Last evening the Canadian skater Joannie Rochette competed in Vancouver’s Olympics, but the story behind her performance is what drove the viewer not to merely watch, but immerse themselves in this moment: her mother died 2 days before the routine.

It would have been tempting for the network to make a grand production of the tragedy by producing interviews with friends or a short story of her mother but they tastefully did not. She walked onto the ice, fighting back tears, and skated. Silence. No commentary from the announcers, just sweet tearful silence as the crowd dwelt in her strength and sorrow. At the end, one of the commentators attempted to speak through his tears.

I stepped back and reflected on 2 fronts last night, recognizing how both myself and Western culture have a need to improve upon reality by embellishing it, making everything shinier than it actually is when an occasional genuine moment would suffice. While Christ’s true body is not swayed, most of what people today call “the church” is awash with the deception. “But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden. But that which ye have already hold fast till I come.”

I will be the first to admit that I embellish. A bunch. Watching the movie Big Fish, I imagine (and hope) that my funeral will be similar. The story is about an aging man who always has to tell grand stories about his life, dismaying his son who just wishes he could know who his father really is. At the father’s funeral however, the son meets the people who lived through the adventures his father fabled about and realizes there was an element of truth to the stories. The son comes to appreciate that while he was trying to get to know his father, he never just loved the man for being a story teller, a “Big Fish in a little pond.”

I have been blessed with a wife and two daughters who know that I am a storyteller; I embellish and stretch sometimes. They know there is an element of truth when I tell them stories about punching sharks while scuba diving, but their enjoyment and laughter in these moments is that they know they will eventually learn that it wasn’t a Great White but a toothless nurse shark. This is merely my opinion, but I think that as long as long as someone really knows me, and that I know me, this is not a character defect- it is up front and out there, the caution signs are in the open and my family knows what they are walking into. Rochette’s performance Tuesday night reminds me however, that there probably is a much deeper story to be told and observed if I would just shut up sometimes and live silently- that I’m really not that big of a fish, that not everyone likes fish to begin with, and that some people do like fish and don’t need a lot of spices to cover up the taste. While embellished adventures of my life abound, I have found that when I share the tragic death of my father, the joy of a good marriage- the few deep unembellished life-changing events of my core- people are content and changed by that.

Sir Francis Bacon comments on man’s fallen state in his essay entitled “Of Truth”: “… men love lies, not when they bring pleasure as with poets, not to gain advantage as with the merchant: but for the lies sake… The mixture of a lie adds pleasure. (paraphrased)” It sadly has been my experience that quite a few men, including myself, live this way in many areas of life. They promote what they have bought into for years, the fear being that questioning the status quo they have surrounded themselves with may expose the reality that everything they have built upon was for naught. The wonderful thing about reading the works of Paul in the New Testament is that I can tell he had already questioned it all, and found that the Gospel made absolute sense to him.

So much of the core organization in today’s religious infrastructure (worship, giving, fellowship, specialized ministries) did not exist in Christ’s time or the early church’s, though I have heard it taught time and again (despite historical proof to the contrary) that it did exist as it is today. When the evidence is brought forth it is not discredited (because it cannot be), it is simply either ignored in order to avoid any attention, or the motives and means of it’s being brought forth are discredited in an attempt to quash it. As Bacon said, the mixture of a lie adds pleasure. Simply put, man’s core sin nature dictates today’s doctrines and preaches in its pulpits, much of it being deemed heresy up until 200 years ago.

Christ doesn’t need embellishing, but as members of Western culture we have been conditioned that we need to supersize him with extreme bibles, fresh anointings, and power principles; Churches teach that speaking in tongues is THE evidence of the baptism of the holy Spirit, blotting out the scripture “Be still and know that I am God”; We do not allow him to live silently and deeply in our souls because we seek a manifestation rush; The simple defintition of the word “Radical” (meaning at the root, or core)- as in “Radical Christian”- has been changed (it now means outspoken, bold and loud) to meet our need for lies.

I needed Rochette to skate last night, but more than that, this carp just needs to swim and be content in the simple waters of Christ.

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Romans 12:1 “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship.”

Praise and worship are vital to the life of a Christian. One cannot happen without the other. Deep and meaningful worship is dependent upon praise, and heartfelt praise relies upon worship. To separate the two is like separating the heart from the brain - both are crucial to the other’s function and survival and can only operate efficiently if both are healthy. To nourish one and neglect the other will result in problems.

Let’s look at both of these. Praise is defined as “speaking with approval or admiration; to glorify God.” Praise consists of the things we say that bring glory to God and lift up His name. Whenever praise is referenced in the Bible, it refers to something that is spoken or sang. These words or songs speak of the love of God and the great things that He has done in the earth. They are meant to serve as a reminder to His greatness.

So one must ask the question - exactly who is it supposed to remind? We have been led to believe that these praises are to remind God of what He has done and what His character is. However, God is quite comfortable with who He is and has no need of being reminded of who He is and what He has done. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the great I Am. His mind goes beyond anything we can comprehend. Why in the world would He need us to remind Him of what He has done? He doesn’t. So there is only one logical answer to the question - it is meant to remind us. Continue Reading »

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Playing bass for my church’s worship team is my worship. I give hours every week learning the music, developing my technique, and enjoying playing as a gift of my talent and time, given to God.

Kierkegaard said, “we suffer from a certain role confusion in worship. Most people,” he said, “imagine that the congregation is the audience, the preacher is a performer, and that God is present as prompter. In fact, the congregation are the actors, the preacher is a prompter, and God is the Audience. Worship is not about us, it’s about God.”

All too often, people think that the worship time is a time to be entertained, that the people on stage are there to entertain us. If we don’t like the music, we sit with our arms crossed in contempt. If the music’s good, we jump and dance and shout in an emotional following. Maybe we are completely disengaged from worship. We may step outside to conduct our daily business, check voice mail, and ignore the time of drawing close to God.

When we do that, we are completely disrespectful to God, to the worshipers around them, and those leading worship. It angers me when people - and there seems to be one in every church - spend half a worship service outside on their phone, and then come in and try to out sing everyone there like they’re God’s favored worshiper. They’re not. If you’re going to out sing everyone, be there and give God your heart, not just your voice. Business can wait. You’re in the presence of the King.

I want to challenge you to look at your worship habits. Do you really enter in to worship, or do you leave your mind and heart somewhere else? God is your audience. Do you put Him on hold, or do you give Him all your attention?

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For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. Hebrews 5:12-14

The Barna Group states some very startling statistics; 41% of adults believe Jesus sinned. 54% believe you can get to heaven by being a good person. 48% believe the Bible is accurate. 62% of unchurched people consider themselves to be Christians. 83% of adults say they’re Christian, but only 49% of those are committed to their faith.

Two-thirds of our nation say they attend a weekly service of some kind, yet they can’t believe simple fundamentals of the Christian faith such as the inerrancy of scripture or any of the other statistics reflected above.

Why is this? I think it’s because people don’t want the milk. Instead, they’re filling themselves on milkshakes and soda; half-truths and empty fillers. Maybe that’s why we don’t see the power of God like it was in the New Testament.

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We just floated the new website for the church, getting great feedback.

www.clctx.org

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