Why would Jesus ask his followers to take a peice of bread and some juice and remember him?

Was he afraid they would forget?

I forget things all the time. I can get up, walk into a room and completely forget what I was doing. I forget [...]]]> Do this in remembrance of me.

Why would Jesus ask his followers to take a peice of bread and some juice and remember him?

Was he afraid they would forget?

I forget things all the time. I can get up, walk into a room and completely forget what I was doing. I forget passwords, dates, conversations… The list goes on and on. I could see why we might need to be reminded to remember.

But something Bryan Schackmann asked in a class at church got me thinking a little more about this. He asked if Jesus lives inside us?

It can be a scary question if you were to answer it honestly. Is Jesus really a part of me?

And is that true all the time?

I don’t know that we, followers of Christ, ever COMPLETELY forget about Jesus, but we may not always live as though we remember him.

When we take the bread and juice in communion with each other and God we need to remember that Jesus is a part of each of us. Living in us.

As I [...]]]> I am not a worship expert, although at times I like to pretend I am one. Nevertheless, I am blessed with the task of heading the worship ministry at the Glendale Church of Christ. We have a talented team of young worship leaders and we take turns leading and planning worship each Sunday.

As I sit down to plan my worship services I take several things into consideration. I am not going to get into all of them here today, but I did want to share my general philosophy for putting a service together.

This might seem strange to some, but I like to look at a worship service as one might look at a good album. Primarily what I mean by that is that I try to build a service that flows thematically and sonically. I like to focus on a thought, or idea and build from there. Sometimes I like to start with an idea and develop it throughout the service telling a story with scripture and song.

I remember one service in particular. We started with the idea of coming before God and moved through falling at His feet admitting that we are unworthy to praising him for forgiving us in our unworthy state. I don’t always get that deep with my services but it is fun to try to tell a story sometimes.

Sonically, I try to make sure that we move between songs with similar tempo and feeling. At all costs, I want to avoid moving from an upbeat clapping song to a funeral dirge. Both have their place, but it is not one right after the other. It is hard to successfully lead that kind of transition, and I feel as though it is a little distracting for the congregation. The thing that I constantly try to have on my mind while planning and leading is that we are trying to create an environment where people lose sight of the distractions and focus on worshiping God. Smooth song transitions help with that.

There are a lot of other things I take into consideration for every service I plan but I should probably stop there. As I said at the beginning, I am not an expert. I am just a music fan who is blessed to have the opportunity to lead others in worship. And I take that job very seriously.

Man sinned and a sinless Jesus died in our place taking on our sin so we could spend eternity with God in heaven.

The story begins with sin and ends with eternity in heaven. That’s how we normally tell it anyway.

Here’s a different way to look [...]]]> You’ve probably heard the salvation story before.

Man sinned and a sinless Jesus died in our place taking on our sin so we could spend eternity with God in heaven.

The story begins with sin and ends with eternity in heaven. That’s how we normally tell it anyway.

Here’s a different way to look at it. This totally changed my perspective on the story when I came across it.

The salvation story begins with creation and ends with restoration.

Let me expand on that.

God’s creation was beautiful and very good.

But after some time we wavered, lost sight of the beauty and gave into temptation.

The result was the fall – separation from God, beauty and the garden.

Then Jesus came.

He redeemed us.

He redeemed us, not only so we could live eternally in heaven but so that we could live restored lives.

Beautiful lives.

Lives like we lived while in the garden.

And we can begin those lives here and now.

We don’t have to wait for eternity in heaven.

Pretty cool huh?

Smart move?

Probably not, unless you want to stir up a hornet’s nest of emotion.

Illegal?

Nope. They own the land.

Unamerican?

Nope. We have this thing called religious freedom. Remember that?

What should be done?

Love.

Posted via email from brianhimes’s posterous

The book was called Love & War by John and Stasi Elderege. And, the only catch was that you had to agree to write a review of the book on your blog.

Since I like to read, and [...]]]>

So, a few months ago a friend passed along a link for a free book on marriage.

The book was called Love & War by John and Stasi Elderege. And, the only catch was that you had to agree to write a review of the book on your blog.

Since I like to read, and write, I signed up.

It wasn’t too long before the book arrived in the mail. Upon opening the package I was surprised that it was, in fact, an actual hard-cover copy of the book. It wasn’t a cheap paperback edition, or a photocopied pamphlet. It was an actual book.

A couple days later I started reading.

The book was a team effort written by a husband and wife who obviously have a few years of marriage and ministry under their belt.

It began pretty much like any marriage book, and it wasn’t until page 24 that something jumped out at me. Here’s what they wrote.

The bible begins and ends with marriage.

Simple.

And yet profound.

Maybe I’m the dumbest guy to ever get a degree in religion from a Christian, liberal arts college but I had never really thought about the Bible beginning and ending with the image of marriage.

Interesting stuff.

And, upon further reflection, and reading, I came to the realization that the entire Bible is filled with the imagery of marriage.

Quite interesting when you consider how messed up marriages are in today’s society, especially in Christian circles. You’d think that with all of the time the Bible devotes to the concept of marriage Christians would have it down.

Not so.

Throughout the rest of the book the couple goes on to discuss what that means for our marriages and our relationships with God. I won’t go in to any more details because this is already getting long but I will say if you’re married, and a Christian, you should pick a copy of this book up.

Prior to getting married I read a lot of books regarding the subject and I thought I was pretty well prepared. But, I have to say that I definitely didn’t really understand everything I read then. And, I’m sure I’ve forgotten a lot of it. Today, more than 5 years into my marriage, I had new insight and life experiences to bring in as I read Love & War. I’m sure you will to.

Posted via email from brianhimes’s posterous