The Upper Room
We’re hosting a work team of young missionaries of the Mennonite flavor. They have a long list of projects to work on to spruce up the farm for future generations. One of the projects I’m most excited about is working on the “Upper Room.”
Years ago, it was used for staff meetings. I don’t actually know the whole story. I just know what it is today. And I am receiving some revelation of what it will become. (Save that perspective for later in this Fertilizer.)
At church this past Sunday, the sermon was on the theme of the Lord’s Supper. The original setting was in the upper room of a house. And something was birthed there!
My mind wandered to the projects we’d be doing later this week, so I looked up the upper room’s significance. Here’s what I found at https://www.clcpublications.com/what-is-the-upper-room/
“What is the Upper Room?
In the upper room, we gather to encounter Christ, and, more importantly, it is where Christ encounters us. From the moment we are born again by the Holy Spirit, the upper room is home. It becomes the due north on our internal compass, and sooner or later, we will find our way there. In the upper room, we meet with the Father, and there we are more ourselves than anywhere else on earth—no masks, no pretense, no posing. In the upper room, we experience firsthand the unconditional love of the Father, and there He breaks off from us rejection, alienation, loneliness, abandonment, self-hatred, anxiety, fear, and insignificance; more importantly, it is there He convinces us of our acceptance, security, and significance in Christ. For this reason, it is in the upper room where we receive our life calling and discover the reason we were born.”
Pause there for a moment, and let me tell you what I am beginning to see. I know the LORD has used the property we’re living on to launch many missionaries, to encourage many hearts, to revive callings, and to speak His true heart to many leaders.
But the place has fallen into some disrepair. There have been crises, tragedies, and changing seasons of life that have caused this. But there is a future! It’s always His promise.
I know the LORD will use (and is using) this place to transform people’s lives. Until this week, I haven’t seen this Upper Room playing any role in that. The author continues:
Let’s be honest. When we hear upper room, we might think of an attic storage space where we put our junk—all the stuff we will never use again, but we don’t want to throw away.
The picture above is the current state of this Upper Room!
He was spot on! With God’s help, we plan to bring Kingdom order back to this room and see Him transform us in the process, with it being a dedicated place for leaders to receive their calling, identity, and belonging from the LORD in the future.
Have you been applying this to your environment while reading this? It could be your private times with the LORD, your family, or your worship team that you’re thinking of.
But as you consider your worship team, remember you don’t know the whole story. You just know what it is today. And you need a revelation of what God wants it to become!
The question is, in what ways has your worship team become the “attic storage space where we put our junk” rather than the epicenter of transformation for your team and church?
As you ponder that, I’ll believe and declare with you that your worship team will:
Be a place where Christ encounters us
Be a “home” filled with the Holy Spirit
Be the place we are more ourselves than anywhere else on earth—no masks, no pretense, no posing.
Be the place where we experience firsthand the unconditional love of the Father
Be the tool where He breaks off from us rejection, alienation, loneliness, abandonment, self-hatred, anxiety, fear, and insignificance
Be a way He convinces us of our acceptance, security, and significance in Christ.
Be the ministry through which we receive our life calling and discover the reason we were born.
May it be by the power of the Holy Spirit, the zeal of the Lord of Hosts, and our full-fledged obedience!
-Dave Helmuth
(purchase my book, "Worship Fertilizer: (the first hundred)" HERE)
The Upper Room (Nº 384)
Ps. Here’s how the room turned out…so far (we’re not done yet)
