Things I Love/Hate

This is dedicated to two things in the Christian world that I've seen that I kind of disagree with but love anyway.

First one is the "I Hate Religion but Love Jesus" video.  Religion is simply the way we related to God.  It's like saying I love my husband but hate marriage.  Then I finally watched the video and agreed with every word.  I suppose a marriage would be terrible if we paid more attention to that than to our spouses.

This next and final one is a conundrum.  Still trying to find a worship style that is good, not overly entertaining, and the best we can offer to God.  I love music.  I love using music in worship.  I will never be mad at a certain style or instrument in worship service.  What I hate are shallow songs and the worship overshadowing God.

I love my Dad.  He's my hero.  However, we have such different opinions about how worship should go in church.  It's like, he's still in the Seeker Sensitive mentality, and I'm wanting something that's truthful, not necessarily popular.  But it has to be good, too.

So when we visited an old friend's church in Memphis, I had many negative things to say about contemporary gimmicks and the need to have more old music with real lyrics that mean something that aren't overly emotional.  Then we went to the church service which was very edgy in its rock style and I loved it.  They sang real hymns, old and new, and gave their best to the Lord.  Their direction was to praise God, not themselves.

Of course, Dad thinks our church should do it that way every week.  Full sound, lights, and volume.  I greatly disagree.  I agree with Ecclesiastes 3, there's a time for everything.  A time for old songs and Wurlitzer pianos, and new songs with drums and electric guitar.  You can even use the Wurlitzer on now songs and electric distortion on old songs.

But I must say there is a difference between "God is Good", I think Don Moen sings it, "At the Cross" by Ralph Hudson, and "Draw Me Close to You" versus "I am a Friend of God," almost anything Fanny Crosby writes, almost anything Chris Tomlin writes, and anything Keith Getty writes.

The latter songs use Scripture, have order, and people really did write the lyrics for God's glory, not to appeal to the crowd.

And seriously, there's plenty of good, upbeat songs out there without having to resort to "God is Good" or other cliches.

But old or new, simply or elaborate, it still needs to be for God only.  Worship is the Christian's time with God, not necessarily trying to bait and switch non-believers.  The latter may happen and hallelujah, but church is a weekly rehab for Christian souls and a weekly taste of heaven (if you're doing it right).  And more importantly, when you preach a sermon, you need to have a whole passage of Scripture.  I don't care if it's 2 hours long or 15 minutes long.  I actually prefer shorter and sweeter.  But you need a full Scripture passage, even if you only focus on one verse.  Romans 10:17 requires it.  It's not a sermon without a good helping of God's Word.