When the Lights Went Out...

   This post is specifically for our Eighteen22 community. I felt the Spirit leading me to say a few words based on the powerful moment we had last Tuesday night when the power went out. I'm sorry if you weren't there, i'm not gonna give much background to the specifics. I want to give an insight, and encouragement, and a challenge to our community after such a moving night.

   First, the insight: The reason why the majority of us were so moved by the Spirit that night as opposed to other nights was because there were no distractions keeping us from Him, let me explain myself. Anthony and the crew work pretty diligently to make worship an experience; the lights, the music, the lyrics, the lyric graphics, the transitions, the keys. And in it's best form, the experience we create by worship invites and prepares us to receive the Holy Spirit and experience God in a unique way. But at it's worst, all of the same things that enable worship to do that, can sometimes be a distraction. This normally comes as individual fault or struggle of the worshiper. There are countless times i've found myself not really listening or watching for God, but just being a spectator to the band. This normally also comes out of just things becoming negatively habitual, that's why we switch up the order of service every now and again, to keep it fresh enough to keep us from routine.

   But last week, our routine was utterly and unexpectedly altered. The best part about it was, we all knew that it was a "God moment". None of us could control the power going out, heck, we didn't even know what caused it! (a snake apparently bit into the power lines...random I know). All that we knew was God did it, and that he wanted something for us through it.

   Now to my encouragement: Eighteen22s persistence in worship and obedience to the Spirit's leading is remarkable. There was barely a pause in worship (kudos to our worship team last week) and yall barely stopped singing. You continued in the attitude of worship even when confusion came into the picture. Not only that, the prayer time that followed after those couple acapella songs moved my soul. Unfortunately, I wasn't as in the moment as most of you, because I was gettin info from the higher ups on official protocol and such, but I was in and out and was soooooooooo encouraged by the prayers being shouted to our God. It's funny, I've always felt like our group didn't enjoy or respond well to "open prayer" in that style, but that night proved me so wrong. People who i've never heard pray, prayed that night. It was an incredible blessing to my soul and the places you are at with God. Also, props to Jeremy for doing it sermon by candlelight! Such a priceless moment, and thanks to everyone who instagramed it for our picture archive, haha.

   Now, my challenge: We should not dwell on this moment, but appreciate it for what it was and move forward. This might sound harsh, but the temptation to say things like "man, why can't every week be like that night..." or "we need to try to recreate the feeling we had that night again..." aren't the kind of language that "spurs one another on towards love and good deeds" as the Apostle Paul encourages us to do.  What we need to do is to simply remember that night, and cherish it as a moment God moved in our midst. Maybe, at the most, we refer back to it as a sign of encouragement. If you're feeling down about God or Eighteen22 as a whole, you can say to yourself: "I know God is real and is working in my life, because this one night at church the lights went out and..." or "I know God is doing something in this community, that night when the lights went out showed it". These kind of words encourage us, and build each other up in my opinion.

   For Biblical evidence of this, look to the moment in Matthew to Jesus' transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-13). Jesus does this miraculous sign, brought freakin Moses and Elijah back to life! Peter, like any good Jew wanted to make a moment to remember and commemorate the moment. And what did Jesus say? "Don't tell anyone what you've seen until the Son of Man is raised from the dead". Basically, here's what Jesus was saying: Yes, you've seen a miracle, another bit of evidence for you to use to prove that I am who I've said I am. Be hype on it, but don't let that distract you, keep moving and keep following me. I believe that's what the Holy Spirit is saying to us in this moment.

   So we move onward. Strengthened, encouraged, astonished, blessed, and amazed by the power of our God. Will we have a more stripped down service again in the near future, yes. Will we try to repeat verbatim what happened last week? No. If you look closely to Jesus' miracles, he never does two miracles exactly the same. If we remain hungry for God the way we are now, The Spirit will move among us again, just as powerfully and just as evidently.

   Eighteen22, I am so blessed and proud to be among your leadership. God has taught me so much through yalls witness, more than maybe any of us will ever know. Thank you, let's keep chasing after God together. Amen?

-Jamal