It feels very grown up!

One of the things that excites me the most though as I look at the steps right in front us now is the opportunity to give again.

It’s the things that are the most important to us that cost us the most. And, in the most wonderful way, they are meant to – even our money!! Of course it never takes long to remember that everything we own has been given to us by God in the first place – in real life, it all belongs to Him!!

What I love is the chance to give back: to shout a loud ‘I love you God’, to offer a renewed ‘I’ll follow you wherever you go’, to treasure all over again the stuff of the kingdom over the stuff around our lives.

When we give, we remember that we are not our own. When we remember that we are not our own, we turn our attention fully again to the One who gave everything for us….and in that moment, everything that we cherish most is right in front of our eyes.

As worship leaders we do this all the time – whether it’s thinking through how to develop our bands, or raise up other worship leaders, or write better songs, or whatever it looks like in your context… the list is wonderfully inexhaustive!!

But, what about pulling the ‘not yet’ of the Kingdom into the present? Is there more of the future reality of the Kingdom of God that is for us now? If there is, how do we access it, or release it in the room?  Is this the authority that Jesus was talking about when He told us that we would do the same as Him and greater?

This is something I’ve been wrestling through for about two years – and I am still thinking it through, trying it out, questioning, wondering, dreaming, asking, and seeing more than I thought possible before.

It really is worth getting on our knees before the Lord with this – mostly because He told us to go and do the stuff, and to settle for anything less isn’t really to take Him up on what He’s expecting to see in the fruit of our lives – pretty challenging isn’t it? J  But also because if Jesus said to expect more, then He has more to give us – and if that’s true, then there are people out there who are ready to be healed right there in the middle of worship.  There are those struggling with demonic oppression, who are ready to be set free.  There are those poised to give their hearts to the Lord for the rest of their lives – and who’s to say what they might become – maybe even the most noted evangelists and ministers of our times and beyond!

When I start thinking in these terms some of the fear seems less significant.  I find myself more willing to take the risk.  Increasingly I’m getting around people who are thinking out the same way so that I can have my faith stirred and my mind challenged, and my heart set on fire all over again.

I love that we get to not only ‘jump’ with our actions – but we also get to ask questions well.  Loving God is all about giving our energy, our affection, and the best of our intellect.  Always engage with all of your heart and your mind.  That is what I’m trying to do with this – and I know I haven’t fully grasped it yet!!

I’d love to hear what you think…

For such a long time I spent far too much of my energy trying to compensate for the things I’m just plain bad at.  It sort of felt like my way of apologising to the world at large for my weaknesses – ‘I’m sorry I’m so bad at this, but at least I’m working really hard at fixing it’.

About three years ago now I read a life changing book – ‘Now discover your strengths’ by Markus Buckingham.  His basic premise is that you were uniquely made to bring your strengths to the table, and not allow the things you find difficult to take you hostage in the process.

Something catalytic happens in our hearts when we start to recognise that, whilst we can’t ignore the things we find hard, we were made to spend our lives bringing what we are good at, what we love doing most to the table.  Another reason why I love the church so much – because it’s the most brilliant reminder that we are not meant to be ‘all singing, all dancing’ individuals, we were made for community, to be the body as a group of people, each with different strengths.  It’s only when we give most of our time to the things that we thrive in, that we get to cover the things others aren’t so good at, and they in turn do the same for us.

Contemporary worship songs give voice to this generation of people, with the very specific life circumstances we face, aware of the world in which we specifically live – helping us remember that the God generations before us have served for thousands of years, is just as vibrantly alive and real now as He was then.

It makes sense of relationship – because He is still alive and vibrantly involved in our lives, it makes perfect sense that we would speak to Him and sing to Him with our own songs. The divine invitation into relationship with God longs for response – songs have always been about response (whether to God, or love, or pain, struggle, hardship, or to celebrate, to highlight the need for justice – whatever the song is about – it is born from response. That’s one of the things I love the most about writing new songs – it’s a fresh response to the ancient of days who so incredibly loves me…

It’s also an opportunity to reflect some of the creativity that is so integral to God’s character. I love that he is an utterly abundant God – thoroughly creative! We live right on the Atlantic ocean here – it is ruggedly and stunningly beautiful – so, every day, we get to catch a glimpse of God the great creator – and in that glimpse we get to see how richly abundant he is – how generous he is with the gifts he gives. Songs in that sense are a little like gifts – ones’ that he gives the gift of idea to us, and we get to offer the gift of crafted songs to him.

So, in a nutshell, I think the role of contemporary worship songs in the church today is to give voice to this generation (both globally and locally – expressing the real stuff of worship, of lives lived in submission in the real world we find ourselves in). I think they are a God given form of response – of responding to our vibrantly alive King in our own words, with melodies that touch our hearts as much as they touch his. And thirdly, I think they give us the opportunity to reflect a little of the majestic character of our Creator – calling us to be creative too.

How have the troubles in Northern Ireland influenced the Church in N.I., and what role has contemporary worship music played in healing the hearts there?

Because I grew up here (and so, have nothing to properly compare it with), I’m not sure how the troubles have affected the church – they certainly affected the people living here. I grew up knowing that bombs could go off at any time – but I had a deep sense that God would look after us – and so, it didn’t seem that strange that terrorism was so prevalent – obviously it didn’t seem good – but it was our normality, so we just got on with it.

Others had a terrible time – losing loved ones, or bearing the literal scars of being shot, or being caught in an explosion. For them, a lot of them had to come to terms with loving God, and yet being exposed to the effects of evil – it rocks security – it brings up deep questions – I think, it was and is a stark reminder that we live in a fallen world, but we worship a faithful God – that exposure to evil and effects doesn’t in any way reduce God to something or someone less faithful, or protecting, or trustworthy than He is.

And so, it’s in that context that worship music finds itself here. Personally, I think songs that are the most helpful in this, or any situation in the real world, are ones that are real with God. David did it powerfully in the Psalms – he just let it all out – but it was from a place of deep conviction that God was good, that He was faithful, that he was to be trusted – and so, without ever denying that, David would just let rip. He would tell God his disappointments, he would ask if God was listening, he would say what he really thought of his enemies, and what he would like God to do to them!!! He was honest – but notice, that all of his honesty always led him back to the place of surrender and of praise. He knew God. God knew him, and the motivation of his heart – and that’s what made his worship acceptable.

In this context, songs that help people heal are songs that recognize the pain, and that take that pain to cross again (the place where they are confronted and comforted by the suffering servant – the King of glory poured out for us). They are the songs that remind us that God sees, and that He has made provision. They are the songs that, whilst steeped in the reality of pain, are rooted in the good future that God has for those who love him.

I think they are the songs that connect with so many across the face of the earth – because pain is simply something relative to our situations – we all face it, we all have to learn how to deal with it, and we all need to be brought back to Jesus again if we are to find healing, and if we are going to continue to grow in our relationship with him for as long as we are alive.

This is something I’ve written on a few times before, but I’m convinced it’s worth repeating!! The truth is we are meant to live this life out ‘full’ and ‘filled’, but we have to get really intentional with our time and planning if we are going to make that happen. It doesn’t come naturally ☺.

Some of the ways we do this as a family are things like planning a great holiday once a year (sometimes twice if it’s an especially busy time!!). We love the sunshine – so we always try to go off somewhere warm. But even if you can’t do that, just plan a little get away time every year. If you put it in the diary far enough in advance then you can take even a couple of weeks and work in all the other stuff of life and jobs etc around it.

We also go out every Friday night with our girls for dinner. Our daughters are eight and five – and this is one of their highlights of the week!! They love the routine: that they can really look forward to it every week; and they love the ‘treat’ of it – it never gets tired for them!

Alan and I try to go out for a breakfast once a week just on our own when the kids are at school, (and we nearly always try and sneak another time in a week for a coffee on our own as well!) My husband is still my favourite person in the world to be with, and I treasure those times with him!! It’s so important to foster that closeness on purpose, and I would love to encourage you to do the same. It might look different for you, but it’s worth the effort of finding a way to make it work.

Even though these are just some of the ways we ‘plan revenge on the busy times’ as Bill Hybels so beautifully put it, we are constantly on the look out for other ways to connect as a family, as a couple, and our own with God too.

Life will always be busy, but there is such opportunity along the way to relish the relationships we hold the closest . Why not take a little time today to think how you would love the pace of your life to look in a year’s time, and then think about some changes you can make now, even they are only small, that will help move you towards that.