Modern Worship - Who's it really for?

Modern Worship, the concert like atmosphere of high energy contemporary praise and worship that has taken the place of traditional hymnody in most churches today, who is it directed to and what is it’s real purpose?

Nelson’s bible dictionary defines worship as: — reverent devotion and allegiance pledged to God; the rituals or ceremonies by which this reverence is expressed.

Modern worship leaders and worshippers would say that is exactly what we are doing but is that exactly true? When people choose a church or service based upon the type of music that is used who is it really for? Who are we really trying to appease? I’ve known of people who judge the worth of a church service on how well the music and musicians moved them or made them feel they had a good time. That goes right along with the propaganda of the seeker churches in our country, come to church and have a good time, see how much fun you can have being entertained for God. It’s all about the entertainment value and ability to entice people into an atmosphere of self gratification. That sounds far from the true purpose of gathering for the worship of almighty God.

Don’t get me wrong, I like many of the contemporary worship songs that have come about in the last few decades. I learned to use my guitar for worship at a Calvary Chapel I attended for several years and then was worship leader at a small church for the past 10 years before planting “The Orchard”. During that time I incorporated both contemporary and traditional hymnody into our worship experience. But one thing I always tried to do was make my presence in front of the congregation as inconspicuous as possible so as to focus our attention upon the God whom we were directing our praise to. In the modern concert like atmosphere the band and the stage seem to be the focus of attention and having a good time the goal.

I know it sounds like I am judging peoples hearts and I also know many in congregation do direct their attention and worship to God in these services and that is how it should be, but at the same time many of these same people have a negative bias toward traditional hymnody that passes the same judgement toward those who prefer the traditional service over the contemporary. Music should not be the focus of our worship, God should be and we should be able to worship him because of who he is and what he has done for us regardless of what style of music is used or none at all. Our hearts should be drawn to him because He is our God not because of how the music moves us. We as followers of Christ need to repent of our selfishness and learn to be selfless in our serving of one another and our worship of God.

Two sides of the same coin

Abortion, Pro-Life, Pro-Choice, you would think it was the only issue of importance facing this country in this election year and the only reason to consider a candidate for office both nationally and locally.

The Pro-Choice, feminist movement states that if Sarah Palin is elected as VP it will set back women’s rights 50 years. They seem to ignore that this woman has been a mayor, governor, and will now be Vice President of the United States, quite an accomplishment for a woman compared to 50 years ago wouldn’t you say.

On the other hand you have the Pro-Life, Christian side that ignores all other issues or voting record of a candidate except one and that is their proposed stance on abortion. These candidates have been in office for several terms off the christian vote, stumping a little old time religion before the crowds on the campaign trail and claiming an evangelical church membership . It doesn’t seem to matter what else they stand for or who they have voted with, it also doesn’t seem to matter that after all these years of promises they have yet to accomplish what they have been elected for, to stop abortion.

I know from experience that anytime you make a comment concerning abortion among fellow believers that doesn’t fall right down the party lines that you are immediately accosted and accused of not being a faithful and concerned Christian or not being obedient to ending this sin of abortion in our country which is bringing down judgement from God. I say Hogwash, when did the Great Commission get changed from “Go into all the world and make disciples,....” to “Go into all the cities of America and protest and elect politicians to stop abortion”? Which of the two do you think is going to be more effective in ceasing abortion or any sin for that matter.? Is abortion a sin?, you bet it is, it is the taking of innocent life just as the propaganda states but the answer is not in protests, and destruction or hate or slander, that is not Christlike behavior. The answer, again, is the call of the Great Commission. Change lives, that’s God’s “operation rescue” of the lost and perishing in this world.

I recently came through a town in central Missouri returning home from a retreat and saw a group of Christian protestors out along the streets with their aborted fetus pictures and pro-life signs smiling and waving at everyone that passed. My thought when I saw this was, “I wonder how many of those same people, who proudly and gladly stand there with their poster boards and pictures, ever get out and share the gospel of the kingdom with a neighbor or friend”? It’s much easier to just stand there with your poster thinking your doing something for God than it is to actually come alongside a perishing soul and help disciple them.

So, you might ask what would you do then? Well, if I were so impassioned as these seem to be then I would do what I see as the true Christian response, the same thing the early Christians did in Rome. Whenever they found an abandoned infant who was left to die they took it in and raised it. My suggestion is why not come alongside a young woman who is pregnant but does not want the child and offer to take care of her during her pregnancy and then adopt her child when it is born. You actually accomplish two things with this approach, you get the opportunity to disciple and love a perishing soul and you save the life of her child. That is the way I believe God would want us to act for it has the possibility of bringing two souls into the kingdom and rescuing all who are perishing.

MacJournal Test Drive

I downloaded and installed MacJournal software yesterday morning before leaving for work. I intended to take a look at it sometime during the day but never got the chance. Today I am sitting up in bed with my trusty mac book and finally getting my first real look at this package. My intentions is to see if it is a viable product for journaling over my standard word processor. I haven’t checked out much yet but I’ll write more as I go.