Saturday, October 9, 2010

My 8 year old gets it

Tonight was the W.O.R.S.H.I.P. experience. NEW!! EXCITING!!!

"Here I am to worship; Here I am to bow down" "...all I am never cease to worship You" "I sing for joy" "I am Yours" "I just want to say Thank You Lord" "I'll praise the Lord"

I, I, I, I, I......

You know, one song wasn't so bad. The "New Doxology." At least there was reference to the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. In church I puzzled over why it was called the "NEW" Doxology.... What's wrong with the old? It just dawned on me that in the OLD Doxology we sing "Praise God from whom all blessing flow/ Praise Him all creatures here below/ Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts/ Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." That's it. Finis. In the NEW Doxology we find additions, many of them, and most of them perfectly fine, until we get to "... I'll praise the One..."

See, in this contemporary stuff, there has to be "me." "I" do this, "I" do that, "I am" and so on.

Anyway, back to my 8-year-old. I asked him what church was about tonight. He said "that we should thank God for everything."
"Like what?"
"The world and everything we have and all that."
"What else?
"Hmmm," at this point he's really thinking hard. "Jesus."
"What did you hear about Jesus?"
"Hmmm......"
At this point I showed him the picture of the Crucifixion window at church, and he jumped on it.
"We never heard to thank God for sending Jesus to die for us! Or for His resurrection!"

He got it.

There might be subtle references to Jesus' death and resurrection in this contemporary stuff, but they are so lost in the "I" that they are very easy to miss.

I'll leave alone the Theology of Glory stuff in it for tonight. However, compare this with the "I" stuff:

He brings me to the portal/That leads to bliss untold/ Whereon this rime immortal/
Is found in script of gold:/ "Who there My cross hath shared/Finds here a crown prepared;/
Who there with Me has died/Shall here be glorified." (Paul Gerhardt)

'Nuff said.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Quote of the Day

"A congregation that takes care of its own cannot help but raise up people who will take care of their neighbors' needs." Rev. Matthew Harrison

Read the rest here: http://www.lcms.org/pages/internal.asp?NavID=15875

Friday, October 1, 2010

Christ-less Christian Radio

So what do you call "Christian Radio" which doesn't mention Christ?

I'm still trying to figure that out.

On my way to the bookstore today I put on the popular "Christian" radio station I hear about at church. So many people tell me how great it is, and since I had a long trip, I thought it might be enjoyable.

First speaker told everyone how God wants us to enjoy life. We have to enjoy life and enjoy what we do. In fact, I learned she wants to die preaching. Hey, that's great, but there was no Jesus, no dying on the cross for our salvation, no forgiveness of sins.

Next was a sermon from a church. "Hey, this has got to be better," I thought. Well..... I guess it was, in that Jesus was actually mentioned by name -- twice -- in Bible readings. The rest of it was how to live your life to the fullest, and didn't reference the readings.

Then the third program started. By this point, I was switching stations without thinking about it, then I made the conscious effort to go back because "all those people can't be wrong, can they?" (This is about the time I recall my mom saying, "If everyone jumped off a bridge, would you?")

Well, thankfully I got to the bookstore. I couldn't take any more. At that point, I'd been listening for an hour to a station that claims to be "Christian" radio, and not once had I heard ANYTHING about Jesus Christ and what he has done for me. Oh, I'd heard about what I could do FOR God, but I can't be sure which god was being talked about. Most of the time, God was assumed, and it was all about YOU and what YOU do. Law.

I couldn't go back to that station after I was done at the bookstore. I'd heard nothing but Law, and nary a drop of the Gospel to soften it. Just like what's going on where I go to church. People are demanding to be fed Law. Anyone who points out that "worship" -- how I detest that term, it should be Divine Service -- isn't about YOU, is labelled, marked, and avoided. And eavesdropped upon. I'm waiting to see if intimidation is next.

I'm surprised that no one has yet talked about selling the stained glass windows to pay off our debt. Some of our members find our crucifixion window offensive. I feel sorry for them. Christ-less radio, Christ-less church, and what is there to Christianity if there's no Christ?

Nothing.