WORSHIP. PERIOD.

So what are you Easter plans for worship? If you don’t know by now, ya might be in trouble…

This is usually a busy time for worship-types and I just wanted to throw one little thought/reminder in there amid the chaos. Just something I’ve been thinking about as our Good Friday service approaches.

I’m sure many of you have Good Friday services ahead of you, and I wanted to encourage us to make sure our path to the empty tomb (Sunday) goes through the Cross. I know we know the end of the story and the Cross is not the end and we need to rejoice in the resurrection, yeah I get it. That being said I think we need to stop and pay our respects, so to speak, at the foot of the Cross as part of our Easter celebration.

Remember: The joy, celebration and gratitude inspired by the Risen Christ is informed by an understanding of what He gave up and went through to get there. The physical agony….and, as I’m focusing on in my preparation these days, the agony of separation from the Father.

I don’t think it’s a mistake that the sacrifice made by the Godhead involved a Father giving His Son rather than His own life, as it were. I think that image drives home the agony for us as we consider how much easier it would be for us to give our own lives instead of that of our own child. Anyone with a son or a father can slip on those shoes and imagine the cost, I think.

So, as you take the journey and see the sights this Easter, have your people stop at the Cross on this year’s tour. Maybe leave the “and now I am happy all the day”s for Sunday…instead, stop and acknowledge the agony of that God-forsaken Cross…and how do we respond in worship? We look at the characteristic of God that drove Him to do it – His love for us. Acknowledge His sacrifice and enjoy His love in gratitude.

That’ll make Friday Good.

Oh, how He loves you and me,
Oh, how He loves you and me.
He gave His life, what more could He give;
Oh, how He loves you, Oh, how He loves me,
Oh, how He loves you and me.

Jesus to Calv’ry did go,
His love for mankind to show.
What He did there brought hope from despair.
Oh, how He loves you, Oh, how He loves me,
Oh how He loves you and me.

Oh, how He loves you and me,
Oh, how He loves you and me.
He gave His life, what more could He give;
Oh, how He loves you, Oh, how He loves me,
Oh, how He loves you and me.

What’s our response to the devastation in Haiti? How do we approach God in the shadow of the all the destruction, despair and hopelessness? How do we worship; How do we lead worship?

I say we follow the Haitians’ lead.

Listen to Wyclef as he recounts his experience in his home country in the aftermath of the earthquake.

Unexplainable? No. Just ‘spirit and truth’ worship.

(For more on worship in the midst of grief, check out this earlier post.)

I just read this article about Steven Curtis Chapman’s new record and the journey that brought it about (if you’ve yet to hear the story of the loss of his adopted daughter, read through the article). I was a big fan of his (ok, still am) when I was first learning to play guitar and write songs. I probably could list him as my first guitar teacher because most of what I learned early on came from watching his videos – pausing, rewinding, replaying. I remember clearly how the news of the Chapman family’s tragedy (over a year ago now) hit me in the gut. I had never met any of them or spoken a word to them, yet having watched SCC’s career over the years I felt like I knew him a little bit, as I’m sure so many do. What’s more is the idea that the grief makes for common ground, somehow. When we hear a story like that our humanity instantly and reactively begins putting ourselves in the other person’s shoes and feeling what they feel on some level. I’ve never lost a child, nor any family member by means of a tragedy like that one, but I still feel this odd connection by way of the common human experience of grief. I think in there somewhere is the truth in Paul’s words about “sharing in His suffering”…

As I read through the article and reflected on some of the things he was sharing about his journey, I began to think, “If he attended my church, if this tragedy occurred in my church family…how would I lead worship that next week? How would I lead he and his family in worship?” I don’t ask those questions rhetorically. Of course it would be difficult and painful task, but I mean practically speaking how do we lead people in worship when they’re walking through grief? Have you ever thought about it?

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