Posted 828 days ago
Family, Embracing Brokenness, and Entering the Worship Circle
My heart beats today with a faster pace than blood can flow
My heart beats today with a fevered pace my veins cant hold
This old piece of clay that You’ve shaped for so many years is bout to burst away as You’re drawing near
My mind circles today with thoughts much too big to think
My mind races today with pictures and colors too bright to keep
This old piece of clay that You’ve shaped for so many years is bout to burst away as You’re drawing near.
(“Hosanna,” Enter the Worship Circle: Chair & Mic Vol. 2)
The nearness of God is so powerful that it can transform even the most stubborn of hearts, purify even the most polluted of minds, and destroy even the hardest of exteriors. Christ, who would prefer to touch the prostitute and orphan also prefers to heal even the most broken of us and its now, in the season of the Passion, when we celebrate how He rode on a donkey to the cheers of the multitudes, that I search my heart for rebellion and pray that I would instead find faithfulness.
I’m a songwriter and I’d like to share with you a recent thought or two. Hopefully, it will inspire a new expression of the Kingdom and Christ’s heart for the Family.
I recently saw the film Waking Life and there’s a vignette where a film director is being interviewed and they’re on the topic of filming people in moments that reveal life. The director calls them holy moments and the interviewer is fascinated and asks if they can try to find holiness right then. The scene that follows is a bit uncomfortable as the two men stare at one another in silence trying to recognize it. The part that touched me was that the director knew if he were able to really cut through and see the miracle of life in his new friend, he would be overwhelmed to tears. The challenge for creatives and really, everyone, is to slow down enough to recognize the holy and then pray for a means (words and melody for me) to describe it so that it gives life and creates connection.
Seeing the holy, recognizing Jesus in people, has been transformative in my life particularly when I’ve encountered the poor, marginalized, broken, and victimized. I’ve pushed to the limits of my ability to love and have been forced to acknowledge my own brokenness. And I’ve been made aware that God has a wider vision for the Family than I do.
I want to know a Person like You whos not afraid to love the wicked and the poor. I want to know a Person like You whos not afraid to touch the crooked and the whore. (“Dove” Enter the Worship Circle: Chair & Mic Vol. 2
It is my hope that in worship, when He draws near, we’ll be transformed into lovers of people and never stop hungering for more Family.
Bio: Aaron Strumpel is an artist based out of Louisville, Colorado. He has spent the last five years touring 40 different states, playing over 400 shows on college campuses and in communities across the United States with a group called The Restoration Project. His heart for helping people has led him into community with the Enter the Worship Circle family. These Worship Circle albums have sold well over 100,000 copies worldwide. Aaron Strumpel is the featured artist for Chair and Microphone, Vol. 2. Aarons album, mp3s, and tour schedule can be found at aaronstrumpel.com
Information about Enter the Worship Circle can be found at entertheworshipcircle.com.
Reviews
”…to say authentic is to understate Strumpel. He feels as real as the dust that layers your arms when you’ve spent the day playing soccer with children in an orphanage in Mexico, complete with the pain that sticks to your heart”. – Worship Leader Magazine
“Chair and Microphone, Volume 2” is not for the faint of heart, but for those who are willing to have their own hearts broken with the things that break the heart of God.” – Christian Music Suite 101
”What results from this naked recording approach is an astounding album filled with truth and life, worship and worry, praise and prayers that speaks from the epicenter of human frailty and man’s overwhelming desire for the divine.” – Phantom Tollbooth
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