Blockbuster - An Uncomfortable Parable

...And so he sat them down and explained to them what the kingdom of church is like:

There was a boy named Lyle, who worked at Blockbuster. Lyle loved being around movies, talking about movies, and helping others find movies. He liked being with his fellow co-workers and movie loving customers. He was well liked and looked forward to going to work every day. One day he got promoted to store manager but as he quickly learned this required a whole lot of knowledge about Blockbuster and he was not prepared. Lyle was forced to resign. After leaving Blockbuster, Lyle longed to be among movie goers again. How much he missed his job and all of the great customers. Lyle loved helping customers find just the right movie. Lyle dreamed of those wonderful Tuesday mornings when the new movies would arrive and he got to see them first! Lyle was so sad and would spend most of his nights alone watching old movies while eating Toaster Strudels.

Around this time, Lyle began seeking advice from other store managers. Lyle wanted so badly to be among all the new movies again and hoped he could someday return to Blockbuster. Over and over again, the manager's advice was the same.

"Go get your Masters of Blockbuster. Then you'll be ready to manage your very own store," They would say.

"But a Masters of Blockbuster takes three years," Lyle would protest.

The managers kept saying the same thing, "Go get your Masters of Blockbuster!"

"But a Masters of Blockbuster costs over $30,000!" Lyle would plead.

The managers began to shout, "Go get your Masters of Blockbuster!"

"But Blockbuster stores are closing all over the country and the entire company is nearly bankrupt!" Lyle tried to reason.

The managers shouted louder, "Go get your Masters of Blockbuster!"

"But this model is becoming obsolete and people don't get their new movies at Blockbuster anymore!" Lyle responded.

The managers shouted all the louder, "Go get your Masters of Blockbuster!!"

Finally, Lyle stopped trying to argue. A Masters of Blockbuster just didn't make any sense. For awhile he wondered if he would be helpful among movie goers ever again. Lyle had been an employee at Blockbuster for so long, he nearly forgot of any other way to find a new movie. Then, Lyle remembered back to when he watched his first movie. Long before he had gotten a job at Blockbuster. The movie was an action-adventure flick full of adrenaline pumping, pulse pounding twists and turns. It had romance and tragedy, and a surprise ending that left Lyle in tears. He had never seen anything like it before. It stirred him deep within his soul and left him seeing the world a little more clearly. Just then a thought popped into Lyle's brain,

"New movies are coming out all of the time, I just need to find a new place to find them!" He realized.

And so Lyle set off on his journey to find new movies in new places. It felt dangerous and exciting all at once to Lyle. He wasn't even sure if this was possible but the desire to find new movies drove him onward. It almost felt like he was making a new movie himself but that would be presumptuous to think. Some of the Blockbuster employees occasionally heard of Lyle's journey and accused him of liking foreign films but Lyle just let them talk. Besides, he knew the subtitles on those movies bugged him anyway.

The End.

The Now - Gravity

"You might say you don't know, think, or believe in God, but God knows, thinks, and believes in you."

I'm a Backstabber

Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.”  He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it. John 12:3-6

Want.

I'll be the first to admit I'm mildly obsessive when I get into a new hobby, spending hours online reading about it, shopping for it, and ultimately wanting another hobby to add to the list. Most recently I spent a great deal of time researching watches. I hadn't owned a watch in several years and I was looking for a masculine, grown-up watch that could not only reflect my personality but survive my lifestyle while making me look like a working adult. Ultimately it came down to a very particular style of watch and after careful deliberation I made my purchase. Now, I've got a great watch with all the features I wanted, but I know my sickness and I don't want to get away from my core value that a simpler life is more enjoyable.

I also work at a church, where I manage both financial records and assets. I'm glad I have oversight to keep my accounting accurate, as well as to keep me from sneaking equipment out the back door, because without it I might have ended up like the many people who are currently doing time in Uncle Sam's prisons for picking the pockets of Jesus.

I wanted to write this because I was struck by the volume of articles dealing with church embezzlement and all the people who are now behind bars instead of spreading the gospel of Christ with the world. Maybe they can do some good in the prisons, but I have a feeling it's not quite as effective as a prison ministry like Chuck Colson's Prison Fellowship. And unfortunately this isn't limited to any particular area--it's happening all over the world. So why do people filled by the Holy Spirit suddenly find themselves in orange jumpsuits? Is it because they just made a few bad choices? I'm hesitant to reduce it to that.

My theory is these people entered the journey* of faith and eventually lost all the innocent enthusiasm that comes with a fresh commitment to follow Christ. They start the inward journey of learning about their faith in a deeper way, learning about themselves, and then they have to confront themselves. They've shouldered their individual cross, carried it up the hill, and now the time is near to finally begin driving the nails so they can die to themselves spiritually and be resurrected in the renewed life of Christ.

But it's difficult to do that, especially when it's much easier just to fall into a performance-based, nominal Christianity. I've been here too. I've learned the script of all the words to sound like a tremendously devoted Christian, but the script is just a mask. What's going on inside is that a person has to decide whether to confront their own self or put someone else on that cross, and usually it's Jesus who goes back on the cross. Dying to the self is scary, and since Jesus has already died for you, it's so easy just to hope that he can change you magically without any work on your part.

At this point Jesus is taken off the throne of a person's heart and someone else takes the seat. So a person takes the throne of their own life and their scepter is desire. Whatever he or she wants, they point their desire at it and bring it into their kingdom.

The most dangerous thing in the world is wanting. From dictators who want power to children who want toys, this little monster likes to pop up its ugly head all over the place. Want is a scepter, and it's only good for something when it's being held by Christ on the throne of your life. Examine your heart and let him decide what you should want.

To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. Hebrews 6:6

*For more information about the journey model of spiritual growth see my post, The Bookmark.

The Opposite of Love

If you know me, you probably know that I am a complete nerd and know way too much about the latest and greatest gadget. So sorry if the nerd talk it a bit too much for you to handle. :)


I was thinking about technology and how in the tech world people get labeled either and Apple FanBoy or an Apple Hater. I view myself in the middle. I love apple, but with the same breath I despise Apple. Either way these feelings have kept me interested and talking about their products, and even purchasing some. Apple finds itself so close to perfection that when they miss the mark it causes a feeling of hate to dwell up inside of me.


On the other hand there are companies like Microsoft that I have struggled with for so long that I have become numb to feelings toward them what so ever. I am completely indifferent with Microsoft. I do not care about them what so ever. 


This leads me to believe that the opposite of Love is not Hate, but actually indifference.


When someone I love misses the mark, a feeling of hate, not for that person, but for the circumstances around the situation. 


Love and hate often go hand in hand.


But the one thing that can not be apart of love is indifference. It would be impossible for me to love someone and at the same time not care about them.


This is probably the same for God. 


He always loves us, He always hates our sin, but He is never indifferent about us and our situation. 


He always cares. 


He Always Loves.

Follow up to "Check...Check...God, can you hear us?"

A few days ago I wrote about worship and how I believed that it has become a show more than actual worship. I have received some feedback about how it was pretty critical of people and their personal worship styles. That is why I am writing this post, to follow up on the previous post and set right what I was trying to say and maybe explain better where I am coming from.

First and foremost, I want to apologize for being too critical in my post and if it was too offensive. Part of my reason for writing for this blog is the chance to write about relevant topics that make people think and at the same time appeal to those in the secular world by disproving or breaking down the negative stigmas that Christians have gained. I fear that I may have done the exact opposite in the way that I wrote my previous post. My intention was purely to try and make people think about the way that we have began to worship and to be cautious of the way that we do so. I believe that what happened instead was venting about negative examples that I have seen rather.

Many people worship in different ways. Worshiping God is a communication of showing appreciation and respect of God for all he has and all he will do for us. We show our love for him and connect in a spiritual way. How this happens is unique to the individual. Like someone pointed out about my last post, some people can truly connect to God through the loud, concert style worship. Maybe this acts a way to keep them on track, keep them focused by being loud and bright so that no matter where they look or when their mind strays, they are instantly brought back to the moment by the noise and light. Others, like myself, find that to be distracting.

Personally, I like the more relaxed, even acoustic style worship. This seems to allow a connection to be made that could not happen when I have noise and lights all over acting as a distraction. I feel that I am able to hear and have heard God better when the worship music is not too loud and too light shows too bright. However, that is my opinion. I was aked to give an example of how I like to worship and connect with God and saw fit that I should include that here.

Now, onto correcting my point of the last post. That was directed to the fact that what tends to happen in some cases, is that it becomes a show. My post was meant as a warning that we can’t turn worship into a concert. When this happens, it becomes more of an act in my opinion. The transformation from worship to a concert is brought in two folds. One, when the worship leader is more concerned with performance and looks rather than worshiping. In my experience, I have seen people pushed of to the side or put in the back, not because of their voice (they were amazing and better than the chosen singers in some cases) but because they didn’t look young enough. When it comes about appearances, that’s a show. The second way it becomes a show is when it is choreographed. There is nothing wrong with organization, but when it becomes choreographed, it seems to take out opportunity for the Holy Spirit to intervene. However, this is not limited to the stage presence but also the congregation as well. Some people look around, and when people raise their hand to the Lord, they do the same. Not to worship, but they have been conditioned to feel that if they don’t then they are not good Christians, or aren’t worshiping.

Having said that let me say again that there are those who are sitting in a choreographed worship performance and are connecting with God in a way that some of us may never understand. For those people, they are worshiping and therefore the worship team is doing it’s job in some aspect.

My point is that we need to be careful how we worship. When it becomes more of a show, than we run the risk of beginning to worship the band rather than God. Not worship in the same sense; rather we pay more attention to cool light and sound effects rather than connecting with God. When the worship band becomes more concerned with how they look and who is front and center, than that takes away from the meaning of worship. On that same line, when we have visitors come to our church or when a new believer is looking for a home, how does it look when we pay more attention to how we look when we worship than to the God that we are worshiping?

I say this to make us think. We are supposed to building the Kingdom of God and bringing people to Christ, right? If we do and they see us not taking worship seriously than how can we do that? What does that say about our commitment and us? What kind of example is that?

Before I said that lighting and concert feeling music has its place in church and limited it to events. I would like to take that back and say that there is also a need for churches that provide that because there are people who connect through that and with out providing that need then we are not doing our job of leading to Christ. However, egos and appearance can get in the way of the meaning of worship and that is what we need to shy away from. If the band presents worship in a way that is loud, has effects, and is truly about God, than by all means that is accomplishing the meaning and purpose of worship.

All in all, worship is about connecting with God. When bands make it about themselves instead of God, that doesn’t please him and defeats the purpose of the act.

Is Rob a Heretic? Book Review: LOVE WINS by Rob Bell

Rob Bell, author of Velvet Elvis, has given us a new treatise on a fundamental part of the Christian faith. Love Wins has already been the target of much criticism as its very description as “a book about heaven, hell, and the fate of every person who ever lived” located it at the center of a great controversy. At the heart of the subject is the question ‘what sends some people to hell while others go to heaven?’ and it is precisely that question that Bell answers with bold argument and conviction within just 198 pages.

Love Wins is obviously inspired by pastoral experience with people who ask the hundreds of questions echoed throughout the book as Bell tries to answer them—oftentimes with more questions than answers. On the whole, his tone is true to his philosophy that we must ask questions, ask more questions, and then wrestle in the deepest parts of ourselves to arrive at an answer that is consistent with the character of God. The major theme of this piece is dealing with the topic of destiny as it raises questions about salvation, heaven, hell, choice, the cross and resurrection, our reaction to God’s actions, and the natures of both God and us. These also serve as the outline for the chapters in the book as each one is addressed.

Ultimately, Rob communicates excellently on every level what his views are and how he believes they should be applied to life. While I was not overwhelmingly impressed with his hermeneutical analysis, I had to realize that his goal was to make all that lofty dialog accessible to common people who find hermeneutical tomes a tad intimidating. In that respect, I commend his faithfulness to using logical transitions in abridging any biblical exegesis he did. And I do award full points for arriving at answers that don’t stretch the usage of biblical words and concepts painfully to suit his views—he remains true to a long tradition of interpretation even if he doesn’t make the readers suffer through all the details. He firmly secures himself to orthodox biblical scholarship that stretches from Origen to N.T. Wright and does not at all advocate that hell will be empty.

Some have issued early critiques that Rob Bell claims in this book that our actions don’t matter and everyone will get into heaven. After reading this book thoroughly and slowly over the last three days I will back Rob 100% in defending him from these critics. The overwhelming theme of his work here, to which he devotes most of his arguments and discussion, is that our actions and choices matter infinitely more than we have ever imagined. By every choice we either bring hell or heaven to earth, and Rob clearly believes that God won’t instantaneously wipe away a person’s nature. We will carry our personalities into the afterlife and our nature will either lead us into heaven or hell.

I encourage anyone interested in this discussion to purchase this book, give it a thorough read, and grapple personally with its issues. There’s nothing to lose in forming your own beliefs as you grow deeply in the life of faith, and I’m sure Rob Bell says much the same thing… even if you grapple with the issues and end up disagreeing with his view. And for the transparent, honest, and personally revealing nature of his exposition, as well as his courage in facing down the critics who want to suppress discussion of fate and hell, I give Love Wins full marks in its field of spiritual literature.

- -


What follows is my summary of the entire book. As I move through the main sections of the book in the course of my summary, I will provide page numbers for you in parenthesis so you can easily check out what I’m referring to. If you disagree with my assessment, feel free to drop a comment below and I’d be happy to address it in addendum.

Preface

If you’re like me, you’ll read the preface to find out what Rob’s motivation and expectations are for the book. It also serves to usher the reader into his context as he attempts to bridge the gap between himself and his readers. The preface was kind of like shaking hands with Rob before sitting down for three days to listen to his thoughts until I had noted and mapped each idea. What impressed me here was the firmness of his grip—he means business about the love of God being for every person and allowing people to dive deep into questions of faith (ix).

Chapter 1

The first chapter deals primarily with the topic of salvation as he opens up with rhetorical criticism about anyone who claims to know for a fact whether a certain person is or isn’t in hell (1-2). In this case, that person is Gandhi, and Bell’s assertion is that we can’t know with any empirical certainty the fate of anyone. Are certain people more likely to have salvation because of where they are born? If the answer is yes then it seems there must be something wrong because the gospel should speak hope to everyone rather than express no hope at all for those outside the privileged group (3).

Aside from probing the topics of what must happen for someone to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, the age of accountability (4), and the nature of the belief that we must have a personal relationship with Christ; Bell leads his readers through a long list of Bible verses about salvation (12-17). What he reveals about salvation is that it happens in dozens of different ways within the Bible, let alone the scope of the entire human race. He even calls into question the very meaning of the idea that salvation requires you to “just believe” (17-18) and its merits, suggesting that salvation is much broader and greater than the conventional verbage used in the Christian community today.

Chapter 2

It follows logically that heaven would follow salvation in any dialogue, and so Bell launches into what appears to be a much larger discussion that has been abbreviated for the sake of his intended audience. There’s a lot more here than golden streets (24). In fact, one of the most essential discussions on the usage of a Greek word (31) is almost completely eliminated (trust me, most of you wouldn’t want to read it anyway) so his introduction to these words give a Polaroid type understanding that when the word eternal appears it isn’t necessarily the best representation of the idea behind the Greek word, which he will expand on in the next chapter.

Ultimately, the chapter about heaven sounds a lot like things you’ve already been hearing about being environmentally conscious, peaceful, and active in projects of social compassion (36). Actually, there is very little in this chapter that’s original to him, but we’re not interested in original ideas as much as how he takes ideas and forms them into a system of beliefs that we can actually use in our own lives. I like his use of Matthew 25 (The Final Judgment) to further break down the idea that we know who is going to heaven and who’s not (51-52). And the lesson Rob seems to try to drive in is that heaven is something we bring to earth through our choices right now, not something far off (51, 62).

Chapter 3

Hell is what got Rob on the hot seat with Martin Bashir and other interviewers who wanted to pin him to the wall as a universalist. In fact, you’re probably reading this review because you want to know if I think he is or not. We’ll get there.

Rob starts this chapter in a heated sprint with lots to cover and only so many pages to do it in. How is hell talked about in the Bible? While it’s readily apparent that he doesn’t hit every last verse, I felt satisfied with the breadth of what he covered as he tried to wrestle with hell along with the readers. The biggest takeaway for people new to theological dialogue or biblical study will be the distinction that the Old Testament idea of hell (65) is different from the New Testament idea (67) because of the cultural and chronological gap between the respective texts. What Rob really runs with is the idea of hell as a way of life: similar to the way we can choose to do things that bring heaven to earth in little ways, we can also cause hell on earth by other choices (71). Bell’s challenge is that we recognize the great responsibility we have in deciding which choices to make, because we can create individual hells as well as society-wide hells in the here and now (79).

In addition to observing that the story may not be over for Sodom (84) and that Satan may be no more powerful than a tool in God’s shed (89), he discusses the phrase “eternal punishment” (91-92) in light of its other possible interpretation as “time or season of correction, pruning, trimming.” He’ll build on this in the next chapter, but before moving on Rob closes his chapter about hell by defining his usage of the word hell (93) as being “a loaded, volatile, adequately violent, dramatic, serious word to describe the very real consequences we experience when we reject the good and true and beautiful life that God has for us… a word that refers to the big, wide, terrible evil that comes from the secrets hidden deep within our hearts all the way to the massive, society-wide collapse and chaos that comes when we fail to live in God’s world God’s way.” In no way does Rob deny the existence of hell either as an idea, a consequence, or as a literal place.

Chapter 4

Starting with the primary philosophical problem of free will versus fate between the questions ‘does God get what God wants?’ (97) and ‘do we get what we want?’ (116) it seems that Rob was really serious when he said he wasn’t afraid to dive into the deep questions (ix). Some highlights you can expect to find here will include building the premise that God does indeed want all people to be reconciled to him (97), God’s unchanging purpose (98) and his relentlessness (101). You can also expect to find plenty of attention to the quandary involving an infinite amount of hellish torment for a few years of finite sin (102) and what kind of God would shrug his shoulders and give up on bringing all people to him (103).

You’ll also find plenty of discussion about free will and how love is freedom (104-105), so God ultimately respects our choice. But that only serves to raise Rob’s favorite topic: how do we choose hell? Is it something instantaneous (105) or is it made by a lifetime of choices to bring hell, rather than heaven, to earth? This is also the part where Rob blatantly mocks universalist concepts of a heavenly “hug-fest” (105) while affirming that some of us indeed choose hell—how tragic that hell won’t be empty. But Rob also shies away from Protestant views and returns to a more traditional Christian viewpoint as he cites Origen, Augustine, Jerome, and other early church fathers (107) who believed there was more involved in going to heaven or hell than is contained in earthly life. Martin Luther (106), in light of doubts about a second chance after life to turn to Jesus in all his glory, exclaims “Who would doubt God’s ability to do that?” After all, the gates of heaven won’t be shut, as Rob observes from the book of Revelation.

Rob ponders the idea of God’s glory and whether he receives glory by suffering or restoration, by torment or reconciliation, by anguish or renewal (108). He makes a strong case that church history is full of respected orthodox believers who answered questions about God in many different ways, and it’s okay if we don’t all agree (110). We should recognize that it even seems more Christian to long for the better story or God’s great redemptive work in all people from all time (111) and to put hope in the gates of heaven which never shut (115).

Chapter 5

Looking at a comeback performance by Eminem where he bears a cross hung around his neck (121), Rob points out that the cross is a tremendously meaningful symbol because Jesus’ death on it meant the end of the sacrificial system (124), the reconciling of all things (126), and his victory in destroying death itself (127). Likewise, the resurrection of Jesus from the dead is reflective of a rhythm implanted within all of creation as life emerges from death (131). Jesus’ resurrection not only defeats the grave but voices a song from the entire world. It bears hope for us personally (135) and marks the beginning of a new age, a new creation, and inhabits a cosmic scope with its power that doesn’t disappoint (133).

Chapter 6

Obviously when we look at the message of Christ’s atonement and resurrection, along with the possibility of choosing life with him forever in heaven or separation and torment in hell, it’s impossible to discount the importance of our reaction and Bell wonders whether it’s acceptable to just dismiss anything we can’t find an explanation for (142). It’s a necessary entry point to get us into wondering about whether there is anything we’ve overlooked as throughout the centuries no one ever knew Christ was present with the Israelites in the Sinai wilderness. That is, until the Apostle Paul pointed out that the rock where they received miraculous water was Christ—begging the question, “where else has Christ been present?” (144, 148)

The main assertion here is his dialog about being in either an open or closed universe (147) as Bell wonders whether the universe is limited to what we can conceive or comprehend. It was plain to me that this was a veiled critique about claiming to comprehend exactly what an infinite and incomprehensible God will or will not do, especially regarding his loving pursuit of people. And as he makes his argument that Jesus is supraculturally active (151) in drawing all people to himself, Rob leads into the most important part of the entire book. As he explains exclusivity and inclusivity (154), Rob defines his own position (155) regarding fate, describing it as “exclusivity on the other side of inclusivity.” Sound confusing? I think he chose the phrase to communicate how diverse and complicated he sees this view himself, which is supported by his long history of embracing paradoxical truths. “Jesus is the way, but… the all-embracing, saving love of this particular Jesus the Christ will of course include all sorts of unexpected people from across the cultural spectrum.” In other words, we should be slow to make “negative, decisive, and lasting judgments about people’s eternal destinies.” (160)

Chapter 7

For how short and conclusion-driven chapter 8 is, it really seems that 7 is the last real chapter of content in the book. This is where Rob really starts rounding up all these thoughts and bringing them to a close in his final exposition: a discussion about the nature of God and us. The story of the prodigal son in Luke 15 illustrates that both sons had a version of the story that conflicted with the father’s version, and salvation was dependent upon their choice to live in their own story or to live in their father’s story. Bell characterizes the world of the father as functioning in a mode of “profound unfairness” (168) as the father inverts both of his sons’ expectations.

After a great deal of talking about “here and somewhere else” throughout the book, Rob finally shows us why he’s so caught up in it as he observes that the older son is at the party in his torment—hell is at the party, together with heaven, and that is why it is so hellish (169-170). Rob even offers another definition of hell (170) to add to his first, “hell is our refusal to trust God’s retelling of our story.” As we look at this parable in Luke 15 the father listens to his sons each tell their story, and then he retells them their story. “All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat.” “My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.” Do we criticize God for being cheap (180) or do we claim the wealth of being his children at the party?

Rob hits here at our nature to shape God, and a rebuke that when we shape God to be a slave driver then our religion becomes a system of sin-management (183). Getting caught up in acting bad can separate us from God, but so can getting caught up in trying to act good (187), and this is what Rob criticizes as being so diametrically opposed to the concept of forgiveness, which is dependent on mercy and not anything we’ve done (189).

Chapter 8

This chapter concludes the book as Rob challenges us to accept what is real and avoid the reflex to become cynical or skeptical (194). He also challenges us to take hell seriously and to live like the end is here (197)—it’s time to take choices seriously as we choose constantly to either bring a little of heaven or a little of hell into our world. And with those thoughts, he closes us in his signature benedictory fashion.

“May you experience this vast, expansive, infinite, indestructible love that has been yours all along. May you discover that this love is as wide as the sky and as small as the cracks in your heart no one else knows about. And may you know, deep in your bones, that love wins.” (198)

Check....Check....God, can you hear us?

"Check one, check two." The lead vocalist is warming up and testing the sound. Then you hear the back up vocalists checking in. Everybody does their warm ups and the instruments kick in with sound checks and warm up solos. Then, at the precise time the house lights go down and the stage lights come up. An array of colored lights, dizzying lighting shows and effects with fog. It's time to start worship at church.

At first one would not know that was a worship band. In most churches you can't even tell that's what's happening - worship. Everything is so coordinated and timed. "Sorry, Holy Spirit, no time for you to intervene today." The performers even coordinate lifting their hands in sync, so that becomes an act and not reaching to the Lord.

What has happened to worship?

Is that really what we are doing on Sunday's and mid week services? Worshiping? Or is more blindly singing lyrics to songs so our neighbors don't question us. We raise our hands at the right moments and sway with the music. Is that worshiping? Is that what God has in mind? Is that what he asking?

Too many times worship music turns into a performance and an act. Egos get in the way and spot lights get hogged.

Spot lights? Shouldn't the spot light be on God?

Don't get me wrong... Lighting and sound equipment has it's place in church. There are times, such as special events, when they are appropriate. But let's not kid ourselves when we have a synchronized light show with our music and call that worship.

Worship is an experience that we share with God. That is something that we participate in to show our love and show our appreciation for what He has done. What does it look like to a new believer or a visitor when we have "worship leaders" acting like egotistical performers and wanting to be the center of attention? What do visitors think? What does that say about how we worship? Or who we worship?

Let's make a change. Let's take out the egos, the light shows, the preforming and let's start worshiping.

Check....check....God? Can you hear us?

Guest Post - The Descent Into Religion

By Drewe Zanki

'Religion' is not a bad thing right? I mean, we all should have some religion in our lives?

True. If by religion you mean loving God, and accepting Jesus Christ as the one who paid the penalty for your sins. But more often than not, religion to us is just a 'thing we do'. It becomes monotony, something to get done because we have to.

We descend from the heights of loving God - from good intentions to serve Him, to love Him, to do the right thing by Him, into 'religion' - whereby we continue doing these things, but without God in them.

Matthew 15:8-9
'This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men'

Why do you go to Church? Is it because you love God? Because you want to worship Him? Because you want to serve God and the other saints in the church? These are all right answers - and often where we start. But if you ask yourself honestly - why do we go to church? The answer may not be as holy.

You see, many of us have descended from love of God, and a desire to do His will - into religion. We get up on Sunday morning because that is what we do. We grumble about it, grumble about the music, grumble about the preaching, grumble about how hot or cold it is, how uncomfortable the pews or seats are, how the guy behind us always sings loudly and out of tune, and how on earth we put up with that lady in the corner, you know, with all her faults. And we think about what we will do after church, hoping we will have time to grab some take out before the game starts. Maybe we even pray that our team will win today...

Revelation 2:4-5
But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

And yet, the solution to religion, to vain worship and false teaching is simple - return to our first love.

I am not saying don't go to church - the Bible says not to 'forsake our gathering together' (Hebrews 10:25). What I am saying is that we need to not go to church because 'that is what we do'. We need to return to our first love - have a passion for Jesus Christ and His church. Have a passion to serve Him, wherever He places us in this life.

I chose church because it is a common factor for most of us. But remember this can happen with anything - that starts as love for God or good intentions, yet in the end descends into religion. How about your giving, or your service, or your Bible reading, or your volunteer work. Anything you do in the name of Jesus.

Examine yourselves, find those things that you 'do for God', and return to your first love.

About the Author:

Drewe is married to Kerry with 2 children, a full time IT manager, and part time Bible scholar. He posts verse by verse studies at delvinginto.com . His key passion is the Bible - that it is the Word of God and the ultimate guide to a relationship with Jesus, and therefore worthy of significant time and study.

The Now - Dream

Another Good one from My friend, Pastor Jordan Abina.


Don't separate God from the Dream He has given to you.






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When God Does Not Provide...

... in the way you want.

We have all dealt with this subject in different ways, whether we wanted God to provide us with a car, a spouse, good grades, or whatever we may desire. But I'm sure many of us have realized that God does not work like a vending machine.

Many have heard the scriptures that say to ask for anything you need in the name of Jesus and he will provide (John 14). Or how God provides for the birds and the flowers, and he loves us so much more, he would provide for us too (Luke 12). Sometimes I think it is easy for us to expect that we will always get what we want because God loves us, but you and i both know that many have unmet wants and needs.

This year started off very difficult for me. I am originally from Sacramento California but moved up to Seattle, Washington to attend school at Northwest University after I attended 2 years of community college back home. Northwest is a private christian school where I am studying to get my bachelors degree in pastoral ministries. To make a long story short, a year and a half after attending Northwest i was unsure of how i would be able to afford continuing school. I moved back into the dorms this past spring semester unsure about whether or not I would be able to attend school. I just assumed that God would provide something or he would bend some rule in my favor, instead i was sent packing.

On top of not being able to attend school, I had to find somewhere to live within the week, I was extremely stressed to say the least. Plus I had to tell friends and family that I could not go to school, which honestly seemed a little embarrassing.

At first I was pretty upset with God. I was thinking how could you let this happen to me, after all I am going to school to be a pastor, for you! And plus you didn't really provide for me...

I could not have been more wrong! God provided me with a place to live in like two days, which was amazing. God also provided me with an amazing job as a worship leader at a local church! Beyond the physical, God has provided me with a sense of peace and security in him.

These last few months have been crazy! But I would not change anything if I had the chance because I am learning daily that God is in control and truly does provide, even when it seems like all hope is gone.

I still am not sure as of when I will be able to return to school, but I am ok with that because I know that God has a plan, though I cannot see it.

I want to leave you with a quote from Rob Bell that has brought great understanding to me through this time,

"God's idea of better is better!"

Love and Peace to you all!

Kelsey

The Bookmark

Faith traditions oftentimes have practices preserved in order to remember their most significant events. One of my friends grew up in a Jewish family and describes that practice of faith as a corkscrew, whereby the people of faith travel through their history continually to learn and live. Others have been baptized and catechized Roman Catholic, where they learned to remember the Holy Mother and the Saints as markers in the fabric of faith. Purity, devotion, simplicity, wisdom, and worship are all contained in their holy figures to point the way. I grew up Protestant and I can count only a few events that we relive throughout the calendar: Christmas, Easter, and the monthly Eucharist (or communion).

Christian Spirituality has often been described in terms of a journey. Nowhere has this been done more famously than in Teresa of Avila's Interior Castle, which was written about the time of the Spanish Inquisition. I highly recommend it as she shares an extraordinary wealth of wisdom. In an updated study, Janet Hagberg and Robert Guelich collaborated in a study to formally compose Teresa's model and illustrate its significant points in their book, The Critical Journey. What Hagberg has produced is a vibrant journey model and rather than bore you to tears with any more words, here's a diagram so you can see how it works.

The first stage involves recognition in a way that may be primarily affective--or emotional--in nature. Second comes the association of the neophyte within the life of a church community. This usually entails a line in the sand between "old friends" and "church friends" where the individual is empowered by a newly discovered group of people who can provide knowledge about Christianity. Third comes the productive life, which involves membership, baptism, stacking chairs, joining service times beyond Sunday morning, or ushering.

Finally, the believer enters deep spiritual reflection as they learn both about God and themselves in a deeper way and pursue that knowledge to its full extent. But this is about where the affective season in the journey tapers off, and as the euphoric emotions begin to wear off with the normalization of this new life the believer hits "the wall."

What is typically described as a crisis of faith, the wall serves as a place where everything learned, felt, thought, and otherwise experienced must be processed all over again--whether consciously or unconsciously--to see if one's faith can survive the absence of ecstatic emotional experience. If you're going through this right now, it is possible to live and enjoy faith without the heightened emotional senses you had in the beginning of your walk with Christ. It's okay.

There's really no prescription to get you out of the wall, around it, over it, under it, or through it. You just have to grow bigger than your wall until it no longer holds you back, and that's difficult because it's not in your control. You have to wait here until God reveals your purpose. At that point you begin your true mission. All that involvement in church before was fine, but this is the stage where your mission is extended to everything you've been created to do from the beginning like building relationships with the special people only you seem to be able to understand. It's where your heart is no longer broken for itself in Christ, but for others as their feelings and emotions take the place of yours. A fire is kindled for others as you begin the journey outward. After that you begin to relearn everything: wisdom, experience, passion, and salvation all dance together along the path of faith.

The catch is this: You could be in multiple stages at once. You could go through them cyclically. You could develop your purpose and mission but remain at the wall for the rest of your life, just like Mother Teresa did. You can read about that in her posthumously published in I Loved Jesus in the Night.

Other viewpoints have also emerged about spirituality and in contrast to the journey model lies the holistic model--that is a model that deals with all the aspects of a person at once. The one I'm familiar with was proposed by Donald Gelpi in The Conversion Experience, which I've borrowed from and modified based on thoughts from a good friend of mine who first introduced me to it. This diagram shows the model I use to conceptualize this form of spirituality.

Gelpi outlines how conversion may actually happen in different aspects within each person. So someone could have converted religiously but have yet to convert to the Christian morality that compels them to respect what a gift creation is to us. Another person may have intellectually and emotional converted to the way of Jesus but hasn't yet converted religiously. Pervading all of this is the physical experience which feeds the soul with images on which to contemplate, question, concern, decide, mystify, and overwhelm. 

What I've discovered most often in both myself and others is the natural desire to return to a specific place in the spiritual journey or to emphasize a more comfortable area of the holistic spiritual experience than others. Some churches innately reward people who remain or return to the affective stages of their spiritual journey while simultaneously casting guilt and consternation on those who are struggling at the wall or the journey inward. Some churches may choose leaders who are all religiously and emotionally strong while sidelining those whose conversion has been strongest in the sociopolitical or intellectual areas. 

While remembering certain aspects of our faith is healthy, and vary from tradition to tradition as I observed earlier, we should be careful that our spiritual experience doesn't lead us to "bookmark" certain sections of life while diminishing others. Some bookmarks are emotional as we use them to channel times when our emotional state was much more heightened in our experience of God. Others may be reflective, as we try to reforge seasons of life when we felt inspired. Still others may be demonstrative; characterized by acts of service or exhibition by which we try to do what we were doing when we felt God was happy with us, in some sort of attempt to regain a sense of his love for us. These are natural reactions and not to be discouraged: only recognized and guided with a focus on the character of God rather than becoming misled by a pursuit of something long past.

Do you try to access a hyper-emotional state during times of musical worship because you've been psychologically trained that this behavior brings you favor or benefits your position? Or do you break into emotional outbursts in moments like this because a new revelation of Christ has deeply penetrated your soul? Do you study the Bible because you want to appear to be the kind of person who studies the Bible? Or do you study the Bible because its history and mystery awaken light in your soul? Finally, is your understanding of how to worship God based on what you've discovered in your own experience of him and your personal response to him, or do you still base your worship on the expectations of others and how they reward your reproduction of the model they set forth? Have you ever volunteered to help the poor and felt like you had lost the excited compassion which characterized this act of loving service at the beginning? These are the kinds of situations where we must be careful we are following God instead of ourselves or someone else.

As members, ministers, and missionaries of the Gospel, I urge all of us to examine ourselves and resolve to be inclusive or people whose spiritual stage or strongest experience of God is different than our own. I remind myself that we must all worship God individually and corporately, so I should neither condemn others for their genuine expressions of love for the Father, nor should I contribute to this kind of spiritual discrimination in corporate settings. Be mindful of your bookmarks so that your experience of our incomprehensible Creator-Savior isn't limited to your favorite parts but illuminated with his full truth and greatness. In the end it must be said that you have to be yourself, for in his presence you can be no one else.

Eliminating Exclusive Faith

Most of the frustrations I've had with hearing and reading about Christian beliefs is they are usually very exclusive. If I could draw a simple description, most approaches look like the picture I've posted.(1) In bounded set thinking we create a circle around our beliefs and put certain people we agree with in our circle and others out. We don't do this to be jerks but because of our loyalty to the Bible and to distinguish ourselves from the many diverse spiritual beliefs in our world today. In this kind of thinking it's very easy to define ourselves by what we are against. We can quickly close our circle tighter and tighter by aligning ourselves with certain pastors, authors, and political preference. Without knowing it, we can alienate ourselves from the very world God deeply loves. It's the select few that are right and everyone else is wrong and if you want in our circle then you have to admit you are wrong. (which no one wants to do) This bounded set automatically turns any conversation to a me vs. you dynamic. It can be offensive, abrasive, and ultimately not constructive. I've been guilty of this spiritual territorialism and it has often left me hoping for another way.

What I've discovered is a refreshing alternative. In centered set thinking the issue is not about who's in or who's out but which direction are we headed. We're no longer inclined to accidentally judge people on how far or close they are to God but which way are they pointed. This has liberated me in regards to common controversial Christian issues.(2) In a centered set the tax collector's prayer is rewarded over the pharisees.(3) We are free to open the doors of faith wide open and accept people for where they are. Spiritual elitism fades away and an authentic conversation can begin. A centered set also humbles me. See, it's no longer about adopting certain "correct" beliefs, marking that off my spiritual to do list and thinking I have everything together. A centered set forces me to daily ask the question, "Which way am I headed?" Am I traveling closer or farther away from a loving God today? I don't care as much who I align myself with but which way am I headed. The goal has not yet been reached in a centered set. The person with correct doctrine but pointed in the wrong direction is worse off than the person with misguided beliefs but humbling pursuing God.

Finally, a centered set allows for freedom. We can hand those with different beliefs a gift rather than take something away. We are free to validate rather than diminish. We no longer need to feel threatened or defensive.

I hope this helps you as much as it has helped me. May we all head toward a loving God today.

1. There has been plenty more written about the bounded and centered set. Feel free to google. Also, I'm nearly done with a seven page paper on Freedom in Christ if you'd really like to dig in, just let me know.

2. Most recently has been the Rob Bell "controversy".

3. Luke 18:9-14

When Good to Great Isn't that Great

Before I am deemed as an insensitive heretic, I admire and commend Gary Collins for his compilation of motivational limericks in his 2001 publication, Good to Great. The book has been widely publicized by both the public and private sectors, and it could even be said that Good to Great is one of the most widely read books making it one of the most influential texts within the business world. There are many motivational phrases throughout the book, and even my old tattered copy has a few highlighted pages with notes scribbled in the corners; however, Good to Great isn’t very great, and in fact, it isn’t even all that good when it moves into church leadership. I agree with Collins’ driving quote, that “greatness is not a function of circumstance, greatness is largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline” but what is the cost of such a philosophy? What really troubles me about Collins’ work is the way in which it has trickled into the evangelical church. Somewhere, at sometime, a philosophy of business performance bled across lines and into our church homes.

Business Pundit, a business-book review website, notes that Collins’ book is dominated by poor research and the ever present *Barnum Effect.”First of all, the good-to-great principles are true in the same way a horoscope is true. They are fairly generic and thus we all apply them from our own viewpoint to make them true. I believe that some "Good to Great" readers that love the book may be suffering from the Barnum Effect. The principles Collins proposes aren't bad ones, but they are ambiguous and open to interpretation, which in effect decreases their usefulness. For instance, Collins says good-to-great companies (churches) practice ‘First Who, Then What,’ which basically means ‘hire good people.’ Its influx within churches may translate that as a need for pastors who can deliver flashy performance. I'm willing to bet no one read the book and said ‘Eureka! I've been hiring slimy weasels when I should have been hiring top performers. That is why we aren't a great company (church)!’ My guess is that most people think their way of hiring or interviewing is the best way to get the ‘good people’ and so they liked hearing Collins say this. They ignore the fact that after reading the chapter, you really don't have a better idea of how to do it.”

Though I am young, I have seen and experienced many things beyond my years: some good, and some bad. What I have found in church, is that many times it’s not the one with the greatest heart or even the most humble who is chosen to be a part of the team, but usually the one who glitters the most. Those churches following the good-to-great principles get caught in the rat-race for excellence and end up finding something much worse: a wounded staff and congregation. The sting of unwantedness….the sting of being just good is universally experienced, but is often forgotten when the tables are turned. Others perceive our “great” features due largely to opportunity and chance, and purpose where to place us within the church. For example, there may be a need for someone to build the website, and there just so happens to be a marketing developer at the church; therefore, he will be the “greatest” for the task, despite his real passion being for counseling and teaching music. Another scenario might involve a woman who is truly a great singer, but is not perfect, and is ultimately pushed from her passion when someone “greater” comes along. And so the fantasy of good-to-great claims another victim in its results-driven movement, and the church burns another relational bridge.

I imagine a church where good is good enough. Where the parishioners, and even the pastors, choose where they should minister based upon their passions rather than what they accomplish with “greatness.” The late shepherd and theological, Henry Van Dyke said “use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those that sang best.”

*Barnum Effect is also known professionally in psychology as the Forer Effect, named after psychologist Bertram R. Forer work in the subsequent field.

http://atheism.about.com/library/glossary/paranormal/bldef_forereffect.htm (Short Answer)

http://www.scribd.com/doc/17378132/The-Fallacy-of-Personal-Validation-a-Classroom-Demonstration-of-Gullibility (An In-depth Answer)