I know not everyone is wired the same, but each year I slowly begin to unravel the web of my own personality’s individual strands. This type of self reflection and realization is closely tied to a person’s own peace and inner excitement about life and energy source. As a Christian, I know and wholeheartedly believe that true peace, security, life, love and knowledge of self comes from knowing that Christ is living inside of you and giving you new life each day. With that said, I also know that God calls and creates us individually to give to His kingdom in a totally unique combination of skills and traits unlike any other person. I believe He wants us to seek Him and pay attention to the details He’s given to you specifically. Understanding and living those out not only let you live life more fully, but you’re living it FOR HIM and THROUGH HIM, because you’re using what He made you to be. We force people (especially children) to be something we think they should be. Rather than helping them to realize their inner core components which make them unique. Then giving them opportunities to use those skills within the framework and responsibilities of the classroom, family, church, organization, team, assignment, etc. I’ve realized that my soul needs, desires, craves, thrives upon, seeks and is filled by creativity. A chance to brainstorm, perform, build, draw, write and make something new and see it come to life. Each time I’ve given that time and opportunity, I am filled up and I catch the smallest glimpse of what God may have felt when He looked upon His creation (that He loves) and said, “It is Good!” Then He rested. He enjoyed it, soaked it up. Take time, don’t fill your life with too many to-do lists and take on too many extras that just fill up every ounce of time. When can your heart have a chance to think beyond yourself and create? It’s essential for the human spirit…especially for me. Take those moments. I’m going to…and I’m going to make room for those moments. Thank you God for showing us the glories of creation and giving us the ability to do it as well.

I’ve been thinking about something that happened spontaneously in 7th grade math yesterday…when these things happen, you have to take the opportunity to discuss with you students…

Before class starts, I give them 2-3 minutes to chat and get settled. I wasn’t really paying attention to the conversation, but something sparked one of them to ask me, “Mr. Gehrke, if I gave you $1,000 would you give me an answer to a problem on this assignment?” I quickly said, (without even looking up) “No.” A couple boys said, “No way…it’s a thousand dollars.” So the first asked, “What if I had $1 million and I gave it to you for an answer?” I asked, “Is it sitting right here in cash?” He said, “Yes.” I answered without hesitation, “No.” That’s when the rest of the class was completely engaged into this discourse. The group erupted, “WHAT!?!? ONE MILLION DOLLARS FOR 1 ANSWER!?!?” Another kid said, “I’d give him the entire assignment for that much!” So they started throwing out numbers like 1 billion, 1 trillion, “infiniti money.” Then another said, “You wouldn’t have to work here ever again and just live on the beach!” They just couldn’t believe it. So I asked them if they’d be like Michael Vick and drown a puppy for $1 billion. They couldn’t believe I’d ask it and said, “No!” I asked them what made some things right and some things wrong. Are there things that you can just do over and over and others that are completely out of the question? They said, “That’s different.” Is it? I’m reminded of a conversation earlier in the year when a few boys said if someone pushed them in the hall, they’d step up and start a fight and beat that person up right there. “Why?,” I had asked. Why wouldn’t you just walk away and be the bigger person. Is fighting okay and cheating all day long acceptable in their eyes? I’m thinking about this after the fact, but it gives me insight into a few of them. I did continue the discussion (thank you God for insight into what to say) by saying, “I may be living on the beach with millions of dollars, but everyday realize that I gained this wealth by helping a 7th grader CHEAT. How honorable is that?” They had nothing to say. A few nodded their heads and I could tell they were thinking it through. I finished by explaining it’s where you choose to point your “moral compass.” Will you choose honesty and truth and God or selfishness and control and power? You’d live a much fuller, happier life with God and integrity. Please continue to pray for all youth in our country that they would grow to know God’s Love, His Truth and kindness to all.

I’ve decided it’s time to start working on my next album. I’m not sure what it’s going to be, but I have a lot of music begun or nearly completed that I hope to share with friends, family, the church, the WORLD! Well, maybe not the world, but I just enjoy sharing the gift God has given me and hopefully some of it reaches you and affects your life in some small way. So, I’ve decided to try and sell as many of the remainder of my first professional CD I made with some friends a few years ago. I think it’s pretty good for the first time around. All proceeds will be directly funneled into purchasing a nice mic and another piece of recording software. It’s time to get the next project up and running. If you’d like to purchase one for yourself or for a Christmas present, let me know. $10 each and if you need it shipped, that’s included in the price. All songs are written by me and also performing on the album are friends: Jerry Babcock, Matt Griepentrog and Abby Dawkins. Matt and I also recorded a low-budget 5 song acoustic EP last year if you’d like to purchase that for $5 as well. Please leave me a comment or shoot me a message if you’re interested. Enjoy a little taste of the album. This is my sister-in-law K’s favorite one.
http://www.gigasize.com/get.php?d=3r0vmh915wb

Thank you for your support of my upcoming endeavor!

Blessings, Seth

We just completed our second week without television. While we still have the physical presence of a tv in our living room, it’s only for watching DVDs and antiquated video cassettes. Let me back up a bit. We are not on some weird lifestyle makeover or on a campaign against American Commercialism (although that could be debated) but instead the decision was just one of the many financial changes we’ve made since Emily lost her job. The economy has affected Emily once again, but she’s begun a fabulous graphic design business which already has a number of pleased clientele and more on the way. (way to go Love!) Anyway, living on mainly one income has led us to give up some “luxuries” like television. We never upgraded to an HDTV or bought a converter box, so when I say “no tv” I mean NO TV.

Let me just say it’s been nothing but unadulterated awesomeness. I love it. Truly and 100%. I thought I’d be sneaking into friends’ houses or watching through my neighbor’s window (haven’t done that Claudia!), but it’s been incredibly freeing. Do ever say these things: “Man I have to see that show!” or “What do you want to watch? Well, let’s just scan and see if we can find anything.” Then you end up watching something for 2 hours that didn’t add anything to your life, actually made you dumber and now you have no motivation to do anything. Come on, you’ve done that…I’ve done it thousands of times and it stinks.

I thought I’d be “working” all the time or having to “think” instead of watching tv. Want to know what is MUCH more emotionally/mentally/physically relaxing? Listening to music, cooking something yummy, talking with a friend/significant other, pouring a glass of wine, laughing and letting your mind wander. It’s like an ever-tightening leash has been torn away from my neck. Now I’m playing more music, going for walks, hanging outside, learning, reading, being creative, fixing things and just enjoying more of LIFE! Wow, there’s a lot out there to see and do (which doesn’t take much energy) that you’re taken away from by the television.

Maybe count the number of hours you watch television during the day. For one week just shut it off. Completely. 100% Just try it. Monday-Saturday. Do something else. See the world of your neighborhood. Heck, say hi to a neighbor and see what’s up in their life. Write a letter to an old friend. Watch the sun come up as you sip coffee with some peaceful music on in the background. THAT’S relaxation.

You may ask… Aren’t you missing it? Your favorite shows? The news? The funny commercials? The ball games? It’s actually absurd when you think about… Yeah I’m missing living another life through characters that live immoral lives and do stupid stuff. It’s amazing how fast you move on. News=internet. News on my terms from unlimited sources of my choosing on my time. Ball games are much more fun to watch with friends, so I’ve already done that at friends’ houses or the bar. Watching a game in a bar that everyone is watching is blast. Much more entertaining with the atmosphere as well.

Well, that’s where I’m at. I don’t expect everyone to follow suit, but I’m writing this just as much for my own history as for you to read. I’d love you thoughts. I’ve talked with 2 friends who have been doing this now for the past year or so and they love it. We’ll just have to see what happens from here!

Let me just say that my wife is not known for laughing outloud. She’s generally an “internal laugher.” This fact doesn’t usually bother me because I’m a notoriously HUGE “external laugher” just like my whole family. There is one thing that just makes her bust up though. The crazy thing is that it’s really not that funny… Have you ever had someone type some extra keystrokes into your email or chat just before you hit send? She thinks that’s hilarious! Even better is when someone makes a silly word out of a typo. That’s gut-busting man! For example: instead of “I’ll keep my eyes open.” It reads: “I’ll feep my eyes open.” Or… “I hurt my finger” becomes “I gurt my tinger.” I think, “yep, that’s silly.” Until you see her busting up at a typo so hard she’s crying…then you can’t stop laughing because she’s laughing. Therefore, I think typos are funny…secondhand.

First of all I have no idea what Adoredom means, so don’t ask me…  It just popped into my head as I was beginning to think about this post.  It’s a made up word…soon to be in Wikipedia or Urban Dictionary.  Speaking of made-up words, I make up so many more new words now that I’m married to Emily.  She says, “if a word conveys the meaning of your thought, then it works.”  She was fired from her English Teaching position…just kidding!  Okay…back to my actual post…

Adoredom.  Maybe a combination of Adoration and Kingdom.  Do you ever feel that our prayers are just a bunch of requests and maybe a few thanksgivings thrown in there?  I remember being taught the “ACTS” outline for prayer:  Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication.  Definitions please… Adoration: basically loving on God and expressing to Him all of the things you are in awe of Him about.  Confession: humbly offering ourselves and our faults before him asking for forgiveness.  Thanksgiving: Thanking Him for forgiving those sins first and foremost and then thanking Him for all of the other awesome stuff He gives us.  Supplication: We end by asking Him to hear our requests and needs on our hearts.

I grew up Lutheran and in the groups, events or churches during my formative years I remember mainly praying for the Thanksgivings and the Supplications…but mainly the supplications.  Except, we read a psalm very monotone-like at the beginning of the service, but it wasn’t necessarily in prayer form.  We’d also read a pre-scripted 2 sentence confession in the bulletin during confession time in the service.  Mainly, even today when we take prayer requests, it’s something like this, “pray for my sick father, pray for safe travel, pray for the concert, pray for the big test tomorrow.” Supplication, supplication, God do this for me.

Did you know God is HUGE AND POWERFUL?? and He created the stinkin world and everything you so preciously hold onto?  AND HE LET’S YOU USE IT!! …how ever you want.  Wow.  Let’s (I’m including myself here!) ADORE God.  My best friend from high school is an amazing guy and one of the first times I prayed with him (after college) he began by just lavishing on God Adoration.  “God you are almighty, you created me, you are holy and perfect and loving.  You my day and night, my everything and more.  I praise you God.”  That’s not an exact quote, but very close.  I was taken aback, because it wasn’t at all what I was used to in a prayer.  As time went on, I realized how awesome the intimate moments are when you just stop thanking and asking Him.  Just BE with Him and ADORE Him for who He is and what He is.

Jesus did break down the barrier between us and God but that doesn’t make His majesty and power any less.  Before we begin listing off what we want, let’s truly humble ourselves before our Awesome, Loving, Wonderful, Powerful God and Praise Him with excitement and might!

King David said it simply in his 2 verse long Psalm 117…”Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples. For Great is His Love toward us, and the Faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.  PRAISE THE LORD!”

Let me set the scene for you…My music classroom as a rug in the middle with colored squares surrounding a music staff in the middle.  There are enough squares for an entire class to see me when seated.  The Prek-4th grade use the rug and the 5-8 grades use chairs.  Today’s last class was Kindergarten and they came in with smiles on their faces and very quietly as well.  I was impressed by this and made a note in my book next to me.  Here’s the conversation that ensued across the rug as I wrote. (I’ve changed the names) Tony: “This is my square right?”  Jessica: “Yes, that’s your square. Shh.”  Tony: (pause for thought and observation of his surroundings) “Why is my square between 2 girls??”  Jessica: (without missing a beat) “So that they can watch you and you will be good.”  HAHAHA!  I let out a half-laugh/blurt/snot out the nose thing…Bhahoh! Then I just jumped into warmups and tried to cover it up.  Best part is…she’s totally right.

Every 3 years the LCMS puts on a Worship Conference focusing on preaching, worship, singing, and music primarily.  What I can gather from mailings and online info, is that it focuses extremely heavily on the new hymnal, traditional liturgy, hymnody, chanting, handbells, choirs, and formal instrumental ensembles.  Is there anything wrong with that??  NO!  I love all of those things and I feel they are an essential part to praising our Lord.  They should be done well in order to heighten the congregation’s ability to worship our Lord fully in a service.  A conference is a great idea!  I want that to be said before I make my next point:  what are we doing to prepare our (LCMS) church body for alternative styles of worship beyond the hymnal?  Some people may call this style contemporary, but I’ll blog about my issues with that word some other time.  Yet, despite my reservations, I will continue to use this term for the sake of the understanding of my audience.

This blog is not for or against contemporary worship, but a desire for the preparation of worship leaders/musicians to come.  Everyone has to admit that the contemporary style is growing more and more each year in our Lutheran churches (all churches-but I’m focusing the talk on LCMS today).  How will we prepare our musicians, worship leaders, pianists, guitarists, vocalists, etc for this task?  These worship services should not be there just to appease those in the congregation who want a different style, but rather be given the same attention and professionalism we give to our “traditional” services.  So when and where does this happen?

I suggest that this happens in our Concordia University System.  This is where we train up pastors, teachers, DCEs, DCOs, missionaries, deaconesses and in some cases, our musicians.  Shouldn’t we train up our contemporary worship leaders there too?  I thank the student-led organization called FISH at Concordia, St.Paul for developing my skills and passion for worship leading.  The school offers a Church Music Major, but only for choir directors and organists.  You can play guitar in this program, but where are the skills and methodology of worship taught to our future leaders?  Not the history of worship (of which there is a class- and extremely beneficial) but the planning, process, creation, scope, reason, and leading of worship.

A music director in an LCMS church today needs to have the knowledge and ability to lead worship music from the hymnal and current contemporary worship styles.  If we are to preserve the Biblical foundation (especially in worship) which our LCMS church is based upon, we must be prepared to train our church musicians for an ever-changing church of the future.

I’ve decided that I want to be one of those old guys who say wise things.  Can I actually plan to do this?  I wonder if there is “wise sayings for old guys” training at some point in life.  You’re about 67 years old and these guys in grab you and bring to a dark, mahogany-lined, ancient book-filled library with leather couches and they hand you the book of wise sayings.  That’s how I hope it happens!  The best thing about wise old guys is that they don’t over talk a situation or topic.  They say what needs to be said, listen intently, knod approvingly as you ramble on and on and finally they take a breath and say something like…”Promise little and do much.”  So much said in such a short thought.  You may go on and on about your life, what you want to do, your career, things you want to try, your concerns, education you might need, struggles that might come, yada, yada, yada…then the old man patiently listening says…”You may delay but time will not.”  WHOA!  He could’ve said, “Just do it. I think Nike said that.”  He chooses instead to cut through the limitless over-analyzing with 7 wise words.  Someday, I hope that God gives me the insight and knowledge to be a wise old man.