My Theology Of Sunday Morning Worship

My Theology Of Sunday Morning Worship

In recent years churches have downsized the number of meetings held throughout the week. Sunday morning worship hour has taken up the slack. As the body of Christ the church needs to meet regularly for deep connection, for fellowship. As the worshipers of the living God, the church needs to lay down praise, love, and adoration to God through Jesus. As children of God, We need to pray for other family members. As ambassadors to the King of Kings we need to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom is open to anyone who'll turn away from rebellion and come back to the king. The Sunday morning worship hour picked up all these needs and became the prime real estate for Christians.

This is more than one hour can hope to accomplish. Primarily, the Sunday morning gathering is meant for worship of God. A key part of that worship is the reviewing of Jesus’ teaching and evaluating our lives against his truth. Another key part of that worship is the singing of psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. We are also encouraged to take part in the sacrament of communion often and regularly. Finally, there is a history of taking up collections for the needs of the body of Christ on the first day of the week as well.

My Thoughts on Worship

Worship allows different members of the body of Christ to express their gifts to the Lord. Those who are gifted with song are free to lead. Those who are gifted with art and color are free to express themselves. Those who are gifted with poetry and drama are encouraged to take part. Those gifted with teaching and exhorting are able to be led by the Spirit. God is so wonderful and worthy of praise that there is room for great creativity in lifting him up.

Songs have always been a key part of worship. Emotional expression and memory connect in music in unique ways. I have memories that music from decades ago unlocks. If I don’t get to sing those songs, I miss that part of worship. Hopefully, new men and women are joining the Kingdom. These folks may connect with more modern music styles. These new brothers and sisters need worship music in their preferred style, so they can build music memories as well.

Drama, like any other human effort at worship, can become distracting. However, actors motivated by their love of God and desire to draw folks attention to the King of Kings can serve as the fingers of the Holy Spirit to tickle the mind and/or emotions toward him.

That leaves other body needs unmet on Sunday morning. The interpersonal needs of intercession, discipleship and fellowship have to be met primarily in other places and through other means than Sunday morning worship. A strong Sunday morning education time can aid discipleship and fellowship. A well thought out emphasis on prayer among the body is vital. Informal mentoring gives space for all sorts of accountability, prayer and encouragement. God is pleased when these activities strengthen His Kingdom.

Leadership Thoughts

Theology of leadership

In seminary the guiding vision of leadership that we were taught was summed up in the phrase "servant leadership." Over the last 20 some years I have enjoyed significant time and experience to figure out what that means.

The idea of servant leadership comes from Jesus’ own teaching. He proclaims himself a servant leader and commands that his followers becomes the same sort of leaders, Not lording it over their followers serving their followers in love.

Paul continues this thinking in Ephesians 4 where he describes pastors/Teachers as gifts that Jesus has left behind as he ascended into heaven. He left Pastor/teachers aid the body of Christ in healthy growth through service to each other into the world. Peter also advises fellow elders to be shepherds of God's flock as that have been left under their care, Serving as overseers not because they must but because they're willing is God wants them to be not from dishonest gain, but because they are eager to serve.

Looking at the life of Jesus, he was able to serve in such away that is strengthened his ability to lead and teach. He taught with greater authority. He didn't quote other rabbis as was the custom, but instead taught directly from the Old Testament. He exercised spiritual authority over demons and commanded them out of people’s lives with his words. He demonstrated Great authority over disease and even death. Yet he never asked or commanded that his own needs be met by those following him. He knelt and washed the feet of his disciples. He reached out to the woman caught in adultery and forgave her.

In fact, a look at the book of Acts shows the early church at its best as everybody served everyone else in love. In the beginning chapters please see that there is no need the young fellowship, because those that had means sold the extra and gave to those that were in trouble.

Pet peeve alert: this is why I have trouble with Pastor appreciation month. I feel that a pastor and his or her family become part of the church family and they should be welcomed and cared for as part of the church family, Even though most of the time they are from outside the community. Appreciation month is not needed when the church family cares for the pastor and the pastor cares for the church family all year long. Unfortunately, the church and pastors lost this vision and took a business model for the relationship between a pastor and the church. The pastor became the CEO who was supposed to raise the business of the church to greater heights. The church then became the factory or the sales floor to get Christianity into the world. This is not the model of the New Testament. For in the New Testament we see pastors are called and given to the church as fellow brothers and or sisters who have the gift of teaching and are given the gift of time to study, pray and seek God's will for the local body of believers.

How I  lead

My first priority coming into a church is to find out where God is already at work. Where is God already blessing in and through a church, and how can I join what God is already doing? I have found it takes a year to see all that a church is doing and how God is already using the leadership team. This may be a formal leadership team, Such as a church board, Or it may be an informal team Sunday school teachers, Volunteers, Board members and the others.

I have found that God usually orchestrates a change of leadership, because Lord wishes to add to or enhance what a church family is already doing and/or being for him. So once I get an idea where the Lord is working, I start to ask, “Where would God like me to work? What do I bring to the table that will enhance the direction God is already leading?"

One area in which the Lord is has used me in the past is to start or enhance a drama ministry. Another area in which I have experience and gifts is working with teens and/or children. I have also been used to form healthy small groups. After the first year, I will likely come to board meetings with ideas. People are more important than ideas, so I don't push but I do coax.

Two books that I have found helpful in building leadership team are The Five Dysfunctions Of A Team and God Dreams. I realize that even Jesus the son of God, Formed a team to aid in his ministry. That team was than commanded to go on make their own teams, Disciples. I find that to be the pattern of healthy leadership, so I will be looking to work with existing leaders to build healthy teams. Leaders need to be investing in the lives of  young Christians to bring them along into the family. Young Christians need all the encouragement and caring advice that they can soak in. 

Again, church development is not found primarily in board meetings, but in coffee shop meetings. Board meetings can weave the dream, small group meetings are the muscles of Christ’s body acting in culture to bring the kingdom to bear.

My Thoughts on Marriage

My Thoughts on Marriage

The theology of marriage is ancient. In Genesis 1:26-28 God states his purpose for humans, to put His image on the earth. To do so, he made a human male and a human female. Both are required to capture the essence of God. In Genesis 2 we see that Eve is made from the same stuff as Adam, a rib, a piece of His innards. We also see in Genesis 2 that a new household is formed when a man leaves his parents and joins in sexual union with his wife. The image of God, then is found in the close union of one man and one woman, made of the same stuff, yet different. The sex act was designed not primarily for recreation or even procreation, but for incarnation of the image of God on earth.

Now some pastors have taken this theology and accounts of Isaac’s marriage to Rebekah, which takes place without ceremony to mean that if a couple engages in sex, they are married in God’s sight. These pastors feel that the church should declare these couples married. 

I find this problematic. First, God presents Eve to Adam. The word used for brought is also used in other places to describe marriage. God performed the first marriage and that’s about as solemn as can be. Abraham had prayed over and consulted God regarding Isaac’s bride. Abraham sent his most respected servant with engagement gifts and God pointed Rebekah out to  this servant through miraculous timing. I don’t believe a one night fling is equivalent to the bringing together of Isaac and Rebekah.

So, ideally, marriage is the bringing together of two different people, male and female, under God’s direction to form a new family and display the image of God to the world through this couple.

My Methods Of Marriage Counseling And Ceremony

Now, the world is far from ideal. I recognize a person’s birth gender exclusively. I believe the Bible clearly teaches that marriage is only for one man and one woman for life. I do recognize the validity of divorcing for marital infidelity. I do recognize divorcing for desertion over one spouse’s faith in Christ when the non believing spouse wants out. I do recognize that God can forgive divorce and restore a person to a place where they are ready to marry again.

I generally counsel in 3 sessions. Meeting 1 I seek to get to know them and see how well they know each other. I push on key issues of spiritual agreement, money, child raising, decision making and family backgrounds. 

In session 2 we go through the parts of the ceremony, including the vows. This gives me a chance to talk about the union being lifetime. By the end of this session, we have the ceremony mapped out. We also chat about marital sex. If one or both partners have been divorced. This is where I bring up the ghosts of past relationships. These ghosts can be handled with God's grace. 

Session 3 wraps up any loose ends. We make sure of all the details and that a rehearsal has been confirmed with all of the participants. Florist, photographer and other pros are taken into account.

My Son

My son, Edward Ian is tall, good looking and gentle hearted. Like most Ross men of our branch he lives with intensity. He has been given a muscular conception  of right and wrong.  In fact, since Ian first hit school  he seemed  to need to be the classrooms police officer. By 4th grade I pulled officer Ian from school to learn at home.

During that year my wife and I asked our family physician to evaluate him. She  found him to be extremely intelligent and to converse in almost adult fashion.  She noted that he was different in the same way that a bill gates might've been different back in the day.

Not  long after that, we moved to my current position as pastor of a small church in upstate New York. Such a huge move was a challenge for all of us, and especially Ian. After some frustrating incidents at school the school guidance counselor recommended that we have in evaluated by a psychiatrist. We did. Two detailed sessions later  my son was described as on the autism spectrum with mild high functioning Aspergers Syndrome.

So many quirks to my son came in to focus. His aversion to all but classical music combined with his hyper sensitivity to smells all stem from Aspergers.  His intense one track of sessions with various hobbies from Thomas the Tank Engine to Star Wars to Legos to Pokémon where he would dive in so deep that maybe only two or three people in the world knew more about the subjects than he does.  It helped us understand that Ian thrives in environment that is very static, clearly spelled out, and directive as far as social interactions go.

You would think a well disciplined school would be the perfect place for Ian to thrive and gain hours. Yet you and I know schools are full of people.  Many of the people in schools were young, immature. Through the years Ian is slowly learning social skills, that's one of the drawbacks that Aspergers folks face. Yet Ian continues.