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November 29, 2007
Gary Smith's Funeral
There are certain aspects of ministry that are never fun. Today, I had to lead a group of musicians at the funeral of Gary Smith. Gary was the 21 year old son of a woman who sings with our team at church. He was shot on Thanksgiving night by someone who thought he was someone else.
There are few times when a musician has the undivided attention of an audience. One of those times is a funeral. It makes me feel like David when he played the harp for Saul. It's an incredibly intimate experience between a musician and the audience. Especially when I know that every note I play has significance in that moment to the people who were the most affected by the loss.
Don't mistake my language; there is nothing that I like about playing at a funeral. There is nothing good about a young man being murdered.
O come O come Emanuel.
Posted by Kirk Ward at 2:37 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
November 19, 2007
Pregnancy Brain
Here's some fuel for the "pregnancy brain" myth.
My wife who is 22 weeks pregnant came home from the grocery store with a large bottle of rum. The rum is for the egg nog (yes, we are giving in to the incontrollable urge to act like it's Christmastime even though there's still two more weeks of November left.) Egg nog is really best with a little splash of rum; otherwise it's kind of like drinking melted ice cream. Anyway, I was making lunch for the fam (boxed Kraft 3 Cheese Macaroni, hot dog, with celery and peanut butter on the side.) Sarah was putting away the groceries and one of the bags was only placed about half-way on the table. We watched in horror as the large bottle of rum slipped out of the bag and smashed onto the kitchen floor. I was reminded of the scene from "A Tale of Two Cities" where a cask of wine is accidentally dropped in front of the DeFarge's wine shop and all the peasants are lapping up the wine off the road. I fought the urge to lap up any rum due to the tiny shards of glass.
That's not all.
With the rum mopped up and the kitchen smelling a bit like a frat house. We were getting all set for a typical Monday lunch watching the Simpsons. Standing over the coffee table where our 3 bowls of mac and cheese were waiting to be eaten, my wife was attempting to open the large jar of peanut butter. Suddenly, the jar of peanut butter allegedly bit my wife on the pinky finger. I watched as in slow motion my delicious bowl of 3 cheese macaroni with sliced hot dog was launched into the air by the naughty peanut butter jar.
"What happ'n, Mommy" said Joanna.
I picked it up off the ground and ate as fast as I could in order to preserve the 30 second rule. Most of my meal was salvaged (though I had to pick out a few hairs) and my wife who felt rather guilty offered some of Joanna's 3 cheese macaroni to make up for my loss.
Posted by Kirk Ward at 2:41 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
November 15, 2007
Holiday Season Prayer Requests
Music Team Prayer Requests
-pray for the inclusion of Liberians, Congolese, and Burmese musicians in South City
-pray for the inclusion of Congolese musicians in U City
-pray for the Youth and Mass choirs at U city to be filled with people who have a desire to lead worship in spirit and in truth for God's glory
-pray for technically gifted people to help with sound and text at both sites
-pray for a piano accompanist to has the time and the sense of calling to serve the Youth Choir
-pray me to learn to delegate, to empower and to equip the musicians in our church to offer their gifts to the Lord in service
-pray for the musicians in our church to feel refreshed with enriching and inspiring aesthetic experiences, instead of feeling burnt out by being over-scheduled, over-extended and frustrated
-pray for the freedom of the unleashed gospel to be poured out on our congregation every week in our music
These things have been making me anxious over the past few weeks and I am tired of carrying their weight on my heart! The bible encourages me to "not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present [my] requests to God." Phil 4:6.
Please pray with me for these things.
Posted by Kirk Ward at 12:38 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
November 7, 2007
Mega Church Worship
Here's a video from NY Times website about a church that's practicing a classic mega-church worship format. They have three different services that are distinguished by the generational demographic that they are targeted to: Boomers+, Gen x, and Millennials.
There are advantages to this style of worship. It is very "seeker-sensitive" which means it is easy for someone to attend one service and immediately understand the worship and be able to feel like they fit in. It is also easy for the regulars to be able to worship in which ever style they prefer.
However, these advantages are the exact things that I believe make it so unlike what the bible describes the church to be like. In Acts, you get a picture of young and old, Jew and Gentile, rich and poor, all worshiping and living in community. This is the worst kind of pragmatism that can fracture a church and really deprive each demographic from the strengths of the others. Boomers, Gen X, and Millennials all need each other.
At NCF, we've extended that concept beyond generation into ethnicity and class. We want people to rub up against other disciples of Jesus who are radically different from each other. We need each other!
Let me know what you think...
Posted by Kirk Ward at 9:34 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack