A Throwback...

Alex Pinguli and I collaborated on this project a few years ago.  It started when Alex came to me with an idea after a service in which we sang Jeremy Casella's version of Guide Me Oh Thou Great Jehovah.  The idea was to create a painting during a worship set as the church sang to the song.  Once we worked out the details (which included rehearsals and run-throughs, adding another song, changing the colors, themes and even layout of the piece) we made it happen at New Life Dresher (ya, he painted it in both services!).
We decided to use Hans Plum's song, Exodus 15 as the prelude to Guide Me.  So the narrative flow reflects the excitement of being freed from slavery in Egypt, crossing the Red Sea into a new life of following God and then looking out over the vastness of the desert wasteland and saying, "Holy #$^%! What are we going to do now?"  This moment is seen most powerfully in the piece when the second song begins and Alex draws a narrow and winding line across the canvas and we all sing in one voice, "Guide me, oh Thou great Jehovah...hold me with Thy powerful hand!"
We hadn't necessarily planned on it but the idea turned into a worshipful performance piece bringing two art forms together so that whenever the song is heard afterward, people recall the painting and whenever they see the painting hanging in the foyer, they recall the song and the moment in which the painting and song connected in their hearts to create a "Gospel Aha!" The painting and the song are now memorials of worship at NLD and I hope you enjoy either reliving the moment or entering into it with fresh eyes.

Worship Gathering November 27, 2011

The book of Micah includes a number of “Hear the Lord” statements.  So we are going to meditate on God’s command to listen to his Word. 

Deuteronomy 6:1-6   “Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the rules that the LORD your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, that you may fear the LORD your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey. “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.

Creation Sings the Father’s Song

Mark 4:1-9   Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: “Listen!  A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Sovereign Grace O’er Sin Abounding

Mark 4:10-20 And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, so that “they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.” And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

And Can It Be

Joy to the World

Worship Gathering November 20, 2011

What does it mean to be human?  When we follow our every desire into all sorts of sins we say, “Well, I’m only human!”  Today, we are going to explore what the Bible says about true humanity and it is more glorious than you could ever imagine.

Glorious Image Bearers—Psalm 8

O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!  You have set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babes and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings    and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,   whatever passes along the paths of the seas. O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Praise to the Lord

My favorite professor in seminary turned my understanding of the following passage upside down.  We are going to read how God clothed Adam and Eve in animal skins as he expelled them from the Garden of Eden.  My understanding (and it was correct but not complete) was that this was a picture of Christ’s sacrifice of body and blood to cover over our sins.  This is good but in the original context, God clothing Adam and Eve in animal skins was his way of shaming them of dehumanizing them and showing them that their sin has made them more like the animals than like God.  So hear God’s word and find yourself in this story:

Made Like the Animals—Genesis 3:17-21  

And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face   you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.  And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

How have you acted as a sub-human this week?  How have you followed your “instincts” into every sin and evil desire like a mere animal?  You were created for dignity, for royalty, for selfless love.  You were created for glory.  But how is that glory restored?  It is through Christ, the true human. He is our dignity, our glory.

Depth of Mercy

The True Human— Matthew 11:2-6  

Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we  look for another?” And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

Hallelujah, What a Savior!

A New Humanity—Ephesians 2:10

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand,  that we should walk in them.

Col 3:8-12 But now you must put them all away:  anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.  Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.  Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

I Stand Amazed

So in the freedom and dignity of Christ, resting in the glory that he has purchased for you by his death and resurrection, you made sit, ready to hear him speak over you His steadfast loving kindness.

Lord for Your Glory

Worship Gathering November 13, 2011

The idea for this set is to invite people into the story (the false story) of self-confidence.  We are naturally inclined to rely on ourselves in every situation until the crisis hits our lives and we come to the end of our own abilities.  Our Father brings us to this place so that we will run to him.  So in this time of worship we are going to find ourselves in the stories of self-reliance as we too have relied on our own abilities rather than having a hope in Jesus to care for us with the infinite affections of a Savior who died so that we might find a home in Him.

What are your fears? What makes you think that you are fully capable of handling the troubles of this life?  Where are you maintaining control?  Where are you seeking rest from the troubles of this world?

Our Lord Calls the Helpless—Psalm 119:169-176 Let my cry come before you, O LORD; give me understanding according to your word! Let my plea come before you; deliver me according to your word. My lips will pour forth praise, for you teach me your statutes. My tongue will sing of your word, for all your commandments are right. Let your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen your precepts. I long for your salvation, O LORD, and your law is my delight. Let my soul live and praise you, and let your rules help me. I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant,   for I do not  forget your commandments.

How Great is Our God

Our Lord Commands—Psalm 107:23-31 Some went down to the sea in ships, doing business on the great waters; they saw the deeds of the LORD, his wondrous works in the deep. For he commanded and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea. They mounted up to heaven; they went down to the depths; their courage melted away in their evil plight; they reeled and staggered like drunken men and were at their wits’ end. Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were glad that the waters were quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven. Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of men!

The Wonderful Cross

Confession—Jonah 2:2-9 “I called out to the LORD, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows   passed over me. Then I said, ‘I am driven away   from your sight; Yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.’ The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit, O LORD my God. When my life was fainting away, I remembered the LORD, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. But I with the voice of thanksgiving   will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the LORD!”

There is a Fountain

Lord, Save Us!—Mark 4:35-41 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.”  And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him.  And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling.  But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great fear and said to one another,  “Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?”

If you find yourself drowning in the tempest of life, all you need is to cry out to the Lord and He will show himself sufficient to guide you, sustain you, endure you, persevere you, save you.  You can have confidence in such a Savior because Jesus died for you and he rose from the dead vanquishing sin and death. 

Jesus Messiah

Jesus Thank You