Being present in Christ's presence.

It is the Monday after New Year's. It is back to reality. It is back to routine. It is back to life after a hazy, crazy, over-filled, over-spent, worship-filled, hugged-out Christmas season. It was a good Christmas, probably my most favorite ever, since it includes the most children I have ever had. And chickens. It included my first ever flock of chickens, too.

But what good is a Christmas if celebrating the birth of Christ hasn't worked on my soul?

What good are presents if the presence of Christ hasn't forever changed me?

What good is a New Year if I'm not using it to further the Kingdom of God?

I'm not going to tell you to make New Year's resolutions for your ministry. That would be completely heretical on my part. On the other hand, I do believe it is time to reflect on what worked and didn't work in 2015. It's a good time to think about how we can continue to grow musically and spiritually in our worship in 2016. There are plenty of fun  and exciting plans and programs that can help you - check out worshipleader.com, therocketcompany.com, worshiptogether.com, and praisecharts.com for tons of ideas, inspiration, and methods. Listen to some new Indie musicians and some music veterans for worship inspiration. But nothing compares to going right to the source. The one Source.

Who doesn't want to thrive personally and professionally this year? Who doesn't want to rise above their circumstances and succeed in amazing ways? Who doesn't want to make this their best year ever? I want all these things. But here's what I really want.

I want to be a worshipper - one who knows Jesus and responds to Him. I want to be God's friend. I want to know Him better than anyone else. I want to see His power working in my life and through my life every single day. And I want the same for my worship team - I want them to know Him even more deeply this year. To worship Him freely, not because that's what their supposed to do as the worship team, but because they completely and honestly can't help worshipping God because of how good He truly is. And I wish that for you.

But that will never happen unless I order my days. It's not going to become reality unless I do one thing - spend time with Jesus. We can't just show up in body, reading through God's Word, we need to show up in mind and spirit. And so my goal is to be present.

Present with God in my planned devotion times, present with God in public worship times. Emotionally and mentally present in my family so I can show them God's presence in my life. This means a lot of things - making devotional time a priority, not putzing on my smart phone when I could be interacting more with my kids, not wasting time on things that don't matter, going to bed early so that I am not too tired to be present.

God is present - am I aware of Him? I received a few great Christmas presents this year. But the Christmas season brought forth something even better in me - a stronger desire to know the presence of Christ in my every day life and the possibility of reflecting Christ's presence to those who are present in my life. I don't think I could ask for a better gift.

What gift have you received this Christmas? How does it change 2016 for you?

Worship Tip: The challenge of Christmas Carols

Oh how I love Christmas carols. The air almost seems to sparkle when I hear those old strains of ringing, jingling, heart-melting, happy Christmas tunes. Joy and nostalgia intertwine thickly in my soul as the radio practically bursts open with cheer. Car rides, cleaning, and Christmas shopping are a lot more fun when heavily soundtracked  with Christmas crooners. Seriousy, I could listen to Chrsitmas music all year round. (Please don't hate on me for that - anything, but that). But what about in worship?After I've heard "Joy to the World" 437 times while Christmas shopping among the throngs of overworked and overstressed folks, is it still sacred when I sing it in the worship service? 

Well, that depends. 

It's no wonder that worship artists constantly seek new ways to sing our favorite songs, trying to preserve the original essence that made the song special while updating it just enough to keep the words fresh in our souls. It's an impossible task, it seems, to keep Silent Night true to tradition so that we don't lose what we love about it, while reframing it just enough that it touches are hearts all over again. Sometimes, we try too hard and what was intended to be a little originality becomes a congregational singing train wreck. So what do we do? How do we offer these beautiful carols, sung by generations of Jesus loving people, without getting stuck on the hump of nostalgia?

I'm not sure that the answer to these kinds of questions will ever change. Because it's less about song choice and stylistic nuance and more, much much more, about the status of our hearts. Of course, we'll do our best to be creative in our orchestration, functional in our implementation, and hopeful in our demonstration. Anything to help the congregation sing. We'll work long hours making Christmas Eve services as special as we can - because we love to celebrate the birth of our Savior and He deserves all of the specialness that we have to offer. But when it comes right down to it, no perfectly planned worship set, no carefully articulated lead ins, and not even the best Children's Christmas Pageant, no matter how adoring and adorable, can make us worship. Only God can call us to Himself, and only by knowing Him as He is, can we worship with any music, even at Christmas time. 

I hope you'll take this as a challenge - not merely the challenge of making meaningful music this Christmas season, but the challenge of spending time with our Emmanuel, our God With Us, so that each and every word we sing rings out in praise and worship of and response to Jesus, Our Savior, King. Keep the sacred in Silent Night, not by the newest, freshest arrangement, but by keeping in sync with the Savior.  Enjoying those precious memories of Christmases gone by is a gift all by itself to relish and savor. But if you truly want to make this a memorable Christmas, spend more of it with Jesus. Then you and your music will radiate with the joy of Christ during the Christmas season, and that's what makes Christmas music as good as it can ever get.