Tuesday is the day I observe Sabbath rest. I wanted to repost this blog about Sabbath - a conspicuously missing jewel in the rhythms of Christian spiritual formation. Sabbath is a gift from God that allows us to rest, recalibrate and be re-created. Sabbath was instituted by God on the seventh day (Saturday).  So this … Continue reading A Day for Restoration, Recalibration and Re-creation

Tuesday is the day I observe Sabbath rest. I wanted to repost this blog about Sabbath - a conspicuously missing jewel in the rhythms of Christian spiritual formation. Sabbath is a gift from God that allows us to rest, recalibrate and be re-created. Sabbath was instituted by God on the seventh day (Saturday).  So this … Continue reading A Day for Restoration, Recalibration and Re-creation

I know that Whole Life Worship might seem to discount the role of music and song in worship. If you’ve sensed this tendency, it’s only because we have made worship of God all about the music in our current culture. Worship is so much more than music or the song. That being said, music and … Continue reading The Encouraging Song

We’re singing a new song at our church. It’s called “All the People Said ‘Amen’” by Matt Maher. It’s fun, heart-felt, and easy to sing. But more importantly, it underscores an important dynamic in our corporate worship of God. Unity. “Amen” is the Hebrew idiom for agreement. It’s a response to something you believe to … Continue reading And All the People Said Amen

1 Thessalonians 5:18 says to “give thanks always for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” Have you ever wondered what this means? Does this mean that I constantly need to say “thank you” to God?  Is God so insecure that He needs my “thank you” after He does something for me? Granted, … Continue reading Gratitude Changes Our Attitude

Someone once told me that she did not want to go to heaven because “the only thing people do in heaven is worship God.” Whether this is a correct interpretation of statements made of the heavenly vision in the book of Revelation is not for me to decide. However, my reaction to that statement was, … Continue reading Forever Worship Now

Today is my son’s (Jonathan) 22nd birthday. Today is a reminder of God’s special gift to Letty and me. Let me tell you the story behind this: It was about 25 years ago that Letty and I considered having a third child. We had been blessed with two boys, Tim and Daniel. We thought that was … Continue reading Gift From Yahweh

(Here is an excellent blog post on congregational worship written by my good friend and colleague, Scott Higa. Scott is author of thechristiannerd.com and is the youth pastor at our church.) In all of his iterations, people have always gone to the Wizard when they wanted something. In The Wizard of Oz Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin … Continue reading Wizard of Oz Worship

I’m a musician by trade and profession and, even though my blog is called “Whole Life Worship,” I’ve not written much of anything about what most people believe is what worship is about: music. There’s a reason for this. It’s a reaction to how our contemporary Christian culture has made worship all about the music … Continue reading The Power of the Song

The fourth and last movement of a symphony is usually called the Finale. It is usually the most exciting movement because it is the culmination of the opus; a closure of the composer’s singular intention, developed over the first three diverse movements, containing numerous themes and motifs. The Whole Life Worship paradigm operates in the … Continue reading Worship in the Congregation