-Read. I have several books I want to read. I've already read Love Wins and I'm about halfway through How The Gospel Brings Us All The Way Home by Derek Thomas, which is great so far. It's a series of sermons he did at First Pres in Jackson on Romans 8 and then turned it into a book. Other things on the list are Living for God's Glory by Joel Beeke and The Bible and the Future by Anthony Hoekema (which I was actually supposed to read for ST3 but didn't finish it...oops.) I also have a couple of books on spiritual gifts, Are Miraculous Gifts for Today by several guys (can't remember who the editor is) and The Final Word by O. Palmer Robertson. I've actually had those for a long time and didn't have time to read them due to classes starting back up, which kind of sucks because I got them after a little incident that involved someone speaking in tongues publicly in a worship service I was attending. That's a lot of reading, but I mean...I don't have anything else to do.
-Ride. My bum knee needs it. My fat belly needs it. And my bored mind needs it. I think it's reasonable to try to ride 4 mornings a week, if not 5. I'm pretty consistently doing about 7 miles right now, but I also think it's reasonable to try to get that up to about 20 ASAP. We shall see.
-Learn to sight read music. Pretty straight forward.
So those are my 3 major goals for the summer. I don't think it's anything too challenging, so let's do it.
And now, for the various musings.
Galatians 1:10 - "For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ."
It's not really "various musings" because it's something that's been stirring in my heart for almost a year, and it started with a conversation. A good friend and I were helping out at a function at a church in downtown Jackson we've helped out with a lot over the last year and half or so (he's probably been at it longer). We were sitting in the sanctuary while the kids were singing, and I think it was a hymn. The words were put up on a powerpoint with a plain white background and black letters, pretty similar to what opening up a word processor and typing would look like. We both kind of laughed at it, but then, almost at the exact same time, had the same thought - why would we laugh at that? The truth of the words of the song was not bound in a pretty design in the power point, smooth transitions between slides, or lights that change color based on the mood. The truth of the words is bound in the words. In the message. In the message praising God.
And that got me thinking. I've been conditioned, by two churches I have attended, to judge a worship service by aesthetics. Did we sing with a projector screen or printed words on a handout or even...gasp...a hymnal? Were the songs we sang hymns or songs off K-LOVE or whatever? Did the stage look good on TV or did it look plain and boring? These kinds of questions can go on indefinitely. And it brought me to ask some questions. Why is the church so obsessed with technology? How much is too much?
I mean, think about it. I know of a church that bought some extra flat screen TVs that just look good on TV. They bought TVs to look good on TV. And they are nice TVs. Probably between $500 and $1000. There are 15 other TVs in the "worship center" (when did it become uncool to call it a sanctuary?) and the room surrounding the "worship center." That makes 18 total. 18 TVs. I've been to a church where the lights on the stage change colors with the power point presentation. Why? It looks good on TV? Because it somehow enhances the truth of the message? Because...why?
I don't think the church should shun technology. No, it should embrace it. Technology is a good thing. In fact, a lot of the pastors I like, read, and listen to embrace things like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and various other outlets. It gives us new access to people and places we have never had before. I mean, even the guys that wrote the Bible used the best technology they had available. It was pretty much just pen and paper, or some early form of pen and paper, but they used what was available to them to get the message out. We should too.
I'm also not saying using power point in a worship service is wrong. I personally enjoy having a hard copy of something in my hand (which is also why I'm incredibly thankful for the return of vinyl and have, so far, resisted the urge to get a Kindle...OK well that may deal more with the fact I'm broke but I still very much appreciate the way a book feels and smells), but I fully realize the simplicity of throwing the words on a power point and putting them up on a screen. I just think a lot of people overdo it. The beauty is in the message, not in the technology used to present the message.
When I watch John Piper preach, it's one camera, it's John Piper, and it's a less than impressive set of chairs behind him in an empty choir loft. But he faithfully, simply, and consistently preaches the Gospel and nothing but the Gospel. There aren't any high-tech lights, no TVs behind him...just a man preaching the Word of God.
And so I come to the question I've been struggling with. If you stripped away the big guitar solos, the fancy lights, the elaborate power points, the flat screen TVs, the car and iPad giveaways, and all of the bells and whistles, what's left of the church in America? What's left of your (or my) church?
And what should we, as the body of Christ, do about it?
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