Brian Dolleman's Blog

I was doing some reading yesterday.

Specifically, I was reading from the Bible Reading Plan—it had me in John chapter 12.

I was struck with the experiential nature of worship described…

First, a woman pours expensive perfume all over Jesus’ feet. Judas flips his lid—calling it a waste of resources, but Jesus defends her.

Next, a large crowd gathers around Jesus. They had palm branches (not sure really what they were doing with ‘em—I’ve always pictured them waving the branches around) and they shouted some good stuff about Jesus.

What I’m noticing about the worship described in these stories: there were smells, sounds and stuff.

Their worship was experiential.

Mary, the woman who poured perfume on Jesus’ feet, went home smelling like the perfume.

The crowd broke branches off palm trees.

Maybe their hands smelled like palm branches.

Maybe someone got a sliver in their finger.

And they shouted… they were yelling things.

Maybe someone went home with a hoarse voice.

Maybe some of them woke up the next morning with no voice left.

I think what I’m saying is that worship is more than just reciting something.

It’s more than singing along.

It’s experiential.

It might cost you something.

It might make you sweat (or even stink).

It could cause you to lose your voice.

You might even get a sliver.

It’s all good—embrace the experience.

Worship is experiential.

The Israelites were subjected to harsh conditions as slaves in Egypt.

God heard their prayers, their cries for help.

God raised up Moses to lead them out of Egypt.

God sent plagues to Egypt in order to frustrate Pharaoh, Egypt’s leader.

God opened up the Red Sea so the people could cross over on dry ground.

God provided bread from heaven and plenty of quail for the people to eat in the desert.

God provided water for them to drink from a rock.

Moses went up a mountain to meet with God for several days.

A few days later, the people forget about God and decide to make their own god…

Aaron (Moses’ brother) leads the way, collects gold, and makes a golden calf for them to worship.

“The people responded with enthusiasm: ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from Egypt!’” (Exodus 32.4 MSG)

They gave credit to the cow for all that God had done.

It seems ridiculous, doesn’t it?

I want to call them a bunch of idiots…

And then I realize, we do the same thing.

We credit the cow—we praise our efforts as if that’s why we’ve come this far.

Our rule keeping, morality, accomplishments and achievements are just hand-crafted golden cows.

Paul reminded the Ephesian church of this truth:

“Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role, If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. (Ephesians 2.8-10 MSG)

Here’s another way to say it:

Don’t credit yourself—don’t credit the cow. Give God all the credit.

Most of my memories of what we did in church during my growing up years wouldn’t exactly fit in a category labeled “celebration”.

We did other things (not bad things—but not really celebratory things)… things like “waiting on God” and “crying out to God”. Our “worship face” was usually some version of a pained expression.

Of course, the kid’s songs in Sunday School were fun, energetic and pretty celebratory.

Unfortunately, as we grew older, the mood of the songs we sang became more and more melancholy.

When God delivered his people out of slavery in Egypt, through the Red Sea, they celebrated.

They weren’t just celebrating their new situation or their new location.

They were celebrating Him.

They wrote a new song—they sang it. They danced and they celebrated.

Here are some lines from their song (found in Exodus 15):

I’m singing my heart out to God—what a victory!
God is my strength, God is my song, and yes! God is my salvation.
This is the kind of God I have and I’m telling the world.
This is the God of my father—I’m spreading the news far and wide!
Who compares with you in power, in holy majesty, in awesome praises, wonder-working God?

The number of people singing, dancing and celebrating: about 2 million.

That must have been some noise. Makes me wonder if the ground shook…

During the recent Seahawks playoff win against the New Orleans Saints, Marshawn Lynch ran 67-yards and broke 8 tackles for a touchdown. The crowd’s wild celebration registered as a small (magnitude 1 or 2) earthquake on a seismometer 100 yards from the stadium. http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2011/01/stomping-by-elated-seahawk-fans-on-pivotal-play-caused-local-quake/1

The Seahawks are still in the playoffs. Who knows what will happen next?

Our God is not in the playoffs—He’s already won the victory for us and He deserves to be celebrated.

To celebrate means “to proclaim the glory of….”

Synonyms and related words: bless, exalt, glorify, magnify, resound, adore, worship, acclaim, applaud, commend, hail, salute, cheer.

Maybe your experience in church has been somber, restrained, quiet, reserved, or even depressing.

Perhaps much of what you’ve experienced in church wouldn’t fit in a category labeled “celebration”.

I say, it’s time for us to cross over—into that place of celebrating our great God.

Let’s celebrate Him.

I noticed something recently… my blog is all work and no play.

It’s time for some fun.

I love style and fashion.

My favorite fashion blog is the Sartorialist.

The Sartorialist (also known as Scott Shumann) is the subject of a new mini documentary by Intel.

Maybe you will enjoy it as much as I did…

After saving my hard-earned money for months, I finally had enough to buy it—the brand new, bright yellow, Sport Sony Walkman. Man, I loved that 1984 Sony Walkman!

I remember listening to U2’s Joshua Tree album (cassette tape) on it.

My Sony Walkman went places with me and it looked great hanging on my belt (only problem: it was 6lbs and made my pants fall off).

It played my favorite hits of the 80’s.

Did I mention that I loved my 1984 Sony Walkman?

Fast forward—time moved on…

Things changed, as they always do.

Technology progressed.

Eventually, they stopped selling cassette players and cassettes.

CD’s were the new thing.

Soon my precious ’84 Sony Walkman was a clunker.

Next came the digital revolution.

MP3’s.

The iPod.

Still today, I have fond memories of my 1984 yellow Sony Walkman.

Heck, I’ll even give myself permission to love it… but I’d be an absolute fool to hate what replaced it.

Seriously, the iPod I have today isn’t just better than my ’84 Sony Walkman—it’s better than my first computer!

Here’s what I’m driving at…

You can love ____________ (fill in the blank) from the past, but you would be a fool to hate what took its place.

You have permission to love the 1984 Sony Walkman (or whatever it is from the past that you have fond memories of— a technology, a song, a method, a style, traditions, a building, a format, an arrangement, relationships, etc.).

This is the real kicker…

While you have permission to love the 1984 Sony Walkman, you also have a responsibility to embrace the new!

Permission to love the old; responsibility to embrace the new.

Remember: yesterday’s home run won’t win today’s game.

Picture in your mind a trailer—one that has arrived and has been in that same spot for years now…

Brittle, cracked, flat tires with weeds growing out of them.

Moss and other plants thriving on the roof.

This trailer may have arrived…

But it’s stuck.

Stuck = unmovable, done, finished, over, going nowhere—the best days are all in the past now.

Beware of “arriving”.

We tend to celebrate arrival (graduation, marriage, career, parenthood, retirement).

Unfortunately, we also tend to get stuck soon after arriving.

When we’re stuck, we become brittle, cracked and weeds start growing out of us.

And moss grows on us.

After leaving Egypt, God’s people looked like a trailer that got stuck in the desert.

They spent 40 years there as if they had “arrived” – but their time in the desert was only supposed to be an 11 day walk to somewhere else… (Deuteronomy 1.2)

Even Paul – the “super apostle” – knew the danger of arriving: “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on…” (Philippians 3.12 NIV).

Kevin Plank, the founder and CEO of Under Armour, recently said: “What I do know is that we have not yet built our defining product at Under Armour. We are not living in the past. Our larger competitors are 20 times our size. There is running room all over.”

I really love that line: “There is running room all over.”

Beware of “arriving”.

Moving forward, growing, changing, learning and pressing on is a bigger deal than arriving.

Graduated? Keep studying, learning, achieving.

Married? Keep dating, growing, loving, learning.

Got your career? Keep producing, climbing, inventing, creating.

Got kids? Keep growing younger, live, laugh, embrace each season.

Retired? Keep investing, serving, blessing, contributing, loving, encouraging.

I know we like to celebrate arrival, but I think it’s just as important (probably more important) to celebrate movement and progress.

Keep going—your race isn’t over yet!

The start of a new year brings a sense of new opportunity and hope for a better tomorrow.

Maybe you’ve been going in circles for a long time.

Maybe 2010 sucked.

Maybe it’s time for you to start moving towards a better tomorrow.

God delivered his people out of slavery in Egypt, through the Red Sea, into the desert—and on their way to the Promised Land.

Unfortunately, they got stuck in the desert for a long time.

Aimless wandering.

Going in circles.

Frustration.

Finally, God told his people it’s time for you to start moving towards a better tomorrow: “You have circled this mountain long enough. Now turn north…” (Deuteronomy 2.3 NASB).

Here’s the Message paraphrase of that verse; “You’ve been going around in circles in these hills long enough…”

Maybe today you need to hear that same message: “You’ve been going around in circles long enough—and it’s time to start moving towards a better tomorrow.”

We’ve already crossed over from 2010 to 2011.

I say, let the cross over continue…

Let’s keep moving forward, believing for greater days.

I like how the Apostle Paul said it: “I have not yet reached my goal, and I am not perfect. But Christ has taken hold of me. So I keep running…” (Philippians 3.12 CEV).

It’s pretty simple really—we’re not where we used to be (thank God!), and we haven’t yet arrived… so we keep moving towards a better tomorrow.

“Now you and all the people prepare to cross over…” (Joshua 1.2 HCSB)

The cross over is that place of change, transition or movement from one place to another.

Crossing over requires faith, strength and courage.

Change can be unsettling, but it’s no time to curl up in a ball and wish for the “good ol’ days”.

If you live with the belief that your best days are behind you—you will inevitably be pulled backwards.

If you live with the belief your best days are still before you—you push forward.

We use bridges to cross over—moving from one place to another, from where we’ve been to where we’re going.

Bridges aren’t destinations, they are cross over points.

There are no U-turns on bridges.

You can’t drive backwards when you’re on a bridge.

Bridges in large cities often have tow trucks on either side, ready to quickly tow stalled vehicles from the bridge.

In life, we must move ahead, press on, push forward… cross over.

Here’s how the Apostle Paul said it: “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on… forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. I press on toward the goal…” (Philippians 3.12-14 NKJV).

Never get stuck!

Keep learning, growing and changing.

Your best days are ahead—not behind you.

It’s embarrassing how little, insignificant things can trigger a mood swing—causing me to go from normal to jerk in 4.2 seconds. I recently had an incident like this at Radio Shack. Ugh. Embarrassing.

When I think about the story of Joseph (Mary’s fiancé), I’m struck with how many opportunities he had to loose his cool (finding out his fiancé is pregnant and he’s not the father, long road trip with his fiancé in her third trimester of pregnancy, crowded village with no hotel rooms available, etc.).

Matthew 1.19 says, “Joseph was a good man…”

Here’s my interpretation of that verse: “Joseph wasn’t a jerk.”

In my book, he had plenty of reasons to flip his lid—but he didn’t. He kept his cool.

It’s easy to be nice when everything is going your way… but not so much when bad news comes.

Maybe Good News—when it gets ahold of us—changes us.

Good News has the power to change jerks, transforming them into good guys. Think about Zacchaeus, the jerk tax-collector-thug—he was transformed into a compassionate philanthropist; think about the naked guy who ran around the cemetery howling and cutting himself—he was transformed into a sane, normal, contributing member of society.

Good News people aren’t jerks (we shouldn’t be—not if the Good News has really gotten ahold of us).

Good News People readily admit they aren’t always right. Jerks are always right.

Good News People have soft hearts. Jerks have mean, tough, calloused hearts.

Good News People are open to redirection, correction and are willing to be led. Jerks refuse to be led.

Good News People have positive attitudes even when the news is negative. Jerks have attitude problems.

Good News People speak graciously. Jerks dish out an endless supply of cruel and hurtful words.

Good News People are kind and willing to be inconvenienced by others. Jerks are gifted in the art of putting themselves first.

Don’t be a jerk.

Nobody’s perfect. We know that already.

But we can be Good News people—good guys who…

• are able to admit it when we’re wrong
• have soft hearts
• are open to redirection and correction, willing to be led
• keep a positive attitude even when the news is negative
• are gracious in our speech
• are kind and willing to be inconvenienced by others
• are willing to be used by God

Every baby I’ve seen wears the official baby uniform: a onesie.

When Jesus was born, he didn’t have much—not the latest and greatest from Babies “R” Us, not a crib, not a rattle, not a binkie… not even a onesie.

Here’s how the Bible tells it: “She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.” (Luke 2.7 NLT)

Baby Jesus didn’t even have a onesie.

He didn’t have the official baby uniform—but he was clothed; he was cared for and provided for.

Ya know, it’s easy to come up with long lists of all the things we don’t have (and all the things we wish we had).

Unfortunately, when we’re consumed with list-making, we quickly lose sight of all the blessings we already have.

Rather than complaining about what we don’t have, maybe we should celebrate what we do have.

Mary didn’t have a onesie for her newborn baby—but she had strips of cloth for him.

Good News people are conscious of their blessings.

Good News people make the most of every situation.

Good News people celebrate what they have.

Good News people are content.

Good News people are grateful.