Justice and Worship

When I was about eleven years old, for a church girls program, I was required to find the story of a missionary and do a book report on him/her. I chose to read about Mark and Huldah Buntain, and their Mission of Mercy in Calcutta. Not to sound trite, but my life was changed forever by this story. The biographer presented such a vivid picture of the absolute despair of the lost in the Third World, I think I spent the entire book in tears. In my little Midwestern farm community, there was nothing that even came close to this. I don't recall how or to whom I expressed my feelings, but I think (though I don't quite remember) that I was essentially patted on the head and we went on with our lessons and Bible memory verses.

Several years later, when I was about 16, I found myself at a missions conference at my church with a broken heart for the nations of the world...not unusual, I suppose, for a church kid-but unlike the missionaries who were planting churches and preaching the Gospel, I knew that somehow I had a different calling to be involved in missions. I knew I wasn't a preacher, and Heaven forbid I would be a teacher...(ha.) With no strong direction, my understanding of how to be involved in missions faltered, and I put it on the shelf. With a heart for worship and a love of music, I went to college as a music major. When faced with the reality of my choices there (concert pianist-not enough talent, sacred music-not interested in church music leadership, music education-forget it), I checked out after two years, and took some "time off" to figure things out.

When I was about 26, I first was introduced to YWAM and their Mercy Ships ministry, and I thought, "Aha! Here's a practical way that I can become involved in missions, at last!" I went back to college as a premed, and was determined to serve as a medical missionary and give people tangible love and a true introduction to Who Jesus is, and His love. I was quite motivated and excited about the possibility of finally doing real missions work, and I loved medicine and the prospect of a medical career.

Do you know how easy it is to get distracted from your goals by impossibilities? Well, I do. And the long and short of it is that I got distracted by how impossible it would be for me to go to medical school-at my age, with my grades, thinking of all the time away from my family, thinking of all the loans, etc, etc...Bit by bit, the dream was snatched away, and with it, the opportunity was lost. Oh, I suppose not lost entirely, but lost enough that the trade-off for the dream now comes at too great a price, mainly to my family and finances. I've consciously decided to lay down the medical dreams, and to find other ways to work out my passions-and though it has been extremely painful to do so, I believe it is truly for the best.

So here I find myself-three states away from home (since there's essentially no life for me there, to speak of), teaching a subject I care little about to rather spoiled children at a school in a wealthy community where I can (even on a strong salary) barely afford to live, in a metropolitan area known for its ambitious and materialistic population, and wondering what to DO with myself. I know I am called to a great purpose-a global purpose- and I know that my heart is for the nations of the world to experience Jesus and to understand the joy that comes with true worship, but what on earth does that look like? I've always felt torn between my love of worship and my desire for the nations, and haven't understood how to reconcile those two areas of my life. Until now.

(Allow me to interject here: as I'm writing this, I am overwhelmed by how much more there is that I'm NOT writing down that contributes to my life and worldview. My only hope is that without too much more detail, this will still attain some level of coherent thought. If not, oh well-at least I'm getting it out of my system.)

I have been thinking about attending the annual HillSong Conference in Sydney, Australia for about eight years, I think, off and on-maybe even longer. I'm so intimidated by the cost of travel TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE PLANET, that it hasn't ever actually happened-yet. My desire has always been rooted in the love of worship, and inspired by the dynamic praise that flows out of this massive church (of 20,000 +), and the incredible leadership they exhibit. This year is different.

It all started on MySpace, actually. I happened to be googling the conference, and I found a link to the HillSong United Youth Band's MySpace page. Here they present the impetus for their latest project, The I Heart Revolution. What begins as a worship album recorded around the world, continues as a feature film chronicling the global situation experienced by the band as they toured recording the album. A snippet from Joel Houston's blog:

"It (the movie) takes off exactly where part one left off.. We have literally hundreds + hundreds of hours of footage.. We've documented the entire journey, and we're putting it together in a way that captures what we've been so blessed to experience; The passion, the hunger and the urgency of a generation across the earth desperate to live the life God designed for them... We've talked to the people.. We've documented some of the best and worst the world has to offer and have told the story in a way that inspires, but also challenges us all to live the worship life that goes beyond just the confession of our lips, but would direct us toward action - Reaching out to the lost and the broken.. Helping the poor and oppressed.. Pursuing justice and fairness for all people.."

And finally, the third part of this project, the movement. This is where the project takes a wild leap away from the usual artistic social awareness campaign, and gets personal, which I LOVE. Set to launch later this year, iheart//the movement is meant to be a global online collaboration to help alleviate injustice in the world, and to truly be what Christ has called the church to; that is, to be LOVE.

If you'd like to read more about the leadership's heart for this revolution, you can find more from Joel Houston here. There's my plug, now here's where it gets personal again.

My head has been spinning for about two, maybe three months as I have attempted to assimilate the iHeart with my own heart. This resonates so deeply within me, I don't think I can effectively describe what has been going on in my head and in my heart. I can only present what I am beginning to understand as an outworking of my calling in Christ.

You see, in addition to the iHeart project, HillSong has centered this year's conference (which has been playing this week on Godtv) about the theme of justice. Last evening, they broadcast Mike Pilavachi speaking of the inseparable connection between worship, evangelism and justice. Today, I was listening to Joel speak what is clearly HIS passion for the church to get involved in social justice as worship. I love this man's heart and passion-here's the relatively young, incredibly gifted and creative leader of what is arguably the most recognized youth worship band in the entire world, and he is using his position, not as a platform to promote himself or any agenda or pet project of his own, but solely to further the cause of Christ-that is, love of the Father and love for our brothers. It's commendable on a level I don't even think I can express.

What I love about this movement the most I think, is that the church (at least in some parts of the world) has picked up on the understanding they are presenting; that in order for the church to be Christ in the world, we have to care about what's happening in the lives of the people in the world. HillSong has put its entire support network behind this revelation and the teaching is fantastic. While I do realize that my excitement about this may be largely due to the fact that this is my passion as well, I truly believe that it is the calling of Christ to the Church right now, for such a time as this.

I loved Mike's teaching this week, and I actually received a book he's written on the subject of worship, evangelism and justice in the mail a few days ago. Th gist of the message is this: worship comes out of an expression of love-when you love someone, you tell him. Evangelism is the language of worship-no one makes you talk about your beloved to everyone in sight, it naturally flows out of your love. Worship without evangelism is self-indulgence (ouch), and evangelism without worship is legalism. However, Amos chapter 5 says essentially that, if you worship God without considering the poor, the oppressed and the broken, He will essentially plug his ears and not hear you. In other words, it's not enough to say you love Him, and tell the world how amazing He is...you must put actions to your love, and show His love to the world by caring for them, just as He does. This, then, is true worship.

So after meandering all over this post, what exactly is my point? Well, it's this: the Lord has called me to worship. He has given me a heart for the nations. He has called me to service. He has put eternity in my heart. To whatever end, He has given me skill to teach and a love of languages and the ability to communicate joy in song. He has given me a heart for the oppressed and the broken, and he has given me the intelligence and creativity to find ways to share His love in tangible ways with those who are hurting. He has given me the ability to encourage the hearts of His people, and to encourage the hearts of those He calls to Himself.

I have finally found a voice for the calling God birthed in my heart 25 years ago. Now is the time move out of the impossibilities and do something about it. It doesn't matter if I'm a doctor or a musician or a teacher-or all three of these. What matters is that it is time to take action, and show Jesus to the world in a language they understand. It's time to speak in the language of LOVE.

I heart.