A True Moment

I have a problem focusing in on the present moment. My mind is often focused on other ideas or plans. I constantly have to resist my tendency to think ahead. The result of this habit is I often am not 100% engaged with the individuals who are right in front of me or the task that I am doing. A break-through moment comes every so often and I have a moment of true clarity and sensitivity of the present.

I had a moment like that last night.

I am currently helping with a small, weekly worship gathering at the seminary (http://tuesdaynightworship.blogspot.com). Each week 20-30 individuals gather near where I live to have a cook-out and a time of prayer and worship. My good friend Alec is the key leader and I am helping with the prayer/worship time.

The focus of this past week's gathering is summarized in Psalm 119:37 which says "Turn my eyes from looking at vanities; give me life in your ways." The prayers, the songs, and the sharing all centered on the action of turning away from anything that gets in the way of us and the Lord.

One of my favorite worship songs is "Give Us Clean Hands" by Charlie Hall. The words are as follows:

We bow our hearts
We bend our knees
Oh Spirit come make us humble
We turn our eyes from evil things
And Oh Lord we cast out our idols

So give us clean hands Give us pure hearts
Let us not lift our souls to another

Oh God let us be a generation that seeks
That seeks your face Oh God of Jacob


This song was the final song in the worship set. Lifting up that song with the group renewed my focus on what is real.

Almost everybody stayed around for 30 minutes or so after the prayer and worship time. I heard laughing. I heard individuals introducing themselves to strangers. I heard strangers become new friends. I heard stories being told. I experienced community. I was not thinking ahead. I was living in the present. I definitely had a true moment.

Breaking bread (or burgers), dedication to the teachings in the Bible, prayer... sound familiar?