Knee Length Skirts

October 16, 2012

I have a struggle.

It is a deep, deep struggle.

My struggle is with knee-length skirts.

Please, let me explain.

Idol Worship

October 12, 2012

-“You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God...

Worship Styles: Taize

October 8, 2012

Imagine being in a dimly-lit room with over 2,000 people from all over the world each holding a candle, singing hauntingly beautiful chants in worship to God as scripture is sung and read over top of the heavenly song.

Taize is one of my favorite styles of worship.

True Devotion

October 3, 2012

“True devotion, the kind that is pure and faultless before God the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their difficulties and to keep the world from contaminating us.” – James 1: 27 (CEB)

I will confess from the beginning that I am aware the scripture above does not even once mention the word worship explicitly. However, it does refer to liturgy.

Worship in the face of grief

October 2, 2012

Worship is powerful at any time or any place in one’s life. Being able to share shouts of praise and gratitude to the God of creation during times of celebration reminds us of how awesome our God is. We sometimes find it more difficult to praise God when we are broken, when we are in the face of great grief and despair.

Worship as Service

September 27, 2012

The first thing that comes to my mind when I think about worship is: God. This isn’t surprising. After all, God is the receiver of our worship. The triune God, three-in-one, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, revealed to us in Jesus Christ is the object of our affections. I often worship God as the Almighty God, the unchangeable, powerful creator of the whole universe. It is true that God is mighty and powerful, but I also

Perspective

September 26, 2012

“Bless the Lord, oh my soul and all that is within me praise his holy name.”

Why do we worship? There are so many reasons since we, as creatures, were created to worship. But what I’m thinking about today is how worship changes our perspective. Living smack dab in a culture that gets a lot wrong,

Confession and Repentance on Yom Kippur

September 25, 2012

One of the best Bible studies I have ever been a part of was a study of Christ’s roots in the Jewish holidays and the rich experiences that can come from understanding of the history of past traditions. The study was called Feast if you want to check it out on Amazon or Lifeway.com. Feast was an appropriate title since Jews celebrated many, many holidays with a grand feast!

Impact

September 20, 2012

Knees locked. Arms crossed. Heart trembling with apprehension. That's the moment when I remember what it's like.

I breathe in deep, a feeble attempt at controlling the anxiety. And I've got it all wrong. That's the moment when I remember what it's like.

1956

September 18, 2012

A few weeks ago I found myself sitting on an old wooden church pew, along with several generations of my fathers family. My Grandfather's younger sister had passed away just a few days after her 100th birthday, and we were gathered for a memorial service and her interment in the old cemetery across the road from the church. The church we were in was an old Methodist church that my family attended for at least eight generations.

Why I Like Tradition

September 14, 2012

I've been through many spiritual journeys as a Christian. One of them has been into a contemporary style of worship. When I first started involving myself with the contemporary worship team at my home church, I felt almost at home. The ideas behind our contemporary service really drew me in. I liked the idea that we shouldn't do things just for traditions sake and we should allow service to be a time for the spirit to move. It seemed to me then that traditional worship wasn't spirit led. What I didn't realize then, that I do now, Traditional worship practices don't really stifle the spirit.

Worship as Pastoral Care?

September 4, 2012

I have a book sitting on my shelf. It’s been sitting there since 2003. It’s been opened…never. It is called “Worship as Pastoral Care.”

I have nothing against worship or pastoral care. It’s just that the idea of combining the two takes “boring” to a level with which I cannot cope. That is, until yesterday.

God: Embracing the Mystery

September 3, 2012

"Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled:

‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’

‘Where, O death, is your victory?

Where, O death, is your sting?’

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

What a bunch of nonsense. ...So it would seem anyway.