James Tealy - worship leader extraordinaire

My favorite moment on the Labor Day Retreat came on Sunday morning during our worship service. James Tealy, who happens to be my all-time favorite worship leader, divided the room into three groups - two groups of students and one group of adults - and gave each group an assignment. The first group of students was instructed to turn to the book of Psalms and look for passages that spoke about God's holiness. The second group of students likewise turned to Psalms, but James asked them to identify verses that spoke of God's beauty. The adults were supposed to find passages in Psalms that addressed God's mercy.

There are few sounds in the world that are more pleasing to me than the sound of a room full of people flipping through the pages of God's Word. When I was in college, my pastor was never content to dwell on just one passage of Scripture during his sermon. Instead, he began with a focal passage and then led the congregation to turn to a series of verses - usually from both the Old and New Testaments - that underscored the message, letting Scripture interpret Scripture. We called this weekly exercise jogging through the Bible with Brother Bob. I think something important is lost in worship services when worshippers are never asked to turn to a passage in their own Bibles. Reading God's Word on a screen just isn't the same as finding it in the Bible you hold in your own hands.

I heard that wonderful sound again on Sunday morning on the retreat as students and adults flipped through their Bibles (we made sure that everyone had their own copy). After a few minutes, James asked for volunteers to read the passages they had discovered. Then I heard one of my other favorite sounds - voices of teenagers reading Scripture aloud. In rapid succession, students and adults recounted scriptural examples of God's holiness, His beauty, and His mercy. Then James led us to sing one of my favorite choruses, which is based on Psalm 46:10 - "Be still and know He is holy, be still and know He is God . . . be still and know He is beautiful . . . be still and know He is merciful." 

Thanks, James, for leading us through this hands-on exercise in worship.