The musicians at my church (Indelible Grace Church) are reading through a book called Worship Matters. Here’s my thoughts on Chapters 2 and 3.
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The musicians at my church (Indelible Grace Church) are reading through a book called Worship Matters. Here’s my thoughts on Chapters 2 and 3.
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“The temple of Aphrodite in Corinth where sex was part of worship has now gone global with strip clubs and porn. The small shrines that filled ancient homes and required homage and financial sacrifice have long since been upgraded with home entertainment systems and high-speed Internet connections… Indeed, when our culture is considered through the lens of worship and idolatry, primitive ancient paganism seems far less primitive or ancient. This is because everyone everywhere is continually worshiping, and idolatry is, sadly, seen more easily when we examine other cultures rather than our own. This is because we often have too narrow an understanding of worship and do not see that idolatry empowers our sin.”
“Rather, we are continually giving ourselves away or pouring ourselves out for a person, cause, experience, achievement, or status. Sadly, as the doctrine of the fall reveals, much of how we pour ourselves out and what we pour ourselves into in worship is someone or something other than the Trinitarian Creator God.” (Doctrine: What Christians Should Believe)
I want to encourage us to be careful about how we use our time and energy, and spend them in ways which glorify God. It’s so easy for us to read passages about idol worshippers in the Bible and think to ourselves about how we would never do such primitive practices. But we are surrounded by so many things which can capture our hearts and minds, and cause us to put our hope into them instead of God. So I want to encourage all of us to look out for one another and check up on each other to make sure that our eyes are focused on God, and develop loving, trusting relationships with each other where we are willing to call each other out when we struggle with idolatry without knowing it ourselves.
Since I talked about this with Eric the other day, I wanted to check and see where I was at… still the same. Hahaha.
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Yes, I still post to this blog when I can. Work’s super busy, but that’s not a big deal.
What I’m really looking forward to in the next few months is hopefully a growth in unity amongst the members of the church. To really get into each other’s lives, be open with one another, and love one another despite all our weirdness and problems. To be motivated and transformed by Christ’s love for us, and to not just tolerate one another or talk about safe topics but to really be able to speak into each other’s lives, and correct and encourage one another. That’d be awesome.
The reason I haven’t blogged in quite a while is because I haven’t had much to say. Well, perhaps that’s not entirely true, but whatever I’ve been thinking about lately has been taking a while to churn and develop into coherent thoughts.
Top of mind is that I’ve been eating better and watching what type of stuff I’m consuming. I’m hoping to see some long-term health benefits… that’d be great. Beyond that, I haven’t really been able to sum up the rest of how I feel about my life as it currently is into nice succinct sentences in the last few weeks.
The thing that stands out to me the most from the last few weeks is a sense of almost ever-present loneliness which alternately ebbs and flows, but always constantly distracting me by intruding into my thoughts. Additionally, during my late-night drives to and from places, I have a lot of time to think about things, and I find that I can’t help but to acknowledge that at the same time, (1) the world is far more broken and has far more troubles than the issues which I continue to deal with, which pale in comparison, and (2) I can’t lose sight of my own issues long enough to learn to care and engage with how messed up the world is.
I think what I need is for the truths I know, and all my head-knowledge about the gospel, to develop into heart change which changes the way I perceive things in my life, and that I would realize my own troubles are insignificant in light of the joy that there is in the gospel, and that my priorities and attention would be radically shifted away from myself.
Always feeling lonely when it gets late at night… if I had to choose an easily exploitable weakness, this would be the one.
I had the chance to tell you how I’ve been feeling, so I did. It’s too bad you didn’t feel the same way, but I guess all I wanted was my fair chance to let you know how I felt, so there it was, and there it is.
It was a long shot, but there are some long shots worth taking, and this was one of them.
I think I’m feeling better now than in the last few weeks, when I thought I’d have to carry this with me quietly until I got over it. Got the weight off my chest, and said what I had to say.
So I’m back to normal, if anyone’s noticed I’ve been out of sorts lately; it’s okay, I know I make it hard to tell.
I thought that I’d be able to get over how I feel, as I always have done in the past. But I find myself struggling much harder this time.
If I could do it again, I’d have fought much harder.
If the chance comes up again and I still feel the same way, I’m taking it and I’m not going to look back.
Idols are much harder to knock down when they’re your own.
Here’s a song I’ve been developing for a while. It’s called Once More (With Feeling).
[ mp3 ] [ chords and lyrics ]
Lyrics:
Could you tell me how I’m supposed to read
Supposed to read your smile
Is there something here for me to see
Or am I in denial?
One more time, one more night
One more chance to prove that I’m right
One more chance, one more song
One more time I realize I’m wrong
Once more, Once more with feeling
Once more, is this where it finally ends