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I’ve deliberately taken my time responding to the Orlando attack this past Sunday. Perhaps that was a mistake – people need leaders to be quick to speak truth and call out wrong, and speak up to our collective potential. And in the absence of me saying anything, plenty of others did and do continue to fill the airwaves and social media with their condolences, political opinions, and even accusations and rants. So I will respond to this whole thing by briefly addressing the handful of issues that have come up from this.

1. Gays. I’m sorry that this happened, and that it was targeted toward people based on their sexual orientation. I’m even more sorry that a very small number of people claiming to be Christian are celebrating the fact that this happened at a gay nightclub. I openly condemn their evil, malicious hatred as anti-Christian, anti-Biblical, and anti-Christ, and I share no part of them.
2. Islam. A radical Muslim hell-bent on taking American lives was to blame for this. On behalf of all of my Muslim friends and neighbors who have had meals with me and my family, and even visited our church and Bible studies… I’m sorry that someone of your faith killed innocent people. You are not guilty by association any more than I am with the previously mentioned “Christians.” Islamic terrorism is a problem, and I’m grateful that several of you have directly agreed with that. If it were “Christians” shooting up bars, streets, and shopping centers I would call it “Christian” terrorism and condemn those who did it as not Christian at all.
3. Gun control. I am 100% committed to the 2nd Amendment. And not for hunting purposes… The 2nd Amendment was specifically intended to give the government pause before attempting to strip it’s citizens of their rights. The 2nd Amendment also includes the right to form and maintain militia… those are citizen-run military units. We’re not just talking about hunting, home security, or recreational target shooting. We’re talking about keeping the country under state/citizen control, versus federal control. But we also must take long hard looks at how easy it is for a terrorist to acquire the tools – in this case guns – to attack our nation with. I’m for gun rights. I was raised to believe that “gun control” meant being sure of your target before squeezing. But if there are ways to maintain our 2nd Amendment rights, while making it more difficult for terrorists to gain access to them, we should be willing to have those conversations. And it’s not anti-American to do so.
4. People. Ok, so this last one is not talked about as much this week which is why I’m talking about it and titling this post after it. As humans, we like labels. Yes, they form stereotypes that are often false, but they also help us understand how things are in relation to us. So it was a “Muslim” who shot and killed “gays”. And this allows us to vomit opinions about Muslims, guns, and the LGBT. But for just a second, can we fall back to the big picture? It was a man… a person. Who walked into a night club to shoot and successfully kill 49 other people. It was people – by the hundreds – who formed lines wrapping around blood donation centers in Orlando to help other people they had never met. Those people – like each person reading this post – had lives, hopes, merits, regrets, and aspirations. They had friends. Families. Forget your opinion for just a second about what you think regarding someone’s lifestyle, politics, or firearms… That could have been your family member. For 49 families, it was.  For just a minute, stop the “yeah, but…” rhetoric and watch this video…

May God bless and watch over Orlando in this time of pain and anger. May many find hope and healing in Christ despite this tragedy. And may the local churches in the area lead the charge for doing so.

You may now return to your political opinions and rants.

Blessings,
Pastor John

PS… If you have friends in the Orlando area looking for a good church family to lean on, here are a few to point them toward:

Hope Church
Cornerstone Church
World Changing Church
Crosspointe Church

Church worship gatherings are one of very few environments in America anymore, where corporate singing is encouraged. Outside of “Take Me out to the Ball Game” in the middle of the 7th inning, almost no one sings together in our culture much anymore. Then there’s church…

We get together weekly with a guy and a guitar who has a whole band with him, and nice backgrounds on a huge screen, showing the lyrics of every song being sung – all with the expectation that we’re to join in the singing.

So I thought I would address why we do something so bizarre in other public gatherings…

It’s not a concert. 
At a concert, you have the performers and you have the audience. And the audience is there for the performers, and the performers are there for the audience. In corporate worship, there is a third element. Most Christians get this, but get it mixed up. That third element is the catalyst, the one who is prompting the worship of the performers.
Most feel that God is that catalyst, the people up front are the performers, and those of us listening are the audience. But the truth is, God is the audience – the One who receives the worship. The leader up front is not the performer, he/she is the catalyst – the one calling and prompting others to worship. Meaning that the people – you and I, sitting in the seats – are the performers, motivated by those leading to offer our hearts of worship to God through song, prayer, and gratitude to God for who He is and all He does.

It’s emotional and intellectual
Jesus said in John 4 that those whom God is seeking to worship Him must worship Him, “in spirit and in truth.” Worship to God is intended to be spirit, and truth – with the heart and with the mind. At LifeCity, we try to lead others in worship through music that is solidly truthful and consistent with the teaching of Scripture, but also soul-stirring, bringing out emotions conducive when offering our hearts and lives before the presence of God. Truth without spirit in our worship is stoic and soul-sucking. Spirit without truth is a superficial frenzy. Both unbalanced perspectives on worship are cheap counterfeits of what God intended for us. So we seek to worship Him in spirit and truth.

There’s three types of worship songs
Ephesians 5:19, “…speaking to yourselves in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Speaking, and making melody in your hearts to the Lord…”

Psalms. Psalms, like that of the book of the Bible with the same name, are simply God’s Word set to music. The book of Psalms was primarily used as a song book for worship in the temple of God. But in general, a psalm is any of GOd’s inspired word – the Bible – put to music. Much of our music includes quotes taken straight from God’s Word.

Hymns. Most people are confused about this one, because it gets equated with a specific genre of songs that were written between 50 and 500 years ago. But a hymn is actually jut any song that is intended to directly address God. Not just a song written about God, but a song written, played, and sung to God as the intended audience. Because of this, most songs that we sing are hymns – just, not the ones they might be singing at your grandma’s church. And just so we’re clear, we do have grandma’s at LifeCity, and they love our music.

Spiritual songs.
The verse in Ephesians encouraged us to sing “to yourselves” meaning to one another. A spiritual song is a song in which the lyrics are still completely consistent with the teachings of Scripture, but the intended audience is other believers, not God directly. Last Sunday, we sang “O, Clap Your Hands” as our opening song. While that song is directly from the book of Psalms, it’s also a spiritual song. We were not singing to God asking Him to clap His hands… we were singing to one another encouraging all people to get excited about coming into God’s presence for worship.

Other spiritual songs are intended to lift up each other to trust in God during difficult times, or to speak life, do good, serve others, forgive, etc.

We aim for excellence
I am so grateful for the ministry Christian Luper, our worship leader, brings to LifeCity. We’re blessed to have talented, passionate people who lead people, in spirit and truth, to sing and praise God through music, and are also encouraging people trying to live it in their own lives. Why do we have drums, electric guitars, and bass guitars, and an organ synthesizer playing in our worship gathering? Because we have a team that can blend the melodies and harmonies of various instruments together for an excellent sound that is an effort to give God our best. In 1 Chronicles 15, the choir director of the temple was chosen to his position, “because he was skillful”. He was uniquely gifted to lead music. All of us are called to worship, some are called to lead. Like the preaching of the Word, we try to only put people in our worship team who have been gifted by God to lead in that capacity, because they are skillful. I’m grateful that the people who lead us to worship through music each week have talent that is only outmatched by their hearts.

So when you come to LifeCity for a Sunday, you’ll see why we love our music. It’s one of the best parts of our Sunday as we lift our voices together and acknowledge God for who He is and all He’s done for us.  If you are uncomfortable with that, no sweat! You don’t need to feel compelled to join us in sining. Feel free to check it out and see why we love our church so much. And if you do feel like it, join us in a song that seems to speak to your soul. It feels good! And if you think you sing bad, don’t worry. There’s enough of us singing, you won’t feel like you’re standing out off key! 😉

Blessings,
Pastor John

LifeCity is in a marriage series right now called, In the Ring: fighting for your marriage. So I thought I would add a quick list of five simple, practical things you can do in your marriage to make it better, stronger, and happier.

1. Date nights. We pursue people while we’re dating, and then slow down after the “I do”, and sometimes stop altogether after the babies start showing up. Go on a date again! Invest TIME with your spouse.
2. Do the thoughtful stuff. Flowers, notes written on the mirror, bringing their favorite food for lunch, watching the kids so they can have dinner with their friends…this list is limited only by your imagination. Need ideas?  That’s what Pinterest is for!
3. Chores… Nothing screams “I love you” like doing the dishes, putting the kids to bed, folding the laundry, or making the bed. Especially if it’s a a chore THEY normally do. “That sounds lame…” No, it just sounds like work. You know what’s lame? A loveless marriage… and a dirty house… a loveless marriage IN a dirty house. THAT is lame.
4. Time with the kids. My wife consistently reminds me that the hottest thing I do is spend time with our children. It speaks to her heart and need for our kids to feel loved by their daddy. And, coincidentally, it fulfills a desire in my heart to be a good dad. Win-win.
5. Pray together. This is one of the hardest things to commit to doing. Your spirituality matters, and your spiritual lives together is even more critical. In a future post, I’ll share a few basics of praying together as a couple. If you did pray together regularly at one point but have gotten out of the habit, start by acknowledging that and admitting that you want it to change.

Blessings,
Pastor John