The Sacrament of the New Year

How has 2012 been for you so far? Do you already feel like you're falling behind or are you on track, and ready to go into the rest of the year with confidence and faith?

There's always so much hype around a New Year that it can be tempting to just ignore the whole thing. After all it's just a few numbers on a calendar, isn't it? Well, I want to suggest that there's another way to look at New Year. I believe that it can be an incredible opportunity, or even better - a sacrament. The sacraments are ordinary things that are part of our everyday lives – bread, wine, water – that God fills with God's presence and purpose in order to touch us and transform us. One of the reasons for the sacraments is to teach us to view all things – every situation, every person, every moment – as a potential sacrament.

So, what is the “sacrament” of New Year? I believe it is a time when we are called to remember one of the most liberating truths of the Gospel – that God is a God of new beginnings. Right from the first, whenever someone failed, or got lost, or was hurt in some way, God was there offering a new start. Abram, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David, the prophets all experienced new beginnings and were able to touch others with God's grace because of it. Through Christ, many broken and desperate people were given new lives, new hope and new connection with God. God is the God of new beginnings, and New Year offers us the invitation to experience this again for ourselves.

For most people 2011 was a tough year. But, now we're at the start of a New Year. Yes, it's just numbers on a calendar, but it creates a space for us to pause, reflect, take stock and reset our life's direction. It creates a way for us to lay aside what has passed and start again.

2012 may already have started badly for you. Well, it's still not too late to begin again. Each month offers another new beginning. Each week, each day is a blessed gift from the God of second chances. How would it be if you embraced this sacrament this year? Imagine taking each new day, each new week, each new month, each new season, as a new beginning and opening yourself to the hope and possibility that God offers. This one thought, lived and applied, really can change your entire 2012!

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John van de Laar is a Methodist minister, liturgical consultant and the author of the book Food for the Road – Life Lesson from the Lord’s Table. He holds a Master’s Degree in theology from UNISA, and is the founder of Sacredise.com, an international worship training and resourcing ministry. John is married to Debbie, and they have two sons.

Visit www.sacredise.com for more articles by John, as well as resources for personal and public worship – music, prayers, liturgies, images and drama scripts.

Christmas Eyes

I love the story of the shepherds in the Christmas narrative. To begin with, they find themselves in a very ordinary situation - out on the hillside, while everyone else is in their warm homes asleep. But, then, suddenly, the whole scene is unexpectedly changed. Radiance surrounds them, and they’re seeing angels, receiving messages, and even hearing choirs. No wonder they were afraid. They were terrified not just for their safety, I bet. They must have been frightened for their sanity!

I can’t imagine what they actually saw, or what the experience really felt like for them, but as Luke recounts the story, we find the angel speaking, and it’s an almost ridiculous message. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Saviour - yes, the Messiah, the Lord - has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!” So far so good. But, then he goes on: “And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:10-12 NLT). The shepherds must have been looking for the hidden cameras right about now. Someone who is called “Saviour”, “Messiah” and “Lord” is going to be found in a feeding trough? This is not the obvious place to look for a child of significance at all.

But, here’s where I am challenged by the shepherds. They make the choice to open their eyes and see this coming of God’s Messiah into their world. They somehow have the eyes to look beyond their expectations, their stereotypes about wealth, celebrity, status and importance, and see God in this most unexpected of places. They have the humility to believe that someone of significance can appear in a place that feels completely insignificant. They have the capacity to embrace the ridiculousness of the message, and find the glory in it - and as a result, they become the first witnesses to God’s miraculous incarnation.

The Scriptures are always calling us to this kind of seeing, this choice to open our eyes, and, with childlike wonder, find God where God (according to our sensibilities and expectations) shouldn’t be. The incarnation of God in Christ is not really a surprise when you trace God’s presence through human history. In truth, God has always been appearing, coming, incarnating in all sorts of ways. For those who were willing to let their usual way of seeing go, God was happy to speak through donkeys, appear in smoke and fire, and stillness, and be revealed in outcasts, foreigners and ‘sinners’.

God almost seems to take great glee in hiding from us in the most unexpected - and offensive - places. Perhaps this is because until we can find God in the places we believe God has forsaken, we haven’t really known God at all. And when we can see God’s presence in feeding troughs and insignificant villages, in babies and teenage mothers, we can suddenly see God everywhere. The entire world becomes filled with incarnation - with God revealed and present and working in every person and place and moment.

May our celebrations this year teach us to see the world with Christmas eyes, and to recognise God in every one of what Mother Teresa called his “distressing disguises”.

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John van de Laar is a Methodist minister, liturgical consultant and the author of the book Food for the Road – Life Lesson from the Lord’s Table. He holds a Master’s Degree in theology from UNISA, and is the founder of Sacredise.com, an international worship training and resourcing ministry. John is married to Debbie, and they have two sons.

Visit www.sacredise.com for more articles by John, as well as resources for personal and public worship – music, prayers, liturgies, images and drama scripts.

Advent Irony

It’s common, in this Festive Season, to hear people of faith complain about the consumerism, the materialism, the commercialism, and all manner of other “-isms” that abound at this time of year. We long for people to see the real “reason for the season” and to slow down enough to be open to receive the God who comes to us in Advent. Am I the only one who sees the irony here?

I have been part of the Church for pretty much my whole life, and in active ministry for more than half of it. I have served in a number of different capacities, organisations and denominations, and I have been connected with a number more. If there is one thing I have always been amused and challenged by, it’s our capacity to miss the point of our own message – and Advent is no exception.

It is common at this time of year for Churches to pull out all the stops and go to great lengths to create the most vibrant, dramatic and impactful expression of the Christmas story we can. I know this because I’ve been doing it for two decades. But, ironically, even as we point to the simplicity of the Christ Child born in a manger to parents of modest means, we may be tempted to shun all simplicity in the creation of our celebrations. As we praise God for coming to us in unexpected ways, in ordinary places and people, in surprising moments of peace, joy, love and hope, we may easily find ourselves so rushed and busy that we have no time to actually experience the presence of God that we proclaim. As we speak about the importance of following this Christ in ways of love and sacrifice, we may be hard pressed to avoid excess in our end-of-year parties, our gift buying and even in our Christmas services.

Not all of this is bad. It is a good thing to celebrate and to mark significant moments in special ways. It is good to be reminded of the joy of giving gifts and to have opportunities to worship with great creativity. If, however, our celebration leads us to be less mindful of the Child we celebrate, we have no right to protest at the inappropriateness of the celebrations around us.

I’m reminded of a story I once read about a proud couple who invited family and friends to a party to celebrate the baptism of their new baby. The special event happened in the midst of a very cold winter, and as the guests arrived, their coats were thrown on to the bed in the master bedroom while they enjoyed the warmth of the celebration. After some time someone mentioned that the baby, whom they all come to see, was strangely absent. After a few minutes of searching, the parents discovered to their horror that the child was lying under all the coats on the master bed – now dead from suffocation.

The point is clear. Whatever we may be dealing with this Advent, however we may choose to celebrate the coming of the incarnate Christ, let us not get so caught up in our busyness and creativity that the simple reality of God’s presence is lost to us. May our eyes and ears and hearts remain ever open – especially as we worship – to the God who is always available to those who seek.

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John van de Laar is a Methodist minister, liturgical consultant and the author of the book Food for the Road – Life Lesson from the Lord’s Table. He holds a Master’s Degree in theology from UNISA, and is the founder of Sacredise.com, an international worship training and resourcing ministry. John is married to Debbie, and they have two sons.

Visit www.sacredise.com for more articles by John, as well as resources for personal and public worship – music, prayers, liturgies, images and drama scripts.

The Fruit Of Worship

Author, speaker and theologian, Leonard Sweet, in an interview once made this telling comment:
“People will come to church. They will get into their cars and barrel down the highway 50 to 60 miles an hour. They are two to three feet from other cars. They are two to three feet from strangers, trusting them not to bang into them. They are ten feet away from cars that are coming straight into them. We take huge life and death risks trusting strangers to get there. When we get to church, we immediately freeze up and play it safe.”
(Find the interview here: http://portal.vineyard.ca/index.cfm?i=10024&mid=12&id=200002082)

Worship in many churches, it seems, has become the place where nothing changes. In a reaction to this some churches have made themselves all about change. Anything that smacks of tradition, routine or ritual is thrown out in favour of the new, the spontaneous, the innovative. Yet, in my experience, even these churches often don’t really embrace the kind of change that matters. Every Sunday churches fill with worshippers, yet research has shown that all of this worship has made little difference to our lives. Worshippers are just as likely as anyone else to get divorced, commit adultery, become addicted, or cheat on their taxes (See the book “UnChristian” by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons).

I firmly believe that one of the primary reasons our world is wrestling with such huge crises is that we have lost our ability to truly worship. We have made worship about a good feeling, about a weekly “fix” that inspires and energises us, about rehearsing for an eternity spent in some otherworldly bliss. But, our worship has increasingly disconnected us from the world and its problems. As Wendell Berry wrote:

“If it comes to a choice between the extermination of the fowls of the air and the lilies of the field and the extermination of the building fund, the organised church will elect – indeed, has already elected – to save the building fund… [T]he fowls of the air and the lilies of the field can be preserved only by true religion, by the practice of a proper love and respect for them as creatures of God. No wonder so many sermons are devoted exclusively to “spiritual” subjects. If one is living by the tithes of history’s most destructive economy, then the disembodiment of the soul becomes the chief of worldly conveniences.” (Wendell Berry, What Are People For? (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1990), 95-96. Quoted in McLaren, Brian D., Everything Must Change (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2007), p.141f.)

It’s time for us to change how we approach worship. It’s time for us to allow worship to change us. It’s time for us to leave worship as those who have been recruited as agents of God’s change in the world. This does mean that we will need to be inspired and empowered by our encounter with God, but it also means that the energy we receive in our gatherings cannot be squandered on ourselves for the sake of a good feeling. Rather, it must be used to strengthen us for the task of working for justice, peace, equity and restoration for all.

This is why the final word of worship, the “good word” of the benediction, is so important. It is not just a way to end the gathering. It is a call to action, a set of marching orders for those who have enlisted in the mission of God’s Reign. My prayer is that each week our worship will end a little like the way the “Mission Impossible” stories usually begin – “Your mission should you choose to accept it…” And once we’ve heard the call, I pray that we may have the faith and courage to embrace it and go into our lives as people with a vision of a different world, and the commitment to bring it about. For, in the end, if this is not what worship is about, what is the point, really?
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John van de Laar is a Methodist minister, liturgical consultant and the author of the book Food for the Road – Life Lesson from the Lord’s Table. He holds a Master’s Degree in theology from UNISA, and is the founder of Sacredise.com, an international worship training and resourcing ministry. John is married to Debbie, and they have two sons.

Visit www.sacredise.com for more articles by John, as well as resources for personal and public worship – music, prayers, liturgies, images and drama scripts.

When Worship Overflows

In the last few years I have had a number of conversations with people who have either stopped attending worship gatherings or find them deeply painful and frustrating. I can understand their reaction, and, when they tell me about the ways they encounter God in nature or through beautiful art, I resonate with their experiences. Yet, I remain deeply committed to the weekly gathering of Church.

I believe that one of the reasons for the current disillusionment with worship relates to our language. It has become increasingly common to speak of worship as a “lifestyle”. The intention is to emphasise how what we do on Sunday should overflow into the rest of our lives, but the language of “lifestyle” doesn’t really help us here. Rather, referring to worship as a lifestyle has simply confused us as to what our worship gatherings are really meant to do. If worship is a “lifestyle”, then why do I need to meet in church? I can worship just as well in the cinema, the art gallery, the wilderness or the golf course.

Which is why I prefer to speak of worship as a spiritual discipline. A spiritual discipline is a practice that we engage in regularly in order to form our spirituality – to change us into people who reflect the attitudes, ethics, values and actions of Christ. When we see worship this way, we begin to recognise that the only reason we can truly and effectively worship God in nature or in art is because we have learned how to worship God through the practice of the discipline of worship. This means that we do not need to choose between worship in church and worship outside of it. Rather, we allow what we do in church to train us for what we do outside of church.

We also stop expecting the worship gathering to be more than it is intended to be. We do not come to worship to get a weekly “fix” to carry us through the week (because if this is what we’re expecting, when worship doesn’t uplift or inspire us, we will feel deprived). Rather, we come to worship to learn the practices that we carry with us through the week and that enable us to remain in constant communion with God, no matter where we are or what we’re doing.

When we really understand this, two significant changes happen. The first is that we stop focussing on getting a “good feeling” from our worship. We come to worship, instead, like musicians practicing scales, or sports people going through fitness exercises. We come to learn and grow and be equipped for the business of living. The second change is that we stop making worship an end in itself. We recognise that our worship can only be completed in lives that emulate Christ and that embody the vision of God’s reign that we receive in church.

All of which brings me back to a small, but very important, practice – the Benediction. As people of “The Word” we believe in the power of words to change us. This means that the final words that are spoken in a service are very, very powerful. The climax of the worship is not the song just before the sermon, nor even the sermon itself. Rather the climax comes as the last words are spoken, sending us out to live out what we have been practicing for the last hour or so. These last words are the gift that we carry with us into the rest of our week, the final command that lets us know what we are to do to live the Gospel in our own corner of the world.

Ultimately our neighbours will only know that we have truly worshipped by the difference they see in our lives, and by the difference we bring to theirs. If we will open ourselves to the lessons of the worship gathering, and receive the final words as a call to action, then everyone will know that we have encountered God – because they will encounter God through us.

Being Sent

There’s an old hymn that, in its day, created quite a bit of debate in the circles in which I moved. It went like this:

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace”.

I know that there may be some valid reasons behind the writer’s decision to include those words in the hymn, but I have always struggled with what that line has meant for those who sing it. In so many ways it can be tempting to see worship as an escape from the world and its struggles – a retreat from the daily wrestle for justice and peace, and a place to imagine, for a moment, that we are already in the heavenly bliss that awaits us in the future. But, when we allow worship to be viewed this way, it loses its purpose and power.

When we gather for worship there are at least two significant truths that, I believe, should impact us and change us. The first is that God’s Reign – or heaven, if you will – is not so much something that we can only experience after we die. Rather, as we sing and pray together we are reminded that heaven is among us and within us, and that we can experience and live God’s Reign in our lives now. The second truth is that worship does not offer us an escape from the world, but rather challenges us to engage the world from God’s perspective. So, rather than the things of earth growing “strangely dim” they should be growing “strangely clear” in the light of God’s presence and purposes.

When our worship is driven by these two truths, we cannot help but take what we do in church out into the streets. We can only claim to have worshipped authentically when our worship changes how we speak and act, how we choose to spend our money and cast our vote, how we interact with others and participate in works of justice. If other people don’t see a difference in us after we have worshipped, I wonder whether we have really worshipped at all.

Which is why the final act of worship carries such significance. The benediction, or blessing, that closes most worship gatherings is also a moment of challenge and sending. It’s a final call to commitment that demands a response from us. And when this call comes, if we seek to be true worshippers, we had better be listening. We cannot move into worship for a time, and then think that we can leave God and God’s call on our lives in the sanctuary as we go back to “business as usual”. No, it is how we respond to the final words that really reveal how much our worship has been a genuine giving of ourselves to God.

One of my favourite benediction prayers is an ancient one:

“Go in peace. Go in the power of the Spirit to love and serve God.”

It is difficult to hear these words without recognising that God has a claim on our lives, and that our worship must bring every thought, word and action into line with God’s purposes. The question we should be asking as we hear words like these at the end of our worship gatherings is this: have we come to worship to escape, or are we ready to be recruited into God’s service once again. I pray that more and more our answer will be like that of Isaiah - a resounding “Here I am. Send me!” (Isaiah 6:8).
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John van de Laar is a Methodist minister, liturgical consultant and the author of the book Food for the Road – Life Lesson from the Lord’s Table. He holds a Master’s Degree in theology from UNISA, and is the founder of Sacredise.com, an international worship training and resourcing ministry. John is married to Debbie, and they have two sons.

Visit www.sacredise.com for more articles by John, as well as resources for personal and public worship – music, prayers, liturgies, images and drama scripts.

Tutu urges support for 'extraordinary' Climate Change Concert

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has urged South Africans to join world faith leaders, political leaders and music stars at an “extraordinary” mass rally and afternoon concert on November 27 at the King’s Park Stadium in Durban.

The Archbishop is to host the “We Have Faith - Act Now for Climate Justice” rally and concert, at which he will lead a call to world leaders attending the COP17 climate change talks in Durban that they should reach a fair and legally binding agreement to curb climate change.

Musicians including Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Arno Carstens, rap star HHP and Kenyan Gospel rapper Juliani have confirmed they will perform at the rally, which will be free. The COP17 talks start in Durban the day after the rally.

Faith leaders including Pope Benedict XVI, Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks and Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, have also been invited. Those who cannot attend have been asked to send video clips of support.

Environmental campaigners and motivational speakers Lewis Pugh, the “human polar bear”, and Braam Malherbe, a 50/50 presenter, will be among the many who will address the crowd.

“Apartheid seemed an overwhelming challenge that could not be defeated but we mobilised and defeated it. We need the same passion and determination to defeat climate change,” says Tutu.

“Climate change is an even greater threat to us than apartheid was, because as temperatures rise, millions of Africans will be deprived of water and crops. This will cause enormous suffering. It is something we simply cannot allow.

“In the face of such a huge threat, many of us feel numb and throw up our hands, believing we can’t make a difference. But we can make a difference - come to the rally. It will be an extraordinary event. And if you cannot come, please sign our petition on www.wehavefaithactnow.org. We want to have over one million signatures on these petitions at the rally to hand over the world leaders.

“Along with the many other faith leaders in the campaign, I appeal to you all - don’t hesitate to join us. Your support could help make a world of difference in keeping our planet cool.”

At the rally, Archbishop Tutu will hand over the petition to COP17 Chair, South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, who has confirmed she will attend to receive it.

UNFCCC executive secretary Christina Figueres has confirmed she will attend the rally, and President Jacob Zuma is among the many key politicians who have been invited.

The “We Have Faith” petition calls on world leaders to commit to a fair, ambitious and legally binding agreement, for a renewal of the Kyoto Protocol, and for funding to help Africa adapt to climate change.

Learners from dozens of schools throughout KwaZulu-Natal will also participate in the rally, presenting environmental-themed posters and messages to the leaders and performing song-and-dance numbers.

The faith leaders participating in the campaign are reiterating scientists’ predictions that that if greenhouse gas emissions are not curbed, by the end of the century average world temperatures will rise between 2˚C and 4˚C, and up to 6˚C in parts of Africa.

Climate change is already causing unpredictable, extreme weather across the
world, they say. Large numbers of people, especially in Africa, are struggling to survive amid increasingly severe droughts, floods and other disasters. Although Africans have done very little to cause climate change, they will be among the most devastated. A new climate change treaty is crucial to prevent enormous suffering and loss of life.


The rally starts at 2pm. Doors open at noon, and there will be local entertainment until 2pm. The event is free and all are welcome! However, as a safety and security precaution, tickets will be required to enter the Rally. Tickets will be available from November 11 at The Shark Tank Shop, the Diakonia Council of Churches and various other organisations ahead of time.

Tickets can also be collected on the day at the stadium ticket office.

For more information, log on to www.wehavefaithactnow.org, follow the campaign on Facebook (“We Have Faith - Act Now” community) and Twitter (“COP17ActNow”). Watch the YouTube video of Archbishop Tutu’s call to people to sign the petition, on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEcOT34ORXE &feature=feedu

For public queries about the rally, contact: The campaign Faith Secretariat on (031) 310 3500 / 3512.