Who has it right?

Soooo...This is gonna sound kind of harsh and I understand this may not be received well, but it is my blog so why not be honest. When reading these two chapters I couldn't help, but again feeling like this is a very old approach to the way the church should do worship and arts. It almost takes a very diminishing blow to anything that is current. Don't get me wrong I think we have some really big issues in what is our culture of worship is as a whole, but when we get into the context of worship I do not believe we are always right. We are human and have been developed with so many different talents, skills, preferences, and are unique. If music unifies us then does it really matter what type? The hymns of the early church have deep rooted meanings, but it also can be sung with very old, stale, repetitive hearts. The more I hear about worship and the more I hear people say they have it right the more I doubt them. I don't mean to say I know which way is best all the time yet never evolving or progressing as the culture around us does seems a little prideful to me. God used so many different ways to speak to his people, why is there one genre and song style that has to be apart of our worship to sing back to him.  What if you don't know any better or have never heard a profoundly popular hymn and the only thing you know to sing to God is " He is good" over and over. Would it not be scriptural worship? I guess for me there is something about saying one way is best or implying it. Our style of worship here in america is probably not the best for all of the nations, where they do not have CCLI and pro presenter or even access to an old hymnal. Im not saying Hymns are not needed or shouldn't be apart of worship all I am saying is if the structure of our worship is not like the book lays out would it still be worship? I feel as though God the judger of hearts would be able to answer that. Even if the structure is just like the book lays out then and we have all of our theological terms and words in our programs and talked about on a sunday morning could we still not be prideful in our worship thus making it not really about him, but about us? We are all searching for what is comfortable and what isn't. My time here in Memphis has been about how the traditions and hymns are so important, as well as the history of the church in the south. While back home its all about searching for the next big thing. Forgetting the early church and establishing the new post modern church. News flash people both are wrong. . . . Ok I'm done....Please be kind and not judge I was simply being honest . . .

Spring....Break?

So this week was not really as relaxing as I thought it would be. I had to work a lot more than I wanted and it ended up being more of a stressful week than anything. So here I was wanting just so much to be asleep at home with my new pup and wife and yet I was working. What God could you possibly be showing me in all this? By this Tuesday after break I was strongly convicted by what the speaker had talked about. This idea of Christian service or Christian love has been resonating with me all day. Here I am working only 3 days last week while be able to come home to a warm house and a nice dinner when people even in my own city were cold and hungry. I was complaining and God was reminding me just how gracious he has been in my life. I have things that a lot of people even in this same city don't have. I know at some point God will move me from here and for that reason I have hope. Some people may never leave this place. Never get out of the tension of the South and experience maybe something better. So now what? Well I have been wrestling with doing what Jesus did in feeding the poor and hungry. Honestly its time consuming and takes a commitment to people. Its something that has not really been on my mind or my heart. If I can be totally honest. Yet there is an opportunity even this week that I can choose to go to. Its been a funny blessing and something that I need and want to do. So thats where I am headed to this week. I pray that I am able to share his love rather than just his service. . Thats what he has called us to.

What a ride.

Soooo its been a little while since I have gotten the opportunity to blog and I find myself just totally overwhelmed by what God has done this past month. I feel rejuvenated, renewed, and ready to move forward from a very hard couple months. God has been rocking my world and has been challenging me to trust him. Now this is something I have not heard before, but I guess we have never had to trust him like we have in the last two and a half years here in Memphis.

The one thing I know for sure is I am not the same person I was. He is stretching me to trust him even more and even though it has been hard I find myself in peace with what and where he has me. God is full of love and as a father he pours out his love accordingly. In his grace and perfect love is where I am and have been. He guides and shapes me and my life according to this love. So even though it at times seems bleak he is constant. HE IS LOVE. HE IS GOD.  

Riding the EAC. . .

   So much like the first few chapters I struggled with the concept and relevance of this book for me and my contemporary Southern California up bringing.  I found myself reading through thinking how again did we get from this to the typical Sunday morning experience. I asked God what does this book have for me? While I did not get any practical response the one thing that was resoundingly clear in chapter 3-5. Worship is rich in history and tradition. It is not clearcut especially for New Testament worship as Webber points out. So what do we do as 21st century christians. I guess the only thing we can do is to look at the examples that have come before us. Old testament worship must be apart of our New Testament churches. So what does that look like? I still have no clue, but I know for sure we must acknowledge Christ.

    He must be at the forefront of our New Testament worship. Without him their is no New Testament worship. When reading through that is something that began to really convict me. Even in worship sometimes we can get caught up in all of the logistics of a service and forget the sole purpose of us gathering together. CHRIST. He is our only reason for worship and we need to remember that. Everything we say or do no matter what style has to be to him or else it is not fulfilling what it means to have New Testament worship. For me this means having more of a reliance on him even in the things I think I do well in. Or the things I am confident in. He is my reason for worship. Him and him alone. So I gotta stop making things about me.

Worship Old and New...

While reading through Webber's Worship Old and New there were some things I just could not grasp onto. While I do believe worship in the church has become a huge part of how we view the churches we attend. I found myself questioning where most of our american churches today are in regards to worship. Which is the right way to worship?, is there a right way in terms of the logistical layouts of our services? According to Webber there is a biblical approach as well as a cultural relevance approach to the way we worship. 

Yet most of us in American churches do not fully understand what it means to worship or be a worshipper. It has become very self centered pride-filled platform at times for musicians who just could not get to the next level. So I asked myself what it would look like for the American church to really pursue what it meant to worship beyond a musical level. Would we be open for change or would we be stuck in the way it has always been. As I read I tried to picture what it would look like for the church as a whole to do this. The picture was very chaotic and it left me thinking I don't know if we as the American church could get over our entitlement and pride that we have as Americans. This idea of I want it my way and I want it now. This is the way we are bread and taught as kids. 

While this brings up so many questions one thing is clear. People are on totally different spectrums in regards to worship. So how did something that was created as a gift from God to express his mercy and grace towards fallen people as we in turn acknowledge Christ find ourselves holding onto hymns or Mundford and Sons in church? Its an interesting take to see how far we have come from the old. I guess my questioning is. Should we have stayed there? Or do we move forward into new traditions or do we merge both together as Webber suggests. Would that make Worship palatable yet reverent towards God? I don't know, but it is an interesting thought.