Reflections On The Wonder of Music

Dearest Father Above,

I thank You for music-for in it I get lost in your peace and your grace.  I thank you also for your creation of ears to hear, hands to play, eyes to see, vocal chords to verbalize and to produce melodic tones and for the creation of sounds that loft from instruments conceived from minds that you filled with brains and nerves and feelings.

Lord, your plans are like an ecosystem.  Each note that is produced in praise to you rises to you and comes back to the giver and to all those around them in a sweet, cohesive and connective way.   Music is a love that all can comprehend on some level of their being and it is interpreted by each in their own unique way.   Within this, you also connect your kingdom; for music is a connection TO you and equally a connection BETWEEN all those who love you.

Songs of praise throughout the ages with each word penned had a meaning to he who penned it, and as those songs are passed from generation to generation there is a connective tissue formed that truly connects us to believers long departed from this earthly home.  We feel in each lifting or falling of the notes a rising of souls to reach toward You in a way that words or lyrics alone cannot express.

If we make a joyful noise toward you, no man alive can judge it; for it is not intended for them.   When we lose ourselves in music, we can see the glory of your kingdom above this earthly realm…as if the Angels are joining us and we can also hear them. Each generation from the days of Genesis has created musical praise to You, and within all of those generations of music there is a theme; not unlike the Bible.   In fact, much of the music written to praise You has a direct inspiration from your ACTUAL words written to guide us.  Music is a mighty force that can be used for good or for evil, but as believers choose to use it for good it becomes a torch that lights hearts on fire for you.

I thank you, Lord for my fellow believers; those with gifts of musical talent which you have provided them and those who dedicate themselves to sharing that gift with others.  Lord, I thank you for each of my fellow believers who choose to make a joyful noise with reckless abandon and for their gifts or lack of gifts in the musical realm.  For when I hear praises in song lifted above I hear a harmony of hearts and minds united for you.  Your plans for music were for our good and we love you for giving us the chance to connect with you and your kingdom on this level.

In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.

~LouAn Williams

The High Value of Wisdom

For wisdom is far more valuable than rubies. Nothing you desire can compare with it. Proverbs 8:11

Think about those words written by Solomon thousands of years ago. Really let yourself sit with this proverb.

“Nothing you desire can compare with it...”

What are some things we desire that some how end up having higher value, than wisdom? Money? Job title? Success of our kids? Educational degrees?

It’s easy to go through our week and not intentionally think about our need for wisdom. Maybe the reasons why is we tend to lean on our experience or smarts. Both play a role yet, neither are enough by themselves. Wisdom is the meshing of our intelligence, experience and connection with God all wrapped in one.

The two most common questions I’ve heard regarding wisdom are:

1. Isn’t wisdom just doing what the Bible says?

2. How does one attain wisdom?

The first answer is no. No, because not all circumstances we face in life are specifically dealt with in the Bible. Wisdom must go beyond knowing and doing the Word of God (although this is always the starting point). God’s wisdom also includes a sensitive and mature judgement where and how a situation needs to be worked out when the Bible isn’t clear on what we are to do.

The second is simple. ASK!  Scripture tells us that if anyone lacks wisdom, they should ask God and he will give it generously (James 1:5). This is a promise, friends!

Placing a high value on wisdom isn’t easy, but how much richer, happier and healthier our lives are when we seek wisdom and apply it. Let’s all give it a try this week. I doubt any of us will regret it!

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Rex

Be Ready

It is our job to make the adjustments necessary in our daily walk so we are prepared for any assignment. We don’t know what will be required in days to come, but the prepping, the studying to be ready for it, starts now. This happens in the quiet, thoughtful places. We won’t have time to pull it all together at the time of crisis. Have the “tanks filled”, all preparations made and the communication lines established, then be readyand on the alert.

This was addressed in a sermon I heard on the disciple, Peter. At the time of his denial in the courtyard, Peter had been given the opportunity to “tank up”. Peter was with Jesus in the garden and three times Jesus came to the disciples and admonished them to pray. Luke 22:46. 

In essence, things were going to get messy, they needed to “stoke the fires and get strength from the Father.” Jesus did. He was human and God but still needed that time of prayer. How much more do we, being fully human, need to pray?

“The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak” Mark 14:38   We will be tested and it’s through difficulty that we know what lies in our hearts and what needs to be sifted out. “The chain of command is clear. Satan can do nothing outside of God’s domain and God uses satan to advance the cause of His kingdom.” Our assignment is to be ready and primed for anything. It is not at the time of battle to get our equipment in working order, but to have it at the ready all the time.

We make it our aim… to be well pleasing to Him. 1 Corinthians 5:9

Surprise Visits

What hinders me from hearing is that I am taking up with other things. It is not that I will not hear God, but I am not devoted in the right place. Oswald Chambers

Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually!  1 Chronicles 16:11

Setting my heart on what He wants, thinking His thoughts… it is at those times that He will appear and make himself known to me.

How does He do this? I would like to think it is at those times when reading something in the Bible that just jumps out at me and an ‘ah ha’ thing happens. Or when a compliment or comment is made regarding something I have been praying about and it is confirmation that I am on the right track. A sermon or lesson that really zeroes in to a specific area of my life. The opportunity presented to step up and help someone without prompting, just knowing it is what He would have me do - just because…Being at a place of peace and contentment no matter what the circumstances and knowing that they are all under God’s control and not mine to manipulate. I am finding that ‘sweet spot’ more and more in my life. That place where things are good, not because of the surrounding circumstances but in the place I am standing, next to Christ and trusting in Him with childlike trust and expectation.

Father, thank you for your promise that, when I seek You, You will draw near to me; for the desire to grow more like your Son in attitude and thinking so that my mind is looking farther ahead than to the immediate. “Trusting that all things will be made right as I surrender to your will”. Trusting you for my family because I have put them into your hands…

Fiona~

The End, Or New Beginning?

To come to the end of oneself and to realize that there is nothing left to hang onto.The ‘willfulness’ that got me this far, has run out. Circumstances have pushed me to a place up against a wall; the very place of miracle and rebirth. To know that all my running and planning is at an end. To turn my heart, mind and will over to the care of my Father who has been waiting patiently for me to reach the end of myself.

We saw it in the lives of Peter and Paul and others who finally ‘got it’ no more running or working off one’s own agenda. To be truly God’s person you have to come to the end of yourself.

Oswald Chambers addressed it so well…

“All our promises and resolutions end in denial because we have no power to accomplish them. When we come to the end of ourselves, not just mentally but completely, we are able to receive the Holy Spirit. The idea is that of invasion…”

There is now only one who directs the course of my life. Now that I am finally in that place I never want to leave it. My direction, purpose and will are centered outside of myself and upon Jesus and what He would have me do.

When I look back to the places of worry, fear, angst, planning and coercion that I lived in, I marvel at how He has brought me out of it and to this place of acceptance. Not an easy road to be sure, but one that step by step and doing the next right thing brought me to this place.

I thank You my Father for the miracle of coming to the end of myself and finding You there waiting to hear those words that only I can say “whatever it takes.” You put me on a better path from that moment on. You are dependable, trustworthy and true to all that You have promised. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Be with all those I love and use their circumstances to bring them to the end of themselves and to the place where they will find You there waiting. That is the greatest miracle in anyone’s life that we could ask for. Be with us all in this year with its changes, pain, problems, angst and also joy. Help us to share with each other Your faithfulness in all our circumstances so that others come to the place of relinquishment and total trust in You.  Amen.

Fiona-

How To Pray In Times Of Stress

This is me with a few of the kids from our church’s Cathedral Kid ministry getting ready to worship and pray at camp.

This Prayer technique developed for me during the season of pregnancy, labor, and lack-of-home-ness. In the past 3 years we’ve had 2 kids. We’ve had roofs over our heads, but not a home of our own for the last year. In other words, this has been a season where prayer has been essential. I thought I’d share how I like to pray and how I teach the kids in my ministry to pray too.

Think of this practice as a chiastic structure, where each step is essential.

Part 1: “The second commandment is equally important, love your neighbor as your love yourself”

1. Listen to yourself

a. Set a timer for 60 seconds. Take one full minute to sit still in silence. Try to breathe.

2. Understand yourself

a. Write down on a piece of paper the main thoughts that occupied your mind during that time of silence. What worried you? What felt out of your control? What feelings were alive in you?

3. Respond to yourself

a. Take a moment to care for your body. Stretch, breathe deeply, reflect on what you’ve eaten, how you’ve slept, and if you can, take a short walk outside.

Don’t stop here. Step one only prepares yourself to listen.

Part 2: “Love the lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength…”

1. Say thank you.

a. Write down as long a list as you can of what you are thankful for.

b. Now go deeper, write a paragraph on why you are so grateful for one of the things from your list.

2. Remember who you are talking to.

a. Listen to the noises in the room, how it smells, how your seat feels under you. Think of where you are located in your building, then your street, then your city, then your state, then the country, then the continent, then the world then the universe. You are in the presence of the creator of the universe.

b. Picture Jesus with you. How is he sitting or standing? What expression is on his face?

3. Turn from Sin. Turn to God.

a. In light of the greatness of God and His intentions for humanity, is there anything in your life, in your heart, in your relationships, in your workplace, the way you vote, the wat you’re spending your money, where your thoughts have been that are out of line with God’s best intended life for you?

b. Ask God’s forgiveness. Trust that God is powerful enough to forgive you. Set your heart back on Jesus.

4. Trust God; Ask for help.

a. Based on the worries that most occupied you in part 1, ask God for help, knowing that he loves you, he wants to help you, and he is capable of helping you.

5. Listen.

a. Set aside time just to listen to God. Listen in the way that is most helpful for you. Listen while walking, listen while playing a worship song, listen with a pen in hand and blank sheet of paper in front of you.

Don’t stop here. Step two only prepares yourself to obey, change, and grow.

Part 3: “Love your neighbor as you love yourself”

1. Act on what God has told you to do

2. Keep Listening and involve your community- you are not alone!

a. The 10 commandments are not a suggestion, be involved in your church community, honoring the Sabbath day so you have the support you need to follow God.

-Pastor Becca

When The Illusion Is Gone

Disillusionment, it happens to us all. It is that place from which one could build a stronger belief system by examining what it is we truly want to depend upon when things get tough.

This could be viewed as a ‘crisis of faith’ and could have been a slippery slope heading to disbelief.  I chose to see it as a place to re evaluate, dig in, hold on, and do some checking into what I believed truly. Or find out if it was a belief system belonging to someone else that I had acquired.

It was there that I truly found out who God was, who Jesus was and what job the Holy Spirit had to do in my life.

I read books from authors who had dealt with similar situations. People who had questioned what they were being told when it didn’t conform to their expectations, and who had also gone on a faith search.

Philip Yancey was a man raised in the 70’s in southern Baptist churches who had a head on collision with the thinking of the black and white issue. C.S. Lewis came from an atheist background and found his way to faith. I was in good company. 

My dilemma had to do with what the ‘church’s view was toward people in crisis: People in addiction - people of divorce. I had been raised in a church and a way of thinking that if you prayed hard enough, hung in there long enough, you could overcome all manner of things. But what if the person in the marriage kept up the abuse knowing the partner wouldn’t leave?  What I saw instead were families torn by abuse, pain, and violence that was being tolerated because to divorce was ‘unchristian’. It put me at odds with my church family because that was me. I knew in my heart that God was more forgiving and tolerant than the ideas I was hearing. I pulled away from church, but kept my faith in God. For 10 years I lived alienated from a body of believers, until the day when I found out about Washington Cathedral.

Many changes had occurred in my life in those 10 years. I now had a grand-daughter from a teenage daughter which has been one of the best things that could have happened to our family. Through that, my daughter found her path, embraced motherhood and raised a fantastic daughter. I had remarried and found a loving man but one who came with some brokenness of his own. Washington Cathedral was a body of believers who had a big, collective heart. They accepted people who came broken, hurting, questioning and loved us. I have never regretted the day we walked into the sanctuary, looked at the waterfall and felt “at home” and in the resulting 12 years it continues.

This series we just finished on ‘Disillusionment’ has caused me to look back over my journey and see just how healthy it is to ask these questions and have the discussion. We each have a journey to take, it is so much easier to know we are on it with fellow travelers who can appreciate what we are going through without criticism, but with the understanding that life gets messy and that when it gets really tough, God is there loving us and waiting for us to ask for help. It also helps to have people to talk to who give good counsel from personal experience. I believe that makes for a healthy church. One that recognizes our human frailties offers the solutions and supports that one while time is taken to get to that place of acceptance. 

-Fiona

The Open and Closed Door Myth

“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.  For I know that when our faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.  So let it grow….”  James 1:2-4 NLT

For many years I operated under that assumption that when I was “walking in God’s will,” and things would go smoothly that “doors would open”.  I discovered that God can use “closed doors” to also get me to the right place.  As a matter of fact, those “closed doors” shouted much louder to me than “open doors.”

As I shared this past weekend, I felt my business career seemed to be a big open door. I was proceeding under the assumption that God was going to use me in the business world to honor Him.  I had great success in that area.  I was advancing and, at a time, when very few women achieved the level of Vice President, I was being groomed for that position.  We had moved to Seattle for a job opportunity for my husband, Rich and I was able to transfer to the Bellevue Office. 

About 2 years after working in the Seattle office and getting rave reviews, my boss, the Vice President of the NW Region, decided to move back to his home state of Alabama.  I felt I was ready and he felt the same.  As a matter of fact, he recommended me for the position.  In my mind, it was a “done deal” and I was preparing myself for the new task at hand.

Shortly, I received a call from the Western Regional VP informing me that the decision had been made and they decided to hire a new young guy who lived in Texas.  He had no experience with our products and services (or with marketing for that matter) and he hoped I would be available to help train the guy.  As a mature business woman, I thanked him for the call, told him I was disappointed and would have to think about the training thing.  I hung up the phone; went into the bathroom and bawled my eyes out--and then I called my “mommy.”

After much prayer and talking to people of wisdom in my life (Pastor Tim for one), I decided not to stick around to train the new guy.  I gave up my career with that company and quit my job (Something I most often advise people not to do, by the way).  That was an event that was a changing point in my life, and through a series of events it brought me to my new career as God’s sales and marketing person at Washington Cathedral.  Which is where, I know now, God was getting me ready for and pointing me to become.

I only know this as I look back at the series of events in my life.  I had no idea at the time, instead I had to claim in faith the words God gives us in James “when trouble comes your way, consider an opportunity for great joy.”  I have come to believe with all my heart in soul the words of Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all you heart and lean not on your own understand, acknowledge Him in all you do, and he will guide your path.”  It doesn’t really matter whether the door is open or closed, when you are walking with your Lord he will guide you through, around or turn you the other way.

May you find His joy even in the face of troubles.

Pastor Linda Skinner

Can God Be Depended On?

When one has been seeking God’s will and direction in their life and over time He has shown Himself to be lovingly gentle and compassionate, then one finds that all plans and decisions involve Him on the basic levels. We are in His will and we can trust that if an adjustment to a plan needs to be made, He will show us how and where.

It is the same as in our human relationships, when communication and trust is built up over time. We know without checking with a friend or spouse, what their thoughts on a particular subject would be, because we are thinking like them more and more and we “know where they are coming from”.

God reveals Himself in much the same way when we seek Him daily.

By spending time in quietness, following a devotional that challenges one to ‘get real’ and think deeper, it is amazing to find that the God of the Universe would meet with us to teach, guide and encourage. It is His desire!  When our desire is to primarily get to know God better, He reveals Himself to us by providing what we desire, and we get to know Him better. He then provides what we desire and we get to know Him better, and on it goes…

Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the Lord and He shall give you the desire of your heart

Somewhere in my growing up I had retained the image of God as one who would take something from me if, I wanted it badly. It had crept into my spiritual life also. Over the years I’ve re-evaluated and learned through difficulty, that true trust would have allowed me to see God as one who might benevolently withhold or take something out of my life for my own good. Looking back, I see how many detours might have been avoided. Today, I know beyond shadow of doubt that He cares about every detail of my life, my plans, my health and especially my family.  He can be trusted with it all. He loves them more than I do and will move heaven and earth to give them the opportunity to trust Him too.

Thank you Father for all this peace and calm you bring to me, in knowing you have all my cares and concerns under control.

Fiona Monaghan

Family On Wire

The 2008 award winning documentary, Man On Wire tells the true story of Philippe Petit and his seemingly impossible (and very illegal) attempt in 1974 to walk a high-wire between the tops of the World Trade Center. It’s a fascinating look at a man’s courageous attempt to try the impossible!

I remember the feelings I experienced when first watching the film. Tense...anxious...and by the time the movie ended...exhausted! I do a good job of making you want to run out and watch the movie, don’t I?  You’re welcome. 

I thought about Petit’s story while reflecting on my weekend sermon [You can watch it HERE] where I talked about finding balance in our ever busy lives. In my message, I briefly told the story of how I had recently found myself screaming in my car because the busyness of life had just felt like it was becoming too much. In case you’re wondering...yes, the temporary onset of rage helped, but not recommended to try at home, or at your workplace.

Tenseness, anxiety, burdened and exhausted was how I was feeling that morning in my car after several weeks of work, coaching baseball, homework and every other calendar demand that seemed to be pulling at me. That’s what happens to us when life begins to feel like a balancing act on a high-wire. Where you have so much going on in your day that one mis-step makes you feel like your day will crumble, or worse, you feel like you’ll let your family down.

Jesus knew something about being busy, meeting the needs of others and trying to find some time for himself. In all the madness of his busyness, Jesus always managed to stay on course and honor the Father with his life’s mission. And that should be our goal, too. To honor God with our daily living while not getting lost in the chaos of our calendars!

Of course, we’re never going to be perfect at this. We’ll have our moments of insanity where we find ourselves screaming in cars. (Or maybe that’s just me...)

Grace. Lots of grace, friends. And patience. Be patient with yourselves and your family. Life does feel like a high-wire act at times, but be patient as a family and remember that no one can ever be "all things to all people".

Are you currently feeling overwhelmed by busyness? Like your calendar has become your master? Like everyday is a balancing act on a tightrope? Remember this promise from Jesus today.

“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”

Grace and Peace.

Pastor Rex