Jon Buller

THE CONDITION OF PRAYER

2011-04-15T10:51:00.000-07:00

I’m a father of 2. Cassidy is 2, Jackson is 8. I remember when I was around 8 and throughout my childhood and teen years, I would ask for certain things from my parents. My mom would say ‘yes, on one condition’. A condition in this sense was something that I would have to fulfill in order to receive the privilege I was asking for. But the word condition is also used to indicate some health problem, for example, my wife has the condition of migraine headaches. Not a fun thing…

But today I was thinking that sin is like a human condition in the health problem sense. One of the conditions that we all have as part of our humanity is sin. We all do it, and that’s just part of being human. It is a human condition.

PRAYER is also a condition. It is a condition of being a Christian. But this time I mean it in the parenting sense. In order to deal with the human condition of broken-ness and sin, we must fulfill the condition of prayer in our Christian journey. We MUST pray. To pray is to experience God. To pray is to listen somehow to God. To pray is to commune with Him, to present our cares to Him. To pray is to confess. And by doing so we confront head-on the human condition we have of sin. It is through prayer that we conduct a transaction between the living God and ourselves. 1 John 9 says ‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.’

And every prayer matters. Some prayers are spontaneous. Some are anguished or tearful. Some are angry. Some are carefully thought out and written down, like songs that we can say or sing over and over again. But all of them are good, and right if they are directed towards God. Even the angry ones. The book of Psalms has some really good examples of pretty much all of those… here’s a great prayer I just read from my devotional.

O God my father, renew my spirit and draw my heart to Yourself, that my work may not be to me a burden, but a delight. And give me such love for You as would sweeten all my obedience. Help me, that I may serve You with the cheerfulness and gladness of a child, delighting myself in You and rejoicing in all that is to the honor of Your name. Through Jesus Christ my Lord, Amen.

THE BOOK OF PRAYER

I sometimes want to pray, but struggle with it because I don’t know where to start, or where I do start seems to not be ‘working’. It’s in those times I often turn to my bible or a fantastic devotional my mother gave me that is full of prayers written by modern thinkers and saints of history. Prayers and scriptures written by others are often the key that I need to help ‘prime the pump’ in my prayer life – to get me started or to keep me going.

Here’s another great prayer that can perhaps start you off on the right foot:

Lord, You have promised to meet those who seek You. Come now and reveal Your presence to me as I make myself present to You. In the name of Jesus Christ my Lord, Amen.

Jon Buller

PRAYERS AND THOUGHTS

2011-03-24T19:46:00.000-07:00

I often read from A GUIDE TO PRAYER published by the Upper Room. It's filled with prayers, directed scripture readings and writings from profound authors over the centuries. My mom gave it to me on my birthday in 2001 and I am still using it 10 years later. Today's prayer was brilliant. If you are spiritual person, you may want to join me in praying it.

'Almighty God, by the power of your Holy Spirit, open my eyes, ears, heart and very life to Your presence so that today I may worship and serve You in faithfulness, and be a blessing and healing reminder of Your love to all whose lives I might touch. I offer my prayer in the name of Christ. Amen.'

Right now I'm working hard in preparation for some gigs coming up - next week in Vernon, a support concert for our churches compassion ministry. Two weekends following I get to go home to Winnipeg to lead worship there. And after that... knee surgery. I was just reminded today by this prayer, that every day presents an opportunity for me to be 'a blessing and healing reminder of God's love' to someone. Whether it's through the music ministry I do, or whether it's at the hospital with the doctors and nurses... or at the coffee shop or anywhere else I go.

Whether we are spiritual people or not, we have the opportunity to bring a little bit of light to an often dark world. May we have open eyes, ears and hearts to not miss those moments.

Jon Buller

GOD CAME NEAR

2011-02-23T17:15:00.000-08:00

I’ve recently been in a season of feeling somewhat distant from God. That’s not to say that God actually has been distant from me though, which is an entirely different thing.

Then The Meeting Place 20^th anniversary happened. The Meeting Place (TMP) was the church where I was mentored as a worship leader through my 20s and into my 30s. I spent 10+ years attending TMP and serving there as a musician and worship leader. So much of my spiritual journey happened in that place. I met my wife there, I was married there, I worked there, I served God there, I made mistakes there, I built life-long friendships there, I learned to love Jesus there…

I moved to Vernon about 6 years ago, and have been back to TMP to lead worship a handful of times, and it has been wonderful. But things change and you can’t relive the past – I’ve learned that, and I’m ok with that.

Something happened on Jan 30, 2011 at the 20^th anniversary of TMP. In the life of Jon Buller, God came near. But maybe what I really mean is Jon Buller came near to God. No, we weren’t re-living the past. But we did have the amazing opportunity to welcome back 2 of our teaching pastors, and the first lead pastor as well as past and present worship leaders. And I am sure that I was not the only one that experienced God’s nearness.

To describe what happened is difficult – I’m still trying to process all of the miraculous work that God did in us and among us that night. But I can say that I think the ultimate goal of the evening was to celebrate God’s story in that community – past, present and future. And that is what we did. As we did it, through teaching and music, sharing, dancing, story telling, praying… it seemed God began (or rather – continued) to work in that place.

I believe there was deep healing of hurts, and I know there was profound celebration on all kinds of levels. There was a ministry of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of many, and the theme of the night seemed perfectly named – MOMENTUM – because that’s what it felt like was happening in our midst. Hope and faith continued to grow, or for some was renewed and restored.

So, thank you Meeting Place for so many things, especially the richness of the faith in God that you gave me in that time of my life, which still continues today. And of course, thank you for the gift of participating in your twenty-year anniversary, where I could feel again that God comes near.

SABBATH REST

2011-02-08T12:00:00.000-08:00

Recently I was at the pastors retreat for the Alliance churches of BC. We heard Mark Buchanan speak. He is the author of 'THE REST OF GOD' a great book I recommend to you.

Here is a diagnostic list for you that he shared with us. Mark shared that these kinds of lists can be a little dangerous but they can also be a good tool to ask yourself some questions about your own self-care. It is also not an exhaustive list - i.e. there may be items that you could add to make it more personalized for yourself or others.

So I encourage you - don't be too hard on yourself, but read this list, reflect and process it a little bit. I think we could all be encouraged to rest in God more... And by the way - Sabbath rest obviously does not have to happen on a Sunday! Find times for resting in God (tuning out all distractions - getting silent) at whatever time / place during the week you can!

You know you need sabbath rest when...
your emotional response to a situation is disproportionate to the trigger of that response (your friend is 5 minutes late or your child spills their drink and it is as if the world is caving in)
you are both restless and listless (want to do something but don't care enough about anything, so you remain unmoved)
you have a growing resentment against ___________ (fill in the blank: work, spouse, kids, other drivers etc…)
you complain a lot about ______, and obsess over it rather than changing it
other people start their conversations with you by saying “I know you are busy, but…”
your intimacy with God starts diminishing
you feel entitled or “owed” something
you being feeling sorry for yourself, undervalued or under-appreciated
you fantasize more and more (escapism from real life)
old temptations/anxieties re-awaken with increased intensity
physical health issues begin to arise
you stop caring about what you really care about

source - MARK BUCHANAN teaching at BC district Alliance church pastor's retreat

Friends - don't be overwhelmed by this. Just respond by carving out time to REST in God. Some quiet time, some reflection, some scripture, some prayer, some sleep! If there is absolutely no time in your life, just start small - 15 minutes, then fight for 20 minutes, then try and carve out 30 minutes or an hour.

May we all find a little bit more REST in God this week and every day.

THE ENEMY

2011-02-01T12:37:00.000-08:00

My last blog was part 1 on serving God. Here is an interesting take on how our service of God, can actually become an enemy of God... again I am sharing from Oswald Chamber's insights.

Chambers says 'Beware of anything that competes with your loyalty to Jesus Christ. The greatest competitor of true devotion to Jesus is the service we do for Him. It is easier to serve than to pour out our lives completely for Him. The goal of the call of God is His satisfaction, not simply that we should do something for Him. We are not sent to do battle for God, but to be used by God in His battles. Are we more devoted to service than we are to Jesus Christ Himself?'

It is amazing how easily we fall into this trap - especially if you happen to work in ministry like me, but I am sure for everybody else too. I get to work, and the urgent things seem to right away outweigh the important things... and so I jump into my task list for the day, postponing my time with God until 'later', and 'later' never comes.

In talking with a friend this week he reminded me - when armies are at war, one of the first strategies of the opposing army is to cut off communications. If you can hit the communications centre, you have a huge advantage. This is all too true in the spiritual battle that we so quickly forget we are involved in. The enemy will strike at our communication time with our friends, spouses, families and most importantly with our God. When that happens, we become isolated and vulnerable to so many more levels of attack.

So, may I remind you (and me) today of the importance of not letting service of God, come at the expense of your relationship with God. It is out of that relationship and the time that you spend with the Source of LIfe that you will have life and energy to serve and love God and people.

THE OVERFLOW

2011-01-25T12:36:00.000-08:00

Today I've got some thoughts on serving God that I thought I would share - much of my life has revolved around serving God through music. Here are some bigger picture thoughts I had after reading Oswald Chambers recently.

The apostle Paul as you may know was went by his Hebrew name of Saul when he was a persecutor of the church, before his conversion... In GALATIANS 1 in the Message, Paul says 'Even then God had designs on me. Why, when I was still in my mother's womb he chose and called me out of sheer generosity! Now he has intervened and revealed his Son to me so that I might joyfully tell [everyone] about him.

Paul ended up falling in love with Jesus and it was out of that love that he was compelled to build and serve the Church.

Oswald Chambers says it this way - Service is the overflow which pours from a life filled with love and devotion. But strictly speaking, there is no call to that. Service is what I bring to the relationship and is the reflection of my identification with the nature of God. Service becomes a natural part of my life. God brings me into the proper relationship with Himself so that I can understand His call, and then I serve Him on my own out of a motivation of absolute love. Service to God is the deliberate love-gift of a nature that has heard the call of God. Service is an expression of my nature, and God’s call is an expression of His nature. Therefore, when I receive His nature and hear His call, His divine voice resounds throughout His nature and mine and the two become one in service. The Son of God reveals Himself in me, and out of devotion to Him service becomes my everyday way of life.

God bless you as you love and serve the Lord.

Christmas and EVERYTHING

2010-12-23T11:09:00.000-08:00

I don't remember where I was when I first heard the Tim Hughes song EVERYTHING but I remember being instantly struck by the meaning of it for my own life. I imagine the same thing has happened with that song for many other people too. When I heard the verse, it kind of sung itself to me...

God in my living, God in my breathing

God in my waking, God in my sleeping

And on it goes... resting, working, thinking, speaking

Being that it's two days before Dec 25th, the day that we celebrate the birth of Christ, that song and its' lyrics make me reflect on my lifestyle, my faith, God in my everyday experience.

I think it's safe to say that most decent people in the world are inspired at least a little bit at this time of year by the 'spirit' of Christmas to live a bit better then we do most of the average days of the year. We try and step out of the daily grind, and make family and friends a priority. We give, we receive, we celebrate, we hope. We try to put away (at least for a time) conflicts or tensions so that we can celebrate together.

But what of the rest of our year? And what about so many of us who are deeply saddened at Christmas time? Because, as my pastor says, Christmas has a way of making the good things even better, and the hard things even harder... And then Tim Hughes' song comes back to me again...

God in my hoping, God in my dreaming

God in my watching, God in my waiting

God in laughing, there in my weeping

God in my hurting, God in my healing

It's a big reason why I love this song, and why I knew instantly when I heard it that I would record it. This is a song for every day. Especially meaningful at Christmas, but it's a song for every day, for every person really, that wants to, or needs to, or can't think of anything else but to reach out to God.

It's a simple but profound chorus: Be my everything, be my everything, be my everything... (and in case you hadn't got the idea yet - one more), be my everything.

I don't know who will read this. But without knowing who you are, or what your journey is right now, I pray that you will be inspired to live this song out as prayer this season and every day from here on. I pray you will find hope in your relationships and in your faith - however small or large that faith may be for you. If you're celebrating, share your joy. If you're struggling, hang on to hope - don't let go. And I pray that we will share the inspiration of Christmas together by experiencing 'God with us', Jesus, Emmanuel. This Christmas and every day. May He increasingly become your Everything.

Who says you can’t go home?

2010-07-08T11:31:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I returned to my hometown of Winnipeg to play some music for folks. It was wonderful to be back and see old friends, and also meet some new ones. So, first off, a quick thanks is in order to everyone really – it meant so much to me be received the way I was. The welcome felt great!

From media appearances at CHVN and Trinity TV, to performances at the Bridge Alliance church, Winnipeg Mennonite Elementary School, Calvary Temple and the Meeting Place, and an in-store appearance at the Light Christian Bookstore, it was a whirlwind trip really but it was great to meet new friends and catch up with others. Y’all know who you are!

What kept coming to mind was how much I miss the big sky. I sure love where I live now, in Vernon BC in the Okanagan Valley. But there is nothing – really nothing, like that big, never-ending prairie sky. I love the prairies. I miss the prairies. And what I miss even more than the prairie skies are the people – and that’s what coming home reminded me of.

You see, where I live now is also a beautiful place. But what has made it my new home is the people… New friends and community that I have come to love and serve, and who have come around my family and I. And people are also why I can still say ‘I’m going home’, when I’m traveling back to Winnipeg for whatever reason. Warning – shameless plug coming here… And people are why I’m excited to come back to Winnipeg on September 11 to my favorite venue in Canada – the Walker theatre (aka the Burt) for a worship concert and CD release of LIGHT UP THE SKY… come on out people!

I’ll forever be grateful to you Winnipeg, and Southern Manitoba of course. Family, friends, supporters of my ministry – you have shaped and formed me, my music and my ministry. See you again soon!

Story Behind the Song - MEET ME IN THE RIVER

2010-06-30T14:24:00.000-07:00

Meet Me in the River came about over morning coffee and a songwriting session with my friend Larry Campbell after about a year of having the hook 'Meet me in the river and I'll wash your sins away' percolating in my mind. To be honest that hook was driving me a bit crazy - knowing that there was a song to be borne somehow, someday, and it would just repeat over and over and over...

So, almost just to get the hook out of my mind, I invited Larry over and said, hey let's try and write this song - so I can move on. Ha! My idea was to have 3 verses, each with an individual inviting people to come to the river to be baptized. Verse one, a pastor. Verse two, John the baptist. Verse three, Jesus. Some songs come with painstaking crafting and re-crafting of lyrics and melodies, chords and progressions. Not so with Meet Me. 2 pots of coffee, loads of laughs and even a few extra verses that never made it to 'press'. We finished the song in about 2 hours. It was a total gift from our Creator - allowing us to be creative writing a song.

Since then, the song has taken on a life of it's own. I recently heard that it is a regular part of the repertoire at a camp in California that I have never been to. How it got there, I don't know - but I'm glad that I had the opportunity to write it with Larry and take it from our hearts and minds and offer it to people. Hopefully to join with other songs and bring some more joy and truth into the world.

And that's the long story short!

I WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN - Part 2

2010-04-29T14:03:00.000-07:00

For part 2, I promised to write about 'a leadership opportunity that would change us even more'. This may be hard to articulate but I'm going to try. You could say in many ways that Turkey is the birthplace of Christianity. The seven churches of Revelation are seven major churches of Early Christianity as mentioned in the New Testament book of Revelation. They are all in modern day Turkey. I won't give you a history lesson here, but do some quick web searches on the history of Turkey and you can understand why the strong Christian presence that was once there is no longer. My team and I had the privilege of being invited to lead worship for a Christian conference held in Turkey, where hundreds of pastors and leaders would converge to meet, be inspired and then disperse to various parts of the rest of the world for their work and calling. And so with a couple days to adjust to the time change and get perspective on this wonderful country, we set our minds and hearts to the job at hand for our first week there - leading worship for those people who have already given up their lives to serve God.

It's challenging to describe what it's like to lead music for that many people, in a now decidedly Muslim country, but in the birthplace of the Christian church - who have already truly committed their lives in service of their faith. You could say that standing out for your faith in this part of the world is not without its' risks. Even more-so obviously for someone from Turkey who might be called a convert. Interestingly, however, on our fourth day of the conference we were honored with 2 dignitary visits. Those were the Canadian Ambassador to Turkey, and the Assistant to the Minister of Culture and Tourism in Turkey (hopefully I am accurate on those titles). At the conference we took a generous offering for earthquake victims in Turkey and gave that to the Turkish dignitary. Of course he was thankful, and he welcomed our conference to return again someday. But I risk losing my point! What a tremendous experience, knowing that God dwells in the praises of His people, and therefore knowing that He was there with us in power and presence as we sang. And doing that 'where it all began' you could say...breath-taking really.

It was tremendous to see the development of my own team and how they rose to the challenge of the task set before them, whether on the ground in Turkey or in a support role back in Canada. Part of what I do at my church VAC and Hear the Music is the develop, train and disciple - and I saw that work bearing fruit which was very rewarding for me. About a years worth of preparation went into planning this conference, so to participate in it all coming off, really without a hitch - was a great faith builder and testimony to God's greatness and presence removed 'in the fore-planning'.

I'm not a fan of the word 'awesome' because I feel it's overused, and has lost its' meaning. But it's really the only word I have to describe this whole week of music in Turkey. Awesome because of the experiences I've described above. Awesome because of the incredible production team we got to work with. Both the Turkish and Canadian crews were really the shining stars! Awesome because of new and lasting friendships formed. Awesome because of the leaders I worked with, met and the leadership opportunity it gave take out 'me'. And that's a whole other story. The personal and spiritual growth experience I was given, I am so grateful for.

And so to all of my new friends, and the supporters and pray-ers who made this happen, I thank you. You have blessed me and changed me - and my whole team. Some great song lyrics come to mind now...

There are higher heights, there are deeper seas
Whatever You need to do, Lord do in me
The Glory of God fills my life
And I will never be the same again

(I WILL NEVER BE THE SAME - Geoff Bullock)

I get a bit scared praying or singing 'whatever You need to do, Lord'...I generally add 'in Your mercy' to that! But I am confident of this, that 'He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus' (Philippians 1:6). And God is Good...again He was, and is the one who brings change in us - from glory to glory...never to be the same again.

I WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN - Part 1

2010-04-12T21:14:00.000-07:00

It's been almost 3 weeks since I returned from my trip to Turkey. My band stayed a little bit longer to tour the country with a recording artist from Turkey, of the band Storybox. They flew home just over a week ago. Tomorrow night we'll be getting together for a de-brief of the whole adventure and I am eagerly anticipating hearing the stories of what I missed, as well as processing through what God did in us and through us while we were all together.

What's so important to me and the whole team is to say THANK YOU to everyone who prayed for us and supported us. You need to know that in supporting us you were directly involved in real Kingdom activity and that lives and hearts were changed, and will be changed as God's work continues through the seeds that were planted. We are looking forward to HEAR THE MUSIC NIGHT on May 2 at Vernon Alliance church, where we will be able to publicly thank you and tell more of our stories from this incredible trip. I expect there will be a few blogs from me in the near future related to Turkey - which is why I've titled this first one 'Part 1'.

On week 1, we arrived in Turkey, overnighted in Istanbul and caught another flight to Antalya early the next morning. Now a popular tourist destination, ancient Antalya was probably founded around 150 BC and was originally known as Attalia. It was visited by Paul of Tarsus, as recorded in ACTS: "From Perga, Paul and Barnabas went down to Attalia and sailed from there to Antioch after preaching in Pisidia and Pamphylia" (Acts 14:25-26). Our first 2 days in Antalya we spent adjusting to jet-lag and trying to take in some of the history and sights before our conference started. This involved visiting the ancient ruins of Perge, historically known as Perga. This was significant since Perga was founded probably in 1000 BC and the Roman ruins that we saw there probably date back to about 188 BC.

Here is where my faith and my reality came crashing together in a life-changing way. At the ruins we walked the same Roman roads that St. Paul would have walked. We very likely stood where he would have preached his Message to the city inhabitants. I looked around at the hills and mountains, the same landscape that he would have seen as he arrived in the city, and I even had modern day merchants trying to sell their wares to me in the exact area where the traveling merchants would have set up shop 2000 years ago! All of a sudden - I could place myself in the Story. The Story of Faith. The story of the very beginnings of Christianity. There was no magical transcendent moment, but as I look back I can see in myself a true deepening of my faith. This was much more than a sight seeing trip to a very old city. It was a significant moment in my faith journey and I know I won't be the same again.

Before writing this blog, I read 2 Corinthians 4. ^18"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal". I feel like my experience of seeing these ruins enabled me in a new way to fix my eyes on what is unseen. Faith. And I was somehow more 'sure of what I hope for, and more certain of what I do not see'. (Hebrews 11:1). The next day we were back at our hotel doing sound checks and preparing to lead worship for almost 1000 leaders and international workers and I was a different person than I was the day before. God was preparing me for a leadership opportunity that would change all of us even more. That will be 'Part 2'.

Story Behind the Song - BROKEN BEAUTY

2010-02-02T09:51:00.000-08:00

Time for another song story. This one, BROKEN BEAUTY came about under similar circumstances as did KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, which I wrote about in my last blog. At that same songwriting retreat up in the mountains of Whistler BC, we were hearing all about Trinitarian theology. I have a wonderful friend who has this idea (a good one I think) that since music can be so influential in people's lives, the music we write needs to be thoughtfully and carefully formed, and our lyrics need to be True, not just great poetry! In fact, much of the theology (study of God) that we learn and hear in church or wherever, comes in the form of songs.

So anyway, I had been listening to some great Christian thinkers and writers talk about the Trinity, and in particular the Incarnation. The word incarnate derives from the latin and means 'in the flesh'. So, the incarnation is 'God in flesh' - Jesus. I heard more teaching about Christian art at that retreat from David Goa, an expert in Christian historical art and someone who was instrumental in compiling a book of art called 'A Broken Beauty', and an art exhibition of the same title. That title was compelling to me, and as I was playing my guitar later that evening I wrote the line 'sometimes beauty is in the breaking, and healing comes in the taking on the wounds of Christ'. At that moment I wasn't really thinking 'hey I've got something here'! But I did say to myself, I think I should keep following this inspiration. The next line followed easily 'as joy can follow crying, living will follow dying, when we die in Christ'. I can't remember exactly what happened next, but somehow I ended up sitting down with Bob Bennett and off we went in co-writing the song.

The best word for Bob when it comes to songwriting, both in music and lyrics is 'brilliant'. These were some lines he contributed 'it goes against the way we think that it should be, that imperfection seems to suit us perfectly, His sacred fingerprints, upon our broken beauty'. There were many lines we wrote that we didn't keep, but the direction that we were both pushing was for the contrasts in life that are considered beautiful - joy that follows crying, living that follows dying (as a symbol, as in nature, as in eternal life...), finding completeness out of emptiness, the breaking of the glass at a Jewish wedding...I actually remember Bob saying 'hey what about when you're walking in the dark you laugh nervously?' What if we said 'As I hide from You in mourning, and face the dark with nervous laughter, somehow the moments that are miracles I never know them until after'? And I was like 'ok now I know you really are good at this.

That's really the truth of it. The Incarnation is a miracle of God. God with skin on, limiting Himself to human form, so that He could be broken for us. He entered our reality so that we could enter His. And that leads to perhaps the most important line of the song...'It goes against the way I think that it should be, that God should wrap in flesh, this Holy mystery - the perfect sacrifice, became our broken beauty'

What Gives Me Life

2009-12-19T15:39:00.000-08:00

I may be stating the obvious here, but it's always been easy for me to forget this. And I often need reminding. So at the very least I am reminding myself of the following realization.

The way out of weariness, boredom, exhaustion, depression - you name it - for me, is to choose to do things that I know will give me life. If you are not feeling like any of those things, that's great! A way to avoid them is... you guessed it - to do things that you know will give you life.

I had a fantastic fall season. My new CD LIGHT UP THE SKY was completed and released. I traveled to various destinations with a fantastic band, shared my songs with people and received generous encouragement from my home community. Working at Vernon Alliance I am affirmed in my role as a worship pastor regularly, and my family now includes 2 beautiful children, and an incredible wife. But I have to confess, I know I pushed a little bit too hard this fall, and I am spent. And I know many other people who feel exactly the same as me, albeit for different reasons.

So now what? How do I recharge. I am reminding myself today to find the things that give me life and do them - so that I can recharge body, mind and soul. Most things are obvious... trips to the gym, exercise, simple family time (being present at home - not running around), maybe even an indulgent time of movie watching and pop-corn. The best thing for me though is my time alone with God - bible reading and prayer... I have shared before, my lack of discipline in this area. But every time I focus back in, I feel my spirit, soul and body restored.

That's my reminder to all of us today - including myself. I think I'm off to do something that will give me life - you do the same!

Jon

Story Behind the Song - KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

2009-12-13T13:58:00.001-08:00

So I was just writing about building God's house, and how easy it is to find myself building my own house instead. Building my kingdom instead of His. Being that I am a pastor, but also a Christian musician, it's easy to get my kingdom and God's kingdom mixed up (confession time again!). It's not bad to be successful, but it's dangerous ground when my goals for success start driving what I do, as opposed to my relationship and obedience to God's call on my life. So I've been trying to refocus on what it means to build God's Kingdom.

I've been wanting to write about some of the new songs that I wrote, and KINGDOM OF HEAVEN is one that I co-wrote with a great friend and guitar virtuoso Jacob Moon.

About 3 years ago Jacob and I were at a songwriters retreat in the mountains of Whistler, BC (tough life I know!). Thanks to a ministry called INCARNATION we were blessed to have the opportunity to hang out for a weekend with some theologians and other wonderful songwriters like Bob Bennett, Steve Bell and Carolyn Arends. What a time to learn and write music! We were inspired to write about the KINGDOM OF HEAVEN because we were learning about how we pray for God's kingdom to come (Matthew 6:10, the Lord's prayer), but that God's kingdom has also already 'arrived' through the INCARNATION of Jesus (God in the flesh), and the mystery that Jesus lives within us through the presence of His Holy Spirit. Because of this 'the kingdom of Heaven' is already here - within us, and we need only live it out so that it will continue to come to fruition.

In Matthew 19:14 Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Jacob and I wrote about that.

So let the children come, and sing a holy song - for theirs the Kingdom is, and all the glory His.

The chorus became significant for me to, since there was a time in my life where I was paralyzed by fear and depression. My favorite bit of theology is that God is a Trinity of 3 'persons', the Father, Son and Spirit. One very important thing about this is that it says God is about 'relationship'. The Father loves the Son, the Son loves the Father and the Spirit makes them known to us. In other words God is 'Love'. And we know that 'Perfect Love casts out fear'. So we wrote

There's freedom from darkness and fear, the Kingdom of Heaven is here.

A special thing for me that happened when we recorded the song was that my friend Tim Neufeld, lead singer of STARFIELD agreed to come in and sing a guest vocal. So Tim sings on the 2nd verse and through to the end of the song. And may I humbly say, it sounds great! So, two great friends and favorite people of mine were involved in making this song a meaningful reality. We also sing this song often as a worship song in the church where I am worship pastor VERNON ALLIANCE. So I feel like it is giving voice to some important theological truths, and I hope it helps us understand them a bit more. That God became one of us, and then sent us His Spirit to live within us, so that we could truly be part of realizing His Kingdom coming and His will being done, in us and among us. So that we could sing with truth

All who now weep will rejoice, sing to the Lord with one voice, glory hallelujah there's freedom from darkness and fear, the Kingdom of Heaven is here.

Building His House... or Mine?

2009-12-13T13:57:00.000-08:00

So I've been on this 'read the bible in 1 year plan'...for about the last 3 years! Yes, I'll admit it, I need to be more regular at this, but that's not the point of this blog. I was reading Haggai the other day, an Old Testament Prophet. This book is about the Jewish people and their return from Babylonian exile. They had begun to rebuild their own homes and businesses and to establish their statehood as a Jewish community but had seemed to put on hold the construction of the temple for worship. The focus of their faith was losing its' central place.

These are the verses I read that caused me to stop and think.

Haggai 1:5-9

Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways. 6 You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it." 7 This is what the LORD Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways. 8 Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored," says the LORD. 9 "You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?" declares the LORD Almighty. "Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house.

It was a simple reminder for me. I am working hard at having a ministry, whether it is local and church based (I love my job at Vernon Alliance church), or further afield on the road including writing, recording and traveling. I don't plan to return to the road full time, but having a new CD I want to expose it wherever possible to new audiences and that involves promoting it in whatever ways I can. At the same time I want to honor my job and responsibilities at home.

But after I read these verses in Haggai, I knew I had to do a refocus. It's too easy for me to say I'm building God's house, when I'm really busy with my own. I want the music that I make to be successful, but I don't want that to happen at the expense of my relationship with God. I believe that He has called me to do what I am doing, but I also know how easy it is to lose focus and make it about me first, and God second - but make it sound like it's the other way around by using the right language.

Why am I writing this? I suppose in some way it makes me accountable to whoever might read it. It's also a little opportunity for me to consecrate, or dedicate my life, my family, my music back to God again, for His purpose and for His glory. I want to build His house. I know that if I do that, the rest will take care of itself.

The Price of Freedom

2009-04-21T20:04:00.000-07:00

Hi friends, here's an interesting reading from author and theologian Elton Trueblood on discipline. This was a good reminder for me on my own faith journey and perhaps it will be for you as well. Jon

"When we begin to ask what the conditions of inner renewal are, we receive essentially the same answers from nearly all of those whom we have most reason to respect. One major answer is the emphasis upon discipline. In the conduct of one's own life it is soon obvious, as many have learned the hard way, that empty freedom is a snare and a delusion. In following what comes naturally or easily, life simply ends in confusion, and in consequent disaster. Without the discipline of time, we spoil the next day the night before, and without the discipline of prayer, we are likely to end by having practically no experience of the divine-human encounter. However compassionate we may be with others, we dare not be soft or indulgent with ourselves. Excellence comes at a price, and one of the major prices is that of inner control.

We have not advanced very far in our spiritual lives if we have not encountered the basic paradox of freedom, to the effect that we are most free when we are bound. But not just any way of being bound will suffice; what matters is the character of our binding. the one who would like to be an athlete, but who is unwilling to discipline his body by regular exercise and by abstinence, is not free to excel on the field or the track. His failure to train rigorously and to live abstemiously denies him the freedom to go over the bar at the desired height, or to run with the desired speed and endurance. With one concerted voice the giants of the devotional life apply the same principle to the whole of life with the dictum: Discipline is the price of freedom."

Elton Trueblood

A Bit of History

2009-04-21T20:03:00.000-07:00

When I was in my teens, I wrote a song called HEAR THE MUSIC.

'Well I hear it from the left, and I hear it from the right

Sometimes I hear it in stereo, sometimes it's outta site

And I really don't know why, but without it I just can't get by

When I HEAR THE MUSIC I'm gonna praise the Lord

And I'll lift my hands to the sky'

It had a few verses, and a chorus...a bridge, a solo...all the components of a pop/rock song, and while I am convinced it would not have won any songwriting awards for me, surprisingly almost 10 years later when HEAR THE MUSIC night started, I realized that song was a seed. It was a seed for the name – yes, but also a seed for the 'sprit' of the event. To lift our hands to the sky – to reach out to Jesus – to praise God. That's really the whole point. In John 12:32 Jesus talks about being lifted up from the earth and that when that happens He will draw us to himself. There's a lot to unpack there – we lifted Him up in crucifixion, yes. But because of that, ultimately his resurrection has brought us new life – eternal life. And we can also lift Him up in praise through music. And that also fills us with life, and glorifies Him at the same time! I hadn't thought about it in a long while, but the 3rd line of that verse has had great meaning for me too. 'I really don't know why, but without it I just can't get by'. For me it's a very simple way of saying 'music saved my life'. More times than I can count, God has met me and changed me through a song or a musical moment. The Aldous Huxley quote makes so much sense to me...'After silence that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is MUSIC'.

Jon Buller

Transformed

2009-04-20T20:02:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

I recently read in my bible the following from 2 Corinthians 3: 17. 'Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.'

I have been involved for quite some time with a music event called Hear the Music Night. Those words crystallized for me what Hear the Music night is really about as it relates to our 'worship experience'. I believe that God is always with us, but that He wants to reveal Himself more to us and that is one big reason why we 'worship' together. When we do that (at HTM and everywhere else!) we are saying to God, 'open our eyes to who You are', and 'help us to experience You'. Before you know it we are caught up in the presence of God through His Holy Spirit, and altogether we experience a very special spiritual freedom. This freedom shows itself in different ways - through the joy that we feel when we're there, our 'playing at the feet of God' while we're jumping around or just enjoying the experience of music and praise. It also shows itself in what is changing inside of us as we invite God into our lives again through confession, repentance and praise.

And so, we reflect God's glory to each other, and we become more like Him. All because we have simply done what we were created to do - WORSHIP GOD.

Jon Buller

Another Blog that's not My Blog

2009-03-09T20:01:00.000-07:00

Hi friends,

Well, it's a little too easy to write a blog that's not my own blog - but this one was too interesting to not share with you. Again, it's from Dr. John Stackhouse and I think it will spur you on to some good thoughts, on the danger of over-simplifying important things like FAITH.

Enjoy, and do follow the link 'continue reading' to get the whole picture.

Jon

Prof. John Stackhouse's Weblog Simple Is Good; Oversimple Is Bad

I recently guested on a TV show hosted by a notorious critic of the Christian faith. As we worked through his Top Ten List of Things He Doesn't Like about Christianity (not actually what he called them, but that's what they were), he chided Christians for "all that theology that complicated things." Why not, he challenged, just say, "Love your neighbour"?

Since he had been both a lawyer and a politician, I countered with this observation: "Law seems awfully complicated too, doesn't it? I mean, why not just say, 'Mind your own business. Don't steal. Keep your word'–you know, stuff like that? Could it be that the adult world is a bit complicated and so adults need complicated laws?"

Continue Reading...

http://stackblog.wordpress.com/2009/03/06/simple-is-good-oversimple-is-bad/

Silence

2009-03-09T20:00:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

Instead of writing my own blog right now, I had in mind to share this one with you. Dr. Stackhouse is a reputed theologian, writer, musician and friend. His blog is thought provoking and this one in particular is a great read. To get the whole blog entry (it's worth it), follow the link to 'continue reading'.

God bless!

Jon Buller

Prof. John Stackhouse's Weblog And Now It's Time to Be Quiet

After all the excitement generated by my last two posts, it's time for something completely different. One correspondent sent along the following note:

"What about the disappearance of the musical language of silence? It seems to me that a problematic aspect of our modern context is over-stimulation and a resulting loss of the language of silence, which I believe is part of what has robbed much music--and the spoken word--of their power. I lead contemplative services which include a lot of music, but I feel the silence which is practised as part of that service makes it so much more powerful. It's a sign of the times when two minutes of real silence is experienced as threatening."

Continue Reading...

http://stackblog.wordpress.com/2009/02/13/and-now-its-time-to-be-quiet

Go to Church

2009-03-02T19:59:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday I was very tired. Various different circumstances, all of them good - contributed to my weary state. I am not complaining, don't get me wrong...it's just part of life - there are seasons where you rest, and there are seasons where you need to keep the gas pedal down. And there are days when you 'hit the wall'. A friend told me that will never change. But what will change (God willing) is the varying speed at which you hit the wall. The older I get, the easier it is for me to see that wall approaching! I am slowly learning...But I digress...

What I meant to say was, I didn't particularly feel like going to church last Sunday. Yes, I work at church - so normally I don't have a choice in the matter. But my job is a wonderful blessing to me, and I love doing it, so I don't need a choice in that anyways, because I enjoy it. However, on occasion I have parts of weekends with outside gigs, or have a weekend off (trying to learn to pace myself), and it's those weekends that I am tempted to stay home with a pot of coffee, with my family or just by myself. Add to that, I am an introvert (albeit an 'outgoing' one), but an introvert nonetheless and so my best excuse to not go to church I think is fairly legitimate. To recharge I just need to be alone. But even that doesn't always hold up really...I can sneak in the back a hair late, and sneak out the back a hair early and it's a win - win. I am still with people, but I am still 'under the radar'.

Anyway, I went to church with my family. And I was still really tired. But it was really good. There were no spiritual fireworks but it just felt so good to be there. Much better than my newspaper or tv would have been at home...It was the best place that I could have been.

I don't want to comment on the big picture 'seasons', desert times or even painful times when one feels 'pushed away' by the church or religion or whatever it may be - maybe that's for another blog...But what I do want to say is that in the regular course of life, you've usually got one chance in the week to be with a group of people seeking after God's presence. Once chance to recharge, to be encouraged, to sing, to listen, to pray, to offer, to be taught, together with God's people. ONE chance.

Don't miss it.

Go to church.

Charisma, Grace and the Fire of God

2009-02-18T19:58:00.000-08:00

I read and heard some interesting things about 2 Timothy 1:6 a few weeks ago. For this reason, I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you...

That word 'GIFT'. As I understand it is related to the Greek word(s) 'CHARIS' or 'CHARISMA'. While I am not a bible scholar, I do find this quite interesting for a number of reasons.

Paul is writing to Timothy and saying 'fan into flame the gift of God'. One translation of the word 'CHARISMA' is 'a gift of grace – an undeserved benefit from God'. My wife shared her thoughts with me on this from her own personal bible study (credit to Beth Moore), and it resonated with me. 'CHARISMA' refers not only to Salvation as given by God, but also to the gifts of the Holy Spirit, distributed as God deems necessary to every believer. Even our talents were not earned, but were given by God.

God lit a fire, upon our confession of Christ, but it is our job to fan the flame. As I exude the 'CHARISMA' which I can take no credit for, it is God's fire, coming out through me – an undeserved benefit from God. Churches and Christians are called 'charismatic' for many reasons – I suppose that this is one of them – the fire of God, gifts of grace given to us to point to God.

I wonder another thing...this word CHARISMA and the related word CHARISTMATIC. Is it an accident that we like to be around people that exhibit that personality trait? Leaders that have huge followings are characterized as 'charismatic'. Great entertainers are said to have 'charisma', and that makes them attractive to us. Whether we know it or not...whether we choose to use it for His glory or not...we have been given CHARISMA – GOD'S GIFT – HIS FIRE – HIS GRACE.

something from nothing

2008-12-04T19:57:00.000-08:00

I ask you friends...can doing nothing be productive? I mean really, doing nothing - well almost nothing...Like sleeping, or watching tv, or just sitting in your chair thinking about something. You don't get a whole lot done, do you? I suppose there is something going on when you're doing essentially nothing - and that is my point here. Maybe those of us 'busy' types should do nothing, a whole lot more...I have noticed when I do that, I actually am a whole lot more productive when I get back down to business...Hence, I get 'something' from 'nothing'.

Gotta go - I've got a whole lot of nothing to do...(I wish)

Jon

things that make you go hmmm.

2008-12-03T19:54:00.000-08:00

So here's a few random thoughts for today. My producer for my next CD is Roy Salmond. The approach to producing a recording with Roy is rather quite fun for many reasons one of which is that it's always about much more than the music. Before we track vocals, and often when we arrange the song structures we talk about lyrics. I am sometimes one who over-thinks lyrics when I write. But I do feel strongly as a songwriter who is a Christian, and as one who spends much of my time leading music in church, that what I write and sing should not just be clever or inspiring or emotionally moving. It needs to also be true. So for all those reasons, when recording we also spend a lot of time talking. I thought I would let you in on some of those 'things that make you go hmmm', when you talk about them. See where this takes you...

First a quick story. I wrote a song called LOVE RESCUED ME. Part of the lyric is ' Love rescued me, Love rescued me Lost and afraid still Love rescued me Love rescued me, Love rescued me I'll worship You only

That was one of the lyrics that Roy and I spent some time with. We ended up changing the last line to refer to part of a prayer / liturgy 'Lord in Your mercy, hear our prayer' So now I sing Love rescued me, Love rescued me Lost and afraid still Love rescued me Love rescued me, Love rescued me Lord in Your mercy

While both were 'true', 'Lord in Your mercy' seemed to convey a deeper meaning and more fresh way of articulating what God's love would mean to someone rescued by Him. However, 'I'll worship You only' is a nice response to being rescued by God's love. Which one holds more meaning for you?

Here are a few favorite quotes that Roy shared with me, and one more piece of a song...some stuff for you to think about...

One world of truth shall outweigh the whole world - Russian proverb cited by Alexander Solzhenitsyn The trouble with normal is it always gets worse – Bruce Cockburn

We have grown so accustomed to disappointment that we would be disappointed without it – Craig Barnes

It goes against the way we think that it should be, that imperfection seems to suit Him perfectly His sacred fingerprints upon our broken beauty - Jon Buller and Bob Bennett

So there are 4 fairly weighty statements, that can take you down some very interesting paths of conversation or personal reflection.

By the way, the last one is an excerpt from a song that I wrote with accomplished writer Bob Bennett. It looks like it will be a song included on my new cd, which will hopefully be released sometime in '09. I am still enjoying my job at Vernon Alliance church, but have also enjoyed writing and touring a little bit more this past fall and winter. Starfield fans will recognize the theme / title Beauty in the Broken. I'm compelled to say that the guys are great friends of mine. However there was a good chunk of time where we didn't see or talk to each other. It was in that season of time that we both were thinking about similar themes - unbeknownst to any of us!

Until next time...and hopefully sooner than last time...

Jon Buller

from the road

2008-10-02T12:15:00.000-07:00

I am enjoying my time on the road with Steve Bell and co. immensely but I am also missing home so I'm looking forward to this Friday when I get to be in Vernon for 1 whole day!

To give you the quick update, I had 2 travel days, and then 2 full days of rehearsal with the group. Rehearsal was fun, challenging, productive and inspiring. Though I must admit I am more used to rehearsing for 2-3 hours at a time, not 2-3 days at a time! After our travel and rehearsal days we played Thunder Bay, ON and then went on to Regina and Saskatoon, SK. I'm now writing this on the flight to Vancouver where I will spend 3 days with Roy Salmond, my producer for what I hope will be my next CD. We'll be chipping away at that a few days at a time throughout the coming year I think... On Thursday I fly home, and then we have our Vernon concert on Friday, then on to Victoria and Nanaimo.

In concert, Steve brings a sense of humor, musical excellence and spiritual passion that is really something to wonder at. Mike Janzen is a piano virtuoso and when he lets go it is truly amazing and inspiring to watch, for musicians and non musicians alike. Roy adds beautiful textures with his bass, ukulele (yes that's right! it is folk and acoustic music after all!) and Gretsch electric and of course there's me, doing my thing! Kerri Woelke is a wonderful new artist that opens the show together with Steve for 3 songs. However there's more to this concert than Steve and the group. I have genuinely felt these nights to be going beyond music, songwriting, humor and stories. It is truly a night of beautiful worship to our Creator, Healer, Savior and Coming King.

But while we have had some great musical and spiritual experiences with the concert, what has been most meaningful to me has been the comraderie and conversation between band members. Do you ever have those times where you don't want to leave a group conversation because you don't want to miss anything? (no matter how tired you are for example!) So although I am a bit road weary already, I am finding life and inspiration on many levels with the people I am spending time with.

Here's an example of what we've been talking about... The writer SCOTT CAIRNS asks the question 'what makes a poem a poem?' The presence of the 'poetic'. Which begs the question, how do you know the presence of the poetic? Maybe the presence of the poetic is the sense of chasing after something, an attempt to discover or uncover whatever it is you're chasing after. Maybe the writer is chasing after a new way to articulate some feeling or story. When you read that poem or hear those lyrics, you sense the chase and you join in somehow. As a listener you identify with the words and you attach your own meaning to them. The trick for the writer is to not end the chase, but to leave it alone - to not have to attach meaning to whatever it is they are trying to discover and share with you. The moment the writer attaches meaning to the chase, the listener can no longer attach their own meaning. Maybe, just maybe that's why there are some pop songs that are just pop songs, and others that are both pop songs and true poetry. They are commercially viable yet deeply meaningful and life changing. The interesting thing is, (in my humble opinion) even with 'Spiritual' music you can still have 'Christian' lyrics and not have a sense of the poetic, not because the lyric isn't Truth, but because the questions have all been asked and answered (for better or for worse) in 4 minutes or less and the 'chase' is over.

I'm not meaning to generalize here - just provoke some worthwhile thought. I'm in the studio right now, writing and recording - so I guess I should go enjoy the chase.

God bless,
Jon