Just wanted to give everyone a heads up that Nothing Regal now has a Facebook page up and ready to go. Feel free to "become a fan" at the following link: http://www.new.facebook.com/pages/Nothing-Regal/32931750876

A lot has been happening here, so let's just jump right into it.

1. We've added a new jukebox to the MySpace page. This one contains EVERY SONG WE'VE UPLOADED for you to listen to. It also includes TWO NEW SONGS -- "Don't Shave Off the Thorns" and "The King in Heaven Laughs".

2. We're putting the finishing touches on our newest Christmas CD, a full-length, 12-song project featuring our unique take on some Christmas classics and three new original holiday tunes. As soon as we have demo versions available to let you preview, we'll post them and let you know.

3. Rather than keep the spotlight all to ourselves, we've updated the MySpace music player to also include a playlist of "Music by our MySpace friends." So share the love and give it a little.

Take care.

Just a quick note to pass along some massive updates here for Nothing Regal.

1. We've changed over the music in the player here on MySpace page, including several new songs like "Long Distance Relationship" and "Your Holiness (The Chase)."

2. We also did a major update on the www.NothingRegal.com website. It now has a full mp3 jukebox, downloadable samples of all the songs, AND chord charts in case you want to use the songs in your church.

Take care,
Sean

Then go to our website at NothingRegal.com and download our FREE songsheets. Play and use the songs as much as you like. All we ask is that you don't take credit for creating them, and that you provide a link back to us from your church or band website.

Enjoy!

Tired on only being able to hear four songs on the  MySpace music  player? Then go to the Nothing Regal page on Fuzz.com. We've got the (mostly) cleaned up versions of our live cuts up there, and you can hear them and several of our hymn arrangements as well.

See ya there!

If you haven't checked out the official Nothing Regal website (www.nothingregal.com), by all means, take some time and drop by.

We've updated the site with a new look, pics of the band, devotions on worship music, and more.

See you there!

Going through the motions doesn't please you,
      a flawless performance is nothing to you.
   I learned God-worship
      when my pride was shattered.
   Heart-shattered lives ready for love
      don't for a moment escape God's notice.
. (Psalm 51:16-17, The Message)

For thou delightest not in sacrifice; else would I give it: Thou hast no pleasure in burnt-offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: A broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. (Psalm 51:16-17, NASB)

It's probably pointless to add any of my thoughts to this, I'd say. The more important thing would be to simply remember it. I particularly love the way The Message paraphrases the verse, and I think, still captures the essence of the verse quite well, even if it isn't an exact translation: a flawless performance is nothing to you.

And how do we overcome that tendency? I think this part answers it best: I learned God-worship when my pride was shattered.

To quote Stan Lee, the famous Marvel comic book guy, "'Nuff said."

Restore us again, O God of our salvation,
   and put away your indignation toward us!
Will you be angry with us forever?
   Will you prolong your anger to all generations?
Will you not revive us again,
   that your people may rejoice in you? (Psalm 85:4-6, ESV)

Wow. When's the last time we sang something this powerful, this emotional, this desperate in a church worship service? I dare say we've never known this kind of sheer desperation for God to act on behalf of his people and that because of that, we have probably never seen this kind of longing in a worship song or hymn. Besides, that kind of display has no place in a formal, organized and tidy service, does it?

Bah. Yeah, you heard me. Bah.

To the Jewish people, God was real, very real, so real in fact that he was just the type of King they could complain to like we might complain to a local political leader or educational beuracrat when we don't like something going on in our children's schools.

Equally real was their sin and the depths and punishment they faced because of it. Experiencing political and geographical slavery served as a rather intense reminder or how serious God was in dealing with sin. In our post-Jesus'-death-and-ressurrection age, I think we may take that more lightly than serious. And the current sermon series will, I hope, cause us to reflect more on the effects sin can have on our ability to have a close relationship with God and thereby to really, honestly, truthfully worship him.

Maybe we need more of this attitude in us when we worship, the kind of desperation that would plead with God to restore and revive us, that we may rejoice in Him.

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne.
Unfailing love and truth walk before you as attendants.
Happy are those who hear the joyful call to worship,
for they will walk in the light of your presence, Lord. (Psalm 89:13-15, NLT)

We human people tend to think in terms of either/or, I've found. We see it all the way from high school cliques (either a jock or a geek or a goth, etc. rarely a combination of several types) to adult career choices (are you going to be a real "career" person or make the sacrifice and be  "family" person?) – after all, a coin can't be both heads and tails at the same time, can it? We just don't do balance very well, at least not the people I've come in contact with in my 38 years.

Luckily God is big enough to put opposites together in a way that may not make sense to our puny little human minds. Take his justice and his mercy, for example. Common sense would tell us that we can either give judgment to the guilty or give mercy to them. But God does both somehow.

This Psalm tells us that justice and righteousness are the foundation of his throne, and that love and truth are his attendants. In other words, everything thing he does is based on the simple fact that God is righteous and just and he will never do anything to contradict that. But the filters (if you will) through which he delivers himself are love and truth. Or, everything he does, including dispensing justice and demanding righteousness, he does in and with love and truth.

Our human courts don't give us an adequate understanding of this principle. When we think of justice, we think of people getting what they deserve. But mercy would be the equivalent of a judge passing down a ruling and then serving the sentence in the guilty person's place. That scenerio would settle the accounts for being both just and merciful.

No wonder then that, if that's the way God loves us, we would be happy to hear the joyfull call to worship and to walk in the light of his presence.

There is none like you among the gods, o Lord, nor are there any works like yours. (Psalm 86:8, ESV)

A few things stick out to me when I read this verse.

1. God didn't apparently expect his chosen people to think in purely monotheistic (i.e., there is only one God) terms at all points during their road to maturity. Either that, or they were too dumb to get it, and he put up with their ignorance without making a big deal about it. (If not, how could he ever allow us to ever consider him as just the greatest among many in one of the worship songs recorded in the Bible?)

2. Even if his chosen people didn't get it then, they at least understood enough to know that even if there were other gods out there, Yahweh stood alone and unique and the most and best among them. There was something special and real about God that set him apart from all the Baals and sun gods and fertility goddesses and harvest gods that all the people around them served and worshipped and lived in fear of.

3. There were proofs, works, that people could go back to and draw a line in the sand to say, "God did this, period." And those works were different enough to stand out.

What I can gleam from that as a worshipper is that even when I don't get all the picture that is the majesty and worthiness and holiness of my Lord, if I don't miss the main point -- that he is holy and great and worthy of my praise -- then at least I'm on a decent footing from which to begin. And like he did with the Jewish people, he will continue to bring me along to a more full understanding and appreciation of his glory as he continues to work in me. Even when I'm wrong. Even when I'm confused. Even when my stupidity gets in the way.

I think the idea of the works of God is a good place for worshippers to begin and continue. We see it in lots of the praise songs and hymns. We frequently see topics like:

• Jesus' death on the cross
• Jesus' resurrection from the dead
• Jesus loving us
• Jesus teaching us
• God creating the world and nature
• Etc.

Even contemporary songs from the past few hundred years get this apparently. They're filled with pointing people toward the working proofs that God loves us and is worth following and worshipping.

Our job as a worship team, to a large degree I believe,  it to help people get those first steps down. Even if they aren't mature believers, even if they aren't sure if they want to be believers at all, even if they worship in ignorance of God's truth, even if they are clearly wrong about theological fine points as argued by scripture, we are to help them get a picture of the mightiness and grace and awesomeness of God. We are to help them see the uniqueness of the God who can take care of all the rest of that as they draw closer to him and he draws closer to them.

And if we can lift Jesus up in song and point people to even just a few of the things God has done for us, then maybe that will help some small seed take root in someone's life as God does the work of drawing men and women unto himself.