Has anybody ever said to you, “I could never worship a God who [fill in the blank].” Does that make sense? In this video, I take a look at that all-too-common declaration.
worship
Songs Jesus Would Sing: The birth of a new series
In this post I am launching a new series titled “Songs Jesus Would Sing.” This series is borne of my general sense of alienation from contemporary Christian music coupled with my deep affinity for music played “out there in the world” and a recognition that much of that “worldly” music conveys themes which are profoundly […]
On the Awkward Romanticism and Individualism of Popular Christian Music
Some years ago I made a disparaging comment about Precious Moments figurines in a theology class. Immediately a hand shot up accompanied by a hurt expression and the comment, “But I love Precious Moments figurines!” That isn’t the first time my cynical and iconoclastic streak stepped on somebody’s toes, and I suspect it won’t be the last. […]
Worship. It’s a feeling, right?
Dave walks out of church after the Sunday service and says: “Worship was awesome this morning. The band totally rocked!” This is strange. When did “worship” get equated with the “band totally rocking”? When did “worship” get equated with the emotional flow that one cultivates when joining into the group sing for a set of […]
Why you shouldn’t clap in church
Some years ago a friend of mine told me he’d switched churches because he “didn’t get anything out of the worship.” I replied, “Worship isn’t about getting. It’s about giving.” Within a few moments we’d moved on in our discussion and soon I forgot the exchange altogether. But my friend didn’t. Years later he reminded […]
Slouching before God
Today The Atheist Missionary posed a question: why worship God? This is how he put it: Even supposing I accepted that there was a transcendent source of good and value, why do I need to worship that source? I’m not sure what sports you played growing up but one of my favorites was rugby. It […]