Not Just a Baby

Christmas.  It's about presents.  Traffic.  Stress.  Lights.  Red and green.  Trees.  And the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus.  Until ten days ago, I never thought about all that goes along with this holiday.

I have never thought to connect the birth of the Savior to the death and resurrection.  That's the whole reason he was born.  I finally have had the opportunity to think about just what this season means.

A baby was born.  Not just a baby.  God became man.  He came to live a perfect life.  The one we were supposed to live and failed to do.  He was hung on a cross, becoming sin.  He defied death and conquered sin, raising back to life three days later.  This baby came to die.  Kinda takes the cheer out of the holy day, but death was not the end.  That brings the greatest hope.

My Style of Worship

Today I was involved in a discussion on the style of music that should be used in worship.  Being a worship leader for a junior high youth group, this was a very interesting discussion to me.  Here's what I walked away with in a nutshell:

1.  EVERY style of music has its baggage - so forget about trying to find a style that has no baggage.

2.  The music should accommodate the poor of the community.  In other words, the common person should be able to pick up on the melodies fairly easily, and also be able to understand what the lyrics are saying.  This does not mean the language has to be used everyday, but it should be understandable.  Sometimes this means explaining the text some.

3.  Folk music has generally tended to be simpler and easier to learn.  Therefore, many worship tunes are based on folk melodies and traditions.  This is no surprise in the south, but this goes for other places as well.

I have learned so much from this weekly small group, but today's discussion seemed especially relevant to what I am trying to figure out with my particular congregation of 11-14 year olds.

Hosea

Yesterday in the Sunday morning sermon, Roley encouraged the congregation to reread the book of Hosea.  I'm looking forward to refreshing my memory of how I am like the bride who keeps running away from a groom who gives me everything I need.