Tonight at IKON Brian taught brilliantly on three chapters of Genesis but the highlight of the night was straight from the New Testament. When we love the least - scripture tells us - we love Jesus. Somehow the lowest and ignored become living sacraments, connections between man and Messiah. Somehow the essence of Christ spills through them to us and somehow our love flows through them to God. They become, essentially, conduits for two-way affection between Creator and created. Amazing. If we get it.
And this is the central message, in everything I sing and speak about, of my career thus far. We exist not only to know God but to make Him known by loving people. In doing so we worship and commune with God. I often wonder if we get it, if I get it. I’ve heard this so many times it can become theological furniture pushed against the walls of my heart while lesser theories and passions take up more space in the center of the room. I play shows where I sell more t-shirts than kids are sponsored through Compassion International. I meet ministers who spend tens of thousands on a new set of jumbotrons but just cut their mission budget, who have four people on staff to “lead worship” while no dedicated staff member exists to lead worshipers from singing into service. And I wonder, “Will we ever get it?”
Then a hurricane hits and churches mobilize to house and clothe and feed strangers. Mayors call pastors and beg them for benevolence mighty Caesar cannot provide. The Church awakens from it’s slumber, stops it’s singing, and starts serving. Lives are sustained. Prayers are answered. God grows hands and feet. And Jesus is loved well.
Or tonight happens. A smaller group than normal shows up at IKON to study an Old Testament passage. And the night closes with a simple announcement about special needs children in our church being without teachers on Sundays. The small gathering is asked to sign up if they could volunteer once a month to play with these kids while their parents get a break and the chance to attend a church service - something many of them rarely get to do.
The cynic I am, I figure we might get one volunteer. These are young professionals, newlyweds, college students. Busy people. They don’t have time for this kind of commitment. And I’ve been going to this church long enough, begging for volunteers to watch healthy kids in the preschool department long enough, to know people here would rather sing than serve. But I was surprised. These folks at IKON are different somehow. They get it. Not all of them, but enough. There was an outpouring of mercy on these kids in need. Seven people immediately signed up to serve. And there were more who needed to leave but wanted to know if they could sign up later this week.
This shouldn’t surprise me. But it does. And not just because it’s rare in the church’s I visit every week. But because it’s often rare in me. When we love the least we love Jesus. I get it.
This from “Life And Times In The Fast Lane” made me think…
“When looking at our noise situation and our current church model, it can seem strange, even preposterous, like an out of body experience, or when you hear your own voice on the answering machine. It’s a model we have become so accustomed to and adept at, that it can be very hard to take an outside look at things. Our current model seems to be set up on the idea of the lecture. A group of people gather together, every week, to hear someone talk to them, hopefully to give them information that they didn’t already have, or if in the case that they did have it, that the new information would inform and lead them beyond their current level of information. While I haven’t done a lot of in depth study on this subject, I imagine this is direct root of part of our less noble Catholic heritage in which the gospel was handed down from Latin texts which the common layperson had no ability to read. This is a very simplistic explanation, of course, but this is my blog. Somewhere along the way, oh, about the time of Wesley and his cohorts, this lecture style, while not changing, became somewhat entertaining, with interesting personalities and former actors (Whitefield) occupying the pulpits. Religion as entertainment, as we have seen in the 20th century, really took off, especially with the baby boom generation which now occupies the seats of our mega churches every Sunday morning.”
Click here to read the rest.
You’re invited to IKON, a bible study at The People’s Church in Franklin, TN. We meet every Tuesday night around 8PM. Check out ikoncommunity.com for directions. (New IKON site coming soon, btw.)
We’re walking through Genesis verse by verse. Join us.
FINDSHELTER.ORG is working to match churches with resources to families affected by the hurricane in need of help. Things were slow going at first since many families believed they would be able to move back to the ravaged areas of Louisiana and Mississippi. But now, according to CNN, 40% of displaced families are planning never to return and are needing help relocating and starting over again. This has increased the interest in FINDSHELTER.ORG and our efforts to meet EVERY need of these families, spiritual and physical, and to do so by working through churches and other Christian groups (eg. Sunday School classes, Fraternities, Bible Study groups etc).
Our work is being highlighted in the media more and more and while FINDSHELTER.ORG is not always mentioned, the motivations and beliefs of those sponsoring families through us are. And that story, the tale of human beings showing mercy to those in need, really is the most important story to tell anyway. Check out this piece by Good Morning America about families FINDSHELTER .ORG helped by pairing them up with First Baptist Church in Leesburg, Florida.
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Lee University is a Church of God school in the hometown of the denomination: Cleveland, Tn. The folks at Lee took great care of us on this our first stop of the White Flag Tour. Jason Morant opened for Kendall Payne who opened for me. This was Jason’s only date on this tour with us - he’s from New Orleans and so his life’s logistics are a little up in the air right now along with his schedule. I’d never heard Jason live before and I was struck by how different his live show is from his album. Live he sounds much more like Chris Martin and Rufus Wainwright than I’d realized listening to his disc. He bleeds these wonderfully melancholy aching mid tempos and ballads. Long phrases sung in the lowest parts of his range and occasionally swooping up into falsetto. Very reflective of European music at the moment, and of course completely out of step with the bulk of American CCM. Needless to say, I loved his set.
Then it was Kendall’s turn. There’s nothing subtle about Mrs. Payne. She bursts onto the stage the way she busts into a room of strangers - there needs to be a word beyond “extrovert” to describe her. I envied her last night. I miss playing the twenty minute set before the artist everyone paid to see (supposedly). It’s hard to mess up a twenty minute set, so easy to sprint for such a short time without having to think about what you’ll transition to when running gets old for you and the audience. And an opener without a band has the ability to interact with a crowd in ways a headliner just doesn’t. Kendall used all of this to her advantage, being interactive and self-deprecating in the best way and her songs sounded remarkably complete played only on an acoustic. I might just become a groupie and quit this whole SHLOG thing - travel around making bootlegs of one of the best alt chick singer-songwriters there is. She deserves a tour with Ani Difranco or Lucinda Williams and not me. Check her out if you ever get the chance.
The show itself was packed out. Students at the University are forced to go to a certain number of “Chapel” services and this concert counted as one such credit. The only problem of this otherwise stellar night was the surprise revelation from faculty that Chapel services are only an hour long. Somehow in all the advance calls made setting up the details of this show this detail was not communicated. So, being unable to fit three artists into one hour, we knew that some, maybe all, of the crowd would leave when the hour mark was reached, getting their credit for time spent and heading back to the dorms to complete homework shoved aside by Saturday’s fun and Sunday’s nap. ABout a fourth of the crowd did just that, getting up in twos and threes over about a twenty minute span of time until finally those who felt sorry for me or had nothing better to do sat attentively. Honestly, I would have bailed too. I always had cramming or writing to do before Monday morning classes. I completely understand.
For the first night of a tour, with new openers, new logistics and a new set list to work with, the night was great. Even for not being the first night of a tour I enjoyed myself. I got to be a fan of my openers and be inspired to perform at their level. I’m not there yet but it was fun trying.
See you in Texas on the next stops of the White Flag Tour with Kendall Payne.
