The Worship Leader's Little Helper

There's another new ebook available on FaithandWorship.com, designed to help the Leader of worship with the opening prayers within a service. I've written over 20 complete sets of prayers (including 5 for Advent) alongside some other bits and pieces which might be of help.

The prayers are designed to be printed off on a single sheet of A4 and are set out for ease of use.

The ebook (a PDF download) is £3.99 (or $5.75 if you prefer!) and I hope will prove useful to lots of  people who occasionally get asked to lead prayers, as well as the more experienced Worship Leader.

Find out more, and see sample page - CLICK HERE

.

Priorities

There was an interesting interview on the radio this morning. A woman who, as a girl had inherited the equivalent today of a couple of million pounds, and how she decided at an early age that she would be happier giving it away and earning her daily keep, than living off the interest. OK, she's been sensible and left herself and the family with enough for their old age, and to give their children a bit to start them off in life, but she's given away a good percentage of what she inherited to individuals, whose lives have been changed by her actions.

Yes, this is newsworthy today because of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett who are challenging the mega-rich to give half their fortunes to good causes.

Very Biblical, and to be heartily commended........ Nice one, Bill!

But of course the Bible also tells us that the widow's mite is just as pleasing to God. We don't need to be mega-rich to consider the poor and needy, and do our bit to spread a little of God's love around. We might not be able to set up a foundation to eradicate malaria in the world, but we can be there if someone is in need.

God knows our hearts, and blesses both giver and receiver.

A Strange Day

I went to church twice yesterday, as usual. The morning service was a united service in a local Presbyterian church. The best description I could come up with for the Minister of that church is that his presentational style sucked the will to live out of me! He was difficult to understand, monotone in delivery and when he was preaching there was no sense of excitement over God's Word, no enthusiasm. It was dreadful. It was worse than dreadful, it was embarrassing!

In the evening I went to our usual fellowship meeting. The worship was wonderful, and the preacher, Hugh Waddell, overflowed with enthusiasm, excitement and a real sense of wonder about the God he was talking about. It was if God was putting back all that had been lost in the morning!

As preachers we have a responsibility to those we share God's Word with. God's Word is exciting, challenging, life changing. It should never be boring!

Prayer

When you start thinking too deeply about prayer it can pose some difficult questions. If God has the whole of history - past, present and future - laid out in front of him, then the events and happenings of our lives must be mapped out on the master-plan somewhere.

And if life is all mapped out, then there must be a degree of inflexibility should the need arise to ask God to change something (healing, job, relationship, problem etc) unless that is already 'in the system' and marked for change. Imagine God as CEO and occasionally asking 'Gabriel, bring me Mr Birch's file file!'

I quite like C S Lewis' approach in his book 'Letters to Malcolm - Chiefly on Prayer'in which he says this:

'One of the purposes for which God instituted prayer may have been to bear witness that the course of events is not governed like a state but created like a work of art to which every being makes its contribution and (in prayer) a conscious contribution'

Theologically there may be difficulties in this idea, but I like the idea that rather than God's will being rather inflexible as he holds the whole of history in his hands, that what he has created is a work of art which in a sense is always complete and yet continually being contributed toward.

Prayer can work in such a system, as can creativity. It gives a sense and purpose to our lives and our concerns for the world that we might bring to him in prayer.

Precious

In Lord of the Rings, Gollum has a ring which he calls 'his Precious'

I sometimes think that Christians view their ancient churches with the same sentiments. Recently we visited some of our more elderly Cathedrals and churches. Winchester is a case in point. Over the centuries it has been in a constant state of change, as it was built / rebuilt / added and subtracted to. Why? To accommodate the needs of the local and religious community in that place. I don't know what decision processes were gone through each time, but I guess that current need was foremost in their minds.

Could it be changed now? What if someone suggested a modern addition to the structure, maybe in glass and stainless steel??

I wonder how that would go down? Not too well, I guess!

How 'precious' is the building to a 21st century custodian?

Chichester Cathedral is slightly different. Although I guess that the structure is very much considered 'precious' these days, the inclusion of modern tapestries and windows adds the impression that this is still a living place for worship.

Should we really be so precious about our church buildings? After all, they were originally built to serve a worshipping community in a contemporary manner. Are they still able to do that with their rigid formality?

Are we guilty of preserving in aspic our Christian heritage, rather than building upon it?

A lesson in patience

Spent a morning assembling a climbing frame for the grandchildren. It looked straightforward, the instructions were plain, and it should have been a two person job.

Unfortunately it turned out to need three of us, parts did not fit easily together, and at 5 minute intervals through the morning one or both of the kids (ages 3 and 5) would sweetly enquire 'Is it ready yet?'

I realised that patience was needed on both sides. The outcome was good, we got it up and running, and the kids love it. I think I'm sometimes like that with God though, continually asking 'when?, rather than waiting for His timing to work out.