Glow Sticks

Glow sticks.

They are interesting objects if you think about it. They are the only objects that I can think of that have to be broken then shaken up before it will work.

I was recently teaching a message about conflict with God. One of the topics that got brought up was the idea of natural disasters and if it is fair to blame God for them.

The example that was used was Hurricane Katrina. So much destruction was caused by this natural disaster. So many lives were flipped upside down and completely shaken up.

Friends and loved ones lost. Homes destroyed.

We can look at something like this and wonder where God is. How could this come from a loving god? Non believers use situations like this as ways to disprove the existence of God.

But let's look at how when there is a disaster of sort - thousands of people turn to God or the church for comfort.

Now look back at the glow stick.

You take a glow stick, break it in half, then shake it up and it glows brightly. What if these situations, these disasters, these times when things just don't seem to go right, are not punishments, but instead us being broken, shaken up, so we can glow with the brightness of God's love and mercy?

I believe that there are times when we become so distracted, so preoccupied with our day to day that our relationship with God becomes one of complacency and routine. There are times when God needs to shake things up to get our attention.

Now, this is not to say that the reason there are disasters are so God can get our attention. Since we do not know how God works in the larger sense, there is no way to say why God allows these things to happen.

I am but merely suggesting, that when things are going wrong in your life, when you feel like your life is being turned upside down, maybe that is God's way of breaking and shaking you so you can glow brighter for Him

Bumps

We all have had that experience while driving where, before we know it, we have drifted a little too close to the middle or the side of the road and we hear that “thud, thud, thud” of the road bumps and reflectors telling us to move back to the middle of the lane. Those road bumps are there to protect us and guide us.

I recently heard a story of a group of travelers on motorcycles riding cross country to Mississippi. It was 10pm and they had been riding all day and were almost to there destination for the night when a thunder storm came out of nowhere. The rain was coming down so thick that their visibility was barely 5ft in front of them. 

The road, lucky for them, was brand new. It was just paved so it was nice and level. There were no pot holes or bumps in the road that would make navigating through the storm any more difficult than it already was. There was only one problem. Because it was a new road, there were no reflectors or road bumps to tell them where the center of the road or the side of the road was. There they were... in the dark... no visibility... no guidance...

Now if you are like me, you are waiting for the horrible ending that is sure to come. Well there isn’t. All the travelers got to there destination safely after walking their bikes the last 2 miles. But these riders will never forget that night because it was the night they never thought they would make it through. 

When the leader of the group tells this story, he ends with saying that he never looks at bumps in his life the same way again.

Bumps.

They come and they go. You may loose your job or your house. Or maybe it is a bad grade in school. A missed pass in a football game or a flat tire on the side of the road.

Isaiah 26:7 says “The path of the righteous is level; you make level the way of the righteous.”

The path of a Christian is not an easy path. It is not the yellow brick road that makes everything easy. But God makes it level for us when we choose to follow Him. There are bumps in the road, yes... but maybe they are there for safety. The bumps tell us that we are veering of the level path that God has laid for us. 

The leader of the motorcycle group said that he never looked at bumps in his life the same way again because he realized that they are not there to torment, frustrate, or irritate us. They are not God messing with us to see how far we can be pushed. They are simply road reflectors making a “Thud, thud, thud” to tell us that we need to move back to the center of the lane.

So what bumps do you have in your life? What are you struggling with that you just can’t seem to figure out how to fix? Maybe, just maybe, that’s God saying “hey there, come back towards me.”

“Thud, thud....thud, thud....thud, thud”

Top Posts of March

1. God is not a Republican

"I humbly ask you to think about if your outspoken political views are helping, or hurting the kingdom of Christ."

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

"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."

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

"But let's not kid ourselves when we have a synchronized light show with our music and call that worship."

Follow up Post 

4. Hey Haters, I Hate Your Theology

"Sometimes its easier to find the love of Christ outside of a church than inside... Theology is Sometimes Good, but Love is Always Better"


Video of Steve Furtick that ignited the thoughts of this post

5. Blockbuster - An Uncomfortable Parable

"3500 churches are closing each year. I'm just trying to figure out what our Netflix will look like."

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.

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?

The Counter Insurgent Church

Recently I was listening to a christian radio station and a segment came on about what the church's role is. The speaker spoke about a friend who is the military as part of the counter insurgent team. Basically his role is to make friends with the Afghanistan citizens. He goes into more detail by explaining that 5% of the citizens there are pro American and democracy, 5% are anti American and pro Taliban, and 90% don't care or haven't picked a side. As part of the counter insurgency team, his job is to make friends with the undecided 90% to gain support for democracy.

This then lead to the discussion of this idea being applied to the church. We could think of the world's population being broken down in the same way: 5% of the population is Christian (or at least believes in Jesus and/or God), 5% being anti-christian, and the other 90% being neither.

This is an interesting and basic way of looking at the church. This may seem like an extreme analogy and that is not what is intended. The church isn't some militant group, but it's role is not indifferent from the role of the counter insurgent team.

The church's job is to spread the word of God, to witness to as many as possible. Their are going to be those who, despite the efforts of the church, will not turn from their evil ways. However, there is a greater amount of people that do not know about God or have ever had Christianity explained to them. Maybe they have had negative run ins with christians or specific church's that have left them scared but not completely turned them against.

In the book of Acts, Jesus calls on the church (at the time it was just the disciples) to be witnesses to the ends of the earth. That is the role of the church. That 90% is out there... waiting. Maybe you, the one reading this right now, is part of that 90% and want better understand this whole Christianity thing. Or maybe you are part of the 5% that are considered to Christians to some degree, but are unclear of the role of the church.

This analogy is bold, it's edgy, and possibly controversial. But it doesn't have to be. It doesn't mean any harm and it's not meant to give a militant structure to the church. That needs to be clear. However, if the church approached their role, their outreach, in the same manner as the counter insurgency team over seas, maybe more Christians and non-Christians alike will better understand the role of the church, rather than relying on the stigmas and expectations that have been created.

Grace

Grace. It's a funny word. Or should I say a funny concept. You can be graceful, ungraceful, full of grace and give grace. You can receive grace, show grace, and even be named Grace. You can have the title of Grace (His or Her Grace), and you can have a period of grace. You can say grace and ask for grace.
The word is used in a variety of different ways. Models must walk gracefully on the runway, for instance. Having grace seems to mean that you keep your cool, you aren't clumsy, you walk with your head high, a feeling of elegance. When we show grace, or give grace, we forgive others of their mistakes or actions against us.
The origin comes from middle English, old French and from the Latin word gratia, from gratus meaning 'pleasing, thankful'.
The Bible uses the word in about two main ways: asking for God's grace for oneself or others and showing grace towards others. It teaches us to be graceful or grant grace, in that when someone does harm towards us or makes a mistake that affects us we do not react in a negative way but forgive them, whether they ask for it or not.
Do we do this? Do we show grace towards the crazy driver that cuts us off in rush hour on the freeway? Or the person that bumps into us in the crowded mall? Do we exhibit a pleasing or thankful manner about us in our daily lives?
This isn't about pointing fingers or assigning blame; coming up with excuses or getting defensive. This is simply an awakening for us. For all, not specific for any group, race, sex, or religion. This is for all humanity. Grace is universal and can be shown by anyone to anyone.

Image is everything. Right?

We have all heard the saying "Image is everything." Most would argue that this is a worldly phrase and refers to materialistic concerns. In most cases I would have to agree. I wonder, though, could this also have a biblical basis?

Let's look for a moment at Gen 1:27 which says "So God created human beings in his image...." (TNIV). According to this verse, God has created us in his image. But how many of us can actually say that we are a true image of God? I believe that we all have become sad "photocopies" of a great, amazing image. When people look at Christians, what do they see? Chances are, unfortunately, they see somebody who is judgmental, controlling, very out spoken (not really in a good way), hypocritical, etc. I could go on but I think you get the point. I'm not saying that all Christians are like that, but there are a lot that are and those are the ones that most people see. Not many people see the guy that was in the youth group I used to lead with the piercings, long hair, baggy pants and see a Christian, but he is one of the most faithful people I know.

I recently was in a local Bible book store, buying a gift for someone. While I was in line I was behind a lady who was standing at the counter. The lady was yelling for someone to help her, for someone to come check out. At the top of her lungs she was yelling "Customers!" or "Customer service up front!". This is a store that is usually pretty busy  and not many people work at so the people that were working were through out the store helping other customers and getting to other's as quickly as possible. Under her breath, the lady was saying how ridiculous this was and causing quite a scene. I couldn't help but wonder what someone who was a new believer would think if they came in. Maybe they would be there to buy their first Bible and this is one of the first examples of Christian she sees. Is that showing an image of God?

I believe that this is something that all Christians can work on. Myself included. Being a Christian does not mean wearing a suit every Sunday or having a fish emblem on your car. Christians are supposed to be understanding, caring, compassionate, faithful, forgiving, honest, humble people. After all, is that not how our God is, or His son? If we are an image of them, should we not reflect the same attributes. Personally I look for opportunities where I can practice living what I preach. For example, I lost my job recently and the timing could not be worse as I am planning my wedding this summer. But I have faith that God will provide. I make sure that I do not react poorly but instead show my faith. Especially around my non-Christian friends so when they look at me, they see the faith, the understanding of my God.

So I close with this: do you try to accurately reflect the image in which you were created? Or do you think that you could fall into the negative stigma that has been created, if you are completely honest with yourself?

If image is everything, what are you an image of?