Hot Summer...Cool Baptism

As summer winds down, the days are getting shorter and the chill of Fall is just around the corner.  The weather this summer has been incredible and because of one warm morning - I got to do something I’ve never done before.  Let me give you a little background:

I’ve made a habit for almost 20 years of running in Mill Creek Park.  Some of you have been part of that journey for me.  I’ve run with my wife, run with my kids, run with my dog, run with Dave Dravecky after his arm was amputated, and most recently a couple of very cool guys have been my companions.  One actually is a friend of my daughter’s from the high school days and the other is from here at Old North.  We’ve been meeting at 6:30 AM, logging a few miles, praying for each other, and then getting on with our days.   We talk about wives, lives, movies, kids, TV, food and many of the things that the Bible says are important.

Throughout the spring and summer, the idea of baptism has come up and it led to some interesting discussions about salvation, commitment, obedience, and obviously whether or not baptism by immersion is really as important as many of us think. The discussions waxed and waned over a few months.  Then quite unexpectedly, one morning Mike told me that he’d been reading Acts and realized that, “They took baptism very seriously, didn’t they?”;  and asked if he could be baptized “right here, right now”.  So that’s exactly what we did – we walked down the trail to Mill Creek itself, took off our shirts and shoes, and waded in.  After talking about the significance of Christ in his life and the act of obedience of baptism, I immersed him in the warm waters of that early morning.  It was one of the most significant baptisms I’ve ever experienced.

All of this reminds me that the Holy Spirit is the one who takes God’s truth and convicts our hearts.  He is the one who prompts us to obedience.  He moves in the stillness of the morning, as well as in the restlessness of our souls.  He will always exalt Christ and always teach obedience to God’s truth.

As summer winds down, I encourage you to listen…and obey!

Brent Allen

Moving Lyrics

I'm sitting in my office preparing this week's song selections and find myself deeply moved by the words of "O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing".  Check it out...

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O for a thousand tongues to sing
My great Redeemer’s praise

The glories of my God and King

The triumphs of His grace

The song begins with an expressed desire for a thousand tongues (a cool metaphor) to sing of the praise, glory, and triumphs of our great Redeemer, Jesus.

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My gracious Master and my God

Assist me to proclaim

To spread through all the earth abroad

The honors of Thy name

We then sing a petition to our gracious God to help us tell of His honor and character to all the earth.

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Jesus the name that charms our fears

That bids our sorrows cease

‘Tis music in the sinner’s ear
‘Tis life and health and peace

I love this!  "The name that charms our fears" takes me to 2 Timothy 1:7 - "God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self-control."  The gift of Jesus is truly one of joyful music, life, heath, and peace.

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He breaks the power of canceled sin

He sets the prisoner free

His blood can make the foulest clean

His blood availed for me

Here we sing of the magnificent work of Jesus on the cross.  He breaks the deadly curse and power of sin and sets the prisoner (us!) free from captivity.  His precious blood cleanses us from the stain of sin.  1 John 1:7 teaches us that "if we walk in the light, as he (God the Father) is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin."  What a great truth to meditate on!

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He speaks and listening to His voice

New life the dead receive

The mournful broken hearts rejoice

The humble poor believe

This verse speaks to the life giving power of Jesus.  As the Good Shepherd speaks and calls, His sheep hear His voice and follow Him to safety and life (cf. John 10:3).  Our broken hearts are made new!  The gift of salvation by God's grace takes us from darkness to light, death to life.

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Glory to God and praise and love

Be ever ever given

By saints below and saints above

The church in earth and heaven

The song ends with a final call for the church, both on earth and heaven, to ascribe glory, praise, and love to God.  Not only "ever" given...but "ever ever" given!

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Have a great week, everyone!

Chris Drombetta

Summer Worship

Paul told the church at Rome, "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will." (Romans 12:1-2, NIV)

In these verses, Paul ties the idea of worship to our response to God's mercy with lives of transformation, obedience, and gratitude. This is truly the heart of worship. Worship goes far beyond the twenty minutes we spend in song on Sunday morning. Worship infuses every part of our lives.

This Biblical view of worship is the lens through which we should view every individual expression of worship…including the expression of music. We highly value music and the arts at Old North. From our commitment to worshipping Jesus each week in song, to our art gallery that showcases the beauty of our Creator and His creation, we are fully committed to the creative worship experience.

Most of you are aware that we are currently without a pastor overseeing the area of worship and creative arts. One of the first steps in determining what comes next for this area of ministry is establishing a candidate assessment team, which was completed at the end of June. That team is currently praying through the next steps and includes: Lori Allen, Rick Blanco, Jackie Evans, Sherry Larson, Bob Schmid, Chris Drombetta, Ted Miller, Nick Burkert, Brent Allen, and Darla Funk.

As we go through the summer, we're looking to accomplish two simple and primary objectives in our worship services; exalting Jesus and teaching Biblical truth. One way that we're making this happen is by simplifying and streamlining our two services into a more unified format. This approach has been helpful in several areas. The first is very practical, in that, planning and organizing one service is much more efficient than planning and organizing two services. This has been very helpful as we've gone through the summer shorthanded on our staff. The second area is that for the first time in many years, we are celebrating in worship as an entire congregation with a unified expression. While musical taste and style are very personal, it's been great to take the summer and rally together around the simple truths of exalting Jesus and teaching Biblical truth in our worship.

This does not mean that we're definatively moving away from our two service formats, "blended" and "contemporary". That would be a much broader decision and one that we're not in a position to make at this juncture. However, we do know that God is calling us deeper into unity as a community of believers. We know that he's calling us to authentic, Biblical worship that exalts Jesus and teaches Biblical truth in our music.

Therefore, as we go through the summer exercising some flexibility on how to accomplish these objectives in worship, we'd ask for your prayers and input. What do you feel God calling us to do in the area of worship and arts? Is the "blended/contemporary" spilt in the services a good thing or something we should pray about moving away from? What lessons is God teaching you about what worship is and what worship is not? How do you best connect to God in the musical expression of worship? What opportunities do you see for connecting with one another and our communities in worship?

We'd encourage you to really pray through these questions and touch base with the Elders, leaders, and candidate assessment team with your insight. We are so excited about what God has in store for our church community. Thank you for your prayers and participation in this process...and thank you for your commitment to worshipping with the whole of your life, in grateful response and obedience to God's mercy!