A First

Last night was "a first" for me. I sang publicly with a group. Several members in our congregation have a musical group. They do some country, blue grass, oldies rock, and some gospel. The Christian School has a monthly chicken dinner as a fund raiser. This group performs every September. During the performance they usually get a male quartet together to sing a couple of hymns from the book. This year they recruited me to sing bass. We sang "Heaven Came Down" and "Jesus Hold My Hand." The alto lead was sung by a brother who is the chorus director at the Christian School. We sounded pretty good. I had never sung publicly like that and so this is "a first." I don't know whether we will ever do this again but I've done it once.

Grieving

Just received news yesterday that a good friend has cancer. Mike Godknecht called and told me that his wife, Cathy, has pretty extensive cancer. The doctors don't think treatment will help. Their concern is keeping Cathy comfortable. Mike and Cathy have been through a lot these past couple of years and now this. I cannot imagine what Cathy must be going through wondering about why this disease has come into her life. I cannot imagine what Mike must be going through feeling helpless. Both though are faithful to their God and I have no doubt that God will be faithful to them.

Diseases like cancer remind us that this world is not perfect and that there is a better age coming. Even though we believe as Christians that death leads us to that better age, we still grieve when someone comes down with a life threatening disease. We will not be able to enjoy those eternal relationships until that final day, so we grieve at the loss we experience now. Grief now will turn to joy on that day. Ed Monroe used to say that you really can't know joy unless you know grief. I'm sure that Mike and Cathy will know great joy on that final day.

New Lists

On the sidebar I've added some lists. I got the idea from my son's Xanga blog (and other blogs I've read). The reading lists are books that are of interest to me and do not necessarily carry my endorsement. I try to read to keep up with current ideas , some of which may be antithetical to my Christian faith. I don't have much fear in reading such books because I feel pretty grounded in my faith. I just caution those who may see a book and want to read it. Don't think that I'm giving it my approval. I may be reading it for a sermon and seeing how I can help my congregation see through the falsity of its content. If you do choose to read a book you see on my list, let me know. I will be interested in hearing your thoughts about the book. Same with my listening lists.

My listening lists are usually tied to what I'm listening to while hanging upside down. I have a CD/MP3 player that I use while I'm on my inversion table. I have listened to quite a bit of my CD library and will probably start back over them again soon. I don't have a CD player in my truck so I listen to a smooth jazz station out of Orlando. I'm really enjoying this station. I was disappointed that I couldn't find a good oldies station but am pleased with smooth jazz as an alternative. Even if they start an oldies station I probably will stick to this one.

This week in Mt. Dora

I attended another preacher's meeting yesterday. This one was held in Winter Garden at the West Orange Congregation. I met: Mark Smith (pulpit), Carey Hadley (youth), and Dave Stevens (family life) from the West Orange congregation; Steve Puckett (pulpit) from the Melbourne congregation; Joe Roberts (pulpit) and Lonnie Johnson (youth) from the Orange Ave. congregation in Eustis; and Randal Myers from the Highland congregation in Lakeland. We shared how we became Christians and how we came to ministry. Then we had lunch at the Asian Buffet around the corner. Next month we will meet at the Orange Ave. congregation in Eustis. The normal procedure is to have a grab bag, a book review, and a sermon to share (PowerPoint) each brought by a different guy. I'm looking forward to having some good fellowship with these guys.

Two of the senior ladies here at Mt. Dora passed away this week; Yuvarn Haskins and Myrtice Pickren. Both ladies and their families have been instrumental to the work and history of this congregation. There are a lot of family connections in this congregation, just like Tabernacle. It will probably take me a while to figure them out.

Pat passed the Florida Teacher's certification test yesterday. I had no doubt she would. She will be issued a temporary certificate. She can be hired now with confidence by any school. She will have to work on a permanent certificate but again I have no doubt that she will pass that one as well. I'm looking forward to seeing her use her teaching knowledge for her own class room. I think she's going to be a great teacher.

Sunday Evening Series

On Sunday evening I'm starting a series on "Attacks on the Bible's Integrity." I started off last Sunday evening with a lesson on "Why I need the Bible" from Psalm 19. I showed that David had a strategy in writing Psalm 19 that went beyond just the content of the psalm. In v.1-6 David uses the Hebrew word "el" for God just once. In these verses David emphasizes the greatness of God in what he has created and shows his power and majesty. But in doing so God appears larger than life and almost out of touch with us. In v.7-14 David uses the personal name for God seven times (its the word translated Jehovah or Yahweh). This is the personal name by which God revealed himself to Israel (Ex.3:14ff). What David is saying that God becomes personal to us through his revelation in the Word. I also believe that David is saying that without the word we cannot have a relationship with God. The word is not the only aspect to the relationship but without the word there can be no relationship regardless of what else we do.

Tonight I used a column by Bonnie Erbe (Robertson Isn't God's Spokesman) from January of this year. She used Robertson's silly statements of the past few months as the springboard to show us that the Bible really isn't the word of God and that we shouldn't claim that we can even know God's mind or will. So we should all be a bunch of moderates, never really believing in anything and never really condemning anything either. Of course she can condemn Robertson's condemnation of others without realizing that she is stepping into his territory as well. I know that this is a risky kind of series. It is possible that I might make it a little too technical but I want to make the congregation aware of what is being said about the Bible and that we do have good evidence that counters those attacks.

I plan on a separate lessons on Bart Ehrman's Misquoting Jesus, Dan Brown's The DaVinci Code, and I've forgotten what my fourth subject would be. I also hope that our teens will be listening. They need this to fortify their faith.

I closed my lesson tonight by reminding them how our brotherhood focuses on showing where the traditions of men have deviated from the word of God. That focus took us to the denominations with their traditions, but now Bonnie Erbe and the others I will focus on are the new "traditions of men" in that they elevate human rational thinking to the point of making man the god of this world. It is a new religion, a secular religion. They have created a man-made religion. Pagan religions and deviations from God's Word are always man-made religions. We need to be armed in new ways to deal with it and defend our faith. This series will be tough but hopefully helpful.

Sunday AM 9/24/06

My lesson this morning was "Revive Me To Share Your Word." I'm doing a month long series called "Revive Me According to Your Word." It's taken from Psalm 119:25. The elders had asked me to continue their routine of assigning September as "revival" month. In thinking through how I could make it work for me, I decided to do a 30 day challenge. It's sort of on the order of a 40 day challenge that some mega-churches have done. I created a schedule for each day of the month with a passage from Scripture and a thought. For instance, September 1 is "God's Word Created the Universe" with the text being Psalm 33:6. Each received something similar. The whole month focused on the Word of God. I also listed my sermon topics and texts as they came up in the schedule. It appears to have been well received. The elders really liked it and several members have said so as well. I've been told to do it again.

Mt. Dora has done an incredible job of incorporating the video projector into our worship services. It is used for announcements before Bible class, in between Bible class and services, and then after services. Eddie, Doug, and Gene (I'm not sure who else might be helping out) really have kept focused on making sure that the announcements are kept up-to-date. From the beginning they have expected me to use it as well. It has made my sermon creation process quite different. I not only have to think through the message I want to get across but also how that message is to be presented visually on PowerPoint.

My lesson today mixed clip art that I found on Google's Images section with slides containing outlines. I started off with a brief summary of Matthew 28:19-20 and Mark 16:15-16. Then I talked about how intimidating "all nations" and "all creation" must sounded to the apostles who probably hadn't been much more than 50 miles away from their homes at any one time. I showed that "all nations" are our neighbors, friends, family members, co-workers, and classmates. I also suggested that a congregation needs to think globally (supporting an overseas mission work) and locally (reaching out in our own back yard). I finished with some practical suggestions of how we can revive our interest in sharing God's word (the theme of the day). Suggestions such as invite a friend, pray for a friend, go with someone who enjoys teaching others, and so forth. I felt it went well. I have a new wrinkle in my presentation - I now have a monitor in front of me so I can view what slide is in the screen behind me and I have a control that allows me to advance the slides. I can now work at my own pace. Hopefully the presentation flow will get better.

I will pick up next week where I left off in Romans 12. I was doing a series of lessons on the Christian life from that text and will continue next week. Don't know just yet what I'm going to do afterwards. But stay tuned.

Out of the blue

When I was a freshman (1971) at Pepperdine University, our English class read a book that contained a chapter about the word "camp." The word in this chapter isn't talking about camping or a church camp or a summer camp of any kind. Instead the word "camp" at that time was used to indicate something that was over the top or exaggerated. Websters even has a separate definition for this usage - "something so outrageously artificial, affected, inappropriate, or out-of-date as to be considered amusing." Sort of like someone showing up at a prom in 2006 dressed in a "zoot suit" (a 30s/40s suit associated with the swing era - Google it). I had never heard the word "camp" used in this way and thought it rather silly that an English composition book would devote a whole chapter to this particular usage. I thought it was just an "LA" thing or a "Hollywood" thing. Lo and behold, I started seeing the word "camp" used this way all over the place. I even saw a billboard containing the word. Amazing.

When we bought our first minivan (1985 Toyota) it was painted a sandy sort of color (I think it was called Desert Rose). Wouldn't you know it, we had neighbors and half the community that owned that particular minivan (I'm exaggerating in case you don't know me). We did see it a lot even though we had never noticed it before.

One of the members here at Mt. Dora told me about a preacher (not in the Churches of Christ) that has a program called "servant evangelism." His name is Steve Sjogren. Guess what? You guessed it, his name popped up out of the blue. I was reading a blog (Michael Duduit - editor for Preaching Magazine) that mentioned a controversial speech by a popular preacher named Steve Sjogren. It turns out that Steve Sjogren claims that some of the pastors at big churches have admitted to him that they spend less than 15 hours on their sermons and that sometimes they preach someone else's sermon - word for word. Michael Duduit called it "stealing sermons" or plagiarism. Sjogren claims that we don't have to be completely original and that sometimes it's a good thing to use someone else's material. Apparently some preachers feel they have too much to do and can't spend time coming up with original sermons. Duduit claims that it's okay to borrow material (and sometimes you give credit depending on how you use the material) but to take a sermon word-for-word and not reveal that it isn't your sermon it the "preacher's unforgiveable sin" (that's my thought about Duduit's attitude). Duduit concluded by writing, "If you are too busy to prepare sermons, then you are too busy to preach."

I am amazed at how you can hear a word or see a car or be introduced to someone for the first time and then discover them all over the place. I bought a Ford Ranger last year and I am still noticing how popular the vehicle is. Maybe God uses these new situations for opportunities to serve him. Out of the blue we meet someone, then we start noticing them in all the places of our daily routine. Coincidence? Maybe not. Watch for out of the blue situations. Who knows what might happen.

Preaching to needs

I have a "love-hate" relationship with all the blogs I have bookmarked. I love to read them, but hate that I don't have time to really read and digest all of them. I bounce around on occasion (sort of like channel surfing on the TV) briefly looking at the blogs hoping to find something interesting. Today I came across an interesting article on Albert Mohler's blog. He's discussing why preaching to the needs of the congregation is a futile exercise. I have always wondered since I began to preach how I was supposed to perceive the needs of the congregation and design a sermon that could preach to those needs. Even in a congregation of 70-80 you have so many different needs that it's impossible to touch those needs. But am I really supposed to do that? Now that's a quote!

Mohler quotes from William Willimon (one of my favorite authors), "Jesus doesn't meet our needs; he rearranges them. He cares very little about most things that I assume are my needs, and he gives me needs I would've never had if I hadn't met Jesus. He reorders them." Now that's a quote! Willimon suggests that people in the third world have biblical needs (housing, clothing, food) but that we in the affluent world have wants not needs. We meet our needs outside of prayer. We want things that really have little to do with the kingdom.

I was told one time that people wanted a sermon that would get them through the week. I've thought a lot about that statement. I wish I could talk to them now because I would say, "It's not my job as your preacher to get you through the week. It's my job to get you to heaven." God calls us out of this world and into a world of His creation. It is a new world, a new creation with new needs. Preaching should point the way to those new needs and new ways. We are called to follow the new standards of the new community.

God calls us to pay attention to others (Php.2:3-4). We are to be other-centered. The "needs" that people claim the preacher should address are really self-centered stuff (satisfying life, career, ect.). Sometimes it's wrapped up as evangelism but really the people want their needs met not those on the outside. God called me to be faithful and I pray that I stay faithful throughout my years.

Remembering

Today I met several of the preacher and elders in the area. The Sanford Church of Christ hosts a leaders' luncheon every other month. I met the preacher from the Plymouth congregation (both the retired one, now an elder, and the new one), from the Concord Ave. congregation in Orlando, and from the Delanto congregation. One of the preachers knew Mark Niehls . They served on a board together for the Christian schools in our brotherhood. This is what impressed me about the students at Pepperdine who were from the churches of Christ. At lunch time they would sit and talk and within five minutes knew 10 people between them yet they were from different states. Now that's me. I love it! I'm a social animal. I love talking, socializing, and finding out who knows the people I know.

I remember sitting in my car listening to the radio waiting for my buddy, Bob Weber. We were meeting at the Princeton church building for our usual study time. I heard the report that a plane had flown into one of the twin towers. I thought maybe someone flying a small Cessna had a heart attack and the plane just flew into the tower. Then I found out a second plane had hit and I knew that it was no fluke. This was on purpose. At home I remember feeling uneasy about what would be happening later on that day as we discovered the purpose for the attack. Soon however, my faith kicked in and I knew that God would take care of us and lead us regardless of what might happen.

Over time we heard stories from various members about friends or family they knew were in New York or affected by it in some way. A preacher friend washed windows at the twin towers part time (inside not outside). He was scheduled to go in that morning but decided to take the day off. Others did not make such a decision. Now five years later we can still remember the heroism and the stories but I'm grateful that no other attacks on our soil have taken place. I'm waiting for that day when peace will reign and there will be no more weapons of war.

Yes we should remember these attacks. The purpose of remembering is to keep the passion alive so that we will encourage our president, Congress, and military to do what is necessary to keep us safe. This is the purpose of a government (Romans 13:1-8). God has ordained that governments not only keep order in the nation but keep the people safe from outsiders.

God's religion is based on remembering. The Israelites remembered the Passover. Christians remember the crucifixion. We remember so that we will serve.

To Infinity and beyond!

On Monday we all (Pat, Loni, Lon, and Jeanne) went to the Kennedy Space Center. We bought 12 month passes. We can go see all the sights anytime we want for the next 12 months. There are two guided tours (up close and personal type of tours) that our pass does not cover, but the cost isn't that much and will be well worth it.

We arrived and ate lunch. Food was typical of parks like this. Over-priced and so so. However, it fulfilled its main function - filled my belly. We then took the non-guided tour of three stops. The first was the observation tower for the launch pads. We could actually see the shuttle on the launch pad. The lift-off has been delayed several times. Pat and her folks were going today to see the scheduled lift-off but it was postponed, again.

The second stop was the Apollo center. It had considerable more to see than the other two stops. I would like to go again and spend most of the day there. I think it would be worth it.

The third stop was the International Space Station building. We got to see parts of the space station and the area where the building for future parts is taking place. It was interesting but limited in what you could see.

The main attraction I wanted to see was the IMAX show. There are two of them. We saw the one narrated by Tom Hanks about the Moon (capitalize or not?). I was a little disappointed at first. The theatre is not what I would consider typical IMAX. The screen isn't quite as big as usual. However, this one was 3D. That made up for the difference. It was an incredible show. Sometimes it looked rocks were literally flying at your face! I enjoyed it on the whole.

I'm looking forward to taking Dan, Lisa, Nathan, Jeremy, and Derek to the Space Center. Our 12 month passes get discounts on day passes. I think it would be a lot of fun. So when can you guys come down? Maybe Christmas? Dan and Nathan will have the time off. So will Loni and Mom. Just a thought for now. I'm sure Mom is planning stuff for Christmas.

During our day at the space center I didn't really think much about the vastness of our universe. I thought more about the creative and productive energies of we humans. We are made in God's image and I believe firmly that the image includes our desire to explore, build, and dream. All one has to do is look at where we as a people are today and see that we are in God's image.

Good Sunday

Today was a good day. Pat's folks are here. They came up Friday after Ernesto blew his way through our area. We had a potluck after services this morning. The folks here at Mt. Dora don't wait around to get to their potluck. At Tabernacle we would finish services around 12:15 PM then talk for a while. We would probably get home around 2:30 PM or so. Here we were home before 1:00 PM. Even though we have singing at the local nursing home, I still got in a good nap.

After evening services we had a baptism. One of the girls in one of the cottages was baptized. She had a good weekend at Sonquest and decided to make the decision. Then later on Eddie (our youth minister) called and another girl in the cottage also made the decision.

I'm looking forward to getting to meet and interact with families from the Bible School. Most of the kids that go are not from a church family. I'm sure that it will be a good source of evangelism.

For those of you reading this that may not know, there is a Christian Home and Bible School a few blocks down from our church building. It has been around for 60 years. There are three cottages that house kids needing a home, each having a set of house parents. There is one lady who gives each set of house parents a week off each month. There are over 700 kids enrolled in the Bible School. It has a pre-school and k-12. They even have a football team (just 2 years old). I have already done chapel for the high school and middle school.

Are you among the "de-churched?"

I read a couple of interesting posts on other blogs that I think may have a connection. The first is Patrick Mead's blog. You can reach Patrick's blog at http://tentpegs.blogspot.com He said the following:

A couple was furious with our church. We had gone to see what happened to them after someone noticed they'd been gone from our worship assembly for some time. "We aren't coming back," the husband said. "That is an unloving, cold church that claims to care about people but doesn't." I asked him on what basis he made that judgment and he replied, "We were gone four weeks from that church before anyone there even noticed. What kind of church doesn't even notice something like that?"

I replied, "What kind of person are you, that you could be gone for four weeks and the no one in the church could tell?"

It appears that Patrick can be blunt. I wish sometimes I was that quick on my feet. My guess is that this family thought that just showing up for worship for one hour is the equivalent of serving God. They were incensed that no one gave them a gold star for their "participation."

Another blog talked about the "de-churched." It would appear that we have to continually make up new names for new situations. However, I like what this guy wrote (or is "typed" a better term?). If I have read his blog correctly, the "de-churched" are those who come from a "small church" environment and are attracted to a mega-church. Here they are trained to believe they are doing "church" when in fact they are not. They have come to the mega-church for the production values and do not really participate in the mission of the church. They think they are serving God.

I wonder how many of us (me included) think we are doing God's will when in fact we are not. We sing with gusto, but are we really worshipping God? We pray with all the right words at the right time, but does God really hear us? We talk about our faith in certain circumstances or live the right way thinking we are evangelizing, but are we really? Perhaps we would do better to pay attention to what God has really said in His Word and not let others convince us that we are serving God when we have really traded our service for something less.

Fishing

I got to do some fishing this week. Will Heflin (one of our members here at Mt. Dora) took me out on his boat. We fished in Lake Eustis. Didn't catch anything. Didn't even get a nibble - probably too hot. Wil took me through one of the canals (Dead River) to Lake Harris. Then back again to Lake Eustis and through the Dora Canal to Lake Dora. The Dora Canal was quite long. It felt like a typical Florida stream. There were Cypress trees everywhere with Spanish Moss hanging down. There were also Blue Herons around every corner. One of them had found a fish (he certainly was better than we were that day). Will also pointed out a bird (don't know the name) that spends most of its time drying out its wings. They just stand there with wings spread waiting for them to dry. The best part was seeing an alligator. It was a baby - probably 2 or 3 feet. But it was swimming across the canal in front of us. Cool.

Speaking of fishing. I heard a sermon one time where the preacher contrasted commercial (ancient commerical) fishing with modern lure-type fishing. The purpose was mainly to suggest that anglers today rely on the latest fad to catch fish and so a lot of preachers (and members interested in evangelism) use too many fads. I suppose he's right in some way. But you could also say that ancient commercial fishing drags a net and the fish have no say in the matter. That wouldn't be good in evangelism!

Acutally I would like to see community fishing explored. This involves a village where some of the men go out and catch fish for the community. I think that is a great image where fishing is thought of as a community effort. The effort feeds the whole village. Evangelism certainly is a church community effort and the effort benefits everyone in the church. I know this is not what Peter, Andrew, James, and John did with their families but I don't think we are ever going to get a perfect picture of what "fishing for men" means. Perhaps we can take a bit from each image and put them all together for the imperfect picture of evangelism in this day and age. Maybe more on that later.

Fizzle

Wow, our first hurricane. Actually, it was a tropical depression. I don't know why it's called a depression, cause the folks here in Florida are celebrating and they are not depressed by Ernesto. It rained some last night and then again this morning. I was indoors most of the day so I didn't see much outside. I don't think it did much so I didn't miss a thing. There was a lot of activity because of the storm. I read that Lowes sold 30,000 bottles of water on Monday. That's a lot. I guess our meteorologists have to warn us because if they don't then everyone is mad. Yet, all the stores where goods are sold that will benefit people during a hurricane made out well. This was a little like a coming snow storm in Jersey. People go out a buy supplies as though they were going to be stuck inside for days. Oh well.

I was thinking today about original sin. I don't know why but I was. I 'm not sure whether or not Adam and Eve passed on some genetic predisposition to sin or not. Of course it would explain why everyone sins. However, the problem isn't really in the doctrine of original sin but rather in applying the doctrine. Once you come up with the doctrine then children (actually infants) are suddenly lost. Yet the Scripture requires faith to be saved. If a child cannot believe then whether or not they have original sin doesn't matter, God has placed them in a safe position. Instead religions have to change baptism (really immersion - Romans 6:3-6) to sprinkling to accommodate infants.

Then of course there is the thought that people are so depraved by original sin that they cannot even respond to God, so religions come up with the quickening of the Holy Spirit before conversion. The quickening supposedly makes it possible for the sinner to respond. Yet in Scripture God requires humans to respond to him. Humanity walked away from God of their own free will, so Scripture seems to indicate that God wants us to come back of our own free will. That makes sense to me. This false application is like forcing someone to love you. Surely God doesn't do that. I don't see it in Scripture.

So that's my theological thought for the day. It was a good day. I like being here. I hope God allows us to stay for a long time.

A picture from our vacation last year in August. I really like this photo. The only thing that would make it better is to have Pat and Trey in it. Pat took the picture and Trey was in Arkansas. Oh well.

We're in Florida!!

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted but here goes. We now live in Mount Dora, Florida. It is a fascinating town. It is part of what is called the Golden Triangle (Mount Dora, Eustis, and Tavares). It is located in Lake County. There is a reason the county is called Lake County - there are 1,400 named lakes in the county (let's see . . . if I start fishing today, and fish every day it will take me almost four years to fish every lake . . . hmmmmm, that sounds like a plan!). Florida itself has 7,700 named lakes (wow, if I extended my fishing to the entire state . . .).

We have emptied all our boxes that have the stuff we wanted to put in the house. However, our garage is still rather full. It may take awhile to get completely settled but we are moving in that direction.

The congregation has received us warmly. They are a friendly bunch with a good sense of humor. This is enough for now. I will post more later.

Acceptable Worship - II

I want to blather on more about acceptable worship. The Old Testament worship is so radically different than New Testament but I believe that we cannot worship properly without reflecting on the relationship between the two and what we learn from the interaction of the two.

The OT worship is detailed, regulated, and very ritualistic. Does this mean it's bad or inferior worship to the NT? I don't think so. I think that when God says, "Do this" or "Do that" then that is acceptable and proper worship. OT worship actually must be seen on two levels. The first level is Israel's worship before God. The regulations allowed Israel to approach God as His people. The second level is the picture it paints of salvation under the messiah. OT worship was both specific for Israel and a picture of what God would do in the future.

OT worship changed some over the years. It started off with a tabernacle (mobile temple) and then morphed into a fixed temple. Tim Woodroof (The Church that Flies) suggests that God didn't ask for the changes but He did accept the changes. I'm not sure that is a proper view of the changes. When Hezekiah was restoring the temple worship (in this case the musical instruments) in his day, it is written that he did so according to what David, Nathan, and Gad had commanded. What they commanded came from the Lord (2Chron.29:25). So I think Scripture states that the changes came through God's guidance, not man's desires.

The regulations teach us that worship is about what God wants not what we want. Maybe God hasn't been as specific in the NT as He was in the OT but worship still belongs to Him not to us. Just because we act excited and get teary-eyed doesn't make our worship acceptable. God didn't require of the Jews to be emotional during worship. That doesn't mean they couldn't be emotional but it also means that they don't have to be emotion to have worshiped properly.

Since God is so specific in the OT it makes sense to believe that God will at least give us some clues in the NT as to what He wants. We do see an assembly in Acts 20 and we have Paul telling the Corinthians about some of the things they ought to be doing in their assembly (11:17-34; 14:26; 16:1-2) - like the Lord's Supper, singing, teaching, and giving. Paul also told them that their assemblies should be orderly (14:40). Paul doesn't say what order things should be done in just that they should be orderly. So some clues but not as detailed. There is nothing I know of that tells us to emotional or lively in our worship. I'm not saying we can't just that the Scriptures don't tell us we have to be.

Why is it that we (churches of Christ) are wrong just because we discourage lively worship? Is it wrong for us to genuinely practice our faith even though that may be different than others? Is it wrong for us to have no instruments when others do? It seems to me that we really need to spend a little more time comparing the two testaments and seeing exactly what is in the NT.

Acceptable Worship

Much of this is in response to Patrick Mead's post about worship (But Is It a Tree? http://www.tentpegs.blogspot.com). He make some interesting points. But his comments, much like the comments I hear men make during "table talks" at the Lord's Supper, make me wonder if any of us have really read the Scriptures and understood worship (least of all me).

In Patrick's first post he tells about going to a "traditional" (or formulaic as he calls it) worship where the five acts of worship indemic to the Churches of Christ were performed. He didn't feel the "spirit" there but felt maybe it helped some who were there. That night they went to a worship service where apparently the five acts were not followed but where the "spirit" was in obvious attendance. Patrick wonders why we can't accept these folks. I want to know where in Scripture (in particular the New Testament) we see a worship service where people played instruments, danced, drank the Lord's Supper from a cup, ate big loaves of bread, and had tears flow down their cheeks? Maybe we should also follow a certain denomination and have the Lord's Supper and worship every day. Maybe we should offer worship on Saturday night so people can sleep in on Sunday morning. Actually we see Paul preaching so long (Acts 20:7ff) that someone falls asleep (maybe he's bored). How can we say that "spirited" worship is more acceptable than "formulaic" worship?

How can we judge anything acceptable or unacceptable if we don't actually see people in worship services in the New Testament? I think that worship that must be in "spirit" and in "truth" (John 4:24) has not been understood properly in our fellowship (or maybe any fellowship). I'm not trying to set myself up as the "authority" but it seems to me that most commentators miss what Jesus is saying in this context. Jesus reminds us that God is "spirit" and those who worship Him must do so in "spirit." Patrick's post seems to be hinting that "spirit" here has something to do with the Holy Spirit. Our fellowship (Churches of Christ) typically believes that "spirit" has something to do with our inner spirit. I think they are both wrong.

In the context the Samaritan woman asks Jesus about where real worship will take place. Jesus tells her that one day worship will not take place either on her mountain (Gerazim) or in Jerusalem. The reason for this is that God is "spirit." I think in the context that Jesus is saying that God is omnipresent as opposed to we humans. Worship that honors God honors His omnipresence. That is worship in "spirit." New Testament worship no longer is located in one place. Maybe the real way to honor this is to not have a located place. We build buildings in which to worship and those buildings suggest permanence (This World is not My Home). Of course if what I have said were true than we must worship someplace different every Sunday. I don't think that God has that in mind in this context.

Still I think that Jesus is telling the woman that worship, in contrast to her Samaritan worship, will not be located in one place and will be done according to "truth" which is God's will. Worship is always on God's terms not ours. If God wanted "spirited" worship He would have shown us people dancing in the streets. Instead we really aren't given much of an insight into the worship practices around the Mediterrean World. I think both sides of this issue should be careful in judging the other side. Perhaps I'll have more in the next post.

Pain & Suffering

The other night I spent talking with two men who made me realize that my pain and suffering is nothing compared to theirs. One is facing prison. One short period of time in his life will put him behind bars for close to a year. He has hurt his family, his friends, his church, and his God but he hasn't lost this group. Yet he remains hopeful that inspite of the discipline he will go through, God will use him in a powerful way. He has ruined his future (at least for full time ministry), yet his faith remains strong. I'm sure there are times he probably wonders, "What have I done?!" What ever happens here is but a mist, a short time. His prison sentence will not be for an eternity. His future includes a forgiving God and the real eternity.

The other man is struggling with drug addiction. He has already spent time in prison and is struggling with staying away from drugs, trying to find his way in the world, and trying to find a merciful God who will guide him and love him. He has lost a wife and the trust of his family. But his family still loves him and is helping him. He has also found good Christian people who love him and will help him in his struggle with drugs and his journey to find God. His pain will be swallowed up by the joy of salvation.

My pain is paltry compared to theirs, yet sometimes I seem to wallow in my own pity. I'm anxious in waiting for answers to my prayers. Waiting for people to respond so that my future wouldn't be quite so uncertain. I'm hopeful that my God will bless me and take me to a better place.

These two men found comfort in each other's experiences. The one facing prison got some good advice about what to do once in prison. He found out that he probably won't complete his whole sentence. He will be paroled within the first year. The other one who is out of prison got to see the faith of the one facing prison. His heart was warmed by how the church embraced this man and his family inspite of his crime. I was amazed at how God used this two to help each other.

Perhaps it would be beneficial for me to experience their pain just for a day, or an hour, or even a minute. Maybe that short time would help me create a new attitude. Maybe that new attitude is just around the corner. Maybe I should just keep on serving and quit thinking about what I'm losing and focus on what I have in Christ. I have so much and God has blessed me with so much. I do look forward to his next set of blessings.

Yard Sales

Someone has said concerning yard sales, "One man's junk is another man's treasure." Only a poor man would have said that about yard sales. Rich people don't come to yard sales.

We had a big yard sale the other day. We wanted to lighten our load for moving. So we sold as much stuff as possible. We've spent weeks going through our stuff and setting aside that which we didn't want to take with us. My in-laws added their stuff as well. I think altogether we brought in over $300.00. Not bad for one day. Anyway, the people that came weren't rich, yet many did find treasures, small and great.

One man was looking for computer parts. He had old DOS games that wouldn't run on the newer Windows XP computers. So he wanted to build a machine that was made of older parts so that he could run his old DOS games. I had some old parts that I stripped off some machines that we were throwing away. He was glad to find such parts.

One young man came on a bicycle. He was a local migrant worker for one of the farmers in the area. He bought a quilt and a space heater. You could tell what he needed. He found his treasures. He brought a friend back later on. The friend was looking for a bicycle. We had one. Unfortunately the bicycle was just a little too big for him.

We had others who came for nik naks. They were looking to spruce up their living space. They just wanted to make it seem more like their place. Some found cheap books ($.25 for paperbacks) that made for good reads.

I'm sure that even though some found our stuff to be worth buying, most people would not find yard sales to be places where real treasures are found. People drove up in mostly older cars. I didn't see a Mercedes, a Rolls Royce, or a Bentley (although someone with a Jaguar, a relatively new one, did come for a brief period of time). God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong things (1Cor.1:26-29). What we value as real treasures and strength, God doesn't. He wants us to trust in Him and Him alone (1Cor.2:1-5). This is why Paul says that he glories in his weaknesses rather than his strengths (2Cor.12:9-10). We are at our strongest when we are at our weakest. At our weakest we trust in the only one who can be trusted.

Most reject Christianity as junk, not worth the commitment. Yet this is the faith that God treasures (Heb.11:6). Rich and poor are welcome to share in the real treasures that God gives.