, while they are diverse, they rally around a common thread, music and teaching that music to kids. Can the church say the same?
We are Methodists and Baptists and Brethren and Pentecostals and Catholics and Presbyterians and on and on and on. Are we united around our common thread, Jesus Christ and spreading His Gospel or are we splintered over a bunch of things that won't matter at all when we reach the Kingdom?
Right now many music teachers are feeling threatened by things like No Child Left Behind (I love you Mr. president, but this program is a "train-wreck"), budget cuts, their subject being seen as non-essential (though who would really want to live in a world without music), etc. They could fracture and go every man for himself, say, "to heck with everyone else, I'm going to save my position," but instead they unite for the common good. They support each other, not just for their own good, but for their students and ultimately for their common thread, the love of music.
Church, we face threats too. The freedoms of Christians in America are being eroded on a daily basis. What is our answer? Will we unite behind our common cause, the cause of Jesus Christ or will we continue to go every man for himself and remain fractured and ineffective? Read Jesus' prayer for the Church in John 17. It seems pretty clear what Jesus would have us do. Major in the majors, unite behind Jesus and make a difference. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. How about you?
