21st Century Problem

In my theology class today my professor talked about some of the issues facing the church (meaning the body of believers). In his opinion, the biggest obstacle in the 20th century was answering how God could allow such grievous suffering. With tragedies such as the Holocaust, and dictators such as Fidel Castro this was certainly not an easy question to answer.

He feels that now the biggest challenge to the church is the idea that there are many ways to get to heaven. Not only is this something held by several religions already but many Christians would even say that Jesus isn't the only way. This could be called a form of universalism and it is very dangerous.

In God's Name

Last night on CBS there was a 2 hour special named "In God's Name". 12 worldwide leaders of various beliefs and religions are interviewed. The 2 men who made the documentary were in the Twin Towers on 9/11 and they had a desire to seek out answers to some of the tough questions about God from these people. Here is another blog on the documentary.


Anglican Church leader: Rowan Williams
Chief Rabbi of Israel: Yona Metzger
The 14th Dalai Lama: Tenzin Gyatso
Southern Baptist Convention President: Frank Page
Grand Shiekh Sunni Muslim: Muhammad Tantawi
Grand Ayatollah Shia Muslim: Mohammed Fadlallah
Hindu Leader: Sri Mata Amritanandamayi (Amma)
Supreme Sikh Authority: Sri Akal Takht
Russian Orthodox leader: Alexy II
Shinto High Priest: Michihisa Kitashirakawa
Roman Catholic Pope: Pope Benedict XVI
President of the Evangelical Lutheran Church: Mark Hanson

Key points:
The Dalai Lama wakes up at 3am every morning for prayer for 2 hours.
Amma spends her entire day, every day, hugging and praying with the sick in India.
Rowan talked about the importance of doing family and marriage well...if he can't do that well, he doubts he can lead well.
Rowan looks exactly like Gandalf.
Alexy II believes thousands were killed for their faith in Jesus during the height of Communism.
There are 1 billion Catholics worldwide.
Buddhism believes that the Dalai Lama is Buddha incarnate and is therefore, God.
Frank Page believes there is a misconception that baptists are narrow-minded and unforgiving.
Page believes that the common link between all religions is human desire to touch the divine.
Metzger believes that a Rabbi must be knowledgeable in the law.
Grank Shiekh Imam Muhammad believes it is his job to show his followers what is right and what is wrong.
Metzger believes God does not permit killing to be done in god's name.
Mark Hanson believes that the terrorism that has occurred in the name of religion is not a reflection of religious faith but of the wickedness of man.
Both Islamic leaders believe terrorists have misunderstood the premise of religion.
Metzger fought with the army of Israel.
Islam is based on compassion and only involves violence when self defense is needed according to Grand Ayatollah Fadlallah.
Hanson believes fundamentalism is attractive today because we are drawn towards structure in a world full of chaos.
Hanson believes that our focus on terrorism is deterring us from the millions that die of curable diseases.
There are 900 million Hindu believers worldwide.
During Sikh meals, everyone in the church eats together (rich and poor, young and old).
The Shinto religion has no scripture or doctrine.
Before he was High Priest of the Shinto religion, Kitashirakawa was an executive at Toshiba.
Amma beliefs death is not an ending, but a new beginning.
The Dalai Lama believes that if we have spent a good life there will be nothing to repent of at death.
Alexy II believes the meaning of life is to be a Christian, not just in name but in life.
Amma believes she has hugged 26 million people in her lifetime.
The Pope believes that religion cannot become a vehicle to hatred.

The producers came away from their journey around the world knowing that there is much more that unites us than divides us. "The search for truth is in itself a religious act."

Hanson said, "I don't think the way we are living today is how God designed it...and the greatest challenge today is the relationship between unity and diversity."
According to Hanson we need a sense of what holds us together, or what divides us will conquer us. If we live through what unites us, then our diversity enriches life.

Things I've Learned about Leading Worship by Being a Janitor .2

2. It is important for me to check in with people who have areas that I clean. I don't do this on a regular basis but when I see them I try and make sure they are satisfied with the cleanliness of their area. I try and ask in a way that allows them to be honest. If they don't think its clean then I want them to tell me. No sense in cleaning the same way if they don't think its clean.

This is so huge for leading worship. People say its most important for the worship leader to first be worshiping God. Well yeah, but whats the point if the rest of the church is left behind and the leader is just doing their own thing. I think the best way to make sure this isn't happening to is talk with some random people in the congregation that the leader trusts can be honest. A worship leader is leading others to a place of intimacy with God, not just a place of intimacy for them and God.

Ignorance is Bliss

I was thinking the other day about toilet seat covers. I know, I know, a pretty random thing to think about. Obviously I was in the bathroom when I thought about this. I guess I can come out and say that I do not use them...and I have never tried. I just don't get them...its not like they're keeping any body area clean that really needs to be kept clean. So I'm wondering if I'm just really weird or if everyone else sees how pointless they are.






Disclaimer: I do wipe around the toilet with toilet paper in public restrooms....just in case its sticky :)

How to Avoid God the Cop

I was at a meeting last night and a man gave his testimony. He started off saying he always felt God was a cop looking at him from above. I really like this analogy. God to most people is someone who is ready to condemn, arrest, punish...someone few people enjoy. For every person who says cops are here for our safety, there is the person who just flat out hates the police too. That is also true of God but probably more people view God as a cop than as a friend.

I began to think about this for me. There are times when I feel other Christians and God talking down to me for things I have or haven't done. I.e. I didn't read my Bible, I didn't go to church, I haven't prayed. Ironically when we get these "speeding tickets" they only piss us off more and rarely does our attitude change. I've gotten a ticket for rolling a stop sign...but I don't drive any different today, and most people won't live their spiritual lives different when they feel condemned by God and others.

Here are some ways that will allow us to view God less as a cop and more as a friend.

1. Read Brennan Manning. Probably Ragamuffin Gospel or Abba's Child. No one does a better job of portraying a God full of grace than Brennan.

2. Listen to Delirious' "What A Friend I've Found." Let it sink in.


3. Read the story of David's adult life in 1st and 2nd Samuel. David was not short on mistakes in his lifetime, but yet he always had what was portrayed as a strong relationship with God. I think this is because God looks at the heart. Saul was the tall, good looking leader that never had favor with God because of his heart. God isn't out to condemn your mistakes, he's out to forgive them. He wants to see your heart as wanting forgiveness and recognizing your fault.

4. Spend time with God. Its cliche I know...but I think of it like this: If you have a friend you don't spend a lot of time with, odds are the friendship won't be as a strong. Of course, the more time you spend together the more the friendship will grow. The biggest reason people view God as a cop is because they've never let go enough to allow God to come near and see Him for who He really is.

If Jesus Were Alive...Where Would He Live?

I've often wondered if Jesus were alive and he had complete control (duh?) over where he could live...where would it be? Americans I'm sure will think somewhere within the US. Of course being from the Northwest, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't want to live in the Midwest (hot summers, cold winters). When he walked earth he was in the Middle East which is pretty hot, so it might seem logical for Death Valley to be his destination or Florida or Hawaii. Of course he could speak any language in the world, because he is all-knowing, so that wouldn't hinder him. And he would probably use some more of his time on earth to reach more people with the Good News. Anyway, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

My opinion: He didn't really have a place he called home, outside of heaven, according to the Bible. So I'm sure he would wander. A sojourner.

Mr Happy

On Sunday I took some time to watch the focus on Joel Osteen on 60 Minutes. I'm kind of torn with this guy. I already said that he is polarizing and 60 Minutes did a good job of portraying this.

Many theology buffs say his theology is distorted. This might be because he went to college for a semester and has no theological schooling. His positive message seems very self reliant which is a bad theology. It is saying that God has empowered me to take care of myself, instead of thinking that I need to rely on God to provide in my life. He himself says that he tries to give a positive message because people already deal with so much negative in life. I think Kurt is right when he said that better to be positive than negative. Joel also said he tries to avoid using Scripture until the end of his message to emphasize his point.

I talked with my dad about some of this and we both kind of agreed that only in the South could someone like Joel Osteen thrive. Is it ironic that in the Bible belt that the biggest church is trying to avoid the Bible except to emphasize a point? In his big building there are no crosses or other familiar references to Christianity. In the end, better for people to come to church than not come to church. But Osteen would not make it on the West Coast in just about any church here. My dad said churches that are successful on the left coast are either fundamental or relevant and Osteen is really neither. There is no way he could reach a postmodern audience and you certainly see an older crowd at his church which seems to confirm this.

I don't see a lot of reason to banter about whether or not we like him, because there will always be some people who are attracted to a message no matter what it is, and clearly he is making a difference. But I won't be going out and buying his new book on how to be positive, and his message certainly does not bring me closer to Jesus. If I were in Texas I would never think to go to Lakewood to see Joel...I'd rather see Chris Tomlin or David Crowder.

When it rains....

I wrote a paper last week for my theology class on suffering. The question given: why does God allow suffering?

The events of Hurricane Katrina were focal point for me. How can I tell someone devastated from that event that God had their best in mind? Would that even register with them. And also how could a non Christian be comfortable with a Christian view of suffering?



There are many systems set up to answer this question in a myriad of ways. It was my goal to create an answer. Easy right? ha.

I guess you could say I followed the "greater good" system for answering this question. A common approach for why suffering exists is that God is either not almighty and powerful or God is not loving. I did my best to refute those opinions. A quote from CS Lewis really summed up why we can't just put God in our human box.
"The problem of reconciling human suffering with the existence of a God who loves, is only insoluble so long as we attach a trivial meaning to the word ‘love,’ and look on things as if man were the centre of them. Man is not the centre. God does not exist for the sake of man. Man does not even exist for his own sake...To ask that God's love should be content with us as we are is to ask that God should cease to be God."

I came to the conclusion that God is both almighty and loving, so suffering must have a purpose in our world. From the story of Job I think that suffering is partly what we make of it. We can choose to let it knock us down or we can use it to make us stronger. Of course that is easier said than done. I also think we see in Romans 5:3-5 and Hebrews 5:8 that suffering is used by God to help become more Christlike and to experience some of the agony Jesus went through. Does any of this resonate with a non Christian? Not yet but Romans 5:3-5 talks about hope, hope that doesn't disappoint. The Bible also talks about how they will know us by our love. I think these two verses work together with something that a non believer can come to grips with. Suffering can in some weird way produce hope and that hope is shown in our love for God and people. I certainly haven't figured this one out because there is no perfect way to answer this. I ended with this quote from CS Lewis:
"God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world."

Fusion Rundown #2

I'll keep this short because I'm tired and ready to hit the hay. Of course I have to mention the Yankees getting the heave ho from the playoffs. It will be weird to watch the Yankees if Torre gets fired, because he has been there since I can remember caring about pro baseball. That said....I couldn't be happier to see the Yanks lose, they have the worst fans in the world. They've made the playoffs like 50 years in a row and still aren't satisfied.

Music tonight:

Here is Our King: key of A
I Lift My Eyes: key of F
Message on Matthew 18
Hungry: key of C (Rose led)
Give us Clean Hands: key of G
From the Inside Out: key of E
Thank You for Loving Me: key of E

Band: me on acoustic and vox and Rose on vox

I thought musically Rose and I were right on tonight. Probably because we've been doing so much music lately that it just kind of fell into place. That was great for us. The overall service was just average. The response has been harder for me to deal with every week. As much as worship is just about me and God and allowing others to come into a place of being with Him, it is also important to see how people are responding to it. I feel like every week I put in all this effort and energy but people just stare at a screen with words and sing empty songs to Jesus I guess. I don't want to be a pessimist but I also want to know that I'm creating an environment that is inviting for the Spirit and allowing others to experience God in a new and special way. So I struggle with this constantly...every time I lead worship but I guess I don't think about it when I get compliments and see people raise their hands and sing with their eyes closed, even though I know its something that is in the heart. So as important as response is, it is also from the heart which is hard to gauge from outward signs. I do know that I was drawn into praising God for all he has provided in my life, and tonight that is reason enough to lead worshipers to Him.

shocked?

I have not the slightest ability to comprehend what this might actually mean. But read this article. I guess a coalition of Christian leaders are considering running a third party candidate if Giuliani receives the Republican nomination. This is mostly because he is pro abortion rights. Let me know what you think. Never thought I would be seeing this...time for bed.

Where do we draw the line?

I have a test this Friday. My first test in seminary, in my Christian Theology course. I can't remember the last time I studied this hard for a test, but don't tell my undergrad profs that. We are mostly covering some basic theological concepts and areas of study. I'm going to focus in on general and specific revelation. For those who don't know what these are I'll give a basic intro.

General revelation: God is shown in ways available to all people, i.e. nature
Specific revelation: God is shown to some people in various ways, i.e. The Bible

I don't immediately have a problem with either. God created earth and it was good, it says in The Bible, so therefore we must be able to "see" Him through nature. God has also given us The Bible in written (and audible in the 21st century) form which is not available to everywhere.

There are still people groups with which the Bible has not been translated to.

It does get more confusing to me when people say that all people must be held accountable where they have heard the good news of Jesus Christ or read the Bible. This is because God has shown himself through nature and people should be able to come to believe the one true God. But let me draw this example up for us. There is a kid born in a remote village in India, who is immediately introduced into Islamic culture and this is all he ever knows. No missionary ever visits his village and he never travels outside his village. At age 18 he dies somehow, having never read the Bible or had the good news of Jesus Christ proclaimed to him. However, he has seen the wheat fields and trees and the mountains in the distance. He goes to his death believing in Muhammad and the god of Islam, but he is held accountable for not accepting the God of Jacob and Abraham. If forced...how could I tell his family that he will is certainly not be in heaven?

How can we be sure that he experienced the one true God in nature?

I believe whole heartily that everyone is accountable and everyone is given a chance to accept God. No one questions whether Moses and Abraham will make it to heaven, yet they never had a chance to meet Jesus or read of his works and resurrection. But I really become confused as to where to draw the line and how on earth I condemn this 18 year old Indian that he denied the one true God.

There is no easy answer, even intellectually. I would rather say argue that everyone is accountable than to say God cannot show himself through nature. Clearly the creation is a glimpse of the Almighty. But it feels hard for me to know that the God I praise might deny someone who has not heard the good news outside of the trees of the forest.
I see myself as appreciating nature because of my relationship with Christ. I find it hard to believe that I could have found the one true God without prior knowledge of who this God is.

The obvious statement is that I struggle balancing all this.

The Coffeshop Generation

I originally wrote this 2 years ago, but I think it will work well as my first blog posting.

I took a class my freshman year called Christian Discipleship, and it basically turned into a class on the post-modern church. For those of you who don't know this is basically a fancy word for how my generation and those somewhat near my age desire to have church "done". People call me a part of Generation Y or the Millenial Generation, or whatever, but I say that I'm part of the Coffeshop Generation (I want credit if that ever catches on). We love to get together in a place with music and some noise, lots of stuff going on, and try and hash out a meaningful connection by way of conversation. The question is how does this type of generation work within the church and how can a church make this relational aspect come alive. The question I ask as a worship leader is how to make worship in church relevant to the coffeeshop generation.

I went to a concert a month ago (Shawn McDonald) and throughout the concert there was a painter, painting in the background. He painted 2 pictures, they had basically no relevance to Jesus or Christianity but I was struck by the fact that music and painting are both art but only one is done every week in every church around the world.

Last November I went to a concert at the Salem Armory. It was a worship concert led by Chris Tomlin and Matt Redman. Those two combine for easily the two best leaders and writers of worship music today. There were never more than 5 people on stage but it was one of the loudest concerts I've been to, and God was felt all throughout the 3 hour concert. It was simple but there were 3,500 people diving into worship while one person was singing and three people playing instruments.

Last October I saw Shane and Shane and The David Crowder Band in concert. Two completely different types of bands, and neither is particularly a worship artist. However, I worshipped to songs that are never sung in church and they fostered an easy way to connect with Christ. It was loud, but it was real and it was worship.

I've attended Rolling Hills Church a few times this semester and being a worship guy I really focus on that. I honestly can't attend a church where I can't connect with the worship well. They have about 5 singers up front and 2 or 3 instruments that play in the band. It is a simple sound, and is never really energetic, but the church is 3,000 people strong.

For a the last few years I've been a part of the worship team at my church. I didn't choose the music most weeks, but I was kind of the up front person that the congregation would look to. We would usually have 5 or 6 six singers and 4 or 5 instruments. We could do any song in the book with those amount of numbers. As we gelled together we became pretty good at doing the songs we knew really well, but the church didn't grow in numbers or in a worshipful attitude.

What am I saying here? No I am not saying that there is one way to "do" worship that works for everyone. There is not one way that pleases God above the others. There is not one way to do worship for the Coffeeshop Generation that everyone will enjoy. But have you noticed how every worship CD that comes ou today has one or two singers on it? And how every worship CD that comes out always has some part when the worship leader stops singing and lets the church sing?

The Coffeeshop Generation loves to sing. I mean they really love to sing. They'll sing anything, including hymns, just as long as they know the song. I am a part of this generation, there has never been a song that I knew and didn't sing to. Having 6 singers every weekend leading worship fogs the noise and makes it hard for a church to connect. Six singers makes worship a performance if not done perfectly right. Painting pictures and letting a church sing can be lead people to Christ but it to can also become a performance if not done right. The coffeeshop generation is a broken group. We have experienced more life than any other generation has, and we didn't need a world war to do it. Shawn McDonald is huge today because he is real. Chris Tomlin is incredible because he leads others to Christ by making themselves the leader of their own worship experience.

Generation Y, the Millenium Generation, the Coffeeshop Generation...all they want is something real, a connection, and to sing. The fun part is that there are any number of ways to do that. This is worship in the postmodern church.