I'm always amazed at the power of music. Our family sat around the Christmas tree and open our presents, as we relaxed afterwards, laughing and enjoying each other's company I watched as my dad motion towards my mom.  We were all laughing and enjoying the latest joke or story.  When my mom leaned down and listen to my dad whisper in her ear.  They both nodded and then my mom said, "we should sing."

Just about every Christmas we've taken some time to sing some Christmas carols together.  So my son got out his guitarand we enjoyed a time of singing.

It wasn't so much the quality of the music or the place in which we sang, but it was.  The songs that we chose and the meaning that they have a was so wonderful.  It brought back a lot of memories from Christmas is gone by, family gatherings, parts of my journey of faith and of our family.  Music has a way of doing that.

This Sunday in going to be preaching on Isaiah 9:2-7 in these words are captured by Handel in his great masterful piece of music called the "Messiah."  Every time I read those words I hear Handel's Messiah.

A friend of the great composer, put the words of the Bible into a story dialogue using parts from the Old and New Testament to describe the work of God and the reason why Jesus came.  They say that when Handel first read those Scriptures as they were put together by his friend he started to hear the music dancing in his head.  He went immediately into his workshop and 24 days later came out with the first draft of this three hour long Symphony. Beethoven said of Handel, "Here is a different fellow" and proceeded to play the most interesting looking passages. On another occasion he is said to have remarked, "Handel is the greatest composer that ever lived."   Beethoven was so moved by the words of Handel's Messiah that when he was on his deathbed, and there was no hope for recovery he is quoted as saying, that if there were a physician that could help him "His name shall be called Wonderful".

Music as a way of getting deep inside you.  It's that way with me!

I watched a movie recently called, "The Lilies of the Field" with Sidney Poitier.  I've been singing this song that I saw in the movie around the house for years but i forgot where it came from.  It always came to my mind after we finished are prayer time at dinner.  Myself for one of the kids would say amen, and then the song would start playing in my mind.

The movie is about a man who is the answer to prayer of the group and nuns who want to build a chapel.  This group of nuns has escaped from the growing influence of Hitler prior to world war two.  They don't know much English and so this man, Homer Smith, teaches them English and helps them to build a chapel.

This is such a touching reminder to me that church is not about bricks and mortar, steeples, pew's or buildings.  It's about the relationship between God and his people.  Here the nuns pray for someone to help them build the chapel and in answer to that prayer God sends a Baptist, Homer Smith, who helps them to build a chapel but more than this he builds a relationship with these Catholic women and does church with them every day.

Amen, Hallelujah.

At a recent planning meeting we decided to start an eight week series called the Emotionally Healthy Spirituality in January. The Christian faith is supposed to produce deep, positive change. So why doesn't it seem to work in "real life"? What we hope to do in this series called Emotionally Healthy Spirituality we will unveil what's wrong with our conventional means of "spiritual growth" and offer steps that will help you live out your faith with authenticity, awareness, and a hunger for God.

AJ (my wife) and I were privileged to be a part of a three-day retreat hosted by the author of this book called Emotionally Healthy Spirituality.  We were so impressed by the content of this material that I wanted to integrate it not only as a sermon series but also as a small group series as well.  Starting in January we will offer several small groups on this subject as well as an eight week Sunday sermon series.The following is a book review from a fellow preacher blogger.

"The book is written by Peter Scazzero pastor of New Life Fellowship in New York City, who has developed The Center for Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. At the heart of this book is the story of his own struggle as a Christ follower to grow up emotionally. He noticed he was regularly angry, had a poor marriage, and managed his emotions poorly inspite of years of following Jesus, regular quiet times, and intentional discipleship. Pastor Scazzero was discovering that he couldn't possibly consider himself spiritually mature if at the same time he was emotionally immature.

He started to see this pattern in other Christians around him. Folks who were very "spiritual" but who handled anger, stress, anxiety, etc. poorly. This started Pastor Scazzero on a journey to emotionally healthy spirituality.

Throughout the book Scazzero argues that emotional maturity and spiritual maturity cannot be separated. You cannot achieve one without the other. So how do we mature emotionally and spiritually? Scazzero believes it is through two ancient practices that most modern Christ followers do not practice: the Daily Office and Sabbath." (http://preacherkoops.blogspot.com/2007/08/emotionally-healthy-spirituality.html)

I guess I should be writing here today that my last entry really went well... I guess I could say it was a mediocre success.  Starting every morning with reflection and asking the Lord to be with me during the day, and then going through the whole day thinking that Jesus is with me is actually a lot harder than it sounds.

Although, I do notice a difference over the last couple of days.  There has been more communication and time spent with the Lord.  I think that I have been more aware of his presence in the last couple of days.

and I craving more presence?  Yeah!  But it's a journey.  How is your journey going?

Our December sermon series is called, "Crave More Presence".  Yeah, I know... it's a play on words.The idea with this sermon series is to get people to think about the presence of God rather than the present under the tree.

It's a nice nice thought... to crave more of the presence of God in your life, but how do you do that?  I found this quote from Brother Lawrence I think it gets close to the idea of what it means to crave more presence.

In continuing the practice of conversing with God throughout each day, and quickly seeking His forgiveness when I fell or strayed, His presence has become as easy and natural to me now as it once was difficult to attain. (Brother Lawrence)

The Bible talks about Jesus being Immanuel, God with us... (Isaiah 7:14) it's part of the idea that Jesus is still present with us... I guess I'm looking for a feeling of the closeness of Jesus in my life too.

I think I'm going to take the advice of brother Lawrence.  I'm going to try and start each day this week with a prayer for God to be with me throughout every aspect of the day.  To go throughout my work believing that Jesus is right beside me and having a conversation about everyday things like coffee, parking spaces, temptations, conversations and other stuff...

At the end of the day I'm going to ask Jesus to reflect with me on how things went and asked for forgiveness when it didn't go so well and give thanks when it does. 

It almost sounds too simple.