When All Else Fails

Today I am trying to practice what I preach, that when we are weak, we are strong. I am trying to embrace the idea that we do our best and leave the rest to the Lord, that the Lord perfects our imperfect sacrifices.

It’s not working.

So I thought I would try blogging.

What didn’t go wrong yesterday — from a human perspective? We gathered together as a group of sincere and dedicated volunteers to prepare for the weekly gathering. We set up and tuned up, checked this and checked that, worked on a couple bridges and a few tags. Then, God called us to worship and we worshiped the Lord. But much of that which we prepared and practiced didn’t make it into the service.

After the service, we came together for our weekly rehearsal of vocalists. We acknowledged our growing pains, affirmed one another, agreed on a few practical changes, and sought the mercy of the Lord through prayer.

A few hours later, I happened to be in the same place at the same time with the “video guy” who had witnessed our preparation for worship and who participated in the service. He shared with me an important practice, one gleaned from his days in the theatre program of his college. He described how the participants left time between a rehearsal and a performance to gather together for prayer and meditation. What I heard him describe was some form of “centering” down.

He, then, also noted that our Sunday morning rehearsal time went long. As a result, we didn’t take time to center down and have God prepare our hearts for worship.

It’s a tricky balance between works and grace, preparation and dependence, doing our best and letting God do the rest, free will and divine sovereignty. But this much I know: yesterday afternoon at about 4 PM the “video guy” spoke to me on behalf the Lord. Yesterday, I was out of balance, placing far too much weight on free will and not enough on divine sovereignty. And I am left today depending on the latter, trusting that the Lord received our sacrifice of praise through the mediation of Jesus Christ.

So, lesson learned — again. Now if the Holy Spirit will help me with my forgetfulness.