Category Archives: Worship

An Open Letter to Praise Bands

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I love this open letter to praise bands by James K.A. Smith (Hattip: Lance). He says what we all feel about the praise band in a way that truly resonates with those of us who are seeking to worship in spirit and truth. I know, the praise band leaders say they are seeking to worship Christ in spirit and truth too, but for some reason, their spirit and truth seems more focused on their emotional experience before a crowd, than actually humbly worshipping our Savior for who He is and what He has done.

Mr. Smith points out part of the problem is that we, the church, have encouraged the leaders of praise bands to bring their worship into the church itself. He writes:

I sometimes worry that we’ve unwittingly encouraged you to import certain forms of performance that are, in effect, “secular liturgies” and not just neutral “methods.” Without us realizing it, the dominant practices of performance train us to relate to music (and musicians) in a certain way: as something for our pleasure, as entertainment, as a largely passive experience. The function and goal of music in these “secular liturgies” is quite different from the function and goal of music in Christian worship.

In other words, we know you have talent, and  want you to use that talent, but it’s not truly fitting for true worship of God’s people. He gives three reasons for this:

1. If we, the congregation, can’t hear ourselves, it’s not worship. Christian worship is not a concert. In a concert (a particular “form of performance”), we often expect to be overwhelmed by sound, particularly in certain styles of music. In a concert, we come to expect that weird sort of sensory deprivation that happens from sensory overload, when the pounding of the bass on our chest and the wash of music over the crowd leaves us with the rush of a certain aural vertigo. And there’s nothing wrong with concerts! It’s just that Christian worship is not a concert. Christian worship is a collective, communal, congregational practice–and the gathered sound and harmony of a congregation singing as one is integral to the practice of worship. It is a way of “performing” the reality that, in Christ, we are one body. But that requires that we actually be able to hear ourselves, and hear our sisters and brothers singing alongside us. When the amped sound of the praise band overwhelms congregational voices, we can’t hear ourselves sing–so we lose that communal aspect of the congregation and are encouraged to effectively become “private,” passive worshipers.
2. If we, the congregation, can’t sing along, it’s not worship. In other forms of musical performance, musicians and bands will want to improvise and “be creative,” offering new renditions and exhibiting their virtuosity with all sorts of different trills and pauses and improvisations on the received tune. Again, that can be a delightful aspect of a concert, but in Christian worship it just means that we, the congregation, can’t sing along. And so your virtuosity gives rise to our passivity; your creativity simply encourages our silence. And while you may be worshiping with your creativity, the same creativity actually shuts down congregational song.
3. If you, the praise band, are the center of attention, it’s not worship. I know it’s generally not your fault that we’ve put you at the front of the church. And I know you want to modelworship for us to imitate. But because we’ve encouraged you to basically import forms of performance from the concert venue into the sanctuary, we might not realize that we’ve also unwittingly encouraged a sense that you are the center of attention. And when your performance becomes a display of your virtuosity–even with the best of intentions–it’s difficult to counter the temptation to make the praise band the focus of our attention. When the praise band goes into long riffs that you might intend as “offerings to God,” we the congregation become utterly passive, and because we’ve adopted habits of relating to music from the Grammys and the concert venue, we unwittingly make you the center of attention. I wonder if there might be some intentional reflection on placement (to the side? leading from behind?) and performance that might help us counter these habits we bring with us to worship.

I really like reason number 3. He says what needs to be said. So many who lead praise teams seem to think that the worship is about them and their performance. I know that praise leaders will say that it isn’t. If that is the case, why not move the praise team to the back of the church where no one can see them? That is a quick way to determine just how important the praise team and song leaders think they are.

What I have found in most churches that have praise leaders/teams is that for them, worship is the music itself. It’s not what is prescribed in worship according to Scripture. The means of worship according to Scripture are… and get this, reading God’s word, the declaration of God’s word (known as preaching), prayer and the sacraments. No where are we given praise teams/leaders.

In fact, up until about 200 years ago, the use of instruments in worship was quite limited to those of the Lutheran and Catholic persuasions. Protestants didn’t use instruments for the most part and sang only from the psalter which is the actual worship book of the church, i.e., the Psalms. Now it is hard to even find anyone sing the psalms at all. There are hymns that reference the psalms, but that isn’t singing a psalm.

The other problem with praise-band churches is that they tend to punt the other elements of worship. For instance, preaching God’s word has fallen on hard times and has been substituted for mass-counseling sessions on everything to from better marriages, to better  sex in marriage, to better dating before sex and marriages, etc. The messages are attempts to become more “relevant” to the needs of the congregation and shows the complete lack of faith those who preach such sermons have in God’s word.

Preaching God’s word faithfully means preaching the text of God’s word, saying what it says, not saying what it doesn’t say. It means declaring the truth of what God has said regardless of how uncomfortable or unwelcome it may be. Far too many preachers are too busy wanting to be liked, as opposed to doing what God has called them to do. See the Paul Washer video below.

The other element of worship that has fallen on hard times is true biblical prayer. We do get prayer in the praise-band churches, but it’s usually the praise-team leader emoting about “just” wanting to see Jesus and “just” wanting to be in His presence, and “just” wanting to praise Him, and just just just just just just many other things.  And by golly, the praise-team leader was so emotional, that it must have been a good prayer. That’s not true prayer.

True prayer is speaking God’s truth back to Him and praising Him (real praise) for who He is. That requires that the one saying the prayer to the One receiving it must know some actual truth about the One being prayed too. In other word, if you are going to lead in prayer, you should probably have a deeper knowledge of who Christ, the Father and the Spirit are, than your typical eighth grader.

And then.. there are the sacraments. I was visiting a mega-church back in July that actually had it’s baptismal in the lobby of the church. They didn’t bother putting it in the sanctuary where they “worshipped,” even though baptism is a center-piece for worship. By baptizing our converts, we are worshipping in the truest sense.

Never mind communion. It’s pointless to even bring up that the early church had communion every Lord’s day. It was central to the worship service. Most mega-churches cannot conceive of the fact that the Lord’s supper is actually an element of the worship service given to us by our Lord. After all, there is no room in the “worship” service for communion. It takes too long and cuts into the “singing/emoting/concert” time.

And we wonder why the broader church is having trouble standing for righteousness’ sake.

Update: Found this parody via Daniel. It’ fits well with the theme of this post…

Why I’ve Stopped Singing In Church

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Well, I haven’t, but Bill Blankschaen has in the churches he attends. We still sing hymns in my church and I love them. Hymns offer a lot of great theology, they are singable without the need of a melodramatic worship teams and boy wonders on the guitar. They also connect us to the church that sang them in the past. No, you won’t hear them on the local Christian radio station. But you won’t hear any great truth about God on Christian radio stations since most of the songs are written for dreamy eyed 14-year-old girls, and nerdy 16-year-old boys.

Enough of what I think, here is what Bill has to say on the topic. He has written his article to those who insist on the latest praise tunes to come out of Nashville:

To be candid, I know how to behave in your church. I’ve been raised in it my entire life. So I know how to fake it when necessary. Lately, it’s been very necessary when the music is playing and we’re supposed to be singing, you know, to God. Frankly, I’m tired of it. Maybe all the “seekers” are enjoying it, but I’m finding it hard to sincerely engage in anything resembling worship.

Instead of feeling the joy of joining with other believers in offering praises to the Almighty, I often feel insulted, bored, and disconnected from 2,000 years of worship history. And just when I think that maybe it’s just me having a selfish and sinful attitude — a very real possibility — a flamboyant electrical guitar solo breaks out. I’m left deciding whether to waive my iPhone and buy the t-shirt or just shut up and go home.

This was the beginning of the end for me when it came to praise music. I always felt like the praise teams in worship were trying to rip me along emotionally, but never gave me any other reason for being moved emotionally except that we were supposed to be emotional. There was never any real content to the praise tunes, just repetition and drivel. But let’s get back to Bill since he puts it much better than I do.

As best I can sort through my own muddled and messy thoughts, I think there are three things that really bother me about the worship music in many Evangelical Christian churches today:

1. They’re really, really simplistic. There, I tried to keep the words small. You certainly put a lot of work into doing that for me each Sunday. It’s not just that most of the lyrics are simple — as in easy to understand. It’s that so many of the songs remind me of the ditties we sang at camp — when I was ten. Come to think of it, I’m pretty sure the theology in some of those camp songs was more advanced than the ones I’ve heard in some of your services. But, hey, everybody else seems to be really, really enjoying it so maybe it’s just me. Unless, of course, they’ve also learned how to fake it.

2. They’re all pulled from the latest Top 40 Worship channel. Or so it seems. Most songs I hear in evangelical churches of late have been written in the last decade, if that. I know I’m painting with a broad brush here because there have been some really, really (is this helping?) awesome songs written in the last two decades that deserve a place on the all-time worship songs list. We just usually don’t sing those. Maybe because they’re so three years ago.

What ever happened to the previous 2,000 years of church music history? Oh, I know, every so often you toss a token “hymn” (meaning within just the last century or so) into the mix. But even then, it’s a remix that requires melodic jujitsu to keep up with the quicker pace and fancier chord progressions. One distinguishing mark of the worship music of centuries past is that it generally focused more on content than today’s  simplisitc style.  Songs like “Arise, My Soul, Arise”; “Immortal, Invisible”; “Rejoice, the Lord is King”; or even the simple “I Sing the Almighty Power of God” typified a depth of doctrine that taught us as it revealed the glory of our Lord.

3. They repeat. And repeat. And repeat. And repeat. And rep — all right. See what I mean? Really, really annoying. Really. The first time we sang the simplistic ditty, I could tolerate it though I thought the infinite God of all creation deserved better. By the fifth time, I was hearing echoes of Jesus warning about vain repetitions. But once you went softer and slowed it down on the seventh time, it really began to resonate with my soul.

Not.

I love the comment about good praise songs that have come on the scene but are no longer sung. He writes “they are so three years ago.” That is what I tried pointing out to a lady in charge of worship at an area church. She won’t be singing the same songs in three years. It’s all about what is cool and hip. When that drives your worship, you probably are not worshipping in Spirit and Truth any longer, since you are not concerned about what the Ancient of Days might have to say about how we worship Him.

Bill continues:

I confess I don’t have a well-developed strategy for modern worship. I’m just a guy in the pews, a husband, father, and former pastor, frustrated that I just don’t feel like singing by the time the worship music ends. It seems that focusing on three things would at least be helpful so take it for what it’s worth.

So here’s what I’d like songs in church to be:

  1. Truthful. Rather than trying to get dumber than a fifth-grader in the worship service (no offense to my fifth-grade daughter), offer truth that grows my understanding of God as we glorify him. He is truth, after all, so it shouldn’t be that difficult.
  2. Written for adults. We’re not camp attendees giddy about it being our first time away from home. Well, maybe some of us are — but the rest of us don’t always want to have to choose between clapping our hands in rhythm with the group or wrestling with the guilt trip you put on us.  Go ahead. Give us songs with deep doctrine that excite our souls. We’re not seekers anymore. Come to think of it, I never was.
  3. Timeless. Let’s sing songs that reach back into the archives of songs proven to have been used by God to edify His people. Mix them in with modern songs, by all means. That’s fine. But don’t feel as if you have to make them sound like they just hit the airwaves last week. Imagine Mayberry today on MTV. Modern? Yes. Watchable? No. Sometimes classic is really cool. Really.

I could mention the need to play the music well, of course, but, frankly, I can live with the best you can give on that one. Make it as excellent as you can, please — just don’t make us sing it ad nauseum or worship your musical talents instead of our musical God.

I think Bill might be on to something. Maybe we should be more selective about what we sing in worship before the Almighty God of Creation. Maybe our worship songs should actually be based upon Scripture truth, that deepens our understanding about Him, His grace towards us and our need for Christ. I would say that it should deepen our understanding of His love for us, but we have so abused that attribute of God for the past 30 years that we should probably give it a rest for a while. Maybe we should focus on His holiness for a while. After all, the attribute of holiness is mentioned in the Bible far more than His love. (I know, this disappoints the love-sick 14-year-old girls, but they don’t read blogs like mine anyway).

Therefore let’s stick to the hymns, or at least not forge them. The church might actually learn about God again if we start singing of His rich truth. You can read the rest of Bill’s article here.

The Church Is God’s People, Not Anything Found in Nature

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I saw this bilge on Facebook and made the simple point that the true church is not nature, a place or a building, but the people of God who are redeemed by Jesus Christ. OK, I wasn’t as clear in my responses to that photo on FB, after all, it was FB, the hallowed ground of random thoughts and random responses.

I get the idea of the shot. The one that posted it prefers to be outdoors, worshipping nature because nature is so beautiful. The problem with this is that is it nothing short of pure idolatry. The moment you worship nature, which is what the statement is indicating, is the moment you enter into breaking the First Commandment: “Thou shalt have no other gods besides Me (YHWH is speaking).” Worshipping God’s creation is breaking of that commandment for we are to worship the Creator only.

One of the respondents tried to make the claim that they felt “closer to God” while in such spots than anywhere else. This should send up red flags for every believer in Christ. The moment we start letting our feelings dictate our beliefs and actions is the moment we move from Sola Scriptura to Solo Scriptura… in other words, idolatry and heresy. Our faith is to be built upon God’s word, not our feelings.

I love spending time out in God’s creation as well. But never is that “my church,” or any church at all. God’s creation is God’s creation. We can applaud Him, as Psalm 19 says we should do, but never should we worship the beauty of God’s creation. That is idolatry.

The second problem with this statement, as if the first one wasn’t enough, is that it is based upon the idea that we can worship God apart from His word. True worship of the Triune God is always, and let me stress, alway based upon God’s word being proclaimed. It is not based upon our feelings, something we see, or something we think. It must always come in conjunction with God’s word, the declaration of truth, and our response to that Truth in our adoration of Jesus Christ and Him alone.

I know that many Christians will claim to worship God because of His creation. But again, true worship must always be with His word, not creation. The pastor doesn’t proclaim creation. He proclaims God’s truth. It is through God’s truth proclaimed that the sinner comes to know Christ and is saved by Him. It is through this proclamation that the believer is fed spiritually. It is through the word that we are rebuked, encouraged, and built up so that we may do the work of the ministry. It is only when the word has been proclaimed that true worship has occurred.

Creation, as awe inspiring as it may be, cannot bring this about. This happens only in the true church, where those who have been redeemed by Christ, gather to hear His word proclaimed. In fact, the only place true worship ever takes place is among the people of God, for only those redeemed by the blood of Christ, have any right to enter into the presence of God. All others, have His wrath resting on them and are not admitted into His presence because they enter through the broad road to destruction and apart from the only Mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ.

Yes, they may “feel” close to god in their own estimation. But they are far and distant from the living and true God of Creation. His children know better than to look to His creation and … worship. For we are to worship the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, not their creation.

The Pain of Preaching

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I thought about entitling this post, “The Pain of the Prophet,” but I didn’t want anyone to think that I was making myself out to be a prophet. I first had the idea about this article after preaching on Sunday and I wondered if what I felt after preaching was much of what the prophet felt when he was proclaiming truth to wayward Israel. I use to think that the prophet took great delight in saying the things he did. He got to stand for God and proclaim His truths to the people, both good and bad. That was naive thinking on my part and after preaching for 16 years, I’ve changed my mind. I think the prophets felt the heaviness of God’s truth before they proclaimed it, while proclaiming and after they had done so. God’s truth in the lives of believers is far to meaty to be flippant about. This is why so many of them struggled with what was being proclaimed. Think of Isaiah, and how he proclaimed the truth for five chapters of events, then found himself in the very Holy of Holies with God Himself. He was completely undone before the Lord and said, “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.”

Don’t think for a moment that this realization didn’t take it’s toll on Isaiah. Not that the toll it took was bad. It was very good for Isaiah to undergo the scrutiny before the Lord that caused him to realize his own sinfulness. He needed that scrutiny and pain that was brought about just as we all do. But don’t make the mistake of thinking it was easy. God’s work in our lives is never easy. Easy is what you get from the many flippant pastors who enter pulpits week after week in order to make every one feel good about themselves. Preaching God’s word is never easy, and rarely makes us feel good about ourselves. If it really works in us, we welcome the uneasiness it brings, or even the comfort that comes from His word because we know that the end result is better than being left alone. If we want to shine like gold for the Lord, He must turn up the fires of sanctification to burn away the dross.

This is what Isaiah was going through before the Lord. It is what Jeremiah went through when he wept. It is what the other prophets in the Old Testament had to deal with as they spoke to Israel in a manner that seems so harsh at times. That harshness was working on the prophets when they proclaimed those truths.

Preaching God’s truth is much the same way today. When a pastor faithfully preaches the text, it works on him more so than those in the pews, as it should.

I would love to say that every time I enter into the pulpit it is nothing but pure spiritual joy. But to say so would be a lie. There are times when I am filled with His love and joy that make preaching a pure delight. But there are other times when it is very hard to preach God’s word week after week. It is hard to open God’s word every week and truly proclaim it without it costing the one proclaiming it. For if we are truly proclaiming God’s word, then God’s word is working on us and in us as we prepare the sermon. That is hard. Having the Holy Spirit examine my heart day after day, line upon line of my sermon, word study upon word study, begins to take it’s toll after a while. Especially when the text applies to my life as well as the lives of those in the pews.

I once had a fellow pastor tell me after his two-year anniversary with a church that it was then that real ministry was beginning to take place. I know what he means. After about two years we really begin to get to know our congregations and get to see what they need in their lives as we pick out our sermon texts. This is where the heaviness comes from, preaching what we know our congregations need to hear. It may not be what they want to hear, but as the Spirit leads us in this selection, we must trust that it is best for them and for us.

It is on days like this when I pray and look at the text I am going to preach that I want to run from it. I want nothing to do with it. It is not as though I want to be disobedient to the Spirit’s guiding, but I know that what I’m going to preach will step on some toes, mine included. Being a guy who loves to be loved, that is a tough proposition. I try the old bit of pulling up an oldie but goodie. There are no oldies but goodies in preaching. If we are really going to faithfully preach, we need to wrestle with the text as God wrestles with us.

So much so, that there are times that I find myself crying out to the Lord more than I do writing a sermon. Take the words, “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.” They seem like easy words to read and easy words to mentally agree with. Yet God is not trying to get us just to agree with those words. He is working in us so that we live them out as His children are called to do.

Does that mean that those words apply to me as well as those in the pews? Absolutely! The Father allowed His Son to die on the cross and gave me His Spirit so that I could live up to those words. That means He wants me to truly bless those who have persecuted me. This is not some theological theory to be bandied about as a philosopher does inside the local pub or college class room. He wants us to live it.

It is for this reason that I wrestle with the text. I don’t want to live it. I don’t want to ask Him to pour blessings on those who have persecuted me in some way or another. I know that we can expect persecution from those who are not believers, but what about those from inside the church? What about those who attack because I do preach God’s word? What about those who are supposed to cherish the preached word of God, but somehow, despise it? Am I supposed to turn the other cheek when they attack me, and ask for God’s blessing upon them?

My flesh wants nothing to do with it. Just like the flesh of the world it wants revenge. The Holy Spirit will have none of that. To seek revenge is to usurp His place as the final judge, and while we will judge the world in that final day, it’s not the final day yet. If my flesh seeks that revenge, then I’m just as guilty as those who have wronged me. The battle continues.

As pastors, we must let the battle continue. We cannot shy away from it as difficult as it is. We must never distance ourselves from the words we preach for that leads to cold, lifeless preaching. We must own each and every sermon we preach from a personal standpoint of knowing the words we proclaim are meant for us as well. We should never go into the pulpit to preach “to” the people, but to proclaim His word for all who have ears to hear.

This is why we must let the Holy Spirit battle with us, to prepare us and get us ready for the proclamation that will take place.

For me, the battle usually begins sometime on Thursday afternoon when I begin my initial push to write my sermon. When the text is really cutting my heart, it lasts well into Friday and even Saturday. My lovely bride has watched me go through this many times. I will pray, and read, and pray some more, looking for a way out, asking God for some new direction. But He is resolute. In my spiritual exhaustion on Friday, I finally commit to another sermon and open up the file. I read it. “What a great sermon!” I think to myself. And it was a great sermon when I first preached it. Trying to fool myself into thinking I have found the solution, I call it a day.

Then my lovely bride asks me how the sermon is going. “Great!”

“What is it on?” she asks gently.

I tell her. We talk about it. Then at some point, she asks that deadly question: “Timothy, have you asked the Lord what He wants you to preach.”

I bark! “Come on! Of course I have.”

She lets me believe that I have. Saturday morning comes. I’ve rested. I open the oldie but goodie, and punt it before I can get past the first page. That is not what God would have me preach. I go back to the text I have wrestled with all week, and finally begin to write. I’m resigned to His words working in my heart as well. Yes, I will bless those who persecute me as He has called me to do. And I will preach His word, as He has called me to do. That is my ultimate blessing to those He has entrusted me with. I’m fortunate. Most look forward to my preaching, never knowing the struggle I go through to bring them the word. They appreciate it nonetheless.

Many will never know what the preacher goes through while trying to prepare a sermon. That is fine. It’s not their cross to bear. It’s mine.The pain of preaching is mine as well. That is the call He has placed on my life, and so many other men as well. We are to wrestle with the text and let the Holy Spirit work in us as we prepare, so that when we proclaim, we will not just be proclaiming God’s word in some distant fashion, but proclaiming God’s double-edged sword that has cut us to the bone as well. That is the pain of preaching.

Dr. Jay & Miss Diana to Perform at GPC

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Yes, true professional musicians will be playing in our worship this coming Easter Sunday morning! Dr. Jay & Miss Diana will drive up from Bolivar to do special music for our prelude and offertory during worship. They came and sang once before and it was truly enjoyable.

Elisa and I have been listening to their albums over at their site, Dr Jay & Miss Diana, and reading their bio’s. Both are fully qualified in life to sing the blues, both Memphis style and whatever other styles may exist out there. I feel like knowing them that I’ve met royalty, but they would spit and hack at that description. They are truly unpretentious and I don’t get the impression they are impressed with those who are pretentious.

Dr. Jay gave me a portion of his testimony at one point and told me that he has played as a studio musician for the likes of Jimmy Page, and… well, others you would know if I could remember them. I asked him point blank: “were you impressed by any of the people you played with?” Not a bit.

While most of us never get to know those who run celebrity circles, Dr. Jay and Miss Diana have. Sadly, they told me the worst were those who were “Christian” artists. Doesn’t surprise me. I’ve heard that before. But they have experienced it first hand. I get the strong impression that the word “celebrity” would be less than a compliment in their world. Most of us know that, but there is a part of us that would love to know someone famous, simply for the joy of knowing someone famous, so we can tell the rest of those of us who are not famous that we know someone famous and therefore, are more special that the rest of us who are not all that special (in a worldly sort of way). They have known enough famous people that they are not caught off guard by the glow of stardom. This is what makes them so special, that and the fact that both are dear brothers and sisters in the Lord.

As for knowing someone famous, there is truly only One person in all of humanity to know and be known by, and we will be worshiping Him this coming Sunday at Grace Presbyterian Church here in Jackson, TN. Come join us as we band together to worship and hear from our Savior this Sunday morning. Please bring ears to hear.

Here are some of Dr. Jay’s comments on their lives from their site, which I recommend you visit and listen to the music… and buy some of it as well.

Dr. Jay on His Parents

My childhood was normal I suppose.  My father was a designer, of the electrical sort.  My mother was a lovely woman who loved desserts.  The hour of the day did not matter, nor the day of the week, nor season of the year.  Weather, alignment of the planets, larger issues in the world around her such as war and peace, poverty and plenty – my mother would see to it that my father and I had a good helping of sugar charged edibles at the end our evening meal.  ”To,” as she would so aptly put it, “get the taste out of your mouth.”  By, “the taste,” she meant the remaining bouquet of what may have been a select grain-fed Texas rib-eye, a veal piccata, a delicate spinach salad followed by a hearty burgundy, a light chablis or whatever our petite family had just ingested.  The fluffy sugar concoctions my mother baked, fried, whipped or blended would relieve any harmful lingering savor we may have just endured.  I loved my mother.

My first remembrance of my father’s true self came in my fifteenth year.  I was, at the time playing in a rock band and needed what I felt was some snappy garb to wear on stage.  Watching TV and films early in my artistic pursuits, I quickly realized the need for such raiment – it wasn’t that I wanted to be known as someone with a flawless fashion sense; I wanted to be known as a babe magnet.  (I think it was Colonel Chriswell Langhorne who said, “Etiquette is for people who have no breeding; fashion is for those who have no taste.”)  Anyway, being without the financial means to purchase such penetrating items, I wandered into my father’s study one evening hoping for monetary aid, making sure I held what I hoped would be perceived as a dispirited countenance.  My father, being the kindhearted sort I came to know him as, asked, “What’s troubling you son?”  With an appropriate muffled voice I related my apparel situation; always managing to keep my face turned to the floor, my arms hanging limp at my side, speaking in a tone which he would hopefully regard as one which was trying its hardest to hold back a heavy-hearted tear. To which my father conveyed this story:

“I,” he began, “was about your age when I remember feeling bad because I didn’t have enough money to buy a pair of new shoes.”  At this point my father paused looking forewarn into the vast invisible universe which lay somewhere past the books in his study.  Turning back to me, “Then,” he continued, “I walked outside and met a man who had no style.”  That was my father in a nutshell.  I so loved him.

Dr. Jay On Miss Diana’s Childhood

Miss Diana was born on the periphery of Memphis, Tennessee.  She likes to begin the tale of her origin with the phraseology, “I was born a poor black child in the Delta.”  This statement, although true, is more of a paradigm or archetype of the real; Miss Diana’s maiden name was Black and her life did not have its genesis in the most moneyed parentage in the South.  But, other than her forbearer’s appellation she is and was as white as her hair has now become – thanks to L´ORÉL®.

Dr. Jay on Death

Someday, after living to ripe old ages, Miss Diana and I plan to be buried together in an open field of flowers behind our Refashioned Industrial Unit.  A ten foot square pink marble grave stone will read: “We’re dead now.  Everyone who really loved us, take off your pants” .  We also plan to have our will spelled out by the card section at the annual Texas/Oklahoma football game: “We Leave it All to our Neighbor’s Poodle!”

 There is so much more there to read, laugh about and ponder. So head over to the site, listen to their music, read their Bio’s and buy their stuff. And if you can make it next Sunday for worship, join us as we meet with Our Lord and Savior to praise Him to the music of Dr. Jay & Miss Diana. Services start at 11 a.m., Sunday school is at 9:30 a.m.

Happy Independence Day!

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Happy Independence Day! I hope your 4th is a blessing.

I’m looking forward to worship this morning since I’m preaching on one of my favorite passages: John 14:1-6. I’m focusing on the comfort the passage gives us, even in dark days.

As for those who celebrate this nation in worship, remember, it’s the Lord’s Day, not a day to focus on the United States of America. While I am a patriot, I believe the focus of worship and preaching should always be Jesus Christ, not our nation. The gospel will do more to change our nation than anything else I can preach about. Even focusing on our history will not bring a real change, only the gospel.

Remember that as you gather for worship. It is the Lord’s day. Patriotism is good, but should be excluded from the worship of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Music in Worship

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I found the following at the Heritage Presbyterian Church, in Edmond, OK, website. It is one of the best philosophies of music I have ever seen. It cuts through the chatter found in the worship wars. We meet in worship to please God, not to be pleased by our musical fancies. The following captures that essence.

Before formulating a view of music in the church, rather than taking a harder look at music (the common method in these discussions), we need to take a better look at the church. As has been pointed out by authors such as David F. Wells, the church is not a vendor of religious goods and services. It is not just one more store among the stores at the mall where everyone can be catered to as consumers. It is exactly the opposite: a place where satisfaction is found in denying oneself, a place where you come not to have your personal preferences met, but your personal preferences changed. The church is a place where you ought to assume that most of your natural inclinations are wrong, but will be set aright.

This helps us understand that the church’s music must not be the defining factor in worship. It is the defining factor for your radio station choice, for your tapes and CDs and TV channels (all consumer products whose purpose is to please you), but music has an altogether different purpose in worship.

Any time the church sets out to accommodate, rather than amend, a variety of personal preferences, it will be damaged. We live in a culture that promises you a situation where, for a minimal charge, as Garrison Keillor describes Lake Woebegon , all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average–and with good customer service to boot. The motto of consumerism is “more of what I want is better.” We simmer in this philosophy from childhood having our affections molded and shaped to be good consumers. And sadly, this is what we begin to expect from the church. No doubt, it is an extraordinary challenge trying to convince people that music in worship is absolutely nothing like consumer music, which is most of the music in our lives.

Our music-in-worship philosophy is this: the corporate music should be doctrinally dense (as in the Psalms), aesthetically rich (the Lord cares about beauty), communally held (people know a lot of it by heart), and historically representative (both older songs and newer songs that pass the first three criteria). This means we have fewer hymns and Psalms overall (maybe 150-200 so that we and our children can sing without so much discovery every week), selected by trained people (those qualified to evaluate if the tune is accessible to both older and younger people and if it fits the attitude of the text), representing Protestant history proportionally (meaning we have more older than newer).

And in all of this, we are happy and glad to stand next to our brothers and sisters in Christ and help them sing a song they enjoy that we don’t necessarily like, knowing that next time they’ll help us sing a song we enjoy that they don’t necessarily like. In this way in worship, we are denying ourselves and making a bold attempt to bring unity to the church. This may not make for a big church of consumers, but at least it treats the church as the Bible does: as the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, the house and family of God.

What Men Want — In Worship

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It seems that, among church attending men, they don’t really want touchy-feely songs, dancing, or circles of people sharing their feelings. This is in stark contrast to many of the movements afoot today in American evangelicalism. But according to this study in Britain, men want macho!

“You mean, they don’t want love songs about Jesus? They don’t want puppy dog stories, or stupid sayings about turning life’s lemons, into lemonade? What is going on here?“

Yup! According to this study, they want robust singing about God, and stories of the faith. This should not surprise us in the least, unless you really believe that Jesus was a six-foot tall, effeminate looking Jew, who was soft and sweet, i.e, every modern depiction of Christ found on the walls of our Sunday school classes.

Remember that Jesus was a carpenter. A man’s man. He took a bunch of rough and tumble men, and started a movement. Most of those men were fishermen. One was a tax collector, no pansy there. A couple of them were revolutionaries, looking to overthrow Rome at any moment. This carpenter took these men, exposed them to the true Kingdom, and then set them loose spreading the message of a death that could save. They had to be tough. How many of them faced hostile crowds during their ministries? They had to be courageous in the Lord, otherwise, they would have wilted into the woodwork like the pantie-wearing liberal theologians of our day who insult all believers by saying that God is a universalist.

You could say that I’m glad to see this survey. I can’t stand the love songs for Jesus. I will sing them. But I don’t have to like them. Listen to the top songs this survey discovered that men like.

On the football terraces we are very passionate, chanting and cheering, and we want more songs like that. We want fewer girly songs.’

Here is a suggested top 10 of male-friendly hymns drawn up by Sorted:

  • Onward Christian Soldiers
  • And Can It Be
  • Guide Me O Thy Great Redeemer
  • All People That On Earth Do Dwell
  • Be Thou My Vision
  • How Great Thou Art
  • Amazing Grace
  • Eternal Father, Strong To Save (For Those On Peril On The Sea)
  • Our God Reigns
  • Dear Lord And Father Of Mankind Forgive Our Foolish Ways
I don’t know all of those songs. But I’m inclined to check them all out. I have to admit that some of those are my favorite hymns. Be Thou My Vision was written in the 8th Century as an Irish poem and put to music in 1912. It’s an excellent hymn. Listen to these words: “Be thou my battle shield, sword for my fight: be thou my dignity, though my delight, thou my soul’s shelter thou my high tow’r: raise thou me hean’n-ward, O Pow’r of my pow’r.”

I will have to look up the few that I don’t know and see if we can include them in worship in the coming weeks. The men of my congregation may already know them. I hope so. I don’t get the feeling that any of them are the holding-hand types. I’m glad too!

Seems to me that what men really want, is what the Bible calls for. Good solid singing, preaching and prayer. Sounds like we are on the right track here.

Read the rest of the story here.

From the Mouths of Our Babes

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November 26, 2008

Family Worship
Tonight at our family worship time, we prayed and sang the Doxology, which Andrew loves to sing very loudly and with joy. Joey sat and listened and clapped, giggling in delight at the end. We sang Jesus Loves Me as well. Andy danced around the room with his mouth wide open. After the “Amen!” Andy said matter-of-a-factly with his hand in the air, “Now I want to sing another song about God and Jesus. It is…” He paused for a brief second “… the A,B,C Song!”

Joey’s Catechism
Then I looked at Joey (19 months today) sitting in Timothy’s arms and asked him “Joey, Who made you?” The little guy smiled and said “Od eed!” (God did!) I asked him again and he pointed up and with a cheer said “OD EED!”

Learning About Heaven
Andrew, a month shy of being four, became very upset one Sunday during a sermon about Heaven. With tears, he cried out in the service “I don’t want to go to Heaven! I don’t like Heaven! Heaven is yucky!” He was so loud and unhappy that I had to lead him out of worship into Timothy’s office to sit and calm down, telling him more about Heaven. We were shocked, saddened, and wondered what was going on. In the following days, it dawned on us that the little boy thought we had to leave right then, and was so very scared that he’d leave behind all those he loved, or be all by himself. Lost in a strange place. That idea of “heaven” is as terrifying to a three-year-old as the contemplation of hell is to adults.

Since then, we have worked harder teaching him the Gospel and telling him how wonderful Heaven is. We have said that Heaven is a special place that God has made for His children, those who Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to to live in their hearts to have Jesus be their Savior. We have described Heaven as this marvelous place, better than any fairy tale castle where we all get to go to an amazing party, bigger and fancier than any birthday party and wedding ever. We also told him of all the people he loved who would be there, Aunt Brenda, Daddy, Mommy, his brother Joey, Mom-Mom, Grandaddy, JP, Letitia, Raye-Raye, Mr. Pat, and Uncle Mark, and a few others he loves. We’d all be there at the biggest party in Heaven with God and Jesus. Then he asked about Adam, Father Abraham and Moses, King David, and Joseph. Would they be there too? Yes, we taught, we’re all a part of the family of God. We’d all be at that wonderful party and get to live with God and Jesus in Heaven, since we believed in Jesus.

Andrew has been thinking and taking it all in.

We have been praying for Julian Pilgrim for a while and Andrew knew that he was very sick and in the hospital. After learning about Mr. Pilgrim’s death Monday, I was making several phone calls. Andrew came up to me and asked what I was doing. I replied that Mr. Pilgrim had died and I was helping Daddy.

Andrew paused for a moment and then asked “Is Mr. Pilgrim in Heaven?”

I replied “Oh, yes. Jesus sent His Holy Spirit to live in his heart and he was a great believer.”

Andrew immediately began jumping up and down in joy, clapping his hands and shouting at the top of his voice a whopping “Yea!!”
“We did it!!” the little guy jubilantly exclaimed.

“No,” I smiled in reply, “Jesus did all the work. Mr. Pilgrim is in Heaven because Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to live in his heart and forgave his sins.”

Andrew burst forth in another loud wave of happy celebration and praise of Jesus. As far as he saw it, another person is coming to the great party in Heaven.

Now, that IS something to cheer about!