Revised Lyrics: Lead Us Back by Sojourn Music

the original version

Revised Lyrics: All Creatures by Enfield

the original version

"Where's God When?" Loss, Doubt and Church - Catherine Woodiwiss in Sojourner's

"Loss is a common language, but it isn’t a language inside our faith communities that we learn to speak very well."

What’s it like to share your stories of loss to a room of hundreds? Wm. Paul Young (author of The Shack), Reba Riley (Post-Traumatic Church Syndrome), and Christian Piatt (PostChristian) are about to find out — and help others do the same. The three bestselling authors are launching a two-stop tour — "Where's God When..." — in Seattle and Portland on May 16 & 17, to help others hear, and share, their own stories of grief, heartbreak, and healing.

Wm. Paul Young, author, The Shack: The language of loss is something I’m quite familiar with.

The older I get, the more I’m cognizant of the fact that loss is a common language, but it isn’t a language inside our faith communities that we learn to speak very well. A lot of times not even in our homes. For a lot of us, it was not safe and not allowable to do so.

So this is an opportunity to sort of put our arms around a community of people. I think that’s the direction we have to go to find some healing, for not just ourselves but for our communities and for our world. We’ve got to be able to talk about what we have in common.

Loss is no respecter of religion. It’s an equal opportunity offender. It’s belief-resistant — it doesn’t care whether you believe in God or not. That’s the framework that we enter into and tell our stories. Loss is a common language, even more so than faith or church or God or any of that. It’s a much more common language.

The full article is available here 

Reconciling With The Church Through Worship - Shannon Hollemans in do justice!

How can we show people Christ when the church is keeping them away from Christ?

Like many, I am a Christian both in spite of the church and because of the church. So how can we show people Christ or disciple them when the church is keeping them away from Christ?

Reconciling worship can be characterized by what happens outside of worship as much as anything that happens within it. It is not about a sermon series or carefully crafting congregational prayers.

This is a DNA issue.

It is one thing for the church to be heartbroken over injustice; it is another for the church to practice justice—in the decisions of those with power and in the life of the congregation. It is about us, all of us, being the church, together.

1. Reconciling worship embraces and celebrates the diversity of God’s people. This means that the images used convey that everyone is represented and reflected before God in worship. This mean it is a way of seeking participation from members representing every walk of life, not merely making room for diverse expression and participation, but actively pursuing it.

2. Reconciling worship remembers the causes of the hurting and oppressed. If there is any sin of which the North American church needs to repent together, it is our apathy. Oftentimes, the hurt caused by the church is not a result of what the church does as much as what it does not do. Great pain is caused when the church is silent. When people are devastated and dumbfounded and at a loss for words, that is where the Church should be—offering comfort, lamenting injustice, remembering, and speaking hope.

3. Reconciling worship recognizes and addresses the need for community. Much of worship music implies a “me and Jesus” understanding of our relationship to God. But in 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 we read that it is not my body that is a temple of the Holy Spirit but the body, us.Reconciling worship has both vertical and horizontal aspects because worship, at its heart, is about communing with God and one another.

4. Reconciling worship fosters space for lament and grief. It should speak to the hearts of the many who come to worship with emptiness stemming from loss. Reconciling worship creates space that leaves room for diverse expressions of lament.

5. Reconciling worship nurtures repentance. There is immense power in confession, particularly when we do it as a community.Worship can only offer us comfort when it speaks to our very real pain, often as the result of sin. It is in turning and returning to God that the broken, all of us, can meet the God of heaven and earth face to face.

6. Reconciling worship uses language with care. Our hearts are revealed in our language, both verbal and nonverbal. And all too frequently, so are our biases. Reconciling worship avoids “us” versus “them” language, like “believers” and “nonbelievers”. It recognizes the diversity of the people in the pews, and of the people that they love. It's all about not allowing our biases to speak when leading worship. It’s about asking ourselves: how do my biases come through here? If person X were in the crowd, how would she or he hear this?

7. Reconciling worship cultivates restoration and hope. Reconciling worship turns our lens from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil to the Tree of Life. It is for both the wounded and the one who has done the wounding. Our hope in Christ is the source of our unity in our diversity. When the focus is on God, not on us, it is much easier to find hope. [It should focus on the kingdom coming and God's will being done now through restoration and renewal.]

As followers of Christ we are meant to be ambassadors of reconciliation. It is an overwhelming task that we have the privilege of participating in through the power of the Holy Spirit.

The full article is available here

Immigration Preaching Challenge - CRC Office of Social Justice

Preaching about immigration is a way in which we can respond to God’s call to be truth tellers, to make the gospel relevant to our context today, and to be aware of the burdens that the body of Christ is bearing in our midst.

Did you know that only 16% of evangelicals have ever heard about immigration in church? As a result, fewer than 10% think about immigration primarily from the perspective of their faith.

The theme of immigration is woven throughout the biblical narrative. Still, immigrants find themselves on the margins. Society projects its struggles onto new immigrants. Xenophobia, stigma, and myth tend to color the reception of newcomers.

A quick study of the history of U.S. immigration policy reveals that misinformation has resulted in harmful immigration laws that are not based on reality. The majority of new immigrants are Christians--and when one part of the body suffers, we all suffer.

Preaching about immigration is a way in which we can respond to God’s call to be truth tellers, to make the gospel relevant to our context today, and to be aware of the burdens that the body of Christ is bearing in our midst. Your congregation is hearing about immigration from lots of places--but they need most to hear about it from you.

Take the challenge! Submit a recording (with a written outline) or a complete manuscript of a sermon you preached about immigration to osjha@crcna.org by September 30, 2015.

The full article is available here

CRC Group Visits US/Mexico Border - Office of Social Justice

The current immigration policy needs revamping; it is too complicated, too uneven, and too disruptive for far too many families.

The Christian Reformed Church’s Office of Social Justice led a group of 20 pastors and others to the Arizona- Mexico border from March 9-12 to expose them to issues of immigration that people on both sides of the border are facing.

Kelsey Herbert, a Congregational Mobilizer Fellow for the Office of Social Justice, says a goal of the trip was to encourage a greater dialogue in churches about looking at immigration from a faith-based perspective.

“Only about 10% of evangelicals say their faith influences their position on immigration. This makes sense when only about 20% of Christians have heard immigration talked about from the pulpit,” she says.

The experience was a stark reminder of how just how human, even to the point of death, immigration is and how the love that Jesus has towards immigrants is beyond human understanding.

Daniel Mouw, pastor of South Grandville Christian Reformed Church in Grandville, Mich. said he knew before he went on the trip that immigration policy is complicated. But the journey to the border underscored that it is far more complicated than he realized.

"The current immigration policy needs revamping; it is too complicated, too uneven, and too disruptive for far too many families,” he says.

“The Christian community needs to be talking together about this and communicating with our leaders. And we need to get those conversations started now because of the lives of millions of marginalized people are hanging in the balance.”

The full article is available here

Revised Lyrics: God of Grace and God of Glory

instrumental with synth playing vocal melody

Restorative Justice - CRC Office of Social Justice

Easter (which we recently celebrated) is not only about Christ’s resurrection but also about renewal and redemption.

Federal laws crack down hard on persons with felonies by banning them from receiving SNAP (formerly known as food stamps), student financial aid, public housing, driver’s licenses, and professional licenses, putting these people and their families at serious risk of hunger and recidivism.

Learn more about Bread for the World’s campaign to end unjust policies and hunger among those made vulnerable by a criminal record.

The United States contains 4 percent of the world’s population and 25 percent of the world’s incarcerated people.

Watch this insightful 3-minute video that points to the injustices in our criminal justice system and the barriers convicted men and women face when released.

Don't Sell Us A Product - Rachel Held Evans

Call To Worship: God The Creative Spark (based on Genesis 1:31)

God is the creative spark of new life. We will seek God in this new day. What God creates is good,
so we will rejoice and be glad.

God, architect of life and wholeness, open our eyes to your ever-surrounding presence.

Spirit, creator of awe and beauty, open our souls to your stirring.

Jesus, through whom everything came into existence, open our hearts to your grace and love.

Earth Day Weekend Benediction: Designed For Harmony

based on No One But Us

As we go from here … may we care for each other, bring life to one another, and value all that God indwells.  May we live in harmony with each other and the earth, just as God designed us to.

Earth Day Weekend Responsive Call To Worship

based on piece by Greg Klimovitz

Reader: God, let us listen ...
All: … so we may hear your voice all around us 
in the universe you called “good.”

Reader: God, open our minds ...
All: … so we may love one another and the earth 
you told us to care for and protect.

Reader: God, open our eyes to see ...
All: … your fingerprints in the wonder of all that surrounds us. 
May our lives be worship to you.

Confronting Systems That Cause Poverty - Henri J.Nouwen

Teach Them To Long - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Living Into God's Story - by Eugene Peterson

Story doesn't just tell us something and leave it there; story invites our participation. A good storyteller gathers us into the story.

The Bible is basically and overall a narrative, an immense, sprawling, capacious narrative. Stories hold pride of place in revealing God and God's way to us. It follows that storytellers in our Christian community carry a major responsibility for keeping us alert to these stories and the way they work.

There is a reason for the appropriateness of story as a major means of bringing us God's Word. Story doesn't just tell us something and leave it there; story invites our participation. A good storyteller gathers us into the story.

Of course, not all stories are good; some lack honesty. There are sentimentalizing stories that seduce us into escaping form life; there are propagandistic stories that attempt to enlist us in a cause or bully us into stereotyping responses; there are trivializing stories that represent life as merely cute or diverting.

The Bible's honest stories respect our freedom; they don't manipulate us, don't force us, don't distract us from life. They show us a spacious world in which God creates and saves and blesses. They invite us in an participants in something larger than our sin-defined needs, in something truer than our culture-stunted ambitions.

We don't live our lives by information. We live them in relationships in the context of a community of men and women - each person an intricate bundle of experience and motive and desire, and of personal God, who cannot be reduced to formula or definition, who has designs on us for justice and salvation.

When we lose touch with our lives, our souls - our moral and spiritual, our God-personal lives - story is the best way of getting us back in touch again.

Maybe it is because Scripture comes to us so authoritatively, "God's Word," that we think all we can do is submit and obey. Submission and obedience are part of it, but first we have to listen. And listening requires hearing the way it is said (form) as well as what is said (content). Stories suffer misinterpretation when we don't submit to them simply as stories.

Spiritual theology, using Scripture as text, does not so much present us with a moral code and tell us, "Live up to this," nor does it set out a system of doctrine and say, "Think like this." The biblical way is to tell a story and invite us, "Live into this - this is what it looks like to be human in this God-made and God-ruled world; this is what is involved in becoming and maturing as a human being."

The full article is available here

Drive A Spoke Into Injustice - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Holy Saturday: Take Time To Sit at Your Tomb - from Progressive Red Neck Preacher

On Holy Saturday, Jesus takes into God’s self the experience of death, of abandonment, of guilt and of hell. On this day, as one of us, God experiences what it means to be totally abandoned by God.

But really, who wants to think about what this day was like? Jesus, buried behind a tomb. Judas hanging himself on a tree. The disciples hiding in fright, scattered to the four winds in fear.

The hopes of all who followed Jesus shattered and lost… From the appearance of all who looked up, a day in which evil won, where injustice reigned triumphant, where oppression rules.

To truly appreciate the full depth of Easter, we need to take space to sit with the bitter pain of Holy Saturday, to sit at the tomb where Jesus lays, to face our own tombs.

We need to stay a while with the disciples, to hear the cry of mother Mary as her baby boy lays in the tomb. I think as we do so, we can find Holy Saturday teaching us great things.

First it shows us the value of sitting with our own experience of pain and forsakenness, when so often we talk as if our experience of pain, of anguish, of uncertainty, and of doubt are signs that we have lost our way, that we have gone down the wrong road.

Holy Saturday teaches us that trying to reach Easter, new beginning, and hope before we - like Jesus - sit in the midst of death, of grief, of loss, of terror, and total abandonment can mean not yet being ready. Facing and admitting our pain and heartache is part and parcel of the call of Holy Saturday.

On Holy Saturday, Jesus takes into God’s self the experience of death, of abandonment, of guilt and of hell. On this day, as one of us, God experiences what it means to be totally abandoned by God. This means in the heart of our experiences of grief, of terror and abandonment, we are not alone though, as Jesus did on the cross, we do feel abandoned in those moments.

This is why as he died Jesus cries out “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” and why Christian mystics have talked about the need to face the dark night of the soul.

The full article is available here

Living Well Amongst Religious Diversity - CRC Network

We need to be challenged to live well in a pluralistic society. 

We need more conversation on living well amongst religious diversity in our inter-religious global community.  All that this means is simply being willing to share what we believe as we listen to the beliefs of others in openness and love.

How do we apply the principles of love, hospitality and civility in our interactions with believers of other faith traditions.

How can we increase peace between these diverse communities?  Todd Johnson and Cindy Wu suggest four ways that we can live better in the midst of diversity and plurality.

1. Lower suspicion. In both Canada and the United States, there is increasing rhetoric about the dangers of Islamic terrorism. Yes, groups like ISIS/L are a serious problem, but most Muslims distance themselves from these extremist groups. Let us not allow this present climate of fear to keep us from listening to the felt needs and concerns of this community.

2. Become more informed. Learn more about the faith groups in your community and take time to meet practitioners of those faiths. (It's also well-worth learning the truth about the religious extremism that has been/continues to be problematic within your own faith).

3. Encourage inter-faith dialogue. Often this can only happen with an official invite and some planning around a simple meal, and perhaps a brief dialogue centered on a basic question, such as “tell us about the founder of your religion.”

4. Practice hospitality. This comes naturally to us and so we shouldn’t shy away from practicing it.It does depend though on number 1 above. Number 2 also helps in knowing what is culturally appropriate. Number 3 can be the vehicle for practicing hospitality.

We need to be challenged to live well in a pluralistic society.

The full article is available here

Subversive Little Crumbs - Joe Kay in Sojourner's

Jesus broke bread in radical ways. No wonder the self-important wanted to get rid of him.

He broke it and gave it to whoever wanted some. He transformed an ordinary loaf into something extraordinary: A moment of unqualified love for whoever needed love at that moment.

 He invited those who were treated as outsiders to join the meal as VIPs.

In that day, meals were a reflection of the social order. The self-important sat in the favored spots and received the best food — kind of like today. They looked down upon everyone else, perhaps deeming them lazy or unworthy. Someone who should be ignored instead of loved.

That’s not how he saw it.

He shared the loaf equally and unconditionally. He challenged the notion that some of us deserve the bread more than others, or that some have earned it in some way. He adamantly opposed those who ignored the needy and judged others as unworthy.

Jesus broke bread in radical ways. No wonder the self-important wanted to get rid of him.

The full article is available here

Benediction: In God's World, Let's Listen and Reach Out (based on Isaiah 30:21)

As we go out into our parts of God’s world; let's listen for God’s voice, let's reach out and support one another, and let’s remember that God is always at work and making all things new in everything that surrounds us.

Responsive Call To Worship: We Have Come, Seeking (based on Proverbs 2:1-5)

Reader: We have gathered today, seeking
All: God, once again speak with wisdom that guides us

Reader: We have come to hear God's voice.
All: May we open our ears and our hearts. 

Reader: May God once again respond with love deepens our compassion
All: For this boundless, we have come to give thanks together

What If Jesus Wasn't The (An) Answer - Cindy Brandt in Sojourners

Any time we try to confine God into a simplistic message small enough to fit onto a tract, a slogan for t-shirt or bumper sticker or a 3-minute, feel-good Praise and Worship diddy, we cut out too many important details.

I get it. The world continues to be troubled and broken. But Jesus as the answer? Too simplistic. The complexities of brokeness don't fit neatly into the problem/solution formula.

Brokeness is sometimes the moral failing of an individual’s choices. But those choices are almost always inextricably bound in relationship with other individuals, which together form a web of complex dilemmas making it impossible to pinpoint where the moral responsibility lies.

Other times brokeness is invisible and systemic. We are ensnared corporately on a daily basis — our complicity in a consumer society feeding upon greed, our participation in corrupting our environment, and our everyday purchases tainted by child and slave labors.

Answers are clear cut and devoid of mystery. Love is murky and nebulous, but endless in profound beauty. Answers are definitive and effortless. Love requires labor with no guarantees. Answers set up parameters and boundaries and gatekeepers. Love erases dividing lines and flings open gates.

Any time we try to confine God into a simplistic message small enough to fit onto a tract, a t-shirt or bumper sticker slogan or a 4-minute, feel-good Praise and Worship diddy, we cut out too many important details.

Jesus wasn't an answer. Jesus was love — a sentiment, or action, or spirit, that has been elaborated by poets and artists throughout the history of humanity, boundless in its outworking, limitless in its applications. In his time on earth, Jesus entered into our problem and he sat down and told us stories riddled with nuance and complexity, open to the interpretations of his listeners. Jesus entered into our problem and doled out not just one solution, but many different sorts.

The full article is available here

Revised Lyrics: Arise My Soul Arise by Indelible Grace

the original version

Lent and Fossil Fuels - Do Justice!

Almost 3 billion people, mostly the poor, depend on fish for a large part of their daily protein. I care about the poor. So I care about acidic oceans.

I can only handle so much alarming news in one day. But I have found room in my alarm-quotient enough to care about this: our oceans are becoming more acidic.

Here’s what’s happening: as humans use more fossil fuels, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases, and much of it is absorbed by the ocean. It eventually dissolves there, making the water more and more acidic.

There are tiny organisms in the ocean called foraminifera. These little guys have shells that acid can gnaw right away. The more acidic the oceans have become, the harder it is for my foraminifera friends to create their shells.

Calcium-shelled species like foraminifera are a vital link in the marine food chain. That food chain travels all the way up to humans. Almost 3 billion people, mostly the poor, depend on fish for a large part of their daily protein. I care about the poor. So, suddenly, I care about acidic oceans.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed with all the alarming news we have to stomach. It’s easy to tune out certain reports, or refuse to engage. I can’t de-acidify the oceans. I can’t rescue the family on my street who is losing their home to foreclosure. I can’t fix our immigration system or solve my friend’s addiction.  I can’t do much to set the world right.

Thank God it’s Lent. Thank God that it’s the season of remembering our limits. We are a sinful people. We follow a crucified Christ. We live in an imperfect world. And yet, there is still hope. Somehow, we’re always forgiven. Somehow, Easter always comes.

The full article is available here

Reading The Bible How Conservatives Read The Qur'an - Mark Sandlin in Patheos

If you're unwilling to apply the same scrutiny to your own faith that you insist on applying to other people’s faith, then at some point, you are going to have to admit that your issue is not with their actual faith but with the fact they are different from you.

There's a been quite a tempest in conservative circles since President Obama talked about the problems of extremism in all kinds of religions at the National Prayer Breakfast last month.

Conservatives, and specifically the Religious Right, have been cherry picking verses from the Qur’an to argue that Islam is necessarily and uniquely more violent than Christianity in their hierarchy. They have gone this route as opposed to than a larger understanding of the overall text.

Just to show the folly of approaching a text in such a simple-minded and shortsighted way, I thought it might be interesting to pull a few verses from the Bible, apply the same kind of cherry-picking and consider the results.

• Kill all those who do not worship God. -- 2 Chronicles 15:12-13
• If a town begins to not worship God, kill them all! -- Deuteronomy 13:13-19
• Kill relatives if they try to lead you away from worshipping God. -- Deuteronomy 13:6-8
• It's ok to have slaves, you can beat them as long as you don’t kill them. -- Exodus 21:20-21
• You can sell daughter as sex slave if she's tread better than other slaves.-- Exodus 21:7-8
• Spanking is probably good, but never rule out death. - Exodus 21:15
• The only penalty for unfaithfulness is death. -- Leviticus 20:10
• Premarital sex is punishable by death! Well, for women. -- Deuteronomy 22:20-21
• It’s fine to rape an unmarried woman, but if caught give her Dad 50 shekels and marry her. -- Deuteronomy 22:28-29 

If conservatives really want all Muslims to renounce the most horrific verses in their holy text, it would seem that Christians will need to do the same.

If you're unwilling to apply the same scrutiny to your own faith that you insist on applying to other people’s faith, then at some point, you are going to have to admit that your issue is not with their actual faith but with the fact they are different from you.

Like the Bible, the Qur’an has an over-arching theology which, ultimately, overrides the worst parts of the text.

 

The full article is available here