All Glory

From the book of Davidicus: When you eat of the spoils.(repost)

2011-10-10T06:03:00.001-07:00

3 Of the spoils of your wandering, you shall devote a tenth of the firstfruits to your father. But take heed that you devote what has chocolate, so that he shall be pleased with what he receives.

4 Of the Reese's®, you shall devote them all, likewise the Snickers®. But take heed, lest you try to test your father and give him Skittles® instead of M&Ms®, and thereby incur his disfavor.

5 Of the Pixi Stix®, and the Sweet Tarts®, and the Kandy Korn®, you shall give him no part, for they are an abomination unto him. But of the Nestle Crunch® and Krackel®, you shall give him a portion, as a peace offering.

6 Lest you grumble because of the nuts in the flesh of your spoils, you may offer the bars that contain them unto your father. Mr. Goodbar® is favored, as are the Peanut M&Ms®. Almond Joy® hath nuts, Mounds® don't.

7 You shall reserve the choicest fruits: the special darks, and the truffles, for an offering to your mother, who bore you, who brought you to life. And it is under her rule as to when you are able to eat the remainder.

8 And on the day of cleansing, the last day, all the bags shall be opened, and I shall say unto you, "How on earth did we get so many Tootsie Rolls®?" And all that remains will be cast into the bin.

9 And if any acceptable offerings are found that have been left to rot, or get that white crusty stuff on the chocolate, I shall say to you, "How is it that you have hidden this from my eyes, and have not even eaten it?" And your father shall not be pleased with you.

(Davidicus 10:3-9 DADV)

Why Play It Like the Record?

2011-09-01T14:11:00.000-07:00

This is one of my bands playing at The Merc in Temecula, CA.

Like Reading a Book with Footnotes.

2011-08-15T09:17:00.000-07:00

Barney Plays a Song About Fred

2011-08-12T10:45:00.000-07:00

Concentrate.

2011-08-11T09:36:00.000-07:00

Why Should Kids Have All the Fun?

2011-08-08T07:28:00.000-07:00

The Art(ie) of Swing

2011-08-05T07:58:00.000-07:00

Another Art

2011-08-04T07:56:00.000-07:00

A mellow quartet

2011-08-03T10:51:00.000-07:00

Make it look easy.

2011-08-02T07:13:00.000-07:00

Treat the melody with respect

2011-08-01T09:27:00.000-07:00

Here's some Saturday Ray.

2011-07-23T09:47:00.000-07:00

A Little Friday Samba

2011-07-22T06:58:00.000-07:00

Concentration

2011-07-21T08:40:00.000-07:00

Keeping things moving, keeping things together.

2011-07-20T07:11:00.000-07:00

One way to deal with your pain.

2011-07-19T06:52:00.000-07:00

If you know what you're doing, it looks easy.

2011-07-15T10:30:00.000-07:00

Let your drummer loose every once in a while.

2011-07-14T07:06:00.000-07:00

How to play country music in a jumpsuit.

2011-07-13T15:44:00.000-07:00

Laying back in the groove.

2011-07-12T07:54:00.000-07:00

Letting the bass player drive the bus.

2011-07-11T12:21:00.000-07:00

Using your effects to their best advantage.

2011-07-08T08:53:00.000-07:00

Same song, different way

2011-07-07T06:24:00.000-07:00

How to capture an audience's attention.

2011-07-06T10:19:00.000-07:00

How to play guitar with your thumb while a girl sings soulfully.

2011-07-01T13:57:00.000-07:00

How to keep the volume down.

2011-06-30T09:55:00.000-07:00

How not to be distracted by people who clap on 1 & 3.

2011-06-29T09:49:00.000-07:00

How to be understated, but pack a lot of drama.

2011-06-28T09:02:00.000-07:00

How to arrange a band that's way bigger than it should be.

2011-06-27T15:07:00.000-07:00

A great performance by Van Morrison.

How to make someone else's song your own

2011-06-24T07:12:00.000-07:00

Bacon Chiasm

2011-06-20T04:59:00.000-07:00

Bacon-wrapped.
Bacon-rapt.
Bacon-raptured.
Bacon-ruptured.
Bacon-rupt.
Bacon-whupped.

All Glory chords now uploaded

2011-02-16T14:07:00.000-08:00

Here is the lead sheet to the song "All Glory".

Let This Mind (Every Knee Should Bow)

2011-02-11T23:07:00.000-08:00

This is the newest song I've written for congregational worship.

All Glory chords

2011-01-17T14:17:00.001-08:00

I've noticed that many people come here looking for these chords. Here is a link to a website that has many worship songs, all easily transposable. They also have an iPhone app, which is pretty handy.

All Glory by David P. Regier

CCLI #4563480

Recordings of the song are also available on Amazon by Scott Hill and David Regier, or by David Regier (solo).

Hear Me Lord

2011-01-12T06:14:00.000-08:00

Another song I recorded with Scott Hill. It's available here.

The Christmas Story

2010-12-23T08:39:00.000-08:00

Here is the Christmas story from Luke 2:1-20, as told by my kids.

Merry Christmas to you!

Immersed by Scott Hill and David Regier

2010-12-20T16:19:00.000-08:00

I finally got around to making a video of this with the lyrics. It's available on Amazon and iTunes.

From the book of Davidicus: When you eat of the spoils.

2010-11-01T13:54:00.000-07:00

3 Of the spoils of your wandering, you shall devote a tenth of the firstfruits to your father. But take heed that you devote what has chocolate, so that he shall be pleased with what he receives.

4 Of the Reese's®, you shall devote them all, likewise the Snickers®. But take heed, lest you try to test your father and give him Skittles® instead of M&Ms®, and thereby incur his disfavor.

8 And on the day of cleansing, the last day, all the bags shall be opened, and I shall say unto you, "How on earth did we get so many Tootsie Rolls®?" And all that remains will be cast into the bin.

(Davidicus 10:3-9 DADV)

Immersed

2010-04-26T15:31:00.000-07:00

Here is one of my newer songs with my band, Immersed. The song is entitled, well, Immersed.

All Glory Chords

2010-02-06T06:34:00.000-08:00

If you are seeking chords to any of my music, please email me at

david@davidpaulregier.com

Thank you!

Evolution and Climate Change

2010-01-06T14:48:00.000-08:00

For 150 years, science has purported to tell us our origins, all the while changing the story at its convenience.Shall we be surprised when science purports to tell us of our future judgment and hope of redemption, all the while changing the story at its convenience?

A good devotional site to check out

2009-10-23T09:16:00.000-07:00

Devotional Christian

Good resources, and they're giving away some free books.

Reformation vs. Enlightenment

2009-10-18T19:50:00.000-07:00

This says it a lot better than I have so far. But I've got more to say soon.

If it ain't Baroque . . .

2009-10-10T07:40:00.000-07:00

Now, in contrast to Schoenberg, the atonal serialist, let's take a look at J.S. Bach. Bach was every bit the mathematician that Schoenberg was, and he used it to incredible effect. Bach took counterpoint and harmony to unprecedented heights, and his fugues were astonishing in their complexity.

Bach was a product of the Reformation. A Lutheran choirmaster, he signed his cantatas "SDG" at the bottom of the page. There is no question that he understood what it meant to write music to the glory of God. He took great joy in doing so. And he wrote works of intense beauty that greatly influenced the next two centuries of music. Without Bach, Mozart would not have been the artist that he was. Neither would Beethoven or any of the great composers who followed.

Bach intended to build on what had been given to him, and he did so in service to his King. The result was beauty.

Schoenberg intended to destroy what had come before him, and he did so to the glory of reason. The result was, well, ugly.

There's a couple of centuries between the two men. During those two centuries, artists kneaded the leaven of the Enlightenment into the dough of creativity. There was a process. It took time. But the next chance you get, go to a museum and compare the art from the Baroque period to that of the early- to mid- 20th century. There is an objective difference.

How exactly does this work?

2009-10-08T21:35:00.000-07:00

"You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
(Exodus 20:4 ESV)

And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end. Of one piece with the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends. The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be.
(Exodus 25:18-20 ESV)

I realize that this is not directly about music. But I think there's something here. Work it out.

An idol is, well, an idol.

2009-10-07T17:18:00.000-07:00

Surely he cuts cedars for himself, and takes a cypress or an oak and raises it for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a fir, and the rain makes it grow. Then it becomes something for a man to burn, so he takes one of them and warms himself; he also makes a fire to bake bread. He also makes a god and worships it; he makes it a graven image and falls down before it. Half of it he burns in the fire; over this half he eats meat as he roasts a roast and is satisfied. He also warms himself and says, "Aha! I am warm, I have seen the fire." But the rest of it he makes into a god, his graven image. He falls down before it and worships; he also prays to it and says, "Deliver me, for you are my god." They do not know, nor do they understand, for He has smeared over their eyes so that they cannot see and their hearts so that they cannot comprehend. No one recalls, nor is there knowledge or understanding to say, "I have burned half of it in the fire and also have baked bread over its coals. I roast meat and eat it. Then I make the rest of it into an abomination, I fall down before a block of wood!" He feeds on ashes; a deceived heart has turned him aside. And he cannot deliver himself, nor say, "Is there not a lie in my right hand?"
(Isaiah 44:14-20 NASB)

Over in Frank's meta, I made mention of a certain Mr. Schoenberg, who was a composer in the previous century. His purpose was to make mincemeat of the tonal system, so that all 12 notes in the scale carried equal weight; none would stand as a tonal center and there would be no possibility of resolution. Schoenberg had faith in the rationality of man, and wished music to reflect his hope in this mathematical rationality. This is the clearest example I can give of music being idolatry.

Now, it doesn't take long before someone says, "How can you say that Schoenberg is objectively bad or harmful?" I want to note here that I have chosen my words carefully. That's why I have not said that Schoenberg's music is bad, nor that it is harmful to listen to.

Idols are always crafted by someone, and a good idolater crafts his idol well. One can see the art of the idol. If the idol had not been well-crafted, the idolater probably wouldn't worship it. But it takes a worshiper of the true God to see the truth behind the false god, even while appreciating the craft that went into making the false god. But a true worshiper is not going to make the same kind of art as the idolater, because he is not in the service of a false god.

Thinking about music. No, I mean, like really thinking about it.

2009-10-07T02:45:00.000-07:00

Blogger Frank Turk has begun to sound off on what makes good and bad music, and he's setting his sights on rap in particular. Well and good. Frank's one of my favorite thinkers. But he's thinking on my turf, so I'm going to weigh in from a different angle. We'll see where our conclusions end up.

And I said: "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!"
(Isaiah 6:5 ESV)

Because I am talking about music in our culture, I give the caveat that I am a musician in our culture. I'm not pretending that I stand outside its influence to be a critic. But I can take what God has commanded us clearly and objectively in Scripture and apply that to music. Sound fair?

Here we go:

"'I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. "'You shall have no other gods before me.
(Deuteronomy 5:6-7 ESV)

Music does not exist for its own sake. Because it is in the realm of creation, it exists by the will of and for the pleasure of Jesus Christ (Col 1:16). And that doesn't mean just "worship music." That means all music, period. It accomplishes what He wants it to accomplish. God loves music and has a wonderful plan for its life. Heh.

So here's a question. How is it possible for music to have a god? Is it possible for music to be idolatrous in any sense (remember: just the music, not the lyrics)?

All Glory chord charts

2009-09-07T05:50:00.000-07:00

Music and chord charts for all my songs will soon be available at immersedmusic.com. You can also order both All Glory and Immersed there.

In the mean time, if you need a chord chart, you can email me at david@davidpaulregier.com.

Jesus Christ is Lord

2009-05-19T07:14:00.000-07:00

One of the phrasings of the gospel that I have heard throughout my life is that of "making Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior of your life."

Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified."
(Acts 2:36 ESV)

God has made Jesus both Lord and Savior. For me to make Him Lord and Savior is like me making the sun shine. He is Who He is. The question before me is, "What do I do now?"

The Idolater Repents: A Parable in Miniature

2009-04-20T19:52:00.000-07:00

Surely he cuts cedars for himself, and takes a cypress or an oak and raises it for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a fir, and the rain makes it grow. Then it becomes something for a man to burn, so he takes one of them and warms himself; he also makes a fire to bake bread. He also makes a god and worships it; he makes it a graven image and falls down before it. Half of it he burns in the fire; over this half he eats meat as he roasts a roast and is satisfied. He also warms himself and says, "Aha! I am warm, I have seen the fire." But the rest of it he makes into a god, his graven image. He falls down before it and worships; he also prays to it and says, "Deliver me, for you are my god." They do not know, nor do they understand, for He has smeared over their eyes so that they cannot see and their hearts so that they cannot comprehend.
(Isaiah 44:14-18 NASB)

So the idolater, having heard what a fool he is for carving wood into idols that can't see him or hear his prayers, repents and gets rid of all the idols. In fact, he is so sorry for his foolishness that he swears off the use of wood forever. Cold and hungry, he perishes.

How blessed is the man who has made the LORD his trust, And has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood.
(Psalms 40:4 NASB)

New CD by David Regier and Scott Hill

2009-04-16T09:08:00.000-07:00

"Immersed," my new CD with Scott Hill is now available on iTunes and Amazon.com.

I wrote all the songs except "I Surrender All."

Hope you're blessed.

Watches

2009-02-02T10:16:00.000-08:00

There was a man who admired fine Swiss timepieces. He absorbed the history of watchmaking, gloried in the intricate works, thrilled at the gentle sweep of the second hand in the finest watches.

Whenever he had 5, 10, or 20 bucks, he went out and bought an imitation of one of these beautiful watches. He ordered them online, he bought them from the streetcorner hoodlum. Sometimes when he got a little extra money, he'd buy a more expensive replica, even though its second hand lurched forward just like the cheap ones. He knew their works were far inferior to those of the Swiss watches he adored, and he freely admitted it, always pointing out to people how much he truly valued the real deal.

He kept buying the replicas. He probably had a thousand of them.

A True Parable

2009-01-26T10:17:00.000-08:00

There was a group of Christian farmers in Russia during the 1870's. Facing extermination or exile, they had their children pick through the wheat, saving the best kernels in giant seedbags. The rest they baked into hard rolls to sustain them on their journey to America.

Once here, they settled in the unforgiving prairie land of the Midwest. But their healthy, hardy winter wheat thrived in the harsh conditions. Eventually it became the standard throughout America's farmland, the breadbasket of the world.

A parable

2009-01-13T06:28:00.000-08:00

There was a man who, having taken a shower, put on the sweaty, grungy t-shirt that he had been wearing for the whole week. It fit him well, and it was very comfortable. But no one wanted to get near him. At last he figured out that people don't like seeing a dirty t-shirt, so he put a clean one on top. It was really uncomfortable and tight, but it covered up the smell some, at least for a little while.

Col. 3:1-17

Can this be done without trying to sound like U2?

2008-11-20T09:29:00.000-08:00

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
(Col 3:16 NASB)

Weeds revisited

2008-09-10T09:21:00.000-07:00

For the sake of the couple of people who commented on "Weeds" (thank you!), I'm going to put in my two or three cents.

The two suggestions I received were to (a) leave it to the gardener and (b) Round-Up (tm). Interestingly enough, I considered mentioning both possibilities when I originally wrote the post, almost in the same words.

Now, scripture is abundantly clear that I am the gardener. I don't own this yard. Even when I thought I did, and treated it like I did, I didn't. I am a steward, not a landowner. Now, I know the Landowner, and have come to know His benificience in allowing me a great deal of freedom in tending the yard. But it's His land, and He is counting on me to care for the garden.

He is also abundantly available for every resource I need to care for the yard. He has made it clear that He will provide any tool, any fertilizer, any seed, all kinds of instruction, and even personal assistance for the care of this garden. He wants His garden to be fruitful.

There are rules for its use, of course. There are some seeds that I am never to plant, because the Landowner knows that they can easily overtake the garden. There are seasons in which I should not plant so the soil can rest and receive nourishment. And most of all, I should never forget that the garden belongs to the Landowner and not to me.

The land was cleared when it was purchased. But the seeds of weeds can blow in from other fields. It falls to me (with the Landowner's abundant assistance and resource) to continue to care for the land, constantly and joyfully presenting it to Him, rejoicing with Him in its fruit.

Round-Up (tm) was going to be a little stinger on the end of the "Weeds" post. But if you read the label, you realize that where you use it, nothing's going to grow for several months. It gets the weeds out of the in the sidewalk really well. But if you want fruit, you'd better use other means. Jesus' is not Round-Up.

Thanks for the comments. I hope to be posting more often soon.

Weeds

2008-06-02T15:17:00.000-07:00

Our back yard is in the process of going native. This is not by my choice or design. There are simply plants coming up in our lawn that want to be there more than grass does.

I’ve noticed two types of weeds. One kind has a shallow root system, but has tendrils that weave their way through the lawn. Unless you untangle every last tentacle from the blades of grass, the weed will break off at its stem and come back with a vengeance within a week or so. One must apply a great deal of patience in unraveling such a tangled weed.

The other kind is easy to spot because it’s tall and leafy. It looks like you could just grab, tug, and be done with it. But the thick, meaty root drives straight down to the pit of hell. I’m almost certain that the tip is hot. But unless you loosen the dirt around it and pull firmly straight up, a weed taller and stronger will grow up from the root before you know it. Once more, a concerted effort must be applied.

I’ve tried working on these weeds once a week, taking a few hours on the weekend. But I notice that I miss a lot of them, and the ones I let go seem to spread beyond my ability to keep them under control. I end up frustrated.

So I’m going to take some time each morning for the next few weeks to see what happens if I concentrate on particular sections of the lawn, one at a time. Then, on the weekend, I should be able to fertilize, pick out the few straggling weeds, and maybe do some seeding.

I’m hoping that my lawn looks better by the end of the summer.

Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(2 Peter 1:5-8 NASB)

Dried Up

2008-05-19T14:29:00.000-07:00

The winter rains we had here in Southern California have caused the bugs to be fruitful and multiply. Our yard has become a happy haven for beetles, flies, butterflies, ants and moths. The spiders are happy too, and fat.

This past weekend we got our first taste of the hot hot hot summer in the inland desert. As the temperatures approached the century mark for the third day, I noticed some unusual pods lying on our backyard patio. At first I thought they were empty spider egg cases, until I picked one up, and it disintegrated. I looked closer at another, and found that it was a dried-up moth.

Funny, how creatures made of dust could dry up and fall apart when they’re disconnected from their source of water and exposed to a little heat.

How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season
And its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers.
The wicked are not so,
But they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
For the LORD knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the wicked will perish.
Psalm 1:1-6 (NASB)

Infected!

2007-10-22T10:45:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Alan Knox, I've been infected with the 10-20-30 virus. So here's what I was doing 10, 20, and 30 years ago.

1997 -- I had just moved out here to Southern California with my wife, Darlene. We had felt the Lord's prompting for me to go into worship ministry. Hadn't found a church yet, so I was teaching guitar and piano lessons, and we were both desperately looking for work. We lived with Darlene's parents the first few months we were out here. That was plenty.

1987 -- Spent a crazy year in Boston at Berklee College of Music. Worked at a pushcart selling t-shirts. The best thing I can say about this year was that I learned how God's Holy Spirit keeps hold of us even when we are disobedient.

1977 -- Wow. I was 10. I was the second smallest kid in my class (Thanks, Randy McDonald), and had thick glasses. My home church was Garden Park Mennonite Brethren Church. When I dream about church, that's still the place, more often than not, where I am. Had a great science teacher in school, who let me draw little cartoons on my assignments. Learned to like adults better than kids, and family better than school.

Confession

2007-08-28T12:34:00.000-07:00

Let’s tackle another auto-pilot verse. This is one of the ones we learn early in the Christian life, whether it’s in Sunday School, VBS, or a new believer’s discipleship class.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

(1Jo 1:9 NASB)

I carried this verse around with me for most of my Christian life, thinking that this meant, “When I sin, I’ll just pray a little confession prayer, and my sin is gone. Nobody else ever has to know, and it’s as if I’d never sinned.” If someone questioned me about my sin, I could lie my way out of it. Now that’s another sin, but of course it’s again easily remedied by my little confession prayer.

Reading it in context provides a different perspective on John’s meaning in this verse:

This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.

(1Jo 1:5-10 NASB)

Notice the “one another” buried in the middle of that passage. I am beginning to realize that the confession that John is talking about may mean more than confessing in a private prayer to God. The fellowship spoken of here is both with God and with His church. The more I meditate on this passage, the more I am convinced that John is prescribing the antidote to the masks that we wear in the church. An earlier letter to the church says:

Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.

(Jam 5:16 NASB)

Fellowship comes from walking in the light together. If we withhold our sins from one another, we lose fellowship, and we lose the opportunity for healing. Perhaps fellowship is the instrument that God uses to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

It’s a scary thought, living in that sort of transparency. But the steps I have begun to take in this direction have helped me to look at this as more of an invitation than a command.

In any case, it’s not what I learned in Sunday School. Your thoughts?

A Spiritual Worship Service

2007-08-27T15:54:00.000-07:00

As long as we’re on the subject of going on auto-pilot with familiar passages, I’d like to continue in this thread. Romans 12:1-2 gets a lot of coverage:

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

(Rom 12:1-2 NASB)

What a rich passage! It seems I could camp out in there for an eternity, considering what it means to offer my body as a sacrifice to God. And being transformed, renewing my mind, proving God’s good, acceptable and perfect will; these are amazing commands and promises for the believer. That’s what I want for my life!

But wait. Let’s see what follows:

For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

(Rom 12:3-5 NASB)

You mean, once I have this sacrificed body, this transformed mind, knowing the will of God, I’m supposed to be humble? I thought this was supposed to make me better than those other people! You mean I’m stuck here? What is that supposed to do for my self-esteem?

Paul goes on to describe how we use the gifts we have in the body of Christ. Each one does according to his gift: prophesying, teaching, exhorting, giving, aiding, being merciful, and so on. This is the spiritual act of worship, the living sacrifice Paul is talking about. It happens in the body of Christ, the church. It’s not solitaire.

Paul loves to talk about the living, breathing connection we have with one another as the body of Christ. Because it’s so obviously filled with love! Listen:

Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.

(Rom 12:9-13 NASB)

What a beautiful place the church is when this happens! It has little to do with what music is being sung, how cool the sanctuary looks, or the worship leader’s haircut. Those who live out the fullness of this passage in authenticity are true worshipers.

Unity in Worship

2007-08-27T09:08:00.000-07:00

Have you ever found yourself, while reading scripture, going on auto-pilot when you come to a passage that is familiar to you? Perhaps it’s one of those verses you learned early in your life, or one you’ve memorized as part of a study.

It’s easy to forget the context, and even the full meaning, of those scriptures as we read them. In my case, here is a passage that I love:

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

(Phi 2:5-11 NASB)

What a great study this is on the character of Jesus Christ! I have studied this, incorporated it into song, sung many other songs based upon it, and committed it to memory. What I often do as I am reading in Philippians 2 is skim right past this:

Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

(Phi 2:1-4 NASB)

In other words, if there is anything to this gospel at all, we must have the same mind, love, spirit, and purpose! And we must do this out of humility! Needless to say, I have not found many songs about this. And I certainly haven’t (yet) written any!

But notice what amazing power is there as we consider this. As we humble ourselves, as we empty ourselves, as we unite ourselves in spirit and purpose, we will see the encouragement of Christ, the consolation of love and the fellowship of the Spirit. We will see affection and compassion grow in our lives and in our churches.

The only way for us to be of one mind is to take the example of our Lord in humility. This is the only way to heal division in the church. This is the only way to present the gospel to the world. This is the only way that we can truly worship together.

Spam Haiku

2007-06-08T14:57:00.000-07:00

Just for fun:

1.      Bluish can of steel
        What promise do you hold?
        Salty flesh so ripe

2.      Can of metal, slick
        Soft center, so cool, moistening
        I yearn for your salt

3.      Twist, pull the sharp lid
        Jerks and cuts me deeply but
        Spam, aah, my poultice

4.      Silent former pig
        One communal awareness
        Myriad pink bricks

5.      Clad in metal, proud
        No mere salt-curing for you
        You are not bacon

6.      And who dares mock Spam?
        You? you? you are not worthy
        Of one rich pink fleck

7.      Like some spongy rock
        A granite, my piece of Spam
        Sunlight on my plate

8.      Little slab of meat
        In a wash of clear jelly
        Now I heat the pan

9.      Oh tin of pink meat
        I ponder what you may be:
        Snout or ear or feet?

10.     In the cool morning
        I fry up a slab of Spam
        A dog barks next door

11.     Pink tender morsel
        Glistening with salty gel
        What the heck is it?

12.     Ears, snouts and innards
        A homogeneous mass
        Pass another slice

13.     Old man seeks doctor
        "I eat Spam daily", he says.
        Angioplasty

14.     Hardly natural
        Tortured shape, elastic food
        A small pink coffin

15.     Pink beefy temptress
        I can no longer remain
        Vegetarian

The Body of Christ (again)

2007-03-14T11:55:00.000-07:00

Ephesians 4:11-16 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (ESV)

Worship leaders don't make Paul's explicit list. Our job description is more often taken from the OT. Lately, so are most of the worship songs, I've noticed. Lots of Psalms, some of the prophets. I see on the blogs lots of songwriters talking about expressing themselves to God (a very Psalm-like aim). In itself, there's nothing wrong with that. But I've seen it stated that that's the only thing that matters in a worship song. And I can't agree with that.

The role of a worship leader can include many, if not all, of the roles outlined in this passage. Apostles proclaim what they've experienced. Prophets call people to align themselves to God's ways. Evangelists seek to expose people to the Good News. Shepherds guide, comfort, and care for the flock. Teachers, well, teach.

Now, obviously, different people are gifted in different ways. No one person will have all those gifts, whether a senior pastor (minister, preacher), worship leader, elder, or whoever. That's why we need each other, and that's why we're a body.

But let's get back to songs for a moment. Are there songs out there that proclaim, that prophesy, that evangelize, that comfort, that teach? Is it acceptable to use them on Sunday?

And look at the end to which these things are done. Equipping, building up the body of Christ, attaining to unity of the faith and knowledge of the Son of God.

Obviously, we need more than songs that praise God for His beautiful creation. Our worship must, must, be Christ-centered. Worship is absolutely incomplete without Jesus. Worship cannot get to the Father without the Son. Worship cannot be "Spirit-led" without the Son.

May God move us to broaden our worship to encompass the fullness of Him who fills all in all!

“Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”

Spirit and truth

2006-09-08T13:53:00.000-07:00

I'm really wrestling right now with how to go deeper in corporate worship. There's a discipleship issue here, something for the leader to actually lead the congregation in. Part of it, of course, has to do with music, but the fact is that music is just the frosting on the cake of our overall worship lives.

In John chapter 4, Jesus talks to the woman at the well about worshiping God in spirit and truth. Spirit is the part of our lives where we connect with God the deepest. Truth, of course, is God's word. But it's also the truth of where we line up with God's word.

If we're lacking spirit, the deep personal connection with God, the truth will be there, but will be ineffective in our lives. If we're lacking truth, God's intimate presence will not change us.

Lately I've been filling myself with lots of truth, but I notice that I'm lacking in spirit. The willingness to connect with God, to say "yes" to Him at the deepest level, is what I'm struggling with. My prayers are that God would speak, touch and change my heart.

The Body of Christ

2006-08-25T11:10:00.000-07:00

Over the past several years, there's been a trend toward approaching worship "vertically." We're told as worship leaders to lead people in direct, first-person worship of God; to sing songs to God rather than songs about God. But that, by itself, affirms an individualistic attitude that should be foreign to the body of Christ. For we are one body, members of one another, with a single head, who is Christ (Ephesians 4). And we should encourage one another, stimulating each other to love and good deeds (Hebrews 10).

I'm challenged to find and to write songs that aim towards this horizontal encouragement. One needs both the vertical (which is of course greater) and the horizontal to make a cross. Putting both together completes the sacrifice of worship.

By way of further introduction. . .

2006-08-24T14:54:00.000-07:00

I'm also a writer of worship songs. I recently released a CD entitled, "All Glory" (hence the name of the blog). The title song was recently signed to a publishing agreement with Word Music. The CD is available by contacting me through my website.

As far as the blog goes, I'm interested in creating a dialogue about how we worship in the church. I'm very much a church guy, so it's my goal to see these things worked out in the body of Christ. Obviously, worship means far more than just music, but music is our opportunity to say and sing things that we believe corporately. I'm looking forward to hearing your comments and responses.

2006-08-23T13:27:00.000-07:00

Greetings from David Paul Regier! I'm a worship leader in Temecula, CA. Just thought I'd set up a blog so we can share thoughts and meditations about the glorious Creator of the heavens and the earth.

Blessings,

David