Introduction to Vespers:
Vision Statement:
Vespers is a gathering of common people uniquely designed by the Creator to join with Him in the process of restoration. The process of restoration demands actions of love defined by common people of one heart and mind: seeking, engaging and celebrating.
And so to stay with this vision, we have built different departments in charge of doing these things. Each department has been actively at work for months, and I’m excited to reveal them to you in the next weeks.
These departments are based upon the three words ending the vision statement: seek, engage, and celebrate. And tonight I want to spend just a little time going through those with you.
Seek
The gathering of the common people to pursue the heart of God in order to be encouraged and challenged through spoken word and song.
So the key players in this theme is God and me. Or God and you. Or God and us. There is this vertical relationship of “How do we come to know the heart of God?” And Scripture, which both teachings and songs are often modeled after gives us insight into that…
Truly we see throughout the Bible that we serve a God who desires to make Himself known. In Acts 20:32 Paul says to the church of Ephesus “Now I commit you to God and to the Word of His grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” Here Paul commits the saints to Scripture because of the grace that is in it. Scripture is the only tangible thing we have that directly has the voice of the Lord in it, so why would we cheat ourselves of the grace and freedom that is at the tip of our fingers?
To be perfectly honest, last year I was struggling with a lot of fear and shame in leadership. This summer I was reading throughout the New Testament at my internship and I remember thinking, “Wow, why didn’t someone tell me this? That would have helped so much!” And instantly the Holy Spirit gently reminded me that freedom had always been there. The feast was before me, and I chose to nibble on crackers. So, let’s be in the word, right? Let’s seek the heart of God through word and song.
Engage
The attention of the common people to the needs of the internal and external community.
So, the key players here are you and me, and we, and us. It is a horizontal relationship. How do we relate to each other? How do we engage each other?
This section is actually divided into two departments: both attention to the internal community and to the external community.
For the internal community:
Ecclesiastes 4:8-10
Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up.
We are focusing on internal community and relationship for two reasons. First, our struggles are not our own. There is no struggle that is tailored just to us. Brokenness, pride, fear, shame, wrath… all of these things are deeply rooted attacks, and there is freedom in knowing that others have been attacked with pride, and have gotten through it. Second, friends can speak into our lives where we cannot see the truth.
For the external community:
Isaiah 61:1-3
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.
We are focusing on the external community and relationship because through Scripture we find that our greatest blessing will come in the context of serving others. All spiritual gifts are meant to be used in service, and so in service we find growth, fulfillment and joy.
Celebrate
The recognition by the common people of the continual active restoration by the Creator.
2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
2 Corinthians 3:17
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
1 John 4:18
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.
Something that we see over and over throughout Scripture is a kind of crying out—a kind of brokenness that is common to all of mankind. We need restoration. Yet, God is a God who is bringing us to that. We are new. There is freedom. Perfect love is casting out our fear. And so we will celebrate this year very well.
We have a gift for you as you leave Vespers tonight. GSO—Global Student Outreach—under the leadership of Elijah Tiggs has generously provided the funds for every student on campus to receive a Vespers journal. Inside the front cover is the table of contents, the vision statement, a calendar that gives you insight into some of the series we will be doing this year, and notes pages for every week. We are so excited to be able to make this available for you. Will you join with me in thanking them? Now, why is this so important? I’m glad you asked…. Taking notes is something we’re all acquainted with. Perhaps after a long day it is nice not to have to take notes, right? But what is the purpose of taking notes? We take notes in class when we want to remember something for the future, because it is important. And of all things, shouldn’t we be intentional about remembering the things that the Lord speaks to our hearts, makes plain, areas where He brings freedom and understanding? And so I encourage you to bring those throughout this year… ask the Lord to speak something to you that you would want to write down.
You’ll notice a key theme throughout this year—relationship—because God designed us to be in relationship with Himself and with others. We are God’s tool of choice. Think about it! Humans are flawed. He is all-powerful. He could have chosen a different way to reveal Himself to the world rather than using a bunch of disciples, but our God—even in His majesty and splendor—with a booming voice, a cloud that overtakes the throne-room, the creator of angels whose wings flapping can be heard far away—actually desires to know us—to free us, to bring perfect love to us, to make all things new, to restore us---AND so we celebrate!
The changes you are seeing this year are with purpose. They are based upon Scriptural truths. It isn’t to be flashy. It is not to evoke an emotional response—though the Holy Spirit will touch your heart this year. It is not to be confusing. It is not change for “change’s sake” of wanting to be original.
We realize that we stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us, which is humbling… those Christians like in Philippians 2 who have wrestled out their faith with fear and trembling—those voices that come from 2,000 years ago to your mentors today.
Vespers while it is church because it is a gathering of the body of Christ, is not to replace the need for community. In fact, it is to invite you all the more into deep conversations with our Creator God and with each other. We need it everyday—in our dorm rooms, in chapel, in church services, in service projects, in hanging out on the square.
You will notice this year that people from our campus community and the Greenville community may join us. Praise God! Because we need the wisdom and participation of all generations. Again, there is such value in recognizing God’s restoration in all of us—because our struggles are not our own. Shame, pride, fear, legalism… all of it comes to attack us in many ways. And we need the voices of those whom the Holy Spirit has already made known His wisdom.
This year will be about learning together, worshipping, restoration, celebration, wisdom, peace, discipleship, fresh starts, and relationship.
In Psalm 119:68, the psalmist says before the Lord, “You are good, and what you do is good.” And we believe that for this year, and we’re amazed at the beautiful doors opening before us already.
Tonight as we go back into worship through song, I’d ask that you do so with a heart of thanksgiving, that you take time to ask Him to make Your heart tender to receive all that He would have and that this week you truly dig into scripture and be intentional in close relationship with both God and man.
Let’s pray.
No comments:
Post a Comment