Pointing When Words Fail

"But if there are words for Him, then I don't have them...but what I do have is Good News..."― Pastor Isaac Wimberley, from the poem "Jesus, Forever"

The setting is mingling, networking, socializing, hanging out, and the conversation goes something like this...
So what do you do for a living?
Well, I'm in communications. Been working for years with words to try to express things clearly so people can understand a bit better.
Cool.
Also, a worship leader.
[insert blank stare] A what?
You, know, if you've ever been to church, that person up front who leads the singing?
Can't be. You would look weird in skinny jeans.
Haha, yeah, well don't believe everything you see on the Internet. This is New England. We come as we are and are comfortable in our own clothing, just like you.
It sounds like it could be fun.
Could be? Could be? Fun doesn't even come close to explaining it. It's joy, but that doesn't even come close to explaining it either. It's grueling and frustrating at times along the way, but not because it's really grueling or frustrating....see, that's the problem.
What could be the problem? You make music for 20 minutes and your day is done. Pretty sweet.
If only it were that easy.
Huh?
You see, well, I'm in communications. Been working for years with words to try to express things clearly so people can understand a bit better.
Yeah, so you said.
Except sometimes, many times even, in the days that lead up to Sunday, I've got nothin.' No words. Zilch.
Why, what's the problem? Just find a bunch of songs that everyone knows, and you're done.
Done that, and it's OK. But it's not the same as, well, I can't really explain...
You lost me.
OK, so if you're a woodworker, you agonize over the details of every curve and line before you hand it off to your customer, or if you're an athlete like TB12, you sweat every detail to achieve success.
Right.
Well, you can follow Jesus all your life, and experience Him in your day-to-day, and you think you know Him until He surprises you with something quite amazing or jaw-dropping at just the moment you need something amazing and jaw-dropping, and you can try to describe it, and try to describe Him, and you want to, need to, tell someone what it's like, to encourage them...but all the words in the world are not good enough.
So yeah, well, you said this thing you do is fun beyond fun, so I don't get it.
No, it really is, totally. It's just the head-on collision between my finite brain with its finite dictionary and the totally unconfined, ever-present everywhere you and I are God of the universe.
Woah.
That's it. Yes, woah! Wonder. To not just say words like "look" but strong words like "behold"―don't miss this!―the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. That's the whole point.  He's the whole point. Jesus. Say the Name, over and over. That's where the power is. He's the only reason why we sing, why someone like me is up there leading the way, or trying to anyway―not to fill in the gaps leading up to the sermon or as some kind of pump up the crowd warm-up for all the other stuff to come.
Never thought of it that way before.
That's good! Next time you go to church, think woah! Here's what I mean, it's good to have a Christmas mindset all year long.
Huh?
Behold, this new twist on a familiar message:

For a Child has been born―for us!
The gift of a Son―for us!
He'll take over the running of the world.
His Names will be
Amazing Counselor
Strong God
Eternal Father
Prince of Wholeness.
His ruling authority will grow.
And there'll be no limits to the wholeness He brings.
He'll rule from the historic David throne, over that promised Kingdom.
He'll put that Kingdom on a firm footing
And keep it going
With fair dealing and right living.
Beginning now and lasting always.
The zeal of the God of the angel armies will do all this.

Good point.
When it comes down to it, worship leaders, you see, really would rather be contagious and put themselves out of a job....Just think what could happen if we all could communicate this woah!, in word and deed and attitude, as we walk out those church doors on any given Sunday....

[VIDEO: Pastor Isaac Wimberly, "Jesus, Forever," from "Forever" by Kari Jobe]

Remembering the Five-Minute Rule

"Prayer is sitting in the silence until it silences us, choosing gratitude until we are grateful, and praising God until we ourselves are an act of praise." (Richard Rohr)

You don't have to be a professional photographer to experience one of the incredible highs of what can happen when you focus and click on a scene you've seen many times before: Wonder. Just when you think you've seen it all, a different angle of the sun, the time of day, the shading from a gazillion variations of clouds, can all bring a speechless sense of wow to something you thought you knew very well.

That's what happened during a recent visit to the Maine coast. I have walked over this bridge countless times, but depending on the time of day, the same scene can produce an entirely different, jaw-dropping feast for the eyes. 

"O Lord, our Lord,
How majestic and glorious and excellent is Your name in all the earth!"

(Psalm 8:9, Amplified)

God is forever giving a greater glimpse of the beauty and goodness of Himself...if only we will look for it. If only we will pause from our determination to get from point A to point B. If only we will take it all in and be thankful for life and breath and everything He provides instead of just observing with a "Huh, cool!" and moving on.

Photography of the familiar can produce another kind of wonder: Remembering what really matters. Although the lighting was different, and the hues more golden this time, the same setting brought a much-needed flashback to another time four years ago while passing over this same bridge, and in a similar speechless sense of wow....

"Life is crazy, and time is precious. But everyone's got five minutes to chill... 

Five minutes on the commute with no music, no talk radio 

Five minutes to pause at the smooth-as-glass stream instead of walking on by 

Five minutes to get up from your deadline, step outside, and breathe deeply 

Five minutes while the kids are outside playing 

Five minutes without earbuds, and phone-checking, and social media, and... 

Five minutes...to be filled with simply being thankful for all that God has done for you and is to you. Which, invariably, can lead to a lot more than five minutes. 

Cultivating thanks-filled mini-vacations throughout the day can be one of the most wonderfully contagious, Gospel-inquiring things we can ever spread to those around us. ... Participant side effects likely to include attitude adjustment.

Two Reasons Why Church is Amazing

PHOTO: CHRISTIANITY TODAY

"If one person is praying for you, buckle up. Things can happen."― Anne Lamott

There are weeks, even moments within any given day, when nothing else matters except needing to pray and yet feeling like there are no words: Lock-jawed, but a volcano bubbling inside. Like one of those dreams when you want to say something but nothing comes out. You don't need any "wow" factors to get you loving on and leaning hard into God. When the flame is turned up, you're thinking of only one thing even if you are at a momentary loss of words:

Just give me Jesus, in all His manifested power and presence. (Maybe the way it's supposed to be anyway?)

And people.

Wait, people? Yes. Not one without the other, but Jesus and people: Determined-to-follow-come-what-may friends and acquaintances, not just talk about it and nod, but live it out as best we know how people. It all flies in the face of doing this Journey as a solo act (or, at least, "me and Jesus"), even if that can seem very appealing, less complicated, and far less messy.

Maybe...but minus the power. The power of Jesus and, well yes get over it, working in and through ordinary people. It's an incredibly wonderful mystery, this idea of Church that God came up with...

Of doing Life together with great friends and total strangers, with people in your demographic sweet spot and with folks not even remotely close. Of not being confined to steepled or un-steepled buildings on just one day a week. Of agreeing and disagreeing but then agreeing again on Who really matters after all. Of being hurt unintentionally and healed through human hands supernaturally. Of good friends coming, staying for awhile and growing in Christ together, and then some suddenly going out the door for a whole host of reasons―the bittersweet of being family. Of endless desperate needs everywhere, and ready and willing hands quietly answering many of those needs behind the scenes. Of pastors and leaders teaching and loving and leading well, and also quietly carrying other people's burdens and their own, just like the rest of us―but perhaps a degree or two more intense than we can ever imagine.

Through it all, through every single scenario, it is Jesus at the center of it all, but helping people who will choose to follow and obey to do what no team, social club, or military band of brothers could ever do: Bring the Light of that which will never pass away to all the places in our lives that really need some.

It is not the way we would design it, but we mess with it at our own peril. And maybe that's why there are nearly 100 or so "one another" commands and encouragements throughout the New Testament.

The power of Jesus and people. The Church in action beyond a Sunday morning gathering. Things like:
Love one another (mentioned a gazillion times)
Serve one another in love
Carry one another's burdens
Encourage each other
Build each other up
Pray for each other...

About that last beautiful one another/each other...In a moment of sudden fear, worry, and anxiety this week, when it would have been easy to believe the lie that I am all alone in this struggle, I pulled out the "one another" card. So did other loved ones around me. Pray for each other...Pray for this situation... Pray for all of us...Pray for me, even...Pray. Please. Just pray. All you one anothers, even if I don't really know you.

And the Church said yes, and then did so. And all of a sudden, though the prayers were being lifted many miles away, the weight of heaviness mysteriously disappeared and peace rolled in like a progressive high tide. What was that? How does that happen? All I know is that I was reminded once more that when Jesus works through people of every different kind and personality to "pray for each other," unspeakably good things can and do happen. Darkness flees, hope rises, bodies heal, comfort floods sorrow, peace reigns over questions still waiting for answers, and so much more. Just the way He designed it.

It all gives new meaning to the social media posts from Christ-one friends today that will exclaim "Church was amazing!" In a way, no matter how great the gathering, they're/we're only half-right. Because the power of Jesus and people, beyond any given Sunday morning gathering, will make you want to forever change "was" to "is." 

"To You, Lord, I give my whole heart, a heart filled with praise, for I am grateful;

Before the gods, my heart sings praises to You and You alone.

I bow before You, looking to Your holy temple,

And praise Your name, for Your unfailing love and Your truth;

For You have placed Your name and Your word over all things and all times.

On the day I needed You, I called, and You responded and infused my soul with strength."

(Psalm 138:1-3, The Voice)

At a Loss for Words...Except One

PHOTO: MARCIN KESEK

"Before the mountains were born or You brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting You are God." (Psalm 90:2)

Lord, who can even begin to fathom that? 

But if that wasn't enough, the first words of the Old Testament and the first words in one of the New Testament Gospels, say this about You:

"In the beginning, GOD...

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was GOD."

“Beginning.” Clearly, that suggests that there must have been a starting point for all of this, and for You to be You.

Inquiring minds, confined by time and space, want to know. 

Instead, in the words of AW Tozer, there has never been a starting point of who You are, nor an ending point of who You will always be, rather:

“From the beginningless past to the endless future, Thou art God.”

Lord, seriously, who can fathom this?

There are no words.

Wait. There is one….

With Your help, it's time to reclaim one in particular that has always been meant to uniquely describe You, Your nature, Your works and deeds—past, present, and future.
Your Love. 
Your faithfulness, patience, and amazingly amazing grace.

But it’s a word that's been stolen, tarnished, and dumbed down.

It’s been wickedly hijacked into everyday texts, tweets, and hallway greetings.

Including mine. 

The generic description for anything "wow!", ranging from a warm, breezy, sunny day to another "are-you-kidding-me?" Tom Brady touchdown pass must be returned to its rightful place.

At least in my own vocabulary.

Setting “awesome” free is not going to be easy, especially for a New Englander.

But it must be done. 

Especially in light of this:

“I AM the Eternal One. I AM is My name. My beauty is unique, a weighty splendor all My own. And nothing else—no idols could possibly gain my praise.”—Isaiah 42:8, The Voice

"Living becomes an awesome business when you realize that you spend every moment of your life in the sight and company of an omniscient, omnipresent Creator."—J.I. Packer

[ADAPTED FROM 6-28-15]