PraiseBlogger

New Music - Stations of the Cross

2011-08-03T06:27:00.000-07:00

I am working on a new concept piece based on the Stations of the Cross. I have done a lot of the plotting out already and I am now working on songwriting. I am excited because I am about 30% through writing the piece that will probably be station 12 (maybe 13 not sure yet).

Its an instrumental piece with really lush moody chords on piano with electric distorted guitar playing the melody. I think there will probably be some Ahh's in harmony at the end.

Mind your Manners

2011-08-02T07:17:00.000-07:00

It's that time again.

A couple of the websites that I manage for churches went down yesterday. I got a nice note from the guy who hosts the sites for free because they are church sites.; saying he was working on it and it should be up in about 24 hours. I wrote him a nice note telling him that I appreciated his letting me know and all his hard work in getting it up again.

That got me thinking. Would I have behaved any differently if he was not (or if I did not know he was) a christian. My question is this. Do we behave more like Christians to other Christians, and if so why? In my case I sure do not believe I should treat non Christians any less well than Christians but maybe I do tend to act based on how I think I will be judged. Does the world have lower standards. Do only feel the need to behave in a way according to the standards that I perceive I will be judged. If this is the case then I am in trouble because I am forgetting that it is God that truly judges me. I am saved by faith but that faith should be pushing me to live up to a higher standard. No matter who I am interacting with.

Lord help me to live up to your standards and to always be a light to the world for You.

A half thought about Worship

2011-06-10T07:25:00.000-07:00

Be humble, broken, and ready to completely submit in service.

In worship I see this as the ultimate mindset yet it is also the hardest to achieve. It is a little ironic but I have found that event to do start to reach this mindset I have to ask for help.

Every Sunday morning before going into the worship service I ask the Holy Spirit to help me submit. To guide my fingers and voice as I play. I ask Him to guide my words as I speak.

I need to do this everyday.

Worship should not be a Sunday morning activity. Like prayer we should worship without ceasing.

10000 Stones

2010-11-24T07:50:00.000-08:00

An occasional good catharsis is good for the soul. I had one just know listening to 10,000 Stones by Adrianne. Another post is coming later today but I wanted to share this and its too long for a Facebook status :)

My days are filled with mistakes
Some that I didn't make
I carry them around

Some people don't feel a thing
Some kind of blissful dream
I wish that I could live that now
Oh, I wish I could live that now

'Cause ten thousand stones
Hanging deep in my heart
No, I don't know
How they don't tear me apart
How could I ever believe
That ten thousand stones
Would build the best of me

I've seen a lot in my life
I've seen two wrongs make a right
When everything was crashing

I know that you've got your plans
You're always taking your stand
But I was only asking
No, I was never asking

For ten thousand stones
Hanging deep in my heart
No, I don't know
How they don't tear me apart
How could I ever believe
That ten thousand stones
Would build the best of me

Yeah

Oh, who knows
What you think of me now
Knowing sooner or later
The truth would come out
But I don't want to look back
Don't want to look back

To ten thousand stones
Hanging deep in my heart
No, I don't know
How they don't tear me apart
How could I ever believe
That ten thousand stones
Would save the fool in me

Ten thousand stones
Would be a strange blessing
Ten thousand stones
Would build the best of me

Its always the other person's fault.

2010-11-23T10:53:00.000-08:00

I wanted to do a little bit of research on this phrase before I wrote this and I was surprised to find that my google search was of no help at all. Basically I got result after result of dating advice. Well I am certainly not one to give that because I have been married for almost ten years and I wasn't that great at dating when i did it. Luckily that is not what I wanted to discuss.

What I wanted to talk about the concept of two groups of people divided over some idea or situation each think the other is wrong and is certain they are right. Politics are a perfect example of that. The Conservatives say the liberals are wrong about their political beliefs, but ask any liberal you will get the opposite answer.

And Exaggeration of the alliances
in a complex social dynamic

This is a blatant example but the examples I am concerned with are much more personal and local. They exist in my church and I am certain in every church in the country. Only the parties are much more complex than left and right. The sides change frequently and two people who are mortal enemies on one issue will be strong allies on the other. Sometimes these differences are unspoken, other times they can progress to name calling or even action.

I have seen this for years and I admin I am even guilty of occasionally getting sucked into it. So what is my advice for this disease. I have none, I do not know how to fix it. I am pretty sure that without God's help it cannot be fixed. All I can say is that if you read this and you are convicted, as I am, join me in praying that God will give us the courage to step outside the circles that separate us and let us truly love one another as He loves us.

NOTE: about the picture this is what appeared in my head as I was writing this. Basically what I am showing is the concept that we intersect all in various places all over the places. Yes it is absolutely an exaggeration but hopefully it gets the point across. I think what we should really see is a single circle. Not because we always agree but because we are a family in Christ and we love each other even when we do not like what each other has done.

Why do I defend myself?

2010-11-22T13:54:00.000-08:00

I have not forgotten that I have a part 2 of my last blog coming. I hope to get to that but I had something I wanted to share and I am not good enough at this to let a chance to write pass so here it is.

I was at the bus stop the other day with a, well lets say non-believer, and we were talking about music and I told her about how before I had kids I played on the bar scene. To this she asked, "What do you do now". My reply of course is that now I only play at church.

"Oh thats right, you go to church." she replied.

What transacted next I am a little embarrassed by and I only put it here because I think I am probably not alone.

I started defending my decision to play at church at not once did I say, "Because I Love to worship the Lord" or anything like that. Instead I listed all sorts of practical reasons. Which while they are all true none of them truly speak to the heart of the matter.

My response satisfied the woman who I was talking to her but I left feeling ashamed. Not of my faith but in my inability to express it. To stand up to her skepticism and to stand up for my beliefs against a non-believer. My prayer is that God gives us all the strength so that when asked Why we go to church we can tell them why and invite them in.

Free Market Capitalism - A Conversation - Part 1

2010-11-19T07:09:00.000-08:00

I wanted to take a minute to talk about my thoughts on capitalism. I surely am no expert and I am very interested in hearing peoples thoughts on it as long as they are in the spirit of conversation and not trying to be attacking or hateful. If everyone tries to do that I will try to do the same.

I want to start off by saying that in its most basic definition I am absolutely pro-capitalism. Here is what Wikipedia says about it

Capitalism is an economic system in which the means of production are privately owned and operated for a private profit; decisions regarding supply, demand, price, distribution, and investments are made by private actors in the market; profit is distributed to owners who invest inbusinesses, and wages are paid to workers employed by businesses and companies.

That sounds good to me. However I do disagree with the the concept of free market capitalism defined in the same article as

Free market capitalism consists of a free-price system where supply and demand are allowed to reach their point of equilibrium without intervention by the government. Productive enterprises are privately-owned, and the role of the state is limited to enforcing property rights.

The issue I have is with he line "without intervention by the government". I know this sounds like a horrible thought at first. A lot of people right now will be tagging me all sorts of hateful names but If I may (And its my blog so I certainly may, although you may discontinue reading) I would like to back up my decision

My issue really boils down tot he idea that capitalism will generate good decisions for the community at large by nature of competition. Government should stay out of things because every thing will be OK because when everyone, the consumer and the corporations start looking out for their own interest there will be a balance achieved. I think this is wrong.

I do not think your average consumer determines their purchases based on what they perceive as the long term good. Your average consumer is concerned with convenience and price, and in may cases the free market system will control these two things. I will go into cases where I believe it does not shortly.

I do not think the same system will make the same promises for achieving balance for the good of society. In a true free market you can have two companies one using ethical manufacturing techniques and the other using child labor. If the child labor is cheaper then they will survive and all they have to do is hide their manufacturing practices which is not that hard to do. Even if they do not hide them often that does not make a difference because cheaper prices will take precedence. I suppose you can argue then that the system worked because the consumer decided that low prices are more important that not using child labor. Maybe, but that is certainly not a Christian belief and since I am a Christian and this blog is called PraiseBlogger I have to use that as a criteria in my argument.

So hopefully I have given a clear argument that free market in a consumer to business market does not promote fair business practices or moral behavior it only promotes lower prices and convenience. My poster child for this is Wal-Mart. People hate Wal-Mart for so many things but they will still shop there because it is cheap and convenient.

In part 2 I will discuss non Consumer to Business Scenarios and hopefully get to what role I think government has to play in regulating business.

More Music

2010-11-17T16:42:00.000-08:00

We played at Centenary UMC in Downtown Richmond the other night for their Friday Night Live Outreach. It was great fun. Here are a couple of clips.

Committee On Hurt Feelings

2010-11-16T08:25:00.000-08:00

I overheard that phrase recently in my church. It really saddened me to hear someone use such a phrase in the church of all places. I have to wonder if the person who said it is aware that it is such a hurtful and malicious phrase. Or is that the point?
Do we as people seek to kick people why they are down. If they are upset about something do we upset them even more. Or is this a reaction to an attack. Maybe this is human nature. But my question is should we as Christians aim a little higher.
Jesus said we should love our enemies, I have to believe that this also applies to people we disagree with.
Anyway this has been bugging me for a few days so I thought I should share. Thank you internet for listening.

Paying Taxes

2010-11-10T09:50:00.000-08:00

I often thing about how duty to public welfare and paying taxes are biblically correct and some day I will post more on this but I came across this link that I wanted to share.

http://sojournerfaith.blogspot.com/2010/03/new-twist-on-matthew-2215-22.html

Blessings

2010-03-26T13:02:00.000-07:00

It is important to remember that we are blessed.

It has been a stressful day today. My grandmother is very ill and my grandfather is having a hard time with it and it hurts me to see him so sad so I have to think of better things.

Often time people say they are blessed because they have food on their table, or family or a place to live, and it is true I have all these things and I am thankful but more important than that I am blessed because I have a God who loves me and has a future planned for me in heaven, not only for me but for those I love. There is not better blessing. It makes all the others seem pale in comparison.

Abraham Sacrifices Isaac

2010-01-19T07:24:00.000-08:00

Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!"

"Here I am," he replied.

Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."

Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you."

Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?"

"Yes, my son?" Abraham replied.

"The fire and wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"

Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together.

When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!"

"Here I am," he replied.

"Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son."

I had always thought that God telling Abraham to sacrifice Isaac was in order for Abraham to prove to God his devotion. As of Sunday I have started to think differently.

It came to me during the sermon which was weird because the sermon was on turning water into wine. Anyway my new thought is that God being omnipotent already knew that Abraham was faithful, He knew Abraham would sacrifice his son, He also knew that He would not let that happen. I think for God this was an opportunity to demonstrate His mercy.

The other important part of this is story of course is that it is a prototype for Jesus. God promises us that he will provide the sacrifice, which he does in that very place 2000 years later in Jesus Christ.

Been a long time.

2009-11-19T13:42:00.000-08:00

I am a bad blogger. To be honest with myself I am not actually a good writer at all, but at least I should be writing something to make it worth even having this page. Anyway a band mate called me out on not updating this site in a month so her I am.

Yesterday in band practice the idea came up about people becoming disillusioned with organized religion. I can't say I do not understand it after all Church's are filled with people and with people come politics, gossip and what not. As hard as we try to avoid these things they will exist. They exist in our workplace and they exist in our church.
I think that the reason why people get disillusioned with church or organized religion is that they have been sold that it is something that it can not and should not be.

Church is not where we go to seek God, we seek God in our private lives, in our prayer life and in everything we do. God may reveal himself at out church but if that is why we go to church we risk falling into the trap of becoming Sunday morning Christians and that is clearly not the best God has in store for us.

So what is church then?

It just occurred to me that there are two distinct things when we talk of church, there is where we go Sunday morning, and there is "The Church" which is the community of all Christians. I of course and talking about the former

Church is a place of corporate worship and prayer, a school to learn, and a place of fellowship. Any liturgy or formality of "religion" serves to those goals.

When I see organized religion that way and understand it as a tool to be used in our spiritual life instead of its center I find it much harder to be disillusioned. Just as a would not get disillusioned by a hammer or a saw, when what I am really doing is building a house.

Random thoughts.

2009-10-08T12:13:00.000-07:00

One of the principal reasons for this blog is to keep me tuned into the Holy Spirit. I read other blogs of people are much better writers than me and I enjoy it immensely but my soul needs more. I need an outpouring of my faith. What I find interesting though is that the more proclaim Jesus Christ the more I do it. So this helps me.

Blogging keeps me from sin. It is hard to find time to do things I should not be doing when I surround my free time with heavenly things. I have also found through doing this that there are many people like me out there.

A few things about me.

I am a Christian and a Progressive. I do not believe that Jesus was a Democrat or a Republican and I do not think either party even remotely represents Christian values.
I believe that the government as well as the community has the responsibility to care for the well being of its citizens.
I think many Christians are unaware of the needs in their own back yard. Coming from an urban church and being married to a free clinic worker this is very apparent to me.
I LOVE praising God through music. To me every song is a prayer and an offering.

Thats it for now. Perhaps I will get into more later.

Love is the Only Way

2009-09-29T10:13:00.000-07:00

Jesus taught us that we should love God with all our heart soul and mind, at that we should love our neighbor as ourselves,( Mt 22:34-40) but what does that truly mean. There are three key words in the command and I want to take a look at each one of them.

God - There is not a whole lot to interpret here. God is the God of Abraham and Jacob, the God of you and me, the Trinity. I think you know who we are talking about.
Neighbor - I think this is an important word to know what Jesus was saying here, it tells us who we are to love. Do we only have to love our friends or do we have to love everyone.
In Luke 10:29-37 when the lawyer asked this very question he found that the neighbor was a not a brother or religious leader but a Samaritan someone who the Jewish people of that time had no love for at all.
In Matthew 5:44 we are told to Love our enemies so it can be reasoned that our enemies are our neighbors too. It would seem that we are commanded to love everyone as we love our selves.
Love - So here it comes down to it. What does Love mean. Certainly it does not mean we should have romantic love for everyone. I think the key here is the phrase "As yourself". How do you love yourself. Certainly we care about our own happiness so we should care about the happiness of others even our enemies. Certainly we care about our health and well being so we should care about others.

But love is more that a thought, Love is an action so we need to show that love as we would feed ourselves are we not commanded to feed others. As we clothe ourselves are we not commanded to clothe others. Its a tall order and hard to fill. Good thing we have a Saviour to help us, to save us.

Pure Praise - King David

2009-09-27T18:03:00.000-07:00

¹² Now King David was told, "The LORD has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he has, because of the ark of God." So David went down and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing. ¹³ When those who were carrying the ark of the LORD had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. ¹⁴ David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the LORD with all his might, ¹⁵ while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouts and the sound of trumpets.

¹⁶ As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, she despised him in her heart.

¹⁷ They brought the ark of the LORD and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings ^[f] before the LORD. ¹⁸ After he had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD Almighty. ¹⁹ Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins to each person in the whole crowd of Israelites, both men and women. And all the people went to their homes.

²⁰ When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, "How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!"

²¹ David said to Michal, "It was before the LORD, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the LORD's people Israel—I will celebrate before the LORD. ²² I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor."

This has to be one of my favorite passages in the Bible, and I think it is easy to see why. First of all as a Worship Leader King David is my hero. Think about it he was one of the original Worship Leaders. He was a Musician and loved praising the Lord. Judging be the way he is dressed in this passage he was a contemporary service worship leader.
They say that David was a man after Gods own heart and I think this is why. God wants us to praise him and he deserves much more praise and worship than we are capable of giving.
I think its also interesting that David not only offered up offerings to God but also to the people. He Worshiped through Love, not only to his God but to Gods people for that is what we are commanded to do.

Choosing Songs for the service.

2009-09-22T08:32:00.000-07:00

Every Wednesday at band practice we spend about half our time picking out songs for Sunday, because it is one of the most important decisions you will make. Depending on your place in the service you may find yourself saying a few words, but unless you are delivering the sermon or a devotional what the congregation is going to take home with them are the songs they heard.
Because it is such an important decision I do have a few guidelines that I like to go by.

Is the song scriptural - This is the most important question you can ask. A good song will leave you singing afterwards and if you leave a person singing something that is not true than you are hurting more than you are helping. I have gotten into a few debates over this with people on songs. Just because a song talks about God does not mean that it is worthy for a Worship Service.
Does it Praise God - This seems like a no-brainer but you would be suprised how many times I have been asked to play Bridge Over Troubled Water for a Sunday service. True there are times when you can change the lyrics to a popular song to make them about Jesus, my favorite is 'How sweet it is to be loved by you' with the refrain 'I just want to Stop, and thank you Jesus' but you need to be careful with these because singing Sweet Home Up In Heaven might still leave people with Sweet Home Alabama when they leave.
Does it fit the Sermon or Theme of the Service - This is the hardest to choose, hopefully all of the songs in your repertoire already fit the first two criteria but this one takes a little homework. Also this information may not always be available before hand. Fortunately our minister uses the Lectionary and we make good use of The United Methodist Music and Worship Planner.
Can the Congregation Participate - Remember you are a Praise Leader so don't forget the people who are trying to follow. Try to have songs that the congregation can sing along with or clap their hands. Solos should guide people to a close experience with the Lord. A song for its own sake or something too complex to follow have no place in a Worship Service
Let the Spirit Guide You - Pray for guidance before choosing your songs and listen to where the Lord is leading you. On more that one occasion multiple members of the band have come in and said that they felt that they were being led in a specific direction and we found we were all being led the same direction. Be sure to use discernment here but the guidance may not always make sense to you at the time but remember that God knows things that you do not and will always lead to His glory.

We have other criteria that we use as well but they are unique to the structure of our service. We know we need a prayerful song here or an upbeat worship song there. Hopefully I have given something here that can be of use to you in your own Worship Service.

May His Love Be With You,
PraiseBlogger

Are you Ready for a Miracle

2009-09-17T20:07:00.000-07:00

As I get geared up on this site I am posting some videos from The Side Door Band. This song comes from a show we did at Centenary UMC.

The Side Door Band

2009-09-16T20:51:00.000-07:00

This is the band I play with every Sunday Morning. We call ourselves The Side Door Band named after the Side Door Service which is named after the side door that you come in to worship. We meet for worship every Sunday at 9:30 at Ginter Park United Methodist Church for the contemporary worship service.

This song is one of my favorite songs. Besides being a beautiful melody its lyrics are intense yet prayerful.