Seven
years ago, an 11 year old girl arrived late to her first dance rehearsal.
She felt awkward and didn’t enjoy it much. But she stuck with it. Over
time, through the consistent love and support of her teacher, Rachel Hanna,
along with the effort it takes to learn any discipline, her enjoyment grew into
a love for ballet.
Last
year, as a senior in high school and under the leadership of Rachel, Hannah
Calkins took on teaching 2 classes of her own in the Ballet a la Croix ministry
at SFB. As she was mentored by Rachel, Hannah instructed and taught 24
young children in the areas of worship, dance, discipline and
discipleship. Hannah says, “Seeing the growth of the kids as they come
together in a recital and worshiping God through the unique expression of dance
are highlights of teaching them.”
She
hopes to continue teaching this next year, depending on her college
schedule. Regardless of how long she continues to dance or teach dance,
Hannah is thankful that she has grown significantly in being more coachable and
teachable. Learning to practice the art of worship has meant a lot to her
as well. In her words, “It takes practice to worship well.”
Hannah
is only one story of multitudes of young women who have come through Rachel’s
dance studio over the past 7 years. But Hannah’s story is not
unique.
According
to Rachel, "The goal of Ballet a La Croix ministry is to disciple and
share the love of Christ with students. We strive to take scriptural
truths and eventually translate them into dance. Students are taught that
everything they do is for God's glory. Ballet is no exception.
Classes pray regularly and talk weekly about what it means to be used as a tool
of God to reach the hearts of the audience through music, dance, and
scripture."
Rachel
and Hannah are exceptional examples of our core values of worship and
discipleship through their unique ministry with Ballet a La Croix. Thank
God for their faithfulness and continue to pray for the future of this
ministry.
Questions
to ponder:
Hannah
mentioned that it takes practice to worship well. Where are you currently
working on practicing worship and building your worship muscle?
Rachel
teaches her students that everything they do is for God’s glory. What is
one area in your life that you would like to begin to dedicate and yield to
God?
Pastor Nate
Most
of us, when asked, are willing to serve in just about any area as long as fear
doesn’t take over. As an example, almost anyone is willing to volunteer
to run a concession stand for Upward Basketball; yet very few would say their
heart's desire is to serve as a referee. But how many of us when we serve
are really tied into the mission and vision of our church? Better yet,
how many of us as we go around our daily lives are completely in tune with the
mission and vision of Jesus? What was His mission? To seek
and save the lost. If you’re like me, it’s easy to sleep walk through
entire sections of a day or week with no awareness of the mission that Christ
has us on. Unless I put myself on mission first thing in the morning the
tyranny of the urgent quickly presses me.
Last
week I observed something special happen at an Upward Concession stand.
One of our members was selling hot dogs. Normally this would be a simple
transaction to give a hot dog and take a buck. In this instance, I saw
engagement in the mission. “How long have you been involved in Upward?”
“What do you love about it?" “Do you have a church you worship at?” Ah,
the art of asking questions! Getting outside my own bubble and caring
about someone else. Isn’t this what Jesus wants? For us to take more than
a passing interest in others? For some of you this comes naturally.
You are wired for relationships and you gain energy by reaching out,
connecting, and having conversations. Others are more reserved and need
to be prompted by the Holy Spirit. As the hot dog buying couple replied
to my friend, “We live in Keizer, but we’ve been commuting to a church in
Portland for 4 years,” he was able to offer a simple, sincere invite to come
join us at one of our weekend services. Whether they come and become
involved in our local fellowship for our mutual growth and edification isn’t
really the point. My friend looked beyond a hot dog. He peered over
the concession stand counter. He saw a couple that are deeply loved by
Jesus and that perhaps may join a local fellowship in the community in which
they live. The mission of Salem First Baptist Church is to bring people
into a life changing relationship with God and each other. I would say
the Upward concession stand is as good a place as any to live that mission
out.
Kudos
to all of you around the city living the mission each day. May God strengthen
you by His mighty hand. May His Spirit guide you into each interaction
and conversation He wants. May your life continue to be transformed into
His image so that He can use you to transform the culture of our city to more
closely reflect God’s heart.
--Pastor Nate
Several
weeks ago the worship team invested the weekend digging deeply into God’s word.
Seeking the heart of God for our church and driving down into authentic
relationships with one another led us to some great discussions. One of the key
struggles we dealt with had to do with who
the audience of our worship is. I was challenged thinking about the two
contexts of worship and how they practically impact our lives. We found
this simple phrase that Mike Cosper uses in his book, Rhythms of Grace, helpful
as we worked through this: Worship
One, Two, Three.
Worship
has One object and Author: God. The Triune God is at the
center of all Christian worship. God declared His centrality to worship
in the 10 commandments (Ex. 20:1-5). He explicitly states in other places
that He will not share His glory with another (Isaiah 42:8, 48:11). As creation
progressed, the Father lifted up Jesus as the central figure of worship
(Philippians 2:1-11). God is not only the supreme object of our worship; He’s
also the author. He alone gives us life, breath, vision, redemption, eyes
to see, ears to hear and mouths to declare His goodness and glory. Worship is
all about God.
Worship
occurs in two contexts: gathered & scattered. Gathered worship
occurs when the church meets to remember the story of God’s faithfulness,
encouraging one another and blessing one another. The gathering of the
church is one key way to hold fast to God under the pressures of a broken world
and the temptations to sin (Hebrews 10:24-25). Scattered worship is the Spirit
filled life of the Christian in the world. Jesus effectively deconstructed
worship from time and place in John 4:21-24. This means that when we
leave the gathered worship service, our scattered service of worship
begins! The apostle Paul says that our entire lives, even the messy
parts, are transformed in Christ and offered to God the Father as a beautiful
sacrifice of praise (Romans 12:1).
Worship
has three audiences: God, the church, and the world. God is both
the object of and the witness to our worship. The church both
participates in and witnesses the gathering of its people. The world is
watching from the darkness. Having God in our audience means there is One
who accepts us as we are and deems our imperfect worship as made perfect in
Jesus. Worship offered humbly in Jesus’ name is always received with joy
by the Father (Hebrews 10:12-14). When you enter the gathered worship of
the church, don’t fear acceptance or lack thereof. Trust in
Jesus. Your fellow worshipers, the church, also act as an audience to your
worship, “ The
gathering of the church is … an encounter with God intensified among the
people of God, filled with the Spirit of God, spurring one another along
in the mission of God. Gathered worship is a communal experience, not
an individualistic one. Christ in me meets Christ in you.”
(Mike Cosper, Rhythms of Grace)
The
world also watches as we worship. When we gather, it’s the clarity of the
gospel message that allows the Holy Spirit to transform the heart of an unbeliever.
As we testify to the power of God in our lives, God allows the world to hear us
worshiping Him (and in fact commands us to worship in front of the nations).
Who knows but that someone might give glory to God and say, “surely God is in
this place!” (1 Corinthians 14:24-25)
Worship:
One Object and Author. Two Contexts. Three Audiences.
As
you put the gospel on display for the glory of God, the edification of the
church, and as a testimony to the unbeliever this coming week, know that
worship team is cheering for you, praying for you, and worshiping with
you.
-- Pastor Nate (for the
musicians that lead our church in musical worship)
