Posts Tagged worship

The Centre Cannot Hold, but Perhaps That’s Good?

Yesterday was a “snow day” at the church and school I work at and where my youngest son attends classes. Based on the weather, today could just as easily have been declared one as well, or at least as a “late start” day for the school, but it wasn’t. Because the students don’t physically go to that school anyway. Since March of last year, the school has been pretty close to online only.

So why did they even have a “snow day” at all? Mostly because the school principle isn’t a complete grinch and recognized that the students would appreciate having a snow day despite (or even maybe because of) the weirdness caused by the pandemic. So we’ve kind of split the difference, and declared yesterday a snow day but today a regular school day. And it’s all increasingly obvious how arbitrary such things can be.

Now, there is a lot that is less than ideal about distance-only education for kids. Likewise, there are big challenges for workers and employees in this world of suddenly-tons-of-people-telecommute that we now find ourselves in. But there are also certainly benefits. There are portions of my job that require I spend time in the presence of other people, but there are others that do not, and in fact that are made much more efficient when I am not being interrupted by all the various drop-ins and drive-bys my office would experience under more normal circumstances. (And I write this even as a conversation in the next room over here in my home suddenly provides a wonderfully ironic bit of distraction.)

And with all this going on, I, like many others, have been really thinking a lot about what all this will mean in a “post-COVID-19” world. Because we are going to see some of these changes in how we work stick around even after the events that forced them on everyone subside. One of the biggest reasons telecommuting didn’t become generally widespread is that there is a disadvantage to being one of the few people not actually coming into the office, and so there was built-in resistance even for those who were most inclined to give it a try. Plus, businesses in general were reluctant to allow it for fear of lost control. But with the outbreak of the pandemic, masses were suddenly forced to all switch over together. And a lot of us are finding we like it, even with the new challenges it brings.

And with the now-accelerated tele-work revolution many are finding themselves in, expect to see a domino effect of other changes. The biggest one I’ve seen talked about recently is the decoupling of our careers from where we choose to live. In a telecommuting world, finding a new home town where the Internet access is fast, cheap, and reliable may become more important than a location that has a good job market. Because the job market for many (but certainly not all) industries is going digital, just as many other markets already have.

This means changes for the digital workers, of course. They can choose to live in places that better serve their needs in the areas of friendships, family, recreational activities, culture, lifestyle. climate, etc. It will mean changes for employers, too, possibly seriously reducing overhead costs associated with leasing or owning real estate, among other things. And perhaps most interestingly, it will bring about changes for the physical locations themselves. It seems obvious that real estate prices will shift everywhere, but also consider the social impact: small communities will experience less of a talent drain, in ways that I have to imagine will be mostly positive.

My instinct is to be cautiously excited by these changes. Partly because I am a very change-friendly person by nature, but also because I see a lot of potential good in it. I think a world where many more occupations are decoupled from location than ever before is exciting and possibly much healthier for civilization in the long run.

But. But…I also worry greatly about the loss of intangible value that will come about from a reduction of semi-random social interactions. The Internet has no public spaces. Everything belongs to someone. Every online space is there because some government or corporation is providing it for a specific purpose, and these spaces are designed to be efficient.

There’s value in bumping into a friend when standing in line at Starbucks, but my love affair with ordering ahead on their mobile app and skipping the line is a powerful thing. Chance encounters with strangers while waiting for a bus have deepened my appreciation of humanity. I play a lot more chess against serious opponents now that I can find a game at any minute of any hour of any day from anywhere that has cell phone service, and yet some of my favorite moments playing competitive chess come from conversations with other chess players out in the lobby outside a physical tournament hall.

And I remember how I felt about the first Internet revolution back in the 1990s. I helped build this world. As a cofounder of one of the first web development companies, I was an excited evangelist for how the Internet would free us from the shackles of space and time, allowing people who felt lonely in their ultra-niche interests to go out into the new online world and build communities with the one thousand others on earth who shared their interests and passions. I was extolling everything that is great and convenient about shopping online before e-commerce was really even a thing. And I was right…but I also severely underestimated the powerful dehumanizing elements that would come with this kicking free of the earth from beneath our feet.

And now we live in a world where the loss of local institutions has caused us all to be constantly glued to national politics in a wildly unhealthy way. We live in a world where lunatics and fanatics instantly network among themselves in powerful feedback machines. Heck, even the most sane among us are more and more getting stuck in informational echo chambers that inevitably radicalize us, even if just by small amounts.

Churches are in serious, serious trouble in this regard, and therefore the human race is. Churches, when they are healthy and fulfilling their purpose, provide three things: meaning, purpose, and connection. A church should be a place where a person goes to learn, so that they can better understand themselves, their neighbors, and the universe and what all this might be about. A church should be a place where a person goes to be inspired to rise above selfishness and materialism, and to find ways to contribute to the good of others outside of themselves. And a church should be a place of community: a place where one gathers, not because of language or ethnicity or race or politics or economics or age or any of that, but because of a common view of spiritual purpose and meaning.

But if churches retreat into the online-only mode that we seem to be headed toward, then they will become purely about information. They will continue to preach messages about meaning, but that’s just the information leg of the stool. Online church so far does not seem to be any good at service or community. The action leg and the passion leg are both missing. And this worries me deeply.

And yet, I’m still mostly optimistic about the new future we are building. I just hope we are thoughtful and intentional about it, rather than just letting it happen to us however it unfolds.

For two really thought-provoking perspectives on this decoupling of work from location, I highly recommend this TEDx talk by Justin McElroy, and this article in the Atlantic. Check them out, and let me know what you think.

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Mac and Pearse Live: The Mindful Goalie

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Sail Away

This morning, my family had a brief time of worship together. We’re trying out homeschooling our four kids this year, and we’ve been trying to kick off each weekday with worship. It’s a simple thing: we light a candle, my daughter opens the Word and reads a verse she finds there, I read a longer selection from the Word (we’re going through the Gospel of Mark right now), and then we have a short discussion. We finish by going around and giving everyone a chance to share a final thought, then say the Lord’s Prayer together. It’s very much a “small group” experience.

Anyway, this morning, we read a very short story about Jesus, and I found it particularly intriguing:

The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him. And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.” And he left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side. (Mark 8:11-13)

I love that!

A boat sailing away in sunset

First of all, Jesus was in the middle of a tour of the land in which he was going around casting out demons, curing deafness, and had only one paragraph previously fed thousands of people with just a handful of food, and not for the first time!

But the Pharisees wanted a “sign”.

And the Lord’s reaction? Wow. We all smiled at that, and laughed a little in sympathy. What a powerfully human reaction: he “sighed deeply in his spirit”. Of course he did!

But it was his next move that really grabbed my interest the most.

Did he argue with them? Nope. He said, “A sign? Sorry, can’t help you.” And that’s it! He didn’t point out all the signs he’d already provided, he didn’t explain to them what was wrong with their question, he didn’t call them out for what they were really doing or point out that they didn’t want a sign. I think I would have. Would you? He basically said they couldn’t have any signs, which I understand as him saying, “If you haven’t seen any ‘signs’ so far, then you’re not ever going to.” That’s powerful. But not overpowering.

Did he give them a sign? Well, technically, he had many times, and would many times again. He spent years doing miraculous things that could be taken as “signs”. But people were always able to interpret his actions in different ways. At one point, some theorized that he could cast out demons because he was somehow allied with them. But I think he could have given them a sign they would have to see. That they couldn’t ignore, or explain away, or deny. He could have opened a doorway to hell and taken them on a tour, then taken them up to heaven and shown them around. But he didn’t. He could have called down fire right there and then, but he didn’t. He could have reached into their minds and taken away their freedom of thought, reached into their hearts and forced them to want to worship him. But he didn’t.

Instead, he got in a boat and sailed away.

Sailed away!

I bet many there interpreted that as a sign of weakness. But that was powerful. When you know you’re right and good, and the people you’re with don’t want to hear that, go spend time with someone else!

Now, Jesus sometimes engaged people like this in debate. Sometimes he preached to them. But sometimes he just walked away. (Or in this case, sailed away.)

So what does this tell us? FIrst, it says something about the nature of God. Namely, that he isn’t going to force or trick or argue or debate anyone into doing anything. He wants more than anything else for us to love him. And love can only be given freely. It’s part of the definition. So if we don’t choose to follow, to worship, to believe, to obey, to love, then that’s that. He won’t force the issue. The sentence my daughter found to read at the beginning of this morning’s gathering relates to this idea:

Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:  But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. (Isaiah 59:1-2)

He is always reaching out to us, but we do things that throw up barriers between us and him. If we don’t want those barriers removed, then he’s not going to force his way through to us. Instead, he patiently waits.

So what does this say about our own lives? One of my sons pointed out that it’s a reminder to be more aware of the signs the Lord has given that are all around us all the time. His brother connected it to this really cool video:

(Quick aside: I highly recommend you, right now, go and subscribe to that guy’s YouTube channel. Go on. I’ll wait.)

Now, what I personally was drawn to this morning was the idea that, sometimes, the best thing to do when confronted with conflict, hate, obtuseness, temptation, is to just sail away. Cross over to the other side. Go spend time with different people, different ideas, different affections.

And that’s just skimming the surface. This four-sentence vignette from the life of Jesus has tons more depth to it that I’m not even beginning to mention here. What is that boat a symbol of? Why is it significant that it was Pharisees he sailed away from and not Sadducees, or lawyers, or tax collectors, or the demon-possessed? What’s the significance of the fact that he crossed water, rather than just walked away down a road?

But I’ll leave exploring that to you.

For me, for this moment, I’m taking away from this the following idea.

Sometimes, it is best to be like water: flow where gravity takes you, passing over and around the barriers, ever moving forward. And maybe in passing you will eventually wear down some rough edges. But don’t worry about that. Just change direction when you have to, and move on.

 

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Initial Leadership Team

Founding Pastor: Rev. Glenn “Mac” Frazier – experienced entrepreneur and preacher. (See bio elsewhere.) Provides vision, leadership, and executive management. Duties:

  • Congregational leadership.
  • Preaching.
  • Teaching.
  • Executive management of staff.
  • Board chair.
  • Volunteer recruiting and management.
  • Program development.
  • Outreach and marketing.

Worship/Music Leader:

Ethan Daum – talented musician and dedicated church member, currently working in Stuart Hall. Current studies show that successful church plants are started by two full-time staff, assisted by one or two volunteers in leadership positions. The failure rate of church planters is significantly reduced when they have a full time partner to rely on. In addition, the culture of Austin is deeply rooted in music—the city’s claim of being “Live Music Capital of the World” is not hard to justify. One of the early challenges for New Way Church will be to build and maintain excellence in its worship services as quickly as possible. In this town, sub-par music is unacceptable.

Ethan is not only a talented musician and budding composer with a successful history of collaborating on worship services with Mac Frazier (e.g. the 2009 Academy Charter Day Sunday service at the Asplundh Field House), but he has a proven track reccord of successfully recruiting and leading a wide variety of young adult musicians in worship settings.

Duties will include:

  • Leading worship music.
  • Leading and managing musicians.
  • Directing technical aspects of worship gatherings.
  • Co-developing worship programs with founding pastor.
  • Writing original worship music.
  • Recruiting volunteers.
  • Outreach.
  • Assisting founding pastor as appropriate.

Teen Program Leader: Ethan Daum (see above). Ethan will be doing double-duty as both Worship & Music Leader and Teen Leader. Ethan is a half generation younger than Mac, and so extends the demographic outreach of the leadership team. He has worked with teens at both the ANC Secondary School and at the Laurel church camps.

Duties as Teen Program Leader include:

  • Developing teen programs.
  • Directing the overall teen ministry.
  • Recruiting volunteers.
  • Co-developing and sometimes leading service projects.
  • Outreach.
  • Advising the founding pastor.

Volunteer Children’s Program Leader: Heather McQueen Jackson, experienced educator, life-time New Church member, and Austin resident. Duties:

  • Develop children’s programs, including Sunday morning.
  • Liason with General Church Office of Education.
  • Recruit and manage volunteers.
  • Advise founding pastor.

Volunteer Community Leader: Still under consideration.Duties:

  • Direct worship service environment systems (signage, greeters, welcome table, communication cards, etc.).
  • Direct assimilation and followup systems (followup emails, newcomer gifts).
  • Co-manage small group programs with founding pastor.
  • Recruit and manage volunteers.
  • Outreach.
  • Advise founding pastor.

Part-time paid administrative assistant: Duties:

  • Office management tasks.
  • Administrative assistance to founding pastor.
  • Support for Worship/Teen/Children/Community program leaders.
  • Miscellaneous outreach and marketing tasks.

[This is from the Launch Plan for New Way Church in Austin, TX. Yesterday: Target Demographics. Next: Advisory Board.]


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This morning’s worship music

This morning’s worship music was awesome! Ethan Daum and friends, the ANC choir, and the congregation all filled me with joy.

Here’s the full music lineup:

Ethan Daum Band played…
Comfort (Deb Talan)
Getting into You (Relient k)
Cherry Trees (Deb Talan)
Doubting Thomas (Nickel Creek)

Then the choir sang the The Lord’s Prayer (Albert Hay Malotte), and the congregation all sang Psalm 62 – Only in God (John Michael Talbot) together.

By the time I opened the Word, then, I was moved, excited, inspired, filled with peace and happiness. Definitely the way to open a worship service!

Then after the message and closing prayer, the congregation all sang Here I Am Lord (Dan Shutte), followed by the high school choir singing People Get Ready (Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions).

Then the Ethan Daum band closed out with…
My Own Two Hands (Ben Harper & Jack Johnson)
Times (Tenth Avenue North)
Till Kingdom Come (Coldplay)

AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME! (And I have been wanting to use Coldplay in a worship setting for years! THANKS Ethan!!)

I’m so happy, I’m even enjoying this chilly fall Sunday afternoon. Really!


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