Joshua Griswold

It’s funny how even though I was never really that interested in beginning to blog I am frustrated that I let myself get to ten days between post. Like Dr. Jekyll feared changing into Mr. Hyde I am afraid that I might actually become a proper blogger (my non-conformist nature is screaming nooo!). I find myself thinking about ideas for topics all the time and debating with myself if I can actually discuss certain topics. What am I turning into? I pray to God that I don’t start hanging out in Coffee houses or even worse begin to drink the junk (I am an avid coffee hater, sorry for you lovers out there. It’s disgusting). In all seriousness I find it interesting that I am almost beginning to enjoy this. A friend of mine after reading this blog commented on how for a person who professes to dislike blogging each of my post seem to progressively get longer. I don’t know maybe it’s not all bad.

If you have taken the time to look around the rest of my site, and if you are interested in hiring me I humbly ask you to do so, you will read a little about my family. I have a son and a daughter both of whom I love immensely more than I can explain. A few years ago while I was leading worship for a youth group in Plano, TX (again look at the resume) I decided to bring my son along one evening so that I could make life maybe just a little easier for my wife by getting him out of her hair. It seems like so long ago but my son, who took forever to potty train, was still in diapers and of course right as it is time to get ready to begin the time of worship guess who needed to be changed. Not the youth pastor! So I took my boy back to my office set him down on the floor and began the process of changing the diaper. In a moment that I will likely never forget my son looked up at me and proclaimed “Daddy I’m going to be you when I grow up”. In a second of both pride and fear I was a little taken aback. After a quick laugh I told him that hopefully he wouldn’t be me but that he would be himself. I have made too many mistakes and tripped up too many times for him to want to be me. It will be easier if he grows up into his own man and maybe I can be a good enough example to where he might want to be a little like me.

Very shortly after that though my brain did start to work in that weird way that worship leaders and mad scientist only can. Shouldn’t that be our goal, isn’t that kind of what we are striving for in our walk with Christ. I know that we will never become “Christ” and I am definitely not saying anything like we will become “little gods”, but our goal is to become as Christlike as possible isn’t it? If we are going to talk about living lives of worship, being the body of Christ, or the bride of Christ then our goal is to live like and become like Him. How does this change the way we do things? Not the silly WWJD fad type of Christlike, but the conscious effort to live a life that reflects who we follow. It kind of scares me that my son would watch me so closely as to emulate me because I am so far from perfect that I know in so many ways I don’t want him to be like me. There are also those things that I would be glad to see him learn from me, such as my passion for worship, music, Newcastle United, and my hunger to continue to learn. We have a written account of the life and ministry of the perfecter of our faith and through the rest of the Bible we can learn of many of the characteristics of our father. Should we not then strive to travel through life reaching to become like that which we worship. Our savior and God the father are definitely worthy of our praise and they are most definitely worthy of our emulation.

My son has done a few more things worthy of posting about as well and I will bring those to you shortly. Maybe I can have a whole series on the worship topics that I get from my son. Hopefully in a few years I might be able to bring up these post and truly and lovingly embarrass my son as a good father should. See another thing he can learn from me!

I just realized that this in yet another post that is longer than the ones before it. This might get to be a problem. what we should all do is pray fro brevity in my next idea. Please help me in this endeavor.

Last week a very good friend and I met for dinner at a local grill in Frisco, TX. Not as a matter of this topic but I will say that if you live in the DFW area I highly recommend the Blue Mesa. During happy hour on weekdays they have a deal where if you pay for a drink they provide a wonderful cooked in front of you taco. For the drink and a tip you get all you can eat at a really nice restaurant. Sorry, that’s enough free publicity. This friend is one that had a hand in shaping the Christian I have become and was a large influence in my start in the world of worship music and worship leading. We have each witnessed the other growing in our spiritual walk with Christ and we have also seen the paths in our journeys move in different directions. Where I have become a modern style worship leader, obtained a Bible college degree, and seek to push the boundaries of worship. He has found the solace and beauty in the traditions that come with the Eastern Orthodox Church. Where I have been focused on the future, he focused on the past.

It never seems to fail that our conversation turns to the same topics. We always talk about the Church and the Bible. We have discussed countless times orthodoxy and its worship in contrast to the contemporary or post-modern church. During our conversation my friend made a comment that I found absolutely intriguing. Some in the emergent or post-modern church use the acronym E.P.I.C. to describe the aforementioned movement. This stands for Experiential, Participatory, Image rich, and Connected. The statement made was that the Orthodox Church is more post-modern than most P-M churches today. The EPIC acronym applies to the ancient church that he attends. Their services are very experiential, participatory driven, immensely image driven, and highly connected. The thing is he is correct and I find it wonderful that it can be that way. I have seen the same thing in Messianic services with the awe inspiring beauty that comes with the ancient tradition and the safety that comes with the foundation.

My thought process though led me to wonder something different though. Why can’t the church in general have both the ancient tradition and still be relevant to a post-modern world. Robert Webber, a worship writer, coined the term “Ancient-Future worship”.  I love this idea of taking the foundational elements that come the the traditional worship and combine them with the modern influences that we use today. The older elements have a connecting power with all of those who came before us and allow us to participate in something more grand. Where the modern elements connect us to the world we live in and allow us to reach a world that does not always understand. I believe younger generations are searching to be attached to something, not something that is fleeting and fickle like current fads, but something that has centuries of tradition. In the same breath though they still need to be spoken to in a way that is understood. A good way to describe it would be in this way. I have recently fallen in love with the song “How Great Thou Art” although for years I hated singing it every Easter.  The band Remedy Drive has a version of it that I came across and I have discovered how truly powerful that song can be. The words have not changed but the music has been updated to a more current style. I missed the power of the song because the music, for me, stopped speaking. Once the music spoke to me the words, which were always powerful, began to speak. I think worship can be used in a similar manner not that we totally fall into and become the world but that like Paul we can use the culture to our benefit and show them God where they may have been looking all along.

Let me start this post by saying every time I write a headline for a post real bloggers are are screaming in their lattes. Perez Hilton must role his eyes because I am terrible and writing creative headlines. I think that they must all be cleaver quips or deep inviting thoughts that make you want to read the post. Where as I am nothing more than a smart alec trying to be clever. It never quite works out so well. any way let me begin.

This past summer while trying to find more permanent employment I began working mowing lawns for a friends landscaping company. While working I had a lot of time to listen to music. I would generally would fall into a repetitive group of albums for about a week. One of the albums I enjoyed was John Mayer’s Where The Light Is. This is a really good live performance and if you like Mayer or just like good guitar playing I highly recommend it to you. I personally think John is my generations Clapton or Vaughn (Stevie not Jimmie in case you were wondering). Some out there might not agree with me but that’s fine because I am right anyway, get used to it.

One of those hot days while mowing instead of just allowing the music to be background noise I heard John begin to talk and what he was saying struck me, or what felt like to me, profoundly. During his cover of Hendrix Bold As Love he takes some time to converse with the crowd and discusses the point to which his search in life has lead him. Here is a quick run down of the speech. I’ve tried every approach to living (not everything but every approach). I’ve tried buying things, shutting off the world to be a “mad” genius, at 30 I’ve made a lot of things happen for me (which when in your twenties is a cool thing), but all that means I’ve found a way to synthesize love which doesn’t work. The last approach to try is LOVE, not Hollywood “roman candle, hot pink” love but the I’ve got your BACK love! I’m going to experiment with this love thing, giving love… feeling love, it’s the last thing to check out before I “check out”. Take me to the solo one more time…

Now there is more to what he said, and I recommend listening to the whole thing, but when I really heard what he had said I felt in my heart like John you are so close. He is absolutely right in that it is about love, love for our neighbor, for all those around us, and love for the lost. There are even Christians out there that don’t even fully understand this. Though he is right in that I think he falls short is that he has not yet attached that love to Christ. We love because He first loved us (I John 4:19). Without the love of Christ our love is powerless. Without God our love is incomplete and Mayer is so close to this but still missing the mark. We need the love that John Mayer is talking about, the love where we are there for those we profess to love but it still falls short of the complete love that comes with the sacrifice that Christ made.

I guess for me the question is in my daily walk and life of worship do I make the same shortfall? Do I in my search for purpose forget to complete my love and leave out Christ in my haste forget that my Love of God should lead me to love the people around me. I don’t know the status of John’s salvation or where he is at in life at this point and I probably will never get the chance to discuss it with him. He seems so close and it does seem as though he is searching, but he according to what he said he still is missing the most important piece. Love comes from Christ and that love is what completes, fulfills, and ultimately saves.

I feel like this post has gotten a little away from me, maybe a little too sermon like. I hope it didn’t.  I will keep working on my headlines though maybe they will get better.