We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.
00983 – Demand Freedom
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00895 – The Highest Function of Music-Making
Great truths of physical energy plus imaginative vision plus human consolation are experienced through great music. Here is the highest function of music-making. In the words of…Abraham Joshua Heschel: “Listening to great music is a shattering experience, throwing the...
00866 – Paying Attention to How Music “Feels”
As many philosophers and theologians have observed, music is close to “spirit”—a non-material medium of receiving and conveying a sense of the world. In our deepest attentiveness and encounters with certain forms of music, we are opened to a depth of awareness; a...
00813 – Worship is a Transitive Verb
Should we not remind ourselves that worship is a transitive verb? We do not meet to worship (i.e. to experience worship); we aim to worship God. “Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only”; there is the heart of the matter. In this area, one must not confuse what...
00805 – Diversity in Our Worship
God supports diversity in our worship, not imply for the sake of including everyone, but so that we might understand and experience the truth more profoundly.
00804 – Losing the Lives of Our Dreams
I have become convinced that Christianity is fundamentally an experience in losing the lives of our dreams in order to receive the lives that Jesus died to give us. from When God Interrupts: Finding New Life through Unwanted Change
00797 – God is the Goal of Life
Whole armies of Christians go to church, seeking a feel-good religious experience… God is the goal of life. Emotion may be the result of our meeting with God, but it is never the goal of it. from Until He Comes
00776 – Tradition vs. Traditionalism
Tradition hands on from one generation to another those things found useful. Tradition doesn’t attempt to suppress new experience or insight. Tradition is a treasury of experience from which we may draw for our benefit. Traditionalism, on the other hand, is rigid and...
00742 – Worship or Entertainment?
Is there no real difference between worship and entertainment? I believe there is a world of difference, even though I have some inkling as to why today’s culture has confused the two… ENTERTAINMENT typically results from the WORK OF OTHERS, for my interest, pleasure,...
00734 – Worship is a Verb
The focus of worship is not human experience, not a lecture, not entertainment, but Jesus Christ: His life, death, and resurrection. Worship is a verb. It is not something done to us or for us, but by us. from Worship is a Verb