"Wasnt that a lovely performance?"

Just a few moments ago I found myself engaged in a very "uplifting" worship service. I have noted the last couple days that I am very observant and opinionated, especially when it comes to worship services. I critique actions, words, "emotional atmospheres", and the theology of the songs...but I generally find myself worshiping God and in prayer because of it.

Today's question is "why do we all clap at the end of each song?" It makes me think of a concert for classical music in which one applauds the muscians at the end of there musical ensemble...but in a worship service? I'm not saying that the clapping in and of itself is wrong...but instead I'm questioning the reasoning, and I'm wondering how many people actually know why they clap. In fact I leaned over to one of the youth next to me and asked, "Why exactly do we clap at the end of every song?" and all he had to say was "I have no idea...", leaving me to wonder how many people in that room actually DO know! Are they clapping for God or have we found ourselves praising worship leaders, choirs, and musicians instead of our Creator.

Here's another issue. I know a lot of Christians who are anti-ritualistic. For me, ritualistic worship is not evil or wrong, except for when it becomes a mere action to be checked off on a list of things done rather that being done with a heart of worship, but there are many out there that "avoid the appearance [rituals]" (the brackets are my personal insertions used for meeting a point, not giving a translation). If we do something, however, full of emotion but without a known purpose or active intellectual reasoning, then aren't we just being "ritualistic"? Is it not nothing more than a distraction or disrespectful towards God when we are in a time of "worship" and we begin performing an action that isn't worshipful or honoring to God. I'm tired of hearing "Give the Lord a hand clap of praise!" at the end of a "praise song". Maybe I'm misunderstanding what is really going on, but these are just my thoughts.

My fear (which is one that I feel is justified) is this...has worship become about good performances and emotional songs? Has evangelicalism so greatly disconnected the intellect from something in which it is supposed to be so heavily active. "Love the Lord your God with heart, with all your soul,  with all your mind, and all your strength." Which means that we should honor God with our will,our emotions, our physical abilities, our personalities, our gifts and talents, and most importantly...our intellect.

What happened?

What do you think?

Spoken Word: Grace

Today was worship chapel at my college and I have to say that it was done quite well. Everyone was appearing to be in the spirit of worship and zoned into what was going on. Of course, you have the section of the room where everyone who was a little less caring about faith or religion (stereotypically athletes) were sitting, (Stereotypically in the far back left corner of the auditorium) who were occupying the time by talking, but it only affected the RA's sitting back there with them since the music drowned them out. Unexpectedly, however, one of the athletes from campus who is known for being the most spiritual and religiously outspoken Christian of all the students on campus (at least in my opinion) stepped up onto the stage. The musicians took their seats...and the athlete began to speak.

The auditorium came to a complete silence...every ear was drawn to the attention of the young man on the stage as he began telling his testimony in a poetic form (much like that of a Spoken Word video). He told of his sins...his brokenness and his pain. He told of his addiction to weed and to drinking and of the atrocities that had been done to him as a child that left him both confused and scarred. Then he spoke about the light that shined in him and the grace that overcame his life and the freedom he found through Christ.

<=== Feel free to watch and listen to the poem yourself. This video was taken by a fellow student (One of the RA's) and was posted to Youtube.com for your listening pleasure.

It's stories like this that remind me of the greatness of our God and gives old hymn like "Amazing Grace" a fresh new meaning in my life. Our school is focusing on the topic of confession in light of our upcoming Day of Prayer and this was a beautiful start to our time of concentration on the subject, and I found myself spending time in a room that had been set up for the purpose of confession and prayer.

Great is the Lord and worth praise...worthy is that Lamb that was slain. For what was ours to pay was paid for us....for the suffering we are meant to endure was bore on the Cross...for "while we were yet sinners Christ died for us." I pray that grace would echo throughout the entirety of my life...that as Jesus says somewhere in the book of Matthew, "For you have been given without paying, therefore give without being paid." None of us deserve grace, and yet we receive it still...God have mercy on His children of grace that refuse to show grace themselves.

Will You Not Surrender?

Lately, God has really been working on my heart in a great many ways. Its been a stressful and emotional journey thus far, and I am certain that it is far from over. He has demanded my fears, my pains, my struggles, my future and my desires. Its not an easy thing to do, though I can't do anything else. I mean, I guess I could resist and fight and throw a tantrum, but I have no desire to do that. I desire to yield my life to Him, even if it's a little scary or even painful to let go. So I don't know where I'm going, I don't know where He's taking me, or what all I will do with my life, but I pray that I am forever living my life in surrender and in sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. I pray that I never go astray from the path He has set before me, and that what free will I have will be consumed in love for God and for others, completely given over in submission.

Thought Overload

Simply put, I find myself having too much to think about. I have various things that I want to think about or discuss, but I'm overloaded with these thoughts to the point where I cannot focus enough on one topic to really do it justice. The following is a list of topics that I wish to discuss and explore:

• Forgiveness
• War
• "Sacraments: Simply Symbolic or Secretly Supernatural" (I'm currently writing a research paper on this topic)
• Calling and vocation
• The necessity of diversity 
• Living life to honor God
• Why Learn?/Why Liberal Arts?
• The authority of the Pope/Church government and authority
• The hyper-spiritual, the mystic, and the insane (Yeah, there's a difference)
• Being a member of the "mid-Church": Living and worshiping in between high-Church and low-Church
• The Church: Body, Bride, and Sacred Brotherhood
• Creeds (I'd like to write up my own version of the creeds as a display of my own confession and beliefs)
• Social Media: Good or Evil?
• The arts and sciences
• A evaluation of music on recent Top 40 list
• Theology of the body
• Repentance and confession
• The "Saints"
• etc etc etc...

These are just a few of the things that are rolling around in my head. I will be selecting two or three at a time and really diving into thought concerning those select few, and once I'm done I'll pick another set. Feel free to give me resources and/or make suggestions as to which topics I go over first! 

"Sheik House Revelations" Amman, Jordan July 20, 2011

I came across an old note of mine that I posted on Facebook and decided to copy and paste it to my blog. Feel free to share your thoughts concerning my note. Enjoy!

'I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.  Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you." Rev 3: 1-3

Tonight I sent a good deal of time with some local Muslims, two of whcih were Sheiks (Muslims scholars and highly esteemed religious elders) who had invited me and my friend Michael Williams over for a "Religious Discussion". The night went well, and though we had our disagreements and our difficulties in communication (especially with having to use a translator and all) we were able to enjoy a nice evening of discussion. I also was able to visit a Mosque durring the time of prayer. It was good night and a good experience for me and for Michael. However...even though we walked away feeling satisfied and like we had fulfilled our purpose and our goal for the night, we confessed to each other that we we're feeling a great saddness. We had seen the failings of the Holy and Beloved Catholic (Universal, not Roman-Catholic) Church in the world. My heart is now overwhelemed with great saddness and great anger over the behavior of the church these last few centuries...and blasted divisions made over some of the most foolish reasons. What makes the church think that it has the right to rebel against scripture??? What makes the Church think that God will honor these divisions made in the Church? What ever happened to unity? The Beloved have become taited by their sin and their rebellion? Does the Church no longer fear their God that they would allow themselves to fall into such terrible sins as sexual immorality, unwarrented divorse, acts that lead to warrented divorse, pride, arrogance, hipocracy, lies, false doctrine, flippant study of the scripture, half hearted worship, idiolitry, self centeredness, hatred, impatience, and so much more?!?!?! These things are rampant inthe church and are often labeled as being "acceptable" or "following the Spirit". Too many people claim Christianity and live otherwise! You foolish men and women! You have broken the commandment that says "Thou shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain"! do you ot understand this? Do you not see the evil in proclaiming to be of God's chosen and not living a life honorable? I am not saying that the only Christians are the ones who have it all together and never sin. We all sin and we all make mistakes....but I am speaking against those who are unrepentent and say "I'm a child of God" or "I have been saved" when their is no fruit from them! There is no loe of God that shines in their life, but only a desire for social status or manipulation. I am angered by pastors and preachers and elders who compromise truth for lies.  Some of these are called "liberal" and others still are called "conservative", those who would take away from the doctirne of God's Holy Word and those who would add to it! Are not both of these things wrong? I was disturbed when a Muslim brought up a statistic about the church ( I was a little confussed as to whether he was talking about the church as a whole or just the Anglican denomination) stating that 71% of the "believers" say that you dont need to believe that Jesus is God. Who suddenly decided this? Are we so willing to say that you dont have to believe Jesus is God just to make Christianity less offensive? To try and make things ore acceptabel and easier to understand? Sure, it would  be easier to not have to try and explain what we mean by "Trinity" but that isn't for us to try and make easier. I want the church to return to it's first love...I want an end to the false teachers and false "prophets" on television and those traveling aroudn from church to church to be put in their place. God do something about Your church! PLease open our eyes before we stirr you to wrath against us!!!Church of the west...you have failed...repent before alll is lost and God's wrath be turned against us.

The Long Road to the Self

Self-Discover: "the process of figuring out the one thing you think you should know better than anybody else but don't." This of course is my own definition...but I find it to be pretty accurate. I've had several of the youth in my Church tell me that they were seeking to discover themselves, and I simply turn them and say "God speed." It's a long, hot, and messy road at times Its a great challenge of life that all must experience, but some find it far more difficult than others.

In my own life, I have found it to be both difficult and exciting! The things that I've seen God do in my life have been phenomenal, and I am left amazed with it all. I have found that the most life changing things have happened in foreign countries and/or among communities of people that I never would have dreamed of having the privilege of being connected with. I am still on this journey, I'm still learning about who I am and who God is. I look back and wish I had learned a lot of these things so much sooner, and i wonder how many others feel the same way. The problem is that the Church and our families are supposed to be very active in helping us do this, but sadly the Church is not doing its jobs and families have been so broken that they fall short of being able help one another. Yet there is a responsibility left up to the individual to act upon.

Many people have not begun searching for themselves, figuring themselves out. They are lazy or unwilling to do what is necessary, or they are just not interested enough, or they think it unnecessary to understand who they are.

But there are also many people who never slow down and are just doing one thing after another. To those of you who are like that...I would say STOP. Take a moment to breathe and to think. It is necessary to take the time to process life and to process what you experience and what you know. Sometimes we are required to act, and other time we just need to slow down for a moment and think. See the world that lies around us and not let moments pass us by because we are too frantic about figuring out we are.