If it was the last time...
Posted by
Max02
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Posted On Friday, November 21, 2008 at 9:39 AM
I was reading Worship Leader Magazine yesterday and came across an article by Gordon MacDonald. It was really good.
In the article he talked about how one conversation transformed how he viewed the Church, what people from their 20's, 30's, to over 70's feel, think, fear, and hope and how, as worship leaders/pastors we have the opportunity to lead them and speak into their hearts. It was all very insightful and eye opening.
But the last thing he spoke of impacted me the most. He told the story of the German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
"Bonhoeffer taught at Union Seminary in New York in the mid-1930s when Hitler came to power, and when things began to boil in Europe, Bonhoeffer made a very deliberate, strategic decision to return to Germany and resume his pastoral responsibilities in the German church."
This man returned home to a war zone. Although he was German and had no fear of imprisonment due to his race, his life was still in danger. He knew and understood God's view about the war. His American friends begged him not to return. They knew the message he was going to take to his people. Three years later the SS arrested him under the accusation that he was involved in the plot to assassinate Hitler. A few days before he died, his fellow prisoners asked him to lead them in worship. After some reluctance, he agreed to. He led some hymns, read from the Bible, and gave a message of hope from Isaiah.
Wow.
That's beyond me. I can't even come up with the right words to describe the kind of impact that makes in my heart.
MacDonald left the readers with these questions:
"...if you knew you and the people you were going to lead in worship were going to die within days, what songs would you sing? What presentation would you make? What tone of voice would you use to speak into their hearts and minds? What would be the content of your prayers? And if you were invited to preach from the Bible, what text would you select? How would you nail it home into their souls? And what kind of benediction would you offer to people that on this side of time and space you would never see again?"
Wow, again.
Seriously, tears came to my eyes when I thought about this man leading worship for a group of people who were all facing imminent death. And then to think about what I would do if I was in the same situation. Crazy.
Honestly, I don't know if I could hack it. I've led some pretty intense worship times. Intense in the fact that I could feel the presence of God in the room so close I could reach out and touch Him. In those times I've had to stop singing because the tears and emotions just wouldn't let me continue. I imagine that, if I were to lead worship for a group of people days away from their deaths, that it would be like one of those times. The fact that we're all days, hours and minutes away from meeting our Maker face to face would be so profound, how could we help but to be completely abandoned in worship?
It's hard to think of the songs I'd sing, of the words I'd say, of the scripture I'd read.
I'd sing Home, by Hillsong United. "Into Your courts I run with praises flowing from my heart...Home is Heaven, one day, Lord I will live in Your courts, You'll find me in worship at feet. Hide me now, in the shadow of Your wings, where I will be home." My church first did that song after one of my students from the High School ministry died in a car wreck.
No Sweeter Name, by Gateway Worship. "You are the life to my heart and my soul. You are the light to the darkness around me. You are the hope to the hopeless and broken. You are the only truth and the way."
You Never Let Go, by Matt and Beth Redman. "Even when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, Your perfect love is casting out fear. Even when I'm caught in the middle of the storms of this life. I won't turn back I know You are near."
I don't know if I'd make it through the songs instrumentally, much less vocally. I don't know. But I would definitely thank God for the life He entrusted me with, hoping that I made an impact on someone, somewhere. That my life would leave a legacy of love and kindness. That the wrongs I made were made right and perfected by God. That I didn't waste the time He'd given me. I imagine I'd be a little excited also. Nothing morbid. I just think I'd know that, when I closed my eyes for the last time, the next thing I'd be seeing is Jesus' face. I'd finally meet my Savior and God face to face. That's exciting no matter what way you go.
My message wouldn't be one of fear, despairation and hopelesness. I'd want it to be filled with love, strength, and hope. Filled with the knowledge that God loves us and is calling us home.
How would you answer those questions?
In the article he talked about how one conversation transformed how he viewed the Church, what people from their 20's, 30's, to over 70's feel, think, fear, and hope and how, as worship leaders/pastors we have the opportunity to lead them and speak into their hearts. It was all very insightful and eye opening.
But the last thing he spoke of impacted me the most. He told the story of the German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
"Bonhoeffer taught at Union Seminary in New York in the mid-1930s when Hitler came to power, and when things began to boil in Europe, Bonhoeffer made a very deliberate, strategic decision to return to Germany and resume his pastoral responsibilities in the German church."
This man returned home to a war zone. Although he was German and had no fear of imprisonment due to his race, his life was still in danger. He knew and understood God's view about the war. His American friends begged him not to return. They knew the message he was going to take to his people. Three years later the SS arrested him under the accusation that he was involved in the plot to assassinate Hitler. A few days before he died, his fellow prisoners asked him to lead them in worship. After some reluctance, he agreed to. He led some hymns, read from the Bible, and gave a message of hope from Isaiah.
Wow.
That's beyond me. I can't even come up with the right words to describe the kind of impact that makes in my heart.
MacDonald left the readers with these questions:
"...if you knew you and the people you were going to lead in worship were going to die within days, what songs would you sing? What presentation would you make? What tone of voice would you use to speak into their hearts and minds? What would be the content of your prayers? And if you were invited to preach from the Bible, what text would you select? How would you nail it home into their souls? And what kind of benediction would you offer to people that on this side of time and space you would never see again?"
Wow, again.
Seriously, tears came to my eyes when I thought about this man leading worship for a group of people who were all facing imminent death. And then to think about what I would do if I was in the same situation. Crazy.
Honestly, I don't know if I could hack it. I've led some pretty intense worship times. Intense in the fact that I could feel the presence of God in the room so close I could reach out and touch Him. In those times I've had to stop singing because the tears and emotions just wouldn't let me continue. I imagine that, if I were to lead worship for a group of people days away from their deaths, that it would be like one of those times. The fact that we're all days, hours and minutes away from meeting our Maker face to face would be so profound, how could we help but to be completely abandoned in worship?
It's hard to think of the songs I'd sing, of the words I'd say, of the scripture I'd read.
I'd sing Home, by Hillsong United. "Into Your courts I run with praises flowing from my heart...Home is Heaven, one day, Lord I will live in Your courts, You'll find me in worship at feet. Hide me now, in the shadow of Your wings, where I will be home." My church first did that song after one of my students from the High School ministry died in a car wreck.
No Sweeter Name, by Gateway Worship. "You are the life to my heart and my soul. You are the light to the darkness around me. You are the hope to the hopeless and broken. You are the only truth and the way."
You Never Let Go, by Matt and Beth Redman. "Even when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, Your perfect love is casting out fear. Even when I'm caught in the middle of the storms of this life. I won't turn back I know You are near."
I don't know if I'd make it through the songs instrumentally, much less vocally. I don't know. But I would definitely thank God for the life He entrusted me with, hoping that I made an impact on someone, somewhere. That my life would leave a legacy of love and kindness. That the wrongs I made were made right and perfected by God. That I didn't waste the time He'd given me. I imagine I'd be a little excited also. Nothing morbid. I just think I'd know that, when I closed my eyes for the last time, the next thing I'd be seeing is Jesus' face. I'd finally meet my Savior and God face to face. That's exciting no matter what way you go.
My message wouldn't be one of fear, despairation and hopelesness. I'd want it to be filled with love, strength, and hope. Filled with the knowledge that God loves us and is calling us home.
How would you answer those questions?
Wow! Those are some great questions. Thanks for sharing this! As a fellow worship leader, it's all too easy to let little stuff get in the way of true worship, but these questions snap things right into perspective. We are way spoiled in the US....
I didn't know the first two songs you listed, but I really like You Never Let Go. I'll have to look them up.
I think I'd sing:
I Have Decided to Follow Jesus
In Your Presence- Jason Upton
I Want to Be Ready- Shawn McDonald
Rescue-I think Newsong did it, but I'm not sure who did it first
As to what I'd say?? I'm a lot better at singing and playing than preaching or teaching....I'll have to think more on that one.
Beth,
I'd never really heard the last three songs you listed. I have heard "Rescue," but I think someone else sang it.
I'm in the same boat as you with the preaching and teaching. I don't like to speak a whole lot from the stage either.