Feelings are great liars. If Christians only worshiped when they felt like it there would be precious little worship that went on. Feelings are important in many areas, but completely unreliable in matters of faith… We think that if we don’t FEEL something there can...
Worship should be one avenue for God’s Spirit to generate a new unity and communion. Blending or weaving varied music and rites is preferred to occasional services designed for one pattern. Don’t just have spirituals on race relations Sunday or when you have an...
A wise friend had told me that when his heart is unable to worship in a given moment or situation, for whatever reason, he looks around the congregation to find a person most engaged in worship and begins to pray, “Lord, let that person’s worship be mine.” At times...
Worship that is shaped by a consumerist mentality becomes dependent on exit polls to see if its people will continue to want its product. In a “feel-good” culture, people want less emphasis on sin and sacrifice and more on blessing and abundance. Failure to deliver...
Don’t trade authentic preaching for the kazoo of being contemporary, for the tin whistle of entertainment, for the turkey call of trying to get as many people as you can under one roof.
Such are the two great realities of Psalm 130: suffering is real, God is real. Suffering is a mark of our existential authenticity; God is proof of our essential and external humanity. We accept suffering; we believe in God. …But there is more than a description of...
Somehow losing myself helped me find my truer self; losing love helped me learn to love more fully and authentically; failing in relationship taught me much about being in relationship in a creative, nurturing way; and experiencing broken trust revealed how precious...
Your calling is going to crush you. If you’re called to mend the brokenhearted, you’re going to wrestle with broken-heartedness. If you’re called to prophesy, you’re going to struggle to control your mouth. If you’re called to lay hands, you will battle spiritual...
Authentic spirituality is always about changing you. It’s not about trying to change anyone else.
If singing “to God” or “to the Lord” could become our true focus, our passionate center—not the leadership style, the production and staging, or the music performance of our worship—what a difference it would make in our churches! Instead, our people often find...