At the end of this post there will be important information about Worship Team Orientation.  But please read the post first!

As the summer draws to a close (yes, there’s no use denying it, the new school year is almost upon us!) it is easy to begin realizing how many of the things we planned to do in April didn’t get done.  The temptation is to pack these last few weeks full of those yet-to-be-had experiences, but I want to encourage you to think a little differently about the close of your summer, to consider one exercise that might be more fruitful in the long run.  That is the exercise of examen.

            Ignatius of Loyola, who wrote the classic, Spiritual Exercises, promoted this exercise of examen, by which a disciple spends time reviewing both his or her life, and more specifically, his or her day with Christ.  (see another blog for a helpful explanation).  I want to encourage you to spend an hour, perhaps with a glass of lemonade, iced tea, or tasty ice cream, before you return to school, reviewing your summer, considering the following questions as they relate to the Treasures of Christ:

• ADORATION (the Glory of Christ): When did you find yourself treasuring Christ most deeply?  Specifically, what were some encounters when you felt closest to Jesus, or appreciative of His presence with you?  Conversely, when did you feel most distant from Him, most confused or estranged or unaware of Him?  What were the characteristics of those moments, positive or negative?
• TRANSFORMATION (the Way of Christ): What are some of the ways that you have grown as a disciple of Jesus this summer?  What events challenged you to consider Jesus’ teachings more deeply?  Conversely, in what ways are you aware that you neglected, ignored, or rejected the opportunity to be obedient to Christ?
• VOCATION (the Voice of Christ): When did you hear God’s Spirit speaking to you this summer?  What events caused you to pay more attention to His voice?  When did He seem most absent?  What events caused you to pay less attention to His voice?
• PARTICIPATION (the Body of Christ): When did you experience a unique level of fellowship with other believers this summer?  Who were some of the people who affected you most?  When did you feel most lonely?  What did you need in that moment?  Are there any relationships that need to be put right?
• INCARNATION (the Creativity of Christ): When did you feel most creative, most able to use your gifts for the glory of Christ this summer?  When did you feel like your creativity dried up?  How did God meet you in those moments?

As you consider these questions, don’t just think with yourself about them.  Dialogue with God, out loud, in a journal.  Talk to Him, asking Him to use the experiences of your summer to teach you and make you more like Christ.  Leave time for silence and quiet, when you’re not talking to Him, but just listening.  Make note of the thoughts and ideas that come to mind, and talk to Him about those too, until you gain a sense of how you might learn to treasure Christ more deeply.  If possible, try and boil your summer down to a sentence or a few words that describe the ways in which you met Jesus this summer.

            It may be that as you consider these questions, you conclude that you have been more distant that you had hoped to be; perhaps you have even made some decisions that were clearly disobedient, outside of His will for you.  As you sit before God, this is not a time for shame and condemnation.  Prayers of examen are always meant to be a time of reconciliation, of redemption of every one of our moments whether good or bad, for the glory of Christ in our lives.  It may be that your most important action step in this moment is to receive the forgiveness of Christ, and move forward into renewed intimacy with Him again.

Worship Team Orientation

Worship Team Orientation 2010 will be on Tuesday, September 7 and Wednesday, September 8.  (A few have confused this with Student Leadership Orientation Week, which is the previous week.  SLOW is only for the team leaders, not the team members.)  There are three purposes for Worship Team Orientation:

Spiritual refreshment and encouragement in your life as a Christ-treasurer

Establishing of relationships and spiritual community on your team

Equipping you and your team for effective, satisfying, and creative musical ministry

Here is a basic breakdown of the schedule (unless otherwise indicated, all sessions will be held in Ezra House):

Tuesday, September 7

9 am                            Introductions and Welcome

9:30 – 10:30 am          ADORATION: Treasuring the Glory of Christ

10:45 am – 12:00 pm  TRANSFORMATION: Treasuring the Way of Christ

12:15 – 1:15 pm          Lunch (provided)

1:15 – 2:30 pm            PARTICIPATION: Treasuring the Body of Christ

2:30 – 4:30 pm            Team Activity and Covenant-Making

4:30 – 5:00 pm            Closing Prayers and Worship

Wednesday, September 8

9 – 9:30 am                 VOCATION: Treasuring the Voice of Christ

9:30 – 10:30 am          INCARNATION: Treasuring the Creativity of Christ

10:45 – 12:15              Tim’s Team Practice

12:30 – 2:00                Michelle’s Team Practice

2:00 – 3:30                  Jonathan’s Team Practice

3:30 – 5:00                  Victoria’s Team Practice

5:30 – 7:30                  BBQ at McCarthy’s

Accommodations: If you are a resident student, you are welcome to move into your room from Monday onwards.  If you are a commuter, I’m assuming you have accommodations in your own home.

Freshmen, Orientation Staff and RAs: Some of you will only be able to attend portions of the Worship Team Orientation due to previous Orientation Week commitments.  Please seek to attend as much as possible, and communicate with me and your team leader the times that you will not be available to be with us.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me!

Hello, friends!  I’m finally getting around to writing an entry for this summer chapel teams “Treasuring Christ” blog.  You may be asking, what else does a guy like you have to do in the summer time?  I’ve kept myself busy with a number of things. 

Perhaps most stimulating has been “Spiritual Formation Boot Camp.”  Our fearless Director of Student Ministries, Rob Rhea, has put us Student Min staff through a grueling month of scholarship and presentations in which each of us reads some relevant literature related to the spiritual formation of young adults, and then shares some of the relevant insights and applications with the rest of the staff.  It has been very challenging and encouraging for all of us. 

I had the opportunity to read N.T. Wright’s new book, After You Believe: Why Character Matters (Harper San Fransisco, 2010), in which the prominent biblical scholar and Bishop of Durham (who, you may be pleased to know, will be speaking at TWU, including chapel, in November) lays out the biblical rationale for a life of character, based on his fresh and very helpful understanding of the Christian hope.  I won’t go into it too much here, but suffice it to say that his insights have some excellent applications to the work that we do as worship leaders, and I hope to share some of them with you later (such as at WTO).

As far as my own personal times with the Lord, I’ve been continuing my journey through the Psalms, coupled with readings in Andrew Murray’s classic, Waiting on God, and Mark Buchanan’s Your God is Too Safe. 

In my blog entries this summer I want to give you some encouragement for your own journey of treasuring Christ through this summer and as you prepare for your role as worship leaders at TWU next year.  (Info on Worship Team Orientation below.)  

If you’re looking for something to do, as I’m sure you are, I encourage you to take a look at last summer’s entries as well, where I lay out in some detail the meaning of our vision and core treasures.

Psalm 96 is a raucous enthronement psalm designed, most likely, for the climax of worship in the temple.  It calls us to join the voice of all creation, to “declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!” 

You are all in various places this summer – some not traveling further than blocks from your home, others far across the world.  No matter where you are, no matter who you are with, if you have the Holy Spirit living in you, the glory of God is traveling with you to those places.  The transformation that you have experienced as a result of becoming a worshipper of the living God, Jesus Christ, is emanating out of you in some way.  The simple acts of love that you show to your neighbour have an incredible effect on others’ lives.  I had a seminary professor once encourage us to never underestimate the ways that God’s presence is leaking out of you as you live your life before others.

Nevertheless, your voice is an important element in the way that God’s glory – his beautiful, life-giving, awe-inspiring presence – is declared among the peoples of the earth.  These are words of boasting, of making public, of testimony, of writing in the sky the splendor and majesty and strength and beauty of God. 

There’s nothing shy about Psalm 96!  Neither does there need to be anything shy about the ways that we declare the glory of God.  Why?  “Say among the nations, ‘The LORD reigns! … He will judge the peoples with equity.’” 

We sometimes reduce the gospel to good news for individual people – “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.”  But to the early Christians, the gospel was the message that indeed, the LORD reigns – that all that we fear, whether oppressive regimes, abusive relationships, failure, our own darker side, even death has been defeated forever, through the death and resurrection of the Messiah, Jesus! 

Jesus told the disciples, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:18).  Paul declared to the Colossian church, “He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, triumphing over them in him [Christ]” (Colossians 2:15).  Jesus is in charge now, and we are the emissaries of his reign, the public declarers of his authority in this world!

In your family, in your workplace, in your places of recreation, in the quiet of your own bedroom, the Lord reigns!  So all those things that seem daunting, that discourage you and others, that oppress your community, or that tempt you to oppress others – these are the situations in which God is calling you to declare, through words and works, that God reigns, that these things are not the last word on life, that his glory is the true reality, not the darkness that seems to be around us.

There is much more to say about the glory of God, and many more ways to treasure his glory than what I have mentioned.  But let’s leave it there.   Look for ways that you can declare among the peoples and the nations that the Lord reigns, that he will judge the nations with equity and justice, that even now we can participate in his kingdom.  Ask the Lord to help you understand what this means for you in your summer, right now.  And share it with me, along with a little update on your summer, by clicking here!

Worship Team Orientation will be on Tuesday, September 7 and Wednesday, September 8 (NOT during SLOW, as some understood).  We will begin at 9:00 am on Tuesday and run all day, until about 5:00 pm.  On Wednesday, we’ll have a morning session, followed by a day of rehearsals for each of the bands.  We will conclude with an evening BBQ at the McCarthys, ending around 7:30 pm.  Sessions are TBD.  For those who are mixing the WTO with O-Week activities (SOS staff, Res Life staff, or freshmen), your first priority is your Orientation experience/responsibilities.  But it would be great if you could attend as much as possible.

Treasuring Christ with You!  Tim

I am reading the Gospel of Luke as part of my Advent devotions.  The first two chapters are largely dedicated to the months leading up to Jesus’ birth, before we get to observe him in action.  Already there are indications that Jesus is somebody special:

“You shall call His name Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.  And the Lord God will give to Him the throne of His Father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end” (1:32-33).

This is the promised King who will reign in the Spirit of Isaiah 9 (“Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace… with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore”), to whom all leaders in heaven and on earth bow, and by whom all the promises of global redemptive influence given to Abraham will be fulfilled.  The signals of His conception and birth here in Luke 1 all act as witnesses, confirmations of His divine identity. 

            What strikes me here is that we are immediately served notice that Jesus is more than someone to emulate; He is, in fact, someone to worship and honour as King.  If this is true, then the first order of business in the celebration of Christmas is to honour Jesus as supreme and sovereign in my life.  I need to seek audience regularly with Him in worship and prayer, seek His will in the large and small things of my life, and trust Him to work all things together for my good.

            In other words, will I acknowledge Him as Sovereign in my life? Will I accede to His rightful leadership in my life in the large and small areas of my life because of love and reverent fear for Who He is?  As a worship leader, if I am to lead people to Jesus, an important part of this is helping them to see Him as King – not just as a good moral teacher or impressive historic individual, but, as attested to in the many miraculous events of His birth, life, death and resurrection, as Eternal Sovereign Authority in the universe, worthy of worship and rejoicing.  And should that strike fear or resistance in people (since no one likes to be told what to do), the Holy Spirit has inspired songs from Mary and Zechariah that exult in what that rule is like.  It is a rule characterized by mercy, intervention on behalf of the weak and oppressed, promises that are kept, forgiveness of sins, empowerment for serving Him “without fear, in holiness and righteousness all our days” (1:74).  This is the kind of rule for which the whole earth is groaning, and thus His coming is a source of joy (1:44, 47) – unless, of course, one is proud and arrogant and unwilling to accede rule to the Victorious King.

           The biggest challenge, I think, is remembering Christ’s Lordship over the little details of my life, the ones that only I am aware of.  I am so easily distracted.  But my Sovereign is present and sees everything, and He desires for every moment of my life to be an act of worship.  If I could take all the time I’ve wasted over the years and compiled it together, the hours and hours of prayer, worship, study and relationship with others that could have been experienced are staggering, and would contribute significantly to the authority and power of the Spirit that characterizes Jesus’ life and ministry. 

This is ultimately what the angels meant when they sang, "Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth, good will toward humanity!"  As Paul so eloquently exults, in Romans 8:

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.  What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? ...No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This Christmas, may we remember that we reach our greatest potential, we experience the "good will" of God toward us, when we submit to Him as the Good and Victorious King!