Ah… Sleeping In

Ahh... sleeping in: the great college student's past-time.

You know, there is a reason you find most college students sleeping in (or at least trying to) - and it's not because they're lazy. They sleep in because so many of them are night-owls. Rather than being "morning people" they tend to be more awake and function better in the afternoon and evening.

Mixing night-owls and Sunday Morning church meetings does not seem to work out terribly well. Personally, I struggle (nearly) every week to make it through all of church awake. Its not because I didn't sleep enough the night before, but because I simply have the least amount of energy for my day during the morning. Many people my age seem to struggle with this.

Why do we meet in the morning specifically? I don't know. As far as I can tell its because we've always done it that way. Granted, there's nothing wrong with meeting on Sunday mornings, but I do think it would be worth at least considering other options.

One sleepy Sunday morning, I was wondering to myself why we couldn't meet at a different time. Today, I just wanted to share with you some of the options I have considered in my head1.

Sunday Morning: the time that (almost) everyone meets.

One of the perks of meeting at this time is that most Christians are used to it. Another benefit is that it is easy to eat lunch (out) afterwards with fellow church members. However, this meeting time makes it difficult to have shared meals (at home or at the church building) because of the elaborate planning required to eat something warm soon after church gets out.

As mentioned earlier, a problem for night-owls is that this time is not usually conducive to their greatest mental capacity or energy. Another challenge that this time poses is that it makes it difficult to invite non-Christians to your church services. Something tells me that one would have to have a lot of motivation (like the Holy Spirit) to get you to wake up on a Sunday morning at 7 when you could otherwise sleep until 10.

Sunday Early Afternoon:

A benefit I see to meeting at this time would be that the church could more easily eat together before services (for lunch) as part of their weekly gatherings (such as the agape meal model). A drawback would be that the meeting is in the middle of the day, which would make it more difficult to do other things (such as nap) on Sunday. Another drawback I can think of is the post-lunch slump most of us experience; Sunday afternoons are ideal for napping.

Sunday Night:

I like a few things about Sunday nights. (Previously) living six hours away from my girl-friend / fiancée or (currently) living five hours away from my family has caused me to travel on many a weekend. With such great distances being cleared, I could never make a trip worthwhile and be back home for church on Sunday morning. Meeting on Sunday night, however, would have given me a greater opportunity to be at church each week.

Similar to the early afternoon schedule, gathering on Sunday night would allow for more easily implemented agape meals as part of the standard meeting. Meeting at night would allow for more of the day to be used for tasks (or rest!) than an afternoon meeting. A pro for the night-owls is that the meeting would be during our peak for the day. Of course, that could be a downer for the morning people, so there's a tradeoff involved.

One drawback is that there will be little downtime for the congregation between the meeting and Monday morning. Depending on when the meeting is adjourned, one might be heading straight for bed before beginning the week; that’s not exactly the best transition.

Saturday Night:

Obviously, a Saturday night meeting would not be as beneficial for the travelers as a Sunday night meeting (actually, it's the worst option for travelling). However, Saturday night shares the other positives as Sunday night and has some of its own to consider. The transition to Monday is much better with this meeting than Sunday night, as one would have a whole day between to act as a buffer, and that would be a wonderful thing, indeed.

These are merely thoughts that I have had. Nothing here is intended to be divisive (especially considering that I don't know my own preference yet!), so please don't take it as such. I would love to hear everyone's opinion on this, from the early-bird to the night-owl. Because I don't know of any theological reason to meet at a specific time of day, I think this could be a productive conversation. Leave your thoughts below!


1 Bear in mind, I'm assuming that the church is only meeting once each weekend. I'm not exactly a fan of meeting on Sunday morning and Sunday evening as some churches do. There's just something about that that doesn't seem to fit in with Sabbath rest for me. As we often say, though, that's another article altogether.

Prayers for the Internet Monk

This is an unusual post, but an important one. A while back, we highlighted a post by Michael Spencer, the "Internet Monk." Spencer has been one of the best-known Christian bloggers for quite some time, sort of a rebellious-but-still-orthodox counterpart to the likes of Tim Challies or Justin Taylor. His is a voice I've read and appreciated for several years, and though I've sometimes (often?) disagreed with him on various issues, I can honestly say that I've rarely seen someone who understands more clearly or more deeply that the answer to all of the issues facing the church is the gospel.

More Christ, not less. More awareness of the cross and the resurrection, not less. All the calls for authenticity in the church, all the calls for community and social justice and killing the pride that has been killing us—these are good things, but must be rooted in God himself, not in us. He has always understood that, and so I've always deeply appreciated his writing.

A few months ago, he was diagnosed with cancer. Now it's killing him. But he's walking it out well, by all accounts. We ask for your prayers for him and his family to be able to continue walking this out well—and for a miraculous healing, if God would be pleased.

I'll leave you with some thoughts from his wife, Denise, that were posted over at his blog today (you should read the whole thing):

It is with a heavy heart that I bring my latest update on Michael. We have learned that his cancer is too advanced and too aggressive to expect any sort of remission. Our oncologist estimates that with continued treatment Michael most likely has somewhere between six months and a year to live. This is not really a surprise to us, though it is certainly horrible news. From the very beginning, both of us have suspected that this would prove to be an extremely bad situation. I don’t know why; perhaps God was preparing us for the worst all along by giving us that intuition.

...

Michael went through a period of depression, as I’m sure you would expect. He seems to have come through that now, for the most part. He knows he is dying, and he says he is at peace. Though he will still say with unashamed honesty, “I don’t want it to all be over at age 53!” he has the confidence of knowing that he has run the race God set out for him. He believes he has done the work our Lord intended for him to do, and if the last task God has for him in this life is dying, then he will do that to the best of his ability.

HT: Justin Taylor

Lyrical License? Not Here

Lyrics, sadly, have never generated quite as much heat as musical style in the "worship wars." Musical style, as PJ noted a few weeks ago, is not unimportant, but we should not fight over it, either. The battles over drums and guitars can obscure deeper and more important issues. Do we worship God as he really is, or do we sing to someone else? Do we worship God in his entirety, or only the parts we like? Do we focus primarily on ourselves or on God?

These are not trivial questions. How we worship is incredibly important. Hebrews 12 marches through a stirring call to endurance and a powerful picture of the kingdom Christ inaugurated, but concludes by saying:

Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.
Hebrews 12:28-29, ESV

The author of Hebrews reaches back to Moses' admonition to the Israelites not to commit idolatry, as he reminded them of God who had appeared in fire that burned the top of Mt. Sinai:

Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make a carved image, the form of anything that the Lord your God has forbidden you. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
Deuteronomy 4:23-24

We need to take the content of our songs seriously—far more seriously than we do, and more seriously than we take style. As such, I believe a worship leader should have several goals in mind as he chooses music for a service, all of which can be satisfied by hymns and modern praise choruses alike.

  1. Does the song clearly and accurately present the character of God?
    There is no more important question than this. If a song says erroneous things about God, it should never be used for any reason—no matter how compelling it is musically.
  2. Does the song ultimately direct our attention to God or ourselves?
    The Psalms frequently address the emotional depths of the human condition. Some speak of joy and delight. Others plunge to painful fears and sorrows. One thread connects all of them, though: they do not remain at their human points of entry. They turn to God as the creator of all that is good, the judge of all that is evil, and the savior of all who trust in him. Likewise, our songs can and should begin from any point in human existence, but should always turn to God.
  3. Is the song musically excellent?
    Unfortunately, many songs are either musically or lyrically strong, but not both. We need songs with well-written lyrics set to good melodies! Monotonous repetition of either lyrics or music is bad, whether it's in modern praise music or a 200-year-old hymn. Good melodies and good lyrics are both necessary. The music should also fit the text. Imagine if the well known hymn "It Is Well" was set to a jaunty tune with a lot of syncopation—we certainly would have stopped singing it long ago!
  4. Does the song support the sermon?
    As I noted last week, liturgies are much more effective when carefully constructed. Because preaching and congregational singing are both acts of worship, the sermon and the songs should support each other in how they glorify God and edify the congregation. One very practical way to do this is to choose songs that are connected to or based on the text the pastor is preaching on that day.
  5. Does the song fit with the other songs in the service?
    The songs should present a narrative that follows the flow of the gospel. Songs recognizing the pain of human travails and the greatness of God's comfort and salvation should ultimately flow into songs of hope—because Scripture does not stop with our despair but with God's salvation. The lyrics should move from humans to God, from sin to salvation, from our need to God's provision, from our present travails to our future hope in Christ. Likewise, the music should not be too uniform. Variety and change in instrumentation from song to song can help emphasize and clarify the narrative. Each song should add something both musically and lyrically to the service.
  6. Is the song rich in both intellectual and emotional content?
    Generally speaking, I think most churches struggle to find a balance between emotional and intellectual content of songs. I have personally heard hymns decried as "too complicated" for worship and praise choruses as "too simple." Both critiques miss the mark. One mistakes strong emotions and mental absence for true worship; the other mistakes a lack of emotions and intellectual action for true worship! Many hymns are too wordy for a purely emotional response—and that's a good thing. It is also good that many choruses are too lyrically simple for a purely intellectual response, but excel at stirring the emotions. When we are truly worshipping, both our thoughts and our feelings are involved. The best songs help us feel strongly and think rightly about God. If a song has no intellectual content or fails to stir the emotions at all, it is probably not a good fit.

Many young adults are looking for greater depth in the worship of their churches. Some have been burned by emotionalism; others come from backgrounds where emotions are stifled. Meanwhile, the worship wars rage on, missing the truly important aspects of worship for a sideshow. The first priority of musicians must be proclaiming the good news of Christ's atoning, conquering work in the cross. The best way churches can serve young adults (and everyone else) musically is by putting the gospel in the center of their understanding, making use of every tool available.

What are your experiences with church music lyrics? How have you seen churches put the gospel in the center of the service? What would you like to see churches doing better here?

Bleatings from the Sheep | Outgoing Links

Outgoing Links is a series in which we share interesting articles about the church (or whatever we please). Follow the links in the title to see the original site. Be sure to leave comments below with your thoughts.


Mark Lauterbach has a series of insightful posts called Bleatings from the Sheep. In it he describes how, as an elder, he learned many, great lessons from God through his congregation. You should check out each of the posts below.

HT: Thabiti Anyabwile

Bleatings from the Sheep?

One of the great temptations of pastoral ministry is to treat the congregation, the members, as "stupid".  We may not use those words, but we act like either they are slow to grasp truth and need constant prodding or nagging, or they are children and we pastors are fathers who must care for them.

Ouch!

I had some lessons to learn.  Most of all, I was to find that the people I served had good noses -- they may not know all the nuances of theology, but they could smell the stench of pride and the fragrance of true worship in my heart.  And they could also tell me if I was helping them or hurting them.

Slow to Change

Large corrections are the opposite of nit picking.  Nit picking is detailed correction -- tone of voice, choice of words, order of ideas, song selection, typefonts. Yes, I have heard all of those and more over the years.  She observed, prayed, observed more -- then offered her observation in a grace filled way.  In the years we knew her, she made just two or three corrections.  They were all game changers.

Tone

I was about 5 years into pastoring this particular church.  I came to them as a young man of 31.  I was in the midst of rethinking the Gospel and its role in my preaching.  I was seeing that my primary motivational tool was law, not grace. And then this -- some of my people were living under a burden of being disappointing to me.

Birthday Cards

One of the marks of arrogance is viewing all of life through my eyes, not considering how others see things.  I find it all too easy to assume that my perspective, my abilities, my limits are the truth for all.  It is not so!  I am not the center of the cosmos.