Transformed

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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