Monday Commentary: The Hunger Games

This weekend at Mavuno we kicked off a new series led by my favorite, Pastor Simon "the man" Mbevi. You can watch it here or read the sermon notes below, bless you guys!

"This month we will be talking about the games of life. Everyone wants the best out of life. You want to live well. But how can one maximize on the short life we have here? Is it possible to find true satisfaction, for real, in this life? And if so, how? How can we score consistently in this game?
The preacher in Ecclesiastes 1:2 says something depressing: Meaningless! Meaningless! Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless! Was he just having a bad day or is it the depressing reality?

We will look at 4 basic rules of the game of life. These guidelines ensure you play the right game, in the right way to get the right scores. Put your sports gear on, and lets go to the field! I will be your trainer and a fellow player for the next 4 weeks. Let’s get to the field, for Training Session 1."

Click to Keep Reading or watch the video after the jump:

  

Worship Team Performance: REST AND RELAXATION

Catch Up : Introduction

                  Part 1: Preparation 1

                  Part 2: Preparation 2 - Grace Makes Us Lazy

                  Part 3: Preparation 3 - Performance v. Worship
                  Part 4: Presentation 1 -  Authority & Arriving
                  Part 5: Presentation 2 - Authenticity & Abandon

Source: architectureartdesigns.com via Kay on Pinterest

This should be a deliberate activity. It’s arrogant not to rest. Anticipate the crash after the adrenaline rush performance brings and work with it not against it. Take time to unwind, give thanks to God and to review your performance.

I’ve been learning a lot about the place of rest in my own life. It’s almost like Christian lingo using the word “soaking”, I know Beni Johnson uses it a lot. Soaking is basically meditating on God’s word and setting your heart on His presence. It’s the absence of striving to get to God and just letting God get close to you.

Striving is what most of us do best as Christians. It’s easier for me to read the Bible and journal and read books and pray than it is for me to listen. The longest I’ve ever been able to lay striving aside and rest in His goodness is like the length of Bethel Music’s “Without Words” CD which was designed for times of soaking, but that was a little bit of a one-off occurrence, now I can only do like 10-15 minutes. It’s definitely an area I need to work on, getting rid of distraction and just getting in tune with God.

Anyway, I thought I’d add this video here in case you needed to do the same. Like I said, this album is such a great tool. The Holy Spirit is woven through each note and I just love it. This song makes me cry every time...hope you love it too.

Worship Team Performance: Presentation 2 - Authenticity & Abandon

Catch Up : Introduction

                  Part 1: Preparation 1

                  Part 2: Preparation 2 - Grace Makes Us Lazy

                  Part 3: Preparation 3 - Performance v. Worship
                  Part 4: Presentation 1 -  Authority & Arriving

AUTHENTICITY

Don’t undermine your intelligence and don’t undermine your audience’s intelligence. When you open your mouth you’re communicating something spiritually and your audience can understand what that is. I had this conversation with my sister about how songs aren’t just necessarily “secular” or “Christian” every song carries a spirit behind it, sometimes in a strongly negative way, like you hear a song and you feel weird in your heart, I can’t describe it, it’s just something you know, then there are songs that lift you up and you can practically see your spirit dancing in the clouds, then there are the songs that are secular but that still make your heart happy and your spirit is content. Anyway, I think you just have to be aware of stuff like that.

The audience can understand your conviction and lack of and that directs them either with you to God’s presence or away from you and maybe even away from His presence.

We have a saying here in Kenya, “Empty debes make the most noise” debes=tin cans. Worship is spiritual warfare; if you’re being dramatic and inauthentic, it’s like bringing a plastic knife to a gun show. Those demons either come in and kick your butt from here to low hell or they ignore you because you’re not a threat, you’re just a bleep in the radar.

Authenticity is just the truth. It begins in the spirit and manifests physically.

So what happens when you have to lead a happy song when you’re not happy? Is it being authentic to sing this song sad or depressed because that’s the reflection of your mood? No. We need to believe who we’re singing about and sometimes that may look like going back to the A, B, Cs of our faith that is having faith. It’s singing this song from the attitude of, “My life sucks right now, but it won’t suck forever!” like Jenn gave this example once, or, “God, I’m not happy now, but I trust in you to make me happy.” Or “God, I’m not free yet, but I believe I will be.” Sometimes it’s just consciously deciding, “I left all this stuff going on out there, but right now I’m going to worship God and focus all I have on Him not for any reason other than He deserves it.” Kim Walker-Smith said this once.

One time, I was alone in my room and I was trying to get my “God hat” on watching a Bethel worship set, and I was just not feeling it, but I remember that day this spontaneous song come out of me, “I’m going to worship like it’s already been done!” Come out of me is actually a mild term, that line practically burst through me and through all that hopelessness and defeat I was feeling. My point is, God comes through.

ABANDON

Abandon is surrender to God, to the performance, to yourself and to your audience. It’s he deliberate laying down of the ego. Enjoy yourself, people more or less tend to mirror you.

Source: 25.media.tumblr.com via Deb on Pinterest

Neema said, think about authenticity like a rubber band, the further in you can go, the truer you become, the further out you can soar when it’s released. That’s when a song goes from your gut into the audience’s gut. The true performer masters the art of balancing between doing it for God/themselves and doing it for others.

 See you next week for the last part of this series!

Worship Team Performance: Presentation 1 - Authority & Arriving

Catch Up : Introduction

                  Part 1: Preparation 1

                  Part 2: Preparation 2 - Grace Makes Us Lazy

                  Part 3: Preparation 3 - Performance v. Worship

This is when you’re on stage and is also split into 3: Authority, Authenticity and Abandon

Authority is arriving spiritually, mentally and physically. She gave the example of how her director would tell her she needed to consciously feel the ground beneath her feet. I know I’m guilty of this, getting absent minded, my thoughts just trail off and I forget to bring the mic up to my mouth and sing when I’m supposed to! The funny thing is when this happens, not just to me but I’m sure to other worship folk, that’s when you lift your hands and act all into the song, when 5 seconds ago you were thinking about the shirt the guy in front of you is wearing. Inauthenticity noted!

Source: facebook.com via Cathy on Pinterest

When you’re nervous it shows. Stand with your center of gravity intact; be stable, and not easily shaken. Take control of your nervous ticks.

Someone will definitely question your authority so know who you are.

Arriving mentally is knowing, loving and trusting your team. You’ll definitely not perform well thinking, “oh, so and so doesn’t like me” then at the same time thinking about whether the crowd likes you…you’re attacked on every side, but if you know the team is behind you and that they’ve got you, that helps you incredibly. So mend fences and build bridges wherever they need to appear.

Source: scpevents.com via Tami on Pinterest

Arriving spiritually is knowing whose you are and who everything is directed at and where it all comes from. It’s the assurance that whether you’re in a crowd or by yourself, you will still sing, you will still worship. Like Steffany Gretzinger sang once “This is for you and no one else, in a crowded room or by myself, I will worship you, in Spirit and in truth.”

Source: ffffound.com via Mikayla on Pinterest

See you next week!

Taking Back My Heart Part 1

Last week I talked about how I don't believe in love anymore and how the concept of falling in love freaked me out more than exciting me and how maybe I shouldn't jump into it at all.

Last week, I lied.

Yes, the concept of love freaks me out. There is so much wrong about relationships these days. So much pressure and so much uncertainty. I spoke out of fear instead of faith and that was absolutely wrong.

This is what I forgot; through the dark, seemingly tempestuous times of trying to figure out how to find the elusive "happily ever after", one thing remains.

God.

In all my fear and uncertainty, I forgot that one simple fact. I've done relationships in the past alone, God was never in the equation. I saw a guy I liked and I pursued them and never gave a thought to God. Not even a "hmm maybe I should pray about it and sleep on it." If I saw a guy I liked, I switched on the flirt button and switched off the God button.

That's not me anymore. God gave me a vision and a plan for my life and of course  part of that is having a good relationship and that will not come with me hiding this brand new heart I keep talking about in fear. I wasn't even planning on posting this, but this song by my church-mate, worship team-mate and amazing singer I'm proud to be associated with fits into this post so well.

It's called "Heart Right Here" by Jaya.

For my non-Swahili speaking friends, the song is generally about how the devil tried to rob her joy and keep her locked up in fear and doubt. The part she sings, "nimechoka kufungiwa" means, "I'm tired of being restrained/locked up" the rest is in English and you can follow along. It's an awesome song and a great way to end this post. We're definitely coming back to this topic though.

"There used to be a heart right here and I want it back NOW!"

Worship Team Performance: Preparation Part 3 – Performance V. Worship

Catch Up:  Introduction

                 Part 1a: Preparation

                 Part 2: Grace Makes us Lazy

Lastly, the fine line between “performance” and worship. People go one of 2 ways:

1. Dramatics: Where worship is just dramatic and inauthentic and more pre-practiced routines passed down from generation to generation in the Church

Source: Uploaded by user via Sarah on Pinterest

2. Wallflowers: All prim and proper holding your worship inside of yourself and letting the ego win…that voice that says “I can’t expose myself in front of all these people what will they think?” Theresa Dedmon said, “There’s a part of you and me that if not let out, we’re robbing the world of seeing a part of God.” I think this applies here. I’m definitely guilty of this, all the time during rehearsal; guys are like, “Joanne, we can’t hear you!” This hit me hard. What you’re struggling so hard to bury and hide may be just the thing that God wants to use to set the world on fire.

Source: pinterest.com via Alberto Mateo  ツ The Last Footprint on Pinterest

Performance simply means, being in front of people. I think we believe the lie that worship should be restrained and acceptable before men to be acceptable before God. Or that worship shouldn’t be rehearsed or perfected because that makes it a performance.

Excellence in worship is releasing what God has put inside of you, that might be a Jenn Johnson “Yes!” shout, a Deitrick Haddon ecstatic “Hallelujah!” or a Mariah Carey diva-fied “Oooh!” complete with the hand motion. 

See you next week!

Worship Team Performance: Preparation Part 2 – Grace Makes Us Lazy

Catch Up : Introduction

                 Part 1: Preparation

This is all about REHEARSAL!

Rehearsal is all about being one with your performance. The audience can tell when you’re completely whole. You can hear one song from two different singers, one moves you to tears and the other you can’t be bothered. The audience can tell when you’re just singing words of a page and when you’re releasing your hearts cry.

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Rehearsal is also a space for growth. You get to be with other musicians who can tell you when you’re messing up in a safe space so that when you get on stage you’ve perfected what you had. If you don’t do it in rehearsal and get comfortable with it, chances are you won’t do it on stage.

Africans have been blessed by God with a spirit of spontaneity. We can burst into a 3 part chorus with matching dance in the middle of the street! This is all great, but we also need to tap into the culture of diligence, commitment and rehearsal that many great artists have. She gave the example of Beyonce who rehearsed from 9-5, 6 days a week for 6 months for her tour.

Source: via margot on Pinterest

Grace makes us lazy. We’ve heard it said all the time, “don’t listen to the voices, listen to the words.” We have this attitude of God will still come down in my inadequacies and do His thing, but how much more powerful would it be if we dwelt in God’s perfect will rather than His permissive will? How much greater would corporate worship be if we led it coming from a place of diligence and commitment and constant dwelling in the presence of God. 

See You Next Sunday!