All posts by Cody Mudrack

Hope

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By Kristen Mudrack

I was reminded this week that Advent is a season of waiting with expectant joy and hope for the promised Messiah. The Israelites didn’t just have to wait four weeks, though. They waited nearly 2,000 years. Generations came and went before their hope was realized in a baby in a manger.

Perhaps this year, we understand waiting a little bit more. Waiting for things to go back to normal. Waiting for things to change. Waiting for 2021.

Waiting isn’t the thing I’ve had a hard time with. While the world is at my fingertips on my phone or my computer, I have always had to wait for something (and in the waiting, work for something). Waiting hasn’t been my problem this year – hoping has been.

I have found myself expectantly waiting for something – something good – and my hope has been dashed. Day after day, week after week, month after month. I have found myself wondering if I should hope at all, or if it would be better to give up this dream and move on.

The Israelites had been promised a Messiah, but generation after generation their hope was dashed, their priests and prophets disappointed that there wasn’t a Son of David on the throne. But while they were looking for a king, God sent a servant in the form of a baby. He wasn’t what they had expected, but he was what they needed, even if they didn’t know it then.

I have not been promised the thing that I hope for. That is the cold, hard truth. What I hope for may never come to pass. But perhaps in the waiting, God will reveal something better, something I don’t even know is possible. But that doesn’t make hope any easier for me.

Hope is hard. Hope is fragile and raw. It is difficult and hard and takes everything you have. And when that hope is dashed, shattered into pieces on the floor, I have to choose the hard thing again: hope. Not blind, but prayerful, expectant hope, that the One who makes all things new will renew hope in me again and again and again, to the glory of His name.

May you hope anew today, no matter what it is you are hoping for. May you pray expectantly and listen to the voice of the one who came to Earth as the one we needed, though not the one we expected.

Thoughts on Proficiency in Christians

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When someone says the word “worship”, most people will immediately think of music. Music is an integral part of the Christian Church’s worship, and it shouldn’t be surprising that philosophies on how music should be conducted has changed and developed over the ages. There are many, many different ways that various churches, even within a single religion, go about worship. You can visit this website to read about various styles of Christian worship.

One thing that I find interesting is that in the early Medieval church, the monks completely ruled out anything that was pagan, this included instruments; they thought that instrumentation took attention away from the words. The music was monophonic, meaning that there was only melody, no harmonies, and they kept the notes very simple. But even this changed as ways of writing music down began to be developed, and harmonies and pedal tones were added.

One thing I love seeing is someone who is proficient in their craft. A person who is a great musician, or who is a wonderful woodworker, or a writer whose writings seem so real that you actually feel like you personally know the characters. This is where I disagree with the monks on their philosophy. Being a lead guitar player, this will be biased, but I feel that people should be allowed to use their talents for the glory of God, and this includes playing proficiently in worship (side note for fellow lead players: being musicality proficient doesn’t mean cramming as many notes into a solo as you possibly can; musicality is key).

I know people disagree with me on this and will say that worship is all about the words and what they are trying to communicate and that the music should only be for backing the vocals, and I do agree that in a church environment the words should shine. But I also feel that the music is important. What better way to worship God than to nurture your talents to the best they can be. When I play a guitar solo in church I’m not trying to get people to notice how good I am. I’m using that time to use my God-given talent to worship God through my guitar. When I’m worshipping alongside a worship band and they have an instrumental section I don’t think to myself, “what attention hogs! That had nothing to do with God”, rather, I am encouraged that they were willing to put in the time and effort to nurture their God given talents to facilitate worship.   

I use playing guitar as an example because that’s how I worship, but this certainly could be applied to other places. Whether you are the church’s groundskeeper, a librarian, or you work in a fiberglass factory, you have the opportunity to worship God by doing what you do to the best of your ability.