Friendship...tis a Wonderful Thing!

Today I was reflecting over how my last four years have significantly shaped my world. An are that I used to have trouble with was the area of friendship. NO...it was not because I was home-schooled. The fact is that it has been difficult for me long before homeschooling. I never quite connected with others as well as they seemed to connect. I was always hanging out with the kids who were Star Wars lovers, or the ones who just liked to look at my drawings. I have had one kid try to buy a drawing from me once! (To this day I regret not taking that 5 bucks...)

But I digress. Some of the issues I faced in my life were: 1) The overwhelming desire to be better than everyone else, 2) The desire for everyone to like me (you should already be seeing a problem), 3) The belief that I am unlikable, 4) The awareness of being different than everyone else. I was more compassionate towards people, I didn't ever think girls were "icky", I was more considerate to others and their feelings, I was more emotional, I didn't like watching sports or talking about cars, I am ginger...

So even at a very early age I faced an identity crisis, and I wasn't sure how to deal with it. I eventually lost myself to my insecurities and self hatred.

Now that I'm done with giving my testimony snip it for the day, lets get back to the topic. Going to college has helped me stand up and us my abilities as a social person. In fact I am well gifted as a social person and friend (though many would not have known this before my having gone to college).

I know for sure that God led me to Bryan College so that I could experience what it means to be in community. It is an essential for humanity that I have seriously been deprived of because of poorly run churches growing up or varies circumstances that I faced.

Tonight I got home from work to find a package on my desk from my friend in Connecticut. She sent me chocolates, because in the last two years that I've known here I have consistently brought her chocolates when she was sick. Me never being sick, didn't quite give her the opportunity to return the favor, but since I've been sick this entire week...she took advantage of the situation to really brighten my day :) It's amazing how something as simple as a bag of chocolates can have such meaning and have an affect of that magnitude!

I also got the opportunity to have dinner with a friend of mine that I haven't seen in a couple month. She and I shared many stories and experiences that we had endured at our work places in the last couple months and shared thoughts and opinions. This was such a refreshing experience for me since it is not often that I get to have conversations like that!

Additionally, I had one friend call to invite me over for dinner with him and his wife. I had to decline due to my previously acquired plans for dinner, but the fact that I was invited was significant to me.

One friend called to see how I was after reading my blog post and seeing I was sick, another to tell me how she got an invite to dating sight from a guy who was crushing on her 6 years ago, and the list goes on.

The point is that friendships have refreshed me, brought me joy, caused me pain, and shaped me into a better person. I have been able to grow and become more and more Me than I was just a few years ago, and college has caused that to grow in even greater doses! If God had not changed me back when I was 16 and began to put friends into my life...and then also not led me to Bryan...then I would be a jumbled mess of a person and without love of life or people...or even God. In His grace He has allowed me to love people and for people to love me so that I can honor Him and love Him even more than I did before.

Our relationships with God are indeed personal, but they are not private. They are collectively personal. That's how God uses us to help each other, while also being their in the midst. It's not just one-on-one. It's One-on-one-on-7 Billion. Friendship is God's tool in our lives to keep us whole and healthy. What have your friends done for you lately? :)

Peace be with you all,

Stephen

"Shall We Dance?"

Today I was disgustingly sick. Headache, weak, stopped up, cough deeply, and even threw up a couple times. Didn't want to eat, didn't want to move...it sucked. So I did what I always do when I feel like that. That's right, you guessed it. Brewed myself a hot drink and watched a chick flick. haha. Tonight I chose "Shall We Dance?" starring Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez. I love this movie. Tonight, however, I didn't just enjoy it. I was MOVED by it.

No no, when I say "moved" I don't mean "oh man it was so sad it made me cry!" (Though I did do that too. Should God grace me with a wife I'm certain she will appreciate this attribute of mine. Just saying), but what I do mean is that I was challenged and I was inspired!

The movie contains two primary characters and about a half dozen secondary characters, and then about a half dozen characters that are a step below that. What we see in this movie is that the two primaries (John Clark and Paulina) are both facing a season of their lives in which they have lost direction and happiness. Their worlds collide, and through friendship (and dance) they go on a journey of self discovery and growth. Throughout the entire movie, you will see that there is character development taking place. Lives are changed.

The message is clear, don't sit on the sidelines of your life. Get up and go "dance"! Don't let fears get in the way and don't just get caught up in the mundane. Lastly it had a theme of "be yourself".

These are all significant themes for me. These are areas in which I struggle in life. I think a lot of times we hold ourselves back, either because of fear or because we let others rule our lives. They rule us through manipulation, lies, teaching, our own bitterness and unforgiveness, etc etc etc. We must learn to over come this. We must stop worrying about what others think about us and live out who God has made us to be. We do Him a severe injustice by not being the people that He has designed. I long for the change and growth that I saw take place in the movie. Even though the movie is not real, I think it bears truth and shows what can take place in real lives everywhere.

Peace be with you all,

Stephen

Authentic Friendship and the Problem of Equality

Friendship is such an interesting aspect of the Image of God in our lives, and is something not easily understood. In the life of the minister, employer, or person of authority it is even more difficult. As a former youth leader and a Christian Ministry major, I will thus focus on the the difficulties that a minister must face concerning the topic.

"It is loneliest at the top..."

I had the privilege of sitting down yesterday with a local college minister who was wrestling with this very issue. The problem he was trying to process in his mind was the idea of "professional distance" and having "authentic relationships".

I asked people I knew what their thoughts were. One woman, being a supervisor at here work, shared that having a close friendship with those under yourself is difficult. She had this to say:

"It is hard to be a friend and boss at the same time and you always have those under you who might misinterpret the friendship and feel you owe them a favor, in a working place. I tried being a friend to all of my employees but I had to make sure that when it came to direction they understood; that I was coming from the boss side of me. But, I also allowed them to vent to me without repercussions. But this takes a lot of energy out of you to do this; but I found that if you give them respect, they give you respect in return. I hope this helps from my point of view as a supervisor. I know there are people who believe opposite as I do and have a set of demands for the people under them."

But what about the position of the minister? Is the minister supposed to be a shaper of community and relationship? Absolutely! I talked with 4 other people and 3 of them stated that it is indeed possible to have an authentic relationship between a minister and members of the congregation. One even claimed to have even seen it unfold in her own church back home!

It's the fourth friend's opinion that really struck me, however, and led me to rethinking my own position, or at least my approach to the issue. He stated that ministers/pastors/priests are the spiritual authority over their parish/church. He listed the following reasons as to why the answer is "no":

1. They must be unbiased in the even that there is dispute among the laity. 
2. They cannot allow themselves to appear as if they are showing favoritism. 
3. They must maintain the respect of the people they are over and in pouring themselves out to people within a congregation they run the risk of losing their ability to minister to those same people. 
4. It is hard/nearly impossible to have a purely disciple-mentor relationship in which the mentor can pour out his heart. He's supposed to be a voice of wisdom and understanding for the one being discipled. 

This covers the basis of what my friend had to share. Diving a little deeper into the matter, we concluded that it is not IMPOSSIBLE for there to be a said friendship. Actually I believe that a minister can effectively cultivate many authentic friendships with those that he ministers to and is in spiritual authority over, but the depth of those friendships and the vulnerability will be limited from person to person. Lets be honest, we want to be friends with those who are spiritually mature and to be mentored by those who are exceedingly above our own maturity. The minister would not want to seek wisdom and advice from someone who is spiritually immature. On the flip side, the person who is spiritually mature does not need the same level or type of discipling. It's possible, but the conditions must be right for it to happen. It depends on the minister and the individual congregant. 

For me, I can be close to a minister and still uphold him with respect and follow his authority, but there aren't that many who can. This is a significant factor to consider in the issue. There does not have to be equality in authority or intellect or wisdom, but they are significant factor to the equation. It's why so many friendships go through rough seasons and many even grow apart, but it isn't impossible. I also wonder how much of this is a side effect of the American culture. Thoughts anyone???

Peace be with you all,

Stephen

Church Math

It's amazing that there aren't more mathematicians coming out of the Church these days. In recent years, Christians seem to have become really good at doing math! Pastors are always talking about addition and increase in peoples finances. In many baptist churches, people are incredibly involved in the budgeting and Christians all across America understand percentages (and usually make sure that they hit exactly 10%; making sure to give enough to please God but not too much so as to seem generous).

I can't tell you how many times I've heard pastors talk about the Church getting better at multiplication, but Google tells me that, at forty-one thousand denominations, it is more accurate to say that the Church has mastered division.

Legalistic teaching has led people to subtracting from their lives things that God does not really want removed, and adding rules and restrictions that imply a works based grace. Many have even claimed to reach a state of sanctification which is squarely rooted in pride and ignorance. Pastors are too busy formulating services and sermons to draw people in and make them happy because they are too concerned with the quantity in the pews and not the quality in the classrooms.

I think it's funny how so many Protestants get angry about cathedrals that display a lofty expression of love for God, while so many aren't willing to give to the poor or even pay their "tithes and offerings". People to busy pointing figures to point other people's flaws when they haven't even gotten close to getting the equation right themselves.

When the positives and the negatives all even out, there is nothing there to brag about. All that's left is a dead, stagnant body that has found it's medium and become lukewarm.

The problem is not the Church's math, but instead it's their application. God didn't call us to live in health, wealth, and prosperity. He called us to live holy. He made us to govern creation, to love Him and to love others. He already laid out a paradigm for us to follow in His scriptures.

It's my life.

Tonight I had a much needed hang out time with a friend that I haven't seen in months! We started getting caught up on our lives and talking about what we've been through and where we are going in life. She is packing up and moving to Hawaii! HOLY CRAP! That's quite a move! We talked for a while and she shared how she felt like it was something that is much needed in her life right now.

"It's your life, stop worrying about what other people think"

As for me, the idea seems scary, but it's not like I haven't contemplated doing similar things. As we talked further she looked at me and told me that I needed to stop living my life worrying about what other people think. She told me that I needed to stop living to please people and remember that even though it's good to give and to care for others, it cannot be at the cost of myself. I cannot lose myself and who I am because I'm afraid of what others might think of me or because someone might get hurt.

It's true. While I desire to never hurt people, it is impossible. I'm only human, and the fact is...so is everyone else. I know better than anyone how easy it is to get one's feelings hurt over nothing or from misunderstanding. It happens. People are hurting and broken, and if I live to never hurt anyone...then I'm just going to suffocate.

It's not wrong to put other peoples needs aside to take care of your own. The fact is that if you ignore your issues, then you are crippling yourself and becoming less effective to help others. It's why so many pastors and church leaders burn out. They forget to take care of their own needs because they feel the pressure to take care of everyone else's. They fail to set up proper boundaries that allow themselves time to relax and renew. It's not selfish, it's necessary and biblical. Even Jesus did it.

I have a life to live, I have a soul to tend to, and I have a body to manage. It's my life and I'm responsible for how I live it and what I do with my time that God has given to me. Worrying about what others think or letting others tell me how to run it is not being a good steward.

"A man that is at war with himself, will be at war with others." 

It's plain and simple. If I want to help others and be an instrument of healing and life in the world, then I need to take the time to heal myself and to grow closer to God.

So I'm just going to be real here. My relationship with God has been shifting a lot. While I've had a couple people say a few things that imply that they do not think very much of my spiritual life, many others have said good things. I have learned that ratios of positive versus negative opinions do not give an accurate report of one's spiritual life. So I must ignore both...for the most part. I have Spiritual people in my life that I trust to be honest and to speak what is beneficial to my life, regardless of whether it is positive or negative.

I do not pray as I used to, with shouting and jumping and angry shouting against the devil. I do, however, pray with great heartache, great passion, desire, and honesty. I think that honesty and depth in prayer is far more important than how I pray. It makes little difference to God, I think, whether one is dancing and shouting...or if they are sitting cross-legged on the floor in quiet contemplation. I also think He cares little about what music is playing while we are praying, if any. He doesn't want us to ramble; He wants us to pray words of sincerity and thoughtful contemplation. Just my thoughts.

My spiritual life has suffered of late, because I have failed to take care of my emotional needs, my intellectual needs, and my physical needs. I have failed to uphold necessary boundaries for others and for myself, and as a result my spiritual self grows weak and sick. Encourage me because you love me, talk to me cause you like me, listen to me cause you genuinely want to be there for me, and if you just want to use and control me so go ahead and walk away. Even if I never know it, God does and trust...He got my back.

Peace be with you all,

Stephen

 

"Truth is?"

The fact is that truth is more often than not something other than what we actually think it is. I have been in a life long battle with "truth" and I'm really just starting to get it. God is truth, and beside Him there is only that which He declares true. There is reality because the ultimate Truth Himself spoke everything to be.

Forgive me, I stray from my topic! Earlier this afternoon I began reading a book called "Telling Yourself the Truth" by Backus and Chapian. By the end of the first page I was already thinking "Woah...this was written for me!" Already, the book shattered a false belief in my life. This false belief is that I'm the only one who feels the way I do or thinks the way I think. The authors gave examples of people who say the EXACT same words that I tell myself all the time.

The truth is that I believe lies the bleed out of hurt emotions and a severe habit of self destruction. My "self-talk" takes a problem or an issue and dwells on it; makes it worse; and causes my joy, peace, and happiness to implode on themselves. My desire is to change this about my life and walk in truth rather than foolish lying and self degrading self talk.

I think that too often many of us get lost in the past and in our feelings. We jump to conclusions and for those, like me, you might be stuck in a pattern or habit of lying to yourself or letting your mind follow a thought trail that is demeaning to yourself.

Here are some tips I've learned (all of these can be found in book mentioned above):

1. Avoid over generalization! Words such as always, never, everyone, & no one are rarely (if ever) true. 
2. You aren't the only one who feel the way you do, so don't go around thinking others haven't been through what you've been through. (Besides, what makes you so special that God should deem you the one to go through something that no one else has gone through or something that can't be over come?) 
3. There are a lot of was that we deceive ourselves and we need to be aware of things we say to ourselves. 
4. Prayer and spiritual discipline are a big part of this, don't leave God out. 
5. Don't be afraid to run to friends and/or family for help. Accountability is important and "faithful are the wounds of a friend and deadly are the kisses of an enemy.
6. Looking at one's childhood can help one understand their self talk and why they do it, but we cannot base all of our problems in the past. We have to let the past go and be aware of the present. The past doesn't keep us from acting on the now. It is not "sovereign" over your actions. 

I know there is much more to learn. I had a couple more points I wanted to put down...but I'm so tired that I forgot them :P 

Peace be upon you all,

Stephen

Right on Time

Have you ever sat back and imagined what the world would be like without the structure of years, months, days, hours, and minutes? What if we didn't have names for the days of the week or for the months of the year? What if all we understood was that there is day, there is night, and that we are ever growing older until we reach the point of death? What if time didn't have such a huge role in our lives or dictate our action?
I think there is something to be said about the stressfulness of being a time oriented culture, but to live without a structured time measurement...we are lost.

That is all that I think time is though. A measurement  I do not think that tine itself has substance to it nor that it is ever possible to time travel. I have heard it said that it has been done by simply orbiting the earth fast enough. That would imply that time and the rotation of the earth are some how connected. This, to me, doesn't make much sense. But I am not a scientist or a time philosopher so my opinion in this particular matter is of no value.

Here's where my words do have some value. I have had the privilege of traveling to various other countries and seen life through the eyes of others who are not so time oriented as Americans and some Western cultures. What I found was that life was much more relaxing, I had more energy, I was less stressed, and so on and so forth. To live free of any concept of time would be unhealthy for humanity in that there would be a great deal of inefficiency and life would be chaotic.

It is impossible for us to live without this structure. If our current one was erased from the minds of every human...then another one would be formed soon enough.

We cannot, however, live in such a way that we are counting every minute or in a way that our time is spent is legalistic in nature.

There is a lot to take in consideration in this matter. Things like priorities, professionalism, and mental health. I think that there is too much to understand. In fact, this topic is hardly worth the time it took you to read it. The point is this. Time is too short to be worrying about time. Use it to enhance your life, but don't let it rule your life. I hope this gives you something to think about...but don't spend too much time on :)

May the Author of Time give you peace,

Stephen

"He loves you too much..."

Yesterday I was on my way to Knoxville for a job interview and I drove through good ole Dayton, TN and visited Bryan College. I wanted to see a couple of my professors and ask for their prayers, pick up a friend of mine who wanted to tag along for support, and to hear a certain chapel speaker named Marva Dawn whom I love listening to dearly. Her words, however, were not the ones that moved me yesterday. Instead they were the words of a professor/friend at Bryan (whom we all call Mr. E).

 He asked me how life was and I told him that it had been stressful and so on, but then he looked at me and told me that it was just another way that God was showing His love to me...and then he said "Let me put it this way. He loves you too much NOT to put you through difficulties and trials that are going to hurt you and ultimately leave you more Christlike than before." BOOM!

Ok, so when I'm going through crap and I'm needing consolidation it is best that you don't give me any of the following answers: "You should pray more", "You need to read your Bible more", "God Loves you and has a great plan for your life", "It's just the enemy trying to get to you" or "You are almost out of this and God is going to pour out blessing 'pressed down shaken together and running over'!"

I will smile and nod...but beyond that I wont benefit from your words and I will mark you off as having not listened (Unless of course your name is Matt Benson...in which case, all but the last answer is going to have an impact on my life). Why? I pray often...I read much less often (haha), but it's not about how many prayers you've prayed or how many verses you have memorized. Numbers and achievements don't promise a life without difficulty and pain. B) You probably didn't even ask about my spiritual life anyway, so you are assuming a suffering spirituality and are prescribing to me a remedy based off of ill thinking, and you not giving me the respect of actually listening to what I'm saying. C) The devil is not after me. Trust me. He has a great deal of other people far more important to focus on than me. I'm not the leader of a country, church group, or even a family. I guarantee  you that Satan doesn't give me the time of day. D) Eisegesis doesn't help me any more than your not listening.

These words, however, that were given to me by Mr. E were encouraging and thought provoking. Pastor talk about the love of God in a way that says that His love will bring an end to our trials and that He will also give us material gains, but what my friend told me made a different statement. The implications are that God's love is actually the reason for the the hardship in the first place! Preach that from the pulpit and see how many come back next week! People don't want God unless He is going to sympathize with all their petty whims and desires and/or wants to erase all of their pain and suffering immediately. No one wants to think about the difficult truth of God leading us into times of shadow on purpose.

          "He causes me to dwell in darkness as those who are long dead..."                             (Lamentations 3:8a)

Even Paul of Tarsus talked about God causing him to have a "thorn in his side" and that God would not take it away from Him.

Also, God's goal in these hardships is not to bring us wealth, glory or even happiness! It's to make us more Christlike...

God's wants us to be cleansed of our sin so that we can live in greater unity with Him and his Holy Spirit, to be lights and witnesses in the darkness of the World, and He purges us through trials and sufferings. We live to glorify and serve Him, not to be served by Him. This self centered Christianity in America needs to come to an end, and a true Christ centered Christianity needs to rise from it's ashes.

Grace and Peace to you all,

Stephen  

Hopeful and Numb

Recently, I was listening to top 40 radio and I noticed an interesting trend. Apart from Adele, the majority of music that you will here will consist of partying, sex, lyrics about how "fly" someone is and how amazing they are, avoiding problems in life and just enjoying the moment, or just complete nonsense (*cough cough* Nikki Minaj cough*).

It seems that having depth or meaning to a song is no longer necessary for it to be good. So long as it has a good beat and one can escape their own reality for a moment, then it's all good. I'm amazed at the crudeness of some songs like "Whistle" by Flo Rida, which totally shows disrespect for women and degrades the value of sex...but who  surprised? America devalued sex roughly four decades ago. Whet really boggles my mind is that there are people that actually listen to this junk. Don't get me wrong, there are songs that I hear on top 40 radio that I quite enjoy listening to, and actually brings benefit to my life. Like Adele who expresses depth and true emotion, or the song "Titanium" that is full of emotion and strength. 

The thing is that people have turned to music to escape, to feel numb to the pain they are experiencing and to gain hope for the future. I fear that this is having a very profound affect on the minds of Americans, as well as others in the world who listen to them. Hope, true hope that brings about an end worth having is only found in Christ, but it isn't wrong to have a little boost from music either...so long as that "hope" isn't rooted in pride and false conception of one's self. 

Music is a gift, can we please stop abusing it by putting "artists" on the stage who can't do anything more than talk about themselves and all the people they have slept with? Perhaps we can even get singers who sound good without the aid of a computer! Ok ok...you're right...one miracle at a time...

Ignorance and Pride

Last night I was sitting with a friend of mine and we were discussing the Church, talking about how different Christians and/or denominations get fixated on a certain theological issue and that "denominations cause division". Our conclusion on the issue was that people are so divided in the Church because of ignorance and pride. Ignorance results in them performing actions that are unbiblical or results in a severe disdain and "protest" of another doctrine or even form of worship. For example, I think that the Protestant Church is primarily ignorant of the things within the Catholic Church. I've learned this from time spent in research and in deep discussion with my friend Tiller. Additionally, our pride locks us up in our ignorance and keeps us from admitting error in our theology or even exploring other traditions of thought! It's really quite sad.

When I got to Bryan College as a freshman, I dreaded telling people that I was a member of the Church of God. Immediately, their pride rose up and began to oppose me. I had people thinking that that I didn't believe in the Trinity and that I handled snakes on a weekly basis. I was told that I didn't know how to read the bible (which wasn't untrue, but not for the reasons they claimed) and accused of being extremely prideful (again, not untrue but not for the reasons they stated). Every Calvinist I came across wanted to attack what I believed, and everyone wanted to prove that tongues doesn't exist anymore.

I am more or less a Calvinist now, but I still believe in tongues. Quite frankly I probably would have come to my theological standpoint a lot sooner if it hadn't been for the pride and ignorance of those people who tried so hard to change the way I thought. I was sickened by them and I even told my friend Myles, "how can they be right when they are so prideful and malicious?" If such lines of thought led to that insensitivity to the Spirit and a lack of spiritual change, then I didn't want it. Thank God that He has led me away from my own pride and helped to set up within me the wonderful ability to love and to be sensitive to others paradigms and histories and so forth.

I pray that God will eliminate pride in the Church...so that maybe ignorance can begin to be obliterated.

Peace be upon you all,

Stephen

Tradition!!!

When I hear the word "tradition", there are several things that come to mind. I think of small little random things that families do for holidays such as Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter. I also think of the classic musical "Fiddler on the Roof" (if you haven't seen it then you are deprived of life and culture...go watch it... no no you can read this later...go...GO!). More recently tradition has turned my attention to ancient forms of worship within the Church.

Just to clarify to some of the protestants out there who might be asking "Well, which church are you talking about?" or "Are you talking about the heartless ritualism of that cult in Rome?" or even  may be saying "My church sings the hymns that my grandfather's grand father sang and if they were good enough for Paul and Silas then they are good enough for me!", when I say "Church" I mean the holy, universal Church that transcends time and space. The Church that does not sum up the four walls and a roof that's on the corner of your street. I mean the full Kingdom of believers that are and were and will be. By "ancient" I mean REALLY REALLY OLD! You probably don't have your family traced back this far! To my Pentecostal brothers and sister...no I don't mean meeting in houses/home churches to speak in tongues and dance (please note that I am not bashing these things, I simply am pointing out that this is not a form of worship recorded in the New Testament or early Church history). Lastly, I do not believe Catholicism to be a cult, but merely a segment of the Church with a skewed focus...like pretty much every denomination in some way, shape, or form.

I'm talking about the liturgy, the deeply ritualistic and symbolic worship that was done for many a century...and is still being done in several denominations. At this I want to point out that I am not "running to Rome" as it were...but I am still deeply moved by these services and this form of worship that I grew up without. Why? I could just say "the Holy Spirit", but lets face it...that's a cop out and a tactic used by way too many people who just want to have their way or get their two-cents in without people making a huge fuss. People will punch others of opinions, but "woe unto him who touches God's anointed who doth speak prophetically". I am no prophet, and even though I deeply believe that prophecy and words of knowledge still exist in the Church today, I fear that we have a tendency to speak too quickly out the flesh and label it as God. No, I'm going to break down a little bit of my reasoning and thought process here.

There is nothing "wrong" about ritualistic worship...though I've been taught for years that it is by people who ritualistically lift their hands, dance, and or play the acoustic guitar. The fact is that ritualism and tradition are not limited to robes and weekly communion. No, it can also be found in the Baptist church, the Presbyterian church, and even in Pentecostal churches. I think the problem is that we have so heavily defined those words in association with Catholicism and/or old Baptistic hymn singing that we forget the true meanings of the words. We have been classically conditioned to have a bitter taste for things we understand and know very little about!

I'm beginning to explore these things and see how they are relevant in the life of a Christian today. I am particularly being drawn to a more Anglican tradition, but I have not full let go of my Pentecostal roots. I have personally felt the Spirit's presence in the middle of a liturgical service and that leads me to the conclusion that neither form whether "traditional" or contemporary are essentially right or wrong. God is honored in both. I hope to share more of my thoughts concerning the matter in the future and why I'm being drawn to Anglicanism.

Peace be upon you all,

Stephen