I pray for mercy and divine protection from God’s enemies. When I’m in a jaunty mood, I pray for Him to smite liberals.
She’s so uplifting… go check it out (sarcasm here folks!)
Archive for July, 2006
At least if you live in listening range to KFYE in California. An entrepreneur seems to have purchased a “christian” radio station and replaced it with, what he is calling, “porn radio.” I’m without words except that the person responsible for this has a sick sense of humor. I understand that it is now someone else’s property and they can do whatever they wish with it, this person must be baiting for attention in addition to having a sick sense of morals and humor (via CNN.)
It’s amazing what lasts
Jul 26
It is amazing what lasts, a copy of the psalms was uncovered in a bog in Ireland. The manuscript was written on vellum, which is why it is still here… I doubt the vital information on our internet, paper, and diskettes will last 1200 years. (from the IHT)
By the way, I’m just wicked busy attempting to be employed… so posting is a little sporadic!
Thought of the day
Jul 19
We’re not really taught how to recreate constructively. We need to do more than find diversions; we need to restore and expand ourselves. Our idea of relaxing is all too often to plop down in front of the television set and let its pandering idiocy liquefy our brains. Shutting off the thought process is not rejuvenating; the mind is like a car battery— it recharges by running.
-Bill Watterson
Kenyon College Commencement Address (May 20, 1990)
Recreating, revisioning, rejuvenating… these are magical words for today’s Christian. Try it, you’ll like it!
Tough Questions
Jul 18
The blog Faith and Theology asks the question “what is the worst liturgical invention?” At first I thought it was a little out there, I mean, to each their own, right? It was after I saw the options that I smiled… could I pick all of them? In getting ready to post this I read all of the comments and died laughing. The responses are priceless – read them!
The choices are:
Liturgical dance
The altar call
Tiny cups of eucharistic grape juice
Banners on the walls
PowerPoint sermons
Now go vote! I won’t say what I picked, but it was a tough choice.
Sure, this (via this story) may not be as inspiring as meaningful scripture, quotes, and musings – but I bet it made you smile! Who says christians aren’t producing anything meaningful anymore? (please read the sarcasm here, folks.)
image credit to James Joyner via www.outsidethebeltway.com
Worship, a perspective
Jul 14
Not that I really agree with how this approaches the subject, I do believe that the nature of worship does need to be addressed. The modern church has created a reality in which how we worship is more important than what Who are supposed to worship. While I feel that this has been encouraged by the “christian” music industry; How many worship CD’s of the same songs can we possibly hear? There will always be false worship and real worship I think it does help to center us if we reflect on the following verse with the mind focused on worship of the great I AM and not the great me-centered falsehood.
And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.
Mark 12:30 ESV
We love God, and therefore we worship Him, simple as that. How that worship takes place is as best fits the community which is doing the worship. Some churches are reactionary, shunning guitars and drums, while others cut off half a millenia of wonderful hymnody. If people do this to best worship God in their community that is one thing, but if it stops being worship and becomes a method of recruitment then what is it? Is it still worship? Is it just useless noise?
From Luther’s Concerning Christian Liberty
Let us therefore hold it for certain and firmly established that the soul can do without everything except the word of God, without which none at all of its wants are provided for. But, having the word, it is rich and wants for nothing, since that is the word of life, of truth, of light, of peace, of justification, of salvation, of joy, of liberty, of wisdom, of virtue, of grace, of glory, and of every good thing. It is on this account that the prophet in a whole Psalm (Psalm cxix, and in many other places, sighs for and calls upon the word of God with so many groanings and words.
So you want to be relevant…
Jul 10
It has been the hip thing since Church 1.0 to try to be relevant. How can we be relevant to our audience – what sermon examples are hip, edgy and cool? What language can I add to my sermon to spice it up (within and without curses, depending on “who you are reaching out to?” Mark Dever’s recent post on the ever-excellent blog “Together for the Gospel” addresses this subject with admirable clarity:
One way would have been to update examples, or make the more edgy and catchy, to use some video clips. All of this would have been done to make the application even more powerfully evident to everyone present.
A second way of making the sermon more relevant would have been to have spent more time showing us that none of us HAVE been good enough, spoken well enough, kept our word enough, etc. AND then to have shown us that Christ did all of this FOR US.
Maybe I’m just becoming more “reformed” in my thinking, but I applaud this second perspective. To me, the scriptures are most relevant when we are most true to them. If the spice of our perceived relevance distances us from the scriptures than we have created the greatest irrelevance.
Check out the blog Generous Orthodoxy: Think Tank, it has insightful and well-written articles. The subject of universalism is in discussion right now and is worth a read. A recent post on Kierkegaard’s view of heaven and salvation (is it universalist, or is he just humble?) makes for a very interesting read.