My Take on Worship - 2

Since there was much more I wanted to add to this topic, I thought of writing it as a sequel to my earlier post. It has been a constant struggle to be in a world where this enormous 'concept' of Worship, is practiced. I wonder if this is a subtle satanic strategy to marginalize actual worship to a mere time bound activity of well accompanied singing which they call as 'Praise & Worship'. While use of technology and evolution of music is welcome, these are only to be considered as aids to worship God. We should be careful not to lose the bigger picture of who God is and what actual worship is. The ambience, the settings, the lighting, the sound and effects employed can trigger the senses of people to get them into a frenzy at times, or the constant repetition of a monotonous chorus which takes one into a trance like state are familiar practices these days. Honestly, these things make me question the authenticity of such worship sometimes. I am perplexed to know that some of these things are found in pagan practices and these have taken inroads into the church today. Worship in it's purest sense is what comes from within and not what we experience externally.

Here are some of my reflections on worship which will help us to have a wider and deeper understanding of Worship.


Worship is living - How well we are living our life is very important. Presenting ourselves as living sacrifices unto God every day is more important than a mere performance on a Sunday morning (Friday morning in the middle east). Worship is what has to happen for all seven days of the week and not just one day. "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God - this is your true and proper worship.'' Rom 12:1.

Worship involves Truth - Worship is not a performance. It involves our truthful submission to the Truth personified king of kings in whose sight everything lies bare and naked. We cannot masquerade in his presence. He sees through our facade and reaches down to our inmost being, our very soul. "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” Jn 4:24.

Worship is giving- Worship should result in a change of one's nature, a change of focus from self to God and others. Loving God implies loving our neighbour which in turn implies that we are to give selflessly as Christ gave himself for us. Therefore, you worship and honour God by your act of selflessly giving your resources to God and his children.

Worship is service- True devotion is taking care of the widows and orphans says James. Not every one can leave everything in order to do this. However, to the best of our capacities in the contexts God has placed us, we should be able to serve others. It could be service in the Church or the Community or in the neighbourhood. Our worship makes sense when there is more action and less rituals and rhetoric.

Worship is yielding - Worship should result in our willingness to yield ourselves completely to him. When we do this, the Spirit of God takes control and we are changed to be more like our Lord Jesus.

Worship is tithing - In the old testament they gave a tenth of all their produce to the temple as tithe. There is no set percentage that is prescribed in the new testament worship. Real tithing is giving to God our all - a total surrender besides all that we can part with for the service in the house of God.

Worship is obedience - Worship is true love for God. John 14:15 Jesus says, 'If you love me keep my commandments'. The one who truly knows God will love God. The one who truly loves God will worship God and keep His word. A true worshiper will be governed by the Word of God.

Worship is diligence in work - When we believe that work is God ordained then our attitude will be different towards our work. Many Christians dichotomize Spirituality and Work and end up as failures in one or the other or both. Bible shows many characters who were involved in work while being very godly; men like Joseph, David, Nehemiah, Daniel and his three friends. These were committed public figures who excelled in their respective work situations and God was with them. When God is preeminent and integral to our work then He causes us to excel and ultimately he derives the pleasure of our excellence and in that sense it becomes worship. Paul encourages Timothy to be a workman approved of God. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. 2 Tim 2:15. Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men. Pr 22:29.

Worship is Communal - The early church worshiped as a community. They gathered in houses and worshiped. Yes, individual worship is necessary. But the body of Christ is comprised of many individuals who live in harmony bringing glory and honour to God. The world will know we are Christians by our love as we live as a united and harmonious community of believers. With the advent of the internet and live telecast of the Church service, many people resort to staying at home and watch a live service. While this can be a last resort in situations like sickness or travel to unfamiliar places etc., this cannot become a norm. Worship should nurture true fellowship and community.

Worship is Sacrificial - David said, 'I will not give unto the Lord that which does not cost anything,' (2 Sam 24:24) and therefore paid a high price in order to worship God. It involved a price and a sacrifice. The people in the Old Testament were required to bring a sacrifice as they came to worship. We need to sacrificially offer our lives and our possessions as we come to worship a God who gave His own life for us on the cross of Calvary.

Worship is Transformational - Worship results in repentance, cleansing and a change of heart. A change in our character where we are purified and transformed into the likeness of our Lord Jesus.Worship makes a person humble and holy. The more a person worships the more sanctified he becomes as he spends considerable amount of time in the presence of God. This is what happened to Moses as he spent forty days in Mount Sinai.

Worship is Missional - Our worship is a response to our understanding of who God is. We will be able to understand who God is when we reflect on Jesus, the true image of the invisible God (Col 1:15). Jesus left everything and came in search of the lost mankind to redeem him from sin and certain death. The birth of Jesus was hence incarnational as well as missional. Therefore, an understanding of this Jesus whom we worship as Lord and God should result in an emulation of him which causes us to reach out with the love of Jesus. Therefore all genuine worship must result in missions, else it is no worship.

Therefore, worship is a much larger thing than so called worship music and so called worship leaders. 

The "Worship" Dilemma

Having been gifted with musical abilities I have been using it for God's glory for quite some time now. Listening to good music goes with it and it helps in honing one's musical skills. Talking about music, there used to be a time when musicians released their singles and albums which were songs with messages, stories, scripture and songs which were simply their experiences put forth in a melody. I even recall reading that some famous artists, get their song ideas from the books they read and make compositions out of the reflections they find in the chapters of the books.

Growing up listening to such songs and music in the 90's with such depth of meaning and theological correctness, here I am suddenly finding myself being a part of a crowd which now calls the songs they sing in Church  as "Worship" songs. These are songs which are primarily written about God and sung to God. Since the 90's there has been a wave of this Worship music with forerunners in the industry (yes! it's become one now!) like Maranatha Singers, Vineyard, Hosanna Integrity etc., to name a few! There has been a clear wind of change from the traditional Southern Gospel to the new "Worship" which has now become a genre by itself.

The older style of songs have clearly taken a back seat. Even the main line churches find it hard not to have this wave hitting them. This has even created a generation gap where the older generation desires more solemn hymns while the newer generation wants the upbeat songs. At 50, I now find myself caught up in this chasm where I prefer the 80's and 90's style of songs while the ones that came later have a distinct difference in the style and manner in which they are played and some how my musical sense finds it hard to sync with it or I wonder if it is just a mental block.

With the passage of time I find myself leading Worship and I have done this for over 2 decades now. I have predominantly done this in an Indian and an Asian context. I would like to give some of my challenges in leading worship and my experiences and struggles that I have been through in the journey given the context that I have been in. If you are in a similar context like me this will make sense. This will also help you to take a balanced view of things in order to avoid the conflicts that have risen in my life.

1. Mixed Age Groups.

When you have older people in the congregation it is pretty easy to see that they are not too keen to follow some of the latest songs. They are still holding on to their traditional songs and songs they grew up listening. Now this becomes a dilemma as to how to have a mix of both old and the new songs. You need to cater to the old as well as the new.

2. Mixed Nationalities.

While it is true that every nation and every tribe will be worshiping in heaven, it poses a challenge to us this side. The Africans are culturally expressive and rhythmic and music and dance are integral to their culture and being. So they are quite expressive in their worship. On the other hand, we see certain other nationalities who are conservative and may not be as expressive as the others. As a worship leader I get into this dilemma of watching some just stand there and watch me sing while the others join along into jubilant singing.

3. Mixed Language Groups.

Not everyone is primarily English speaking in the congregation. Hence some could be more engaging in the worship when it happens in the language of their comfort. For some, worshiping in their mother tongue would make more sense. However, in such a multi-linguistic and multicultural settings it becomes a challenge to be leading the worship where the response could be a bit depressing. As a worship leader I have felt out of place in such settings.

4. Mixed Backgrounds.

We observe people coming in from different backgrounds with different worship patterns and styles. Some come from a liturgical background, some from a free worship background, some from a quiet and somber way of worship, some prefer it to be overly vocal, some want instruments while some may not be wanting extra sounds, some are conservative and the others are quite open and even dangerously "progressive". As a worship leader it gets pretty challenging to have a session going well in this context.

5. Mixed Experiences.

Some people come in with their baggage of experiences and each one claims their experience to be superior or correct. While experiences are important when it comes to worship we need to weigh our experiences in the light of scripture and not vice versa. Many times as a Worship leader I wonder if I am doing the right thing especially when I do not do certain things or express the way some of the others do.

Therefore, with such challenges I sometime wonder where do we converge and how do we converge to make the experience of worship more meaningful, purposeful and realistic.

Will be interesting to hear your views. Do take time to comment and let me know what you are thinking. Also check out my other blogs on the same subject.

Thanks for reading!! Would appreciate your comments!!

Broken Toys...

It is wonderful to reminisce about our childhood and the games we have played and the toys we have played with. I remember playing with only a small piece of wood which I considered my car, pave a route for this car on the sand and would go on endless trips between the origin and my destination and I would have brief stop overs at imaginary petrol pumps and pit stops. There also were imaginary transactions with imaginary people in this imaginary world of innocence and life was fantastic  and everything was fine. The greatest difficulty then was managing school, especially the difficult teachers.

Nice to look back at those wonderful fun filled moments of life once in a while while it is also important to critically evaluate our life. Even as I evaluate my life in the recent past, the one most memorable moment that I can think of is the day I had a close shave on my way back from work on a sunny Saturday afternoon. It was the 12th of October 2013 and I was driving my new Nissan Sentra which was hardly six months old. I was enjoying my drive back home while I was also hungry and hoping to have a sumptuous and tasty lunch that my wife would have specially cooked for me since it was a day off for her.

Reaching Sharjah I had to slow down as the traffic ahead of me was congested. However, the man behind me on an SUV was perhaps distracted and unmindful of this. I had almost come to a stand still while I heard a big noise behind me. I was jolted even as the seat belts held me to my seat and the airbags opened up for protection. I was hit from behind and for a couple of seconds I wasn't sure of what had happened. I saw smoke coming in and I realised what had happened and checked if my limbs were there. Lo and behold I was fine and there was no injury. I came out of the wreck unscathed without even a scratch. I could not imagine what would have become of me if the same had happened on the highway.

This was followed by the onerous rounds of police interrogations and negotiations with the bank and insurance company to get my claims processed. Through it all I need to mention the fact that the processes were so clear and were carried out cleanly. I was able to get my money back in a matter of one month. Thank God things move pretty fast here and there is no red tape and no corruption.

I'm so grateful for life and this experience. I held on to God and the plan of God unfolded. I learnt patience, the protection of God, dependence on God and experienced the kindness of people who helped me with their cars during those days. Soon, God gave me the grace to buy my new car a Nissan X-Trail and its been more than 5 years and I still use it for commuting to office. God had a better idea to give me a better car.

Every time you experience a brokenness, remember that God is in the job of repairing some of those broken areas of your life. ...a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise (Ps 51:17). He works behind the scene and you will come to know it after a while when everything comes together. He surprises us with his blessings. 

Radial Head Fracture and Replacement

It's been a long time since I blogged last and man, what a way to renew it! The month of June used to be a month I welcomed each year with mixed feelings. The arrival of June meant the onset of the south-west monsoon in India and the fact that it would bring in a lot of rain was a great feeling. This also marked the beginning of a new academic year; also, new books, new school uniforms and stationery besides the new friends we would make. The sad part was that June  also marked the end of the long summer vacation which we spent playing indoors during the day, bicycling in the cool breezy evenings, the trips to the hills to beat the summer heat and of course visiting relatives. 

However, for the past two years, the month of June has brought me more  heartaches than joy. They have left deep scars in my life. June 2016 started with the sudden unexpected demise of my Father. He had been hospitalised for a week. When I spoke to him on 2nd June, he sounded confident and assured me that all was well. But things changed overnight and on the morning of June 3^rd he breathed his last. All of a sudden thoughts raced through my mind - all that I wanted to tell him, all that I wanted to do but failed and a million other things that made me feel much more miserable. I was still coming to terms with this loss of my Dad when June 2017 had something more in store for me -  I had a terrible fall!

Apparently, I had fallen with my arms outstretched, which injured both my wrists

and my left elbow took the major impact. My ulna was dislocated and my radial bone head was shattered into pieces which the doctors said could not be put back. They took me through an open surgical procedure where the broken pieces had to be removed and a synthetic radial head was replaced (see picture). I had to be in a cast for 3 weeks and at the end of the second week they removed the staples. Moving my elbow became difficult and when the cast was removed I was recommended ten sessions of physiotherapy.

It is now 5 weeks and I’ve completed my physiotherapy and my ROM (range of motion) still has not shown much progress. My review with the Ortho at the end of 4 weeks seemed to be a mere formality with not much of excitement. Currently under a cloud of suspense as to how things will pan out I’m trying to make a lot of adjustments to my life in terms of routines. At the moment the challenge is in terms of pronation and supination of the left wrist which are critical for playing my guitar or my keyboard. I’m continuing to work on these by myself and pushing it as much as possible till it hurts. I’m also slowly gaining strength in terms of holding things, pulling and pushing, etc. More than all these I’m also praying that I’ll be able to extend and flex my arm like before. 

Those having experienced the trauma of radial head fracture and replacement may please feed back with comments on your experience and suggestions to encourage others who are facing this issue like me.

The Enemy Within...

Feels so nice to get back to writing my blog. As I look over my shoulder, I see that it has been a hectic year and yet a year filled with moments of quiet reflections. Just wishing all of them were penned down, but here's my latest reflection and if it happens to be yours too then I'm sure reading this will reinforce your resolve to move on.


Of late, I have been pondering over the way life has taken turns, some for good and some otherwise. It has helped me review my life and figure out areas where I have gone wrong. Having identified mistakes and wrong patterns in my life, my consequent move should have been to diverge from such ways into ways that are good and productive. I made some great decisions to get certain things going and get some things out of the way, but there was not much change. Most of the times they have stayed only in the vaults of my thoughts but never got translated into actions. But with much prayer and constant self reminding I have managed to break away from quite a few unproductive ways to re-chart my life. That has given me a lot of joy which has energized me to press on. Decision to do something does not mean that the thing is done. It takes time and effort to act on intentions and accomplish  something. How often we fool ourselves to think that we can impress God by our intentions and well meaning prayers! While it may be easy to put on an impressive external, the Omniscient God actually sees deeply through our facade and knows us just as we are.

As part of my life review, I was also identifying the causes for some of the worst failures in my life. My 'old man' constantly tried to put others and circumstances to blame. But my new resolve gained through much prayer and submission to God helped me to realize that I, ...was the cause for a number of those failures and bad patterns. While it is so easy to look at the faults of others, it takes courage to face oneself and say 'I'm wrong'. So I concluded that most of the times the enemy was not without, but within. How could I have become so blind to myself and my own errors. The cause for all this was "self", which so often prevents you from facing the reality of your own failures, but is so quick to fix the blame on things other than you. While the concept of loving oneself is good, it should actually help us to evaluate ourself and know ourself properly which is critical to move forward.

So after all the soul searching, I knew it was time to move on from those self defeating ways and not get into the deception of "mere intentions", but to move forward to the plane of action where there is meaning, challenge and joy of accomplishments. The apostle James says it beautifully that faith without works is dead. The other deception here is the deception of self righteousness, where you feel great about having confessed your misgivings and sins. Confession helps you find forgiveness and healing, but actions are essential to cross that bridge of sin and hurt. Be careful not to stop with your intentions!!!

Paul says I have crucified myself with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. When we come to that maturity then we can beat the worst enemy - " Our self" and be successful by surrendering everything to Christ and allow him to be the driver who leads and guides us into paths of hope, victory and joy even when things do not look all that great!

When we constantly live under the realization that Christ is the center and source of our living, then it gives us the impetus to move forward and do something and of course not forgetting, beat the enemy within. I want to leave you with a song that has this reflection of identifying your failures and the enemy within, not to get stuck in the miry failures of the past, but move on with God's help. As we pass through this season of advent towards the dying moments of 2014 let's get this resolve to translate good intentions to actions and thus move forward! God bless you!!!

Look at the birds...

While music is my passion, the hobby that comes incidental to it is nature, especially bird watching. Even though I do not have the necessary gear of an Ornithologist, in my own way I appreciate the presence of birds and their chirping which is so refreshing each morning. As I walk into my work place, I get welcomed by the site of freshly watered lawns, the greenery all around the campus, beautiful flowers near the sidewalks and the sound of birds in the trees. These simple things eases me of all my anxieties and helps me look ahead at each brand new day with hope.

One of the things that amazed me when I moved here to the UAE was the sight of plenty of sparrows. Back home in India while the sparrows are a thing of the past, here in UAE we are glad to have them around. The buildings have sparrow friendly spaces for them to survive and multiply. Glad that these sparrows enjoy a safe haven here in a desert while India has turned it's back on these lovely little birds that have been so close to my heart.

Recently, I got to spot the first seagull for the winter while taking a walk down the Sharjah corniche. It was nice to know that summer was finally gone and we can look forward to the winter. Time has lapsed since then and rains in the UAE have ushered in the winter. The mornings and evenings are cool and pleasant, inviting me to take a walk along my favourite places - the corniche and the beach. We also get to see a lot of pigeons and turtle doves that drop in on the window sills and balcony ledges in the apartments. How can we forget the crows, the most common one back in India. We understand that crows were brought here to the Sharjah corniche area as the authorities felt the need for these scavenger birds. Most of the times I have observed that they had a piece of bread held between their beaks. 

It's hard to adequately describe the beauty of a winter morning here. I'm just enjoying it every day and every time it eventually turns out to be quiet moments of relishing God's creation leading onto a quiet conversation with God. I could feel God urging me to take a look at these birds to remind me of his words in Mathew 6:26, "Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" When we get to know God in a personal and intimate way, we can be encouraged to know that the God who feeds the birds is the God who cares for us, provides for us and sustains us. Psalms 48:14 says, " For this God is our God forever and ever; He will be our guide even to the end."

Cheers!!!

SCUD

Those who have closely followed the news during the early 90's will know what SCUD means. During the Gulf War, SCUD was the Russian missile used by Iraq against the allied forces. In return the US and it's allies used the PATRIOT missiles to counter the SCUD attacks. Very similarly, there is a war in the heavenlies that the Bible talks about. Jesus very beautifully used the Scriptures to counter the attacks of Satan when he was tempted in the wilderness for forty days. Scriptures were like his PATRIOT missiles to dispel the attacks of the enemy.

Interestingly during the time of Gulf War my mentor Rev.Samson Lazarus used to form an acronym using SCUD. It stood for Satanic Cunning Undermining Devices. The Bible says in John 10:10, "The devil comes to kill, steal and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." It talks about the mission statement of both Satan and Jesus.

The mission of Satan is to kill, steal and destroy. Well, what does he kill, steal and destroy? He is too crafty and tricky. While his ultimate objective is to destroy us he does it very subtly. He kills our desire for God and His truth. He then steals away our time by keeping us busy with a plenty of things which appear very important to satisfy our 'self'. He also misguides people to be so self possessed to the extent of making them believe that they themselves are gods and hence doing away with the need for a God. He also steals every opportunity to turn to God by way of cleverly crafted distraction tactics. Then he destroys our peace, our standing and ultimately our spirits, making us completely ineffective, useless and redundant. Given a chance he can beautifully entice us into a life of false securities, pretensions and deceptions which look appealing to our flesh and ego. The more we are driven by our 'self' the more we unknowingly succumb to the satanic cunning undermining devices.

On the contrary the mission of Jesus was to give us life, life to the full or life in abundance - life in every dead situation, quickening our spirits to commune with His Spirit and engage in a constant life giving, dynamic and uplifting fellowship and communion with Him that will provide us the protection and provision to live a life of wellness in Him as desired by God. This life is possible by doing in return what Jesus did for us. He gave His life for us, and when we give to Him our life He is able to make something beautiful out of the most messed up life.

If you are looking for meaning in life, truth, love, wellness, Jesus invites you into a world of possibilities. In Matthew 11:28 Jesus says, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest." In John 6:37 Jesus assures us acceptance," ...and whoever comes to me, I will never drive away."