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From Ryan Flanigan

Advent songs are hard to come by. During the four weeks of Advent, many worship leaders, who try to intentionally observe the Christian Year, end up out of frustration resorting to the premature singing of the blissful songs of Jesus’ birth. Sure, it’s okay to sing and enjoy our favorite Christmas songs before Christmas – Jesus has already been born! – but all I’m saying is that singing them early can hinder our full participation in the spirit of Advent, the season of expectation and preparation for the coming Christ.

The problem is, we have four Sundays of Advent and not enough Advent songs to fill our set lists, that is, without committing the sacrilege of duplicating a song. But don’t worry, if we keep with the Christian Year, we have twelve days (from Dec. 25 to Jan. 5), including two Sundays, to sing our cheery Christmas songs. Then again, most of us are sick of those songs by the time Christmas rolls around. Oh, the cultural predicaments we worship leaders find ourselves in.

Here’s what I suggest (and it’s only the Second Week of Advent, so you have plenty of time to redeem yourself): Much like we avoid singing “Alleluia” through Lent until Easter comes, hold off singing “Happy Birthday to Jesus” through Advent until Christmas arrives. Instead, sing Advent songs now through Christmas Eve.

But don’t just sing Advent songs, tell the people why you’re singing them. Explain to them the setting of the season – the people of God in exile, longing for the coming Messiah. Give them a little history – basically the entire second half of the OT revolves around the story of God’s people in exile, awaiting the coming of a Savior. Help them feel the emotions of the season – suspense, anticipation, a bit of anxiety. Bring out the themes of the season – self-helplessness, hope, coming joy. Lead them into the actions of the season – waiting, repentance, lament.

If you are in a contemporary church, chances are that many of your congregants have little or no idea what Advent is. Teach them. If you don’t, you will make them mad by refusing to sing “Joy to the World” before December 25th.

Here are some Advent songs that I have found to be helpful in leading our church in the proper observance of Advent. As you can see, the list is relatively small. The contemporary songs below were probably not written specifically for the season of Advent, but they certainly fit. Let’s help each other by adding to the list. Think of songs that place us in the setting of exile, in the desperate need of a Savior, songs of repentance and seeking God, of waiting and longing for Jesus to come, including His Second Coming. Special prize for someone who names a good, congregational song about the Second Coming of Jesus (“Days of Elijah” doesn’t count).

Traditional

• “O Come O Come Emmanuel”
• “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus”
• “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”
• “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silent”
• (Cyber Hymnal, click “Advent”. I’ve not heard of most of these, but maybe you have. As you can see, people used to write Advent songs. What happened? I think the Contemporary Church has lost sight of the Christian Year.)

Contemporary

• “All I Have” by Brennan & Dobbleman
• “All Who Are Thirsty” by Brown & Robertson
• “Create in Me a Clean Heart” by Keith Green?
• “Dwell” by Casey Corum
• “Everlasting God” by Brenton Brown
• “Faithful One” by Brian Doerksen
• “Give Us Clean Hands” by Charlie Hall
• “Good to Me” by Craig Musseau
• “Hungry” by Kathryn Scott
• “If You Say Go” by Diane Thiel
• “Mighty to Save” by Fielding & Morgan
• “Prepare the Way” by Charlie Hall
• “Prepare the Way of the Lord” by Jeremy Riddle
• “Refiner’s Fire” by Brian Doerksen
• “Unchanging” by Chris Tomlin
• “You Alone Can Rescue” by Matt Redman

“You Never Let Go” by Matt Redman

A little child hands you a book. Now, this isn’t just any book. Apparently, the child and this book have a special relationship. You have been asked to read this same book at least 10 times in the last week, and in fact, there are times that you have finished the book only to have the child look up at you with those big, round eyes and say “Read it again.”

Is the child suffering from memory loss? Does this little one really forget the plot, the characters, the pictures and the ending that quickly that you must read that book again and again until he or she truly understands it? No.

The child, like God, relishes in the repetition of a great story. Just as God tells the flowers to bloom again every spring, so too the child knows that the most beautiful things in life should be repeated, over and over again across a lifetime.

As G.K. Chesterton said, children are much more like God in this – that while we get bored as adults and ready to move on to the next thing, God and children revel in repetition. God, it seems, is younger than we are.

Advent, and the whole Worship Year, in fact, is the retelling of the greatest story human ears will ever hear. Into the world God speaks, acts, moves, loves and heals. Though we love to talk and think about all the beautiful things in life when we’re together, our relationships, good food, enjoyable entertainment, music we love, the reality is this.

While we sit here, dictators are invading the lives of innocent people and are having families slaughtered. Young girls are being absorbed into the sex trade in California. Fathers are struggling with anger and are placing burdens on their children to perform for their love – just like their father did to them. Consumers are raping the world of its resources, people in your neighborhood are suffering tremendous injustice, and educators with veiled motives are presenting fact as fiction and distortions as truth to college students.

And yet there is beauty, and love, and good leaders, healthy homes, voices against consumerism, justice-doers and good, even great, educators.

Into this world, God speaks. No, everything is not okay. No, everything is not horrible. It is a beautiful but broken world. And though human beings can come up with temporary fixes, even ones that last a generation or two, they can’t fix the human heart over eons.

God knew this, and this is why the incarnation had to occur. God becomes one of us, and fixed, heals, delivers the human heart from itself.

So, we gather around the Story again this year. With big, round eyes, we look at the scriptures, and say “Read it again.” Why? Yes, we do forget it and need to remember. But more importantly, it is your Story and mine, and the Story of every human being who ever lived. It’s time to become younger, and read the Story again, to feel it’s plot, to see it’s pictures, to remember it’s great meaning for our beautiful, yet broken world.

Enter into Advent once again.

Verses (share the readings):

Old Testament: Isaiah 64:1-9a

Epistle: 1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Gospel: Mark 13: 24-32; 33-37

Psalm: Psalm 80:1-7

Song:

O Come O Come Emmanuel (first verse only)

A Family Prayer

Lord, we enter into Advent this year with expectation – the expectation that pieces of this story will come alive for us like never before. Open our eyes, open our ears, open our minds and imaginations and souls, to your Story once again.

We’ve done this in the video here recorded at Simpson University. Included is a tutorial for how to use the song, and even how to write your own if so inclined.

The chord and lyric chart, as well as a Nashville Number System chart, can be downloaded here: Prayers Of The People (Kyrie Eleison) PDF.

Dunn & Wilt are on tour this Fall, and may be in your area.

I have the privilege of recording a fresh set of stories today for radio and web listeners, and my heart is heavy with the call to worship in a perilous and tumultuous world.

Romans 12:9-21 follows the great worship passage of Romans 12:1-2, and opens a tool shed of “how-to’s” for daily responsive living.

After a pointed call to love, serve, and elevate others, it ends with these words:

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:21 NIV)

Go today, and overcome evil – in all it’s dehumanizing and subtle forms – with good. Love and serve your friends; love and serve your enemies. Let God fight your battle, as you attend to mimicking his life.

Rise today to your worship vocation.

He remains a great inspiration to me. Here is the quote that, in part, has guided my work for many years.

“The difficulty will not be so much in the writing of new and great music; the test will be the godliness of those that perform and deliver it. In that sense some of our worship community is not well prepared. Many have been allowed into worship leading because there is a need for their worship and musical skills.

But little has been said to them about the need for godliness, spirituality and depth of maturity in their individual and family lives. Quite frankly, many of our musicians are just not steeped in a daily spirituality.”

John Wimber

I trust it can serve you and your church.

New! Arranging & Rehearsing A Band Course Introducing the Whiteboard Worship Training series with Dan Wilt. Concise video clips on practical topics. Expert advice from worship instructor Dan Wilt. Train yourself and your worship team in less time. Run Rehearsals. Arrange Bands. Create Flow. This Whiteboard Worship Training course with Dan Wilt features videos on how to run effective rehearsals, arrange small and large bands, create flow and transitions and much more. Get better at both working your band, and creating great musical spaces for worship in your church. View The Course . Course Includes The Following Videos How To Lead A Great Worship Band Rehearsal (3:40) – FREE How To Encourage Your Band To Arrive On Time (3:02) How To Arrange A Small Band (5:49) How To Use Loops And Laptops In A Small Church (4:53) How To Arrange A Large Band (12:30) How To Do Arrangements For Small Group Worship (7:54) How To Rehearse Worship Song Intros (5:10) How To Rehearse Worship Song Outros (3:57) How To Establish Flow And Transitions In A Worship Set (3:24) *|FACEBOOK:LIKE|* (c) WorshipTraining.com Suite 123, 505-8840 210th Street, Langley, BC, V1M 2Y2, Canada Phone/Fax (800) 574-3053 Email support@worshiptraining.com Web www.worshiptraining.com Unsubscribe

Worship leaders want practical lessons on how to run a rehearsal, get team members to show up on time or how to maintain a consistent practice time.

We’ll keep doing all we can to resource those needs. One way we do this is through our Webinars. These are live calls, offered a few times per month, where you can just sit at your computer live and listen in while a trainer presents a visual on your screen.

Our next one, coming up, is a high demand training item. We invite you to join us if you – and if not live, just register and you’ll be sent the MP3 later.

HOW TO LEAD A GREAT BAND REHEARSAL
How do you lead an effective worship rehearsal that covers the ground of getting through the music, starts and finishes on time, and energizes the musicians and techs? Join this free webinar for tips on how to pull off that dream rehearsal – on a regular basis. With Guest Dan Wilt.

Register here for live or the MP3

Are You In Your Element?
Dan Wilt, M.Min.

Your life is a gift to the rest of us.

You were designed to live in your element, in that unique way that only you can live in this world.

When you live in your element, the rest of us are impacted – we’re grounded, we’re inspired, we’re empowered, and we’re connected to one another.

The New Testament says this about living in our element in 1 Corinthians 12:4:

“Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits.
All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people!
The variety is wonderful….”

When you live from the center of who you were designed to be, we are all richer and inspired to live in our element.

There are 4 elements in life to which we all must attend if we want to live fully alive before God and people in this precious lifetime we each have been given.

The element of Earth speaks of the grounded life. The element of Wind speaks of the inspired life. The element of Fire speaks of the empowered life. The element of Water speaks of the communal life.

Earth – A Grounded Life
Earth speaks of a grounded life. When I was a young boy growing up in a small town in Pennsylvania, I first learned the lesson of gravity. It wasn’t in a classroom. It was the day I decided I wanted to impress the neighbor girl on the playground near our home. I climbed to the top of the monkey bars while she stood watching, enthralled with my courage and wild daring. Like a superhero at the top of the Empire State building, I thrust my arms into the sky, and I leapt into the air.

My memory of what happened next is quite foggy. I remember my feet hitting the ground first, my knees second, my chest third and my nose and face, last. As I say wheezing on the ground, gasping for air and feeling the warmth of the blood pouring from my nose, I heard a young girl’s voice say matter-of-factly “That was dumb.” I remember thinking a simple thought in that moment: “I thought the ground was softer than this.”

Earth speaks of those things of that don’t move in our lives – those things that don’t break on us – rather we break on them. Earth speaks of life elements like faith and a healthy spirituality. It speaks of character and the quality of your soul: integrity, honesty, perseverance, courage, faithfulness, goodness. Earth speaks of our marital relationships, our relationships with our children, our extended families, our friends. Earth speak of our ability to live generously in a world that tells us to withhold for our own benefit. Earth speaks of a grounded faith.

Are you living in the element of Earth – are you tending to those elements of life that ground you, stabilize you, provide a foundation for living well, finishing well, in your lifetime?

Wind – An Inspired Life
Wind speaks of an inspired life. A number of years ago, I was sailing on a boat with my family and friends on a blustery afternoon on Lake Ontario. We decided to go swimming, and while the rest of my family were hanging onto a rope attached to the boat, my oldest daughter and I were not.

The boat quickly moved away from us, and I don’t swim well. We floated in the turbulent waves as we watched the boat rapidly become a small speck quite distant from us. My friend knew exactly what to do. He was familiar with the arts of handling the wind, no matter which direction it was blowing. He moved quickly, grabbed the rigging, threw his many sails into the sky, and masterfully found his way right back to us.

Wind speaks of those life elements that inspire us, that move us where we want to go, that deliver us from our belief that we can do nothing, to our belief that we can do anything. Wind speaks of life elements like art and beauty, gardening, great concerts, inspiring books, energizing friendships, passionate vocational work and spiritual encouragement. Wind speaks of our need to lift our sails into the wind, to learn the arts of riding the winds that are sent to us, and getting to the places we are  made to go.

Are you living in the element of Wind? Are you tending to those elements in your life that inspire you, renew you, that bring you joy, that provide you with the energy you need to move forward day by day through the responsibilities of life?

Fire – An Empowered Life
Fire speaks of an empowered life. I’ve interacted with many friends around the world who, like me, have endured life-threatening battles with severe depression. In each case, there are many layers, physical, emotional, mental and spiritual that can add up to the sense of powerlessness that many feel holds their life in chains. I have watched those same lives, in a time of prayer, or in a season of ongoing encouragement renewal and counsel, come back from the dead, burst through the chrysalis, to live a colorful, resurrected life.

Fire speaks of those life elements that empower us, that revive us and give us a strong and vivid sense of destiny and purpose in the world. Fire speaks of a spirituality that celebrates God’s greatness and our own. Fire speaks of ongoing personal development in areas of our passion and our skills. It speaks of study, risk, and placing ourselves in situations where wild adventure is the only option. Fire speaks of life elements that remind that we are someone’s hero in this lifetime, and that we have strength beyond ourselves to drawn on to accomplish our unique heroic mission in our lifetime.

Are you living in the element of Fire? Are you tending to those elements in your life that catalyze energy, passion, skill, hope and faith within your soul? Are you living in such a way that you are regularly empowered to do what you are called to do?

Water – A Communal Life
Water speaks of a communal life. I, like hopefully many of you, love flyfishing. One of my favorite summer pastimes to stand in a river with a friend down the way, casting my line into placid, lush pools where the fish are resting. In the river and its pools, one sees the very nature of water. H20 runs to the lowest places. It nurtures the growth in those hidden areas that teem with life and they become alive.

Water speaks of those life elements that connect us with one another in a deep and growing sense of community. Water speaks of friendships maintained over the course of decades, of lifetimes, that are nurtured on a daily or weekly basis. Water speaks of the hope that comes in a moment of tremendous distress, where lives with which we share both joy and pain come around us, run to the lowest places in our hearts and nourish the seeds that are buried in the soil of our suffering. Water speaks of our faith communities, spiritual friendships, our connection with our tribes, and our intentional connection with our communities.

Are you living in the element of Water? Are you tending to those life elements that nurture encouragement, accountability, shared wisdom and mutual inspiration in your life? Are you living in such a way that authentic relationships are running to the lowest places in your life, because you are running to the lowest places in theirs?

A Simple Question
I began with a simple question. Are you in your element? Are you tending to the elements of earth, wind, fire and water in our daily, weekly, monthly and lifetime basis, we will find ourselves at the very center of a destiny that begins and ends in a Story bigger than us all.

You were made for this kind of elemental life, to be who you were designed to be – to live in your element for the sake of us all.

To uoin others on the Elemental Life journey, dive in here.