My friend Dave works with a tremendous organization called the African Children’s Choir. He recently told me that they will be making an appearance on American Idol this week on Wednesday (April 25).
On Thursday, they will also be featured briefly on the popular entertainment news program “Extra“.
Be sure to tune in.
Mr. Rogers (yes, THAT Mr. Rogers) was interviewed by Christianity Today magazine several years ago. For a man who never seemed to remember to put his sweater or shoes before the cameras started rolling, he had a powerful thought for those desiring simplicity…
“Life is deep and simple, and what our society gives us is shallow and complicated.”
Boom.
I’d consider letting a guy like that be my neighbour.
I used to be drawn to the idea of self-denial. I went through a phase when the word “ascetic” struck me as a beautiful word. Don’t get me wrong: I’ve been through church history classes. I’ve heard the stories of monks who lived in trees for a year, who mutilated their bodies, who lived as animals punishing themselves–and yes, I sat wide-eyed and swallowed hard as I concluded that they were insane. Or at least misled.
All the same, somewhere in the mix, I admired the fire of such men and women. “Lukewarm” would never be a label stuck on them. Jesus himself is the one who told his followers that we must “deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow him”, and I’m not often convinced that the Western Church in general (and myself more specifically) knows very much about that critical idea.
Today, I came across this blurb on the subject…
Sixteenth-century spiritual director Francois Fenelon clarifies a confusing biblical concept:
“Self-denial has its place in a Christian’s life, but God doesn’t ask you to choose what is most painful to you. If you followed this path you would soon ruin your health, reputation, business, and friendship.
Self-denial consists of bearing patiently all those things that God allows to pass into your life. If you don’t refuse anything that comes in God’s order, you are tasting of the cross of Jesus Christ.”
And that is what we are meant to taste of… of the “tree of life”.
What follows was found at a blog called My Two Cents. It’s a couple blurbs from a book I’m not familiar with, but maybe should be. The stuff below is from a chapter called “Worship through the Ages,” which aims to trace the “evolution” of corporate worship through the past centuries to our own day.
In “reviewing” the book, blogger Chris writes this…
He concludes the chapter by describing contemporary worship–and I mean “contemporary” in the sense of time, not just genre. I think he hits the nail on the head, and I think he describes a shift that many fundamentalists have made along with evangelicals. Our worship has become very “subjective.” Needham explains:
“[I]f we could pick out one theme that has been particularly insistent in the evolution of Protestant worship since the eighteenth century, it would have to be subjectivity. By this I mean the tendency to construct and evaluate worship in terms of the human subject–human experiences, feelings, and responses–rather than in terms of the divine object, God, the blessed self-revealing Trinity, and his will, word, and activity. This subjectivity takes various forms, but they all share in common the view that worship is essentially something we experience, rather than something we offer, and that the quality of that experience is the measure of effective worship.” (Give Praise to God, p. 407, emphasis mine)
After citing none other than Jonathan Edwards(!) as a contributor to this malady, Needham addresses its effect:
“Once the criterion of effect is adopted, the corporate worship life of God’s people quickly becomes a kind of laboratory. Leaders experiment endlessly with what will produce the desired effect–endlessly, because the collective mood and spirit of a people change, so that today’s successful method becomes tomorrow’s worn-out museum piece. And even the effect that is desired changes. Is it conversion? Is it the intellectual edification of believers? Is it a blissed-out state of ecstasy? A breathless fluidity has consequently been introduced into many congregations’ worship forms, so that you may be worshiping God quite differently today than when you were ten years ago. And no one can tell what the next ten years will bring. Worship, classically understood as our participation in the eternal pattern of the heavenly sanctuary, instead comes to mirror the kaleidoscopic flux of time and fashion.” (Give Praise to God, p. 408)
Worship… one of the most used words within churches that I’m familiar with… probably also one of the most misunderstood and misused words as well.
If you’ve been looking for an avenue to throw out a “worship” idea, question, or thought… hey, just head to the comments link and get us going!
My funny friend Carl (Yes, Carl, I called you funny) sent me these. For all my exam-writing friends, I apologize that these may be a touch too late.
Nonetheless, I trust that the following exam-acing advice will prove useful on even the toughest of tests…
1. Always follow directions carefully.
2. Try and try and try again.
3. Never let your thoughts get limited to “in-the-box” thinking.
4. Make sure you know how to really apply the knowledge.
5. Be prepared for some trouble-shooting along the way.
6. And never overlook the obvious.
