|
LIQUIDTHINKING IS: Stephen Zedler Jimmy Doyle Andy Mullins Current Sountrack
OTHER BLOGS SYNDICATE 
OUR READING LIST Currently Reading Church and Theology Culture and Society Biblical Studies ARCHIVES 
|
Saturday, September 16, 2006
How do you like that... Here I've been walking around thinking I couldn't be more than an apprentice.
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Has anyone noticed that dazed look of death-warmed-over in the eyes of a lot of people under the age of 20? It's like they're old, tired people without the age. Qualified Applause for Chuck Colson I'm supposing that if we sat down and talked about the issue, we'd differ a lot. He's probably being somewhat of a fuddy-duddy, too. But I had to take a certain amount of glee when I read this opinion column by Nixon's former hatchet-man. All I can say is that it's about time someone called the music that is played in a lot of churches today what it is: tacky crap that lacks substance. Apparently, Chuck stopped his song-leader guy right before he was about to start the 900th refrain of one of these ear worms. Wow, reality in a "worship service" (just saying the term bugs me)? Who knew? Apparently Chuck prefers to act on his conscience, even if it means straying from the script. Theologically, most of this music is as empty as my wallet is on most days. Most of it is overtly selfish, concentrating more on "ME" than on God. Some of it asks most parishioners to take an overly familiar approach to our Lord ("Jesus, you are my best friend?" Come on... for most of us, that's just a lie, as much as we'd like it to be true and may still someday be). The fact that this genre of music has become interchangeable with the word "worship" is enough to make me want to empty the contents of my stomach in the pew in front of me. Let's get this straight: Worship is NOT SINGING! One can worship every day without singing a note. Some people I would almost encourage to try this so that they can break themselves of thinking that they do their weekly duty to the Lord by singing a bunch of stuff that they don't believe enough to act on during the week on Sunday morning. But Colson correctly identifies one cancer in Christendom, that being that most of what we do is geared more toward putting butts in pews rather than encouraging real intimacy with Christ. Like Roz called it on one episode of "Frasier": worship service, show, it's really all the same now. And the parallels that Colson draws with Postman's thesis in Amusing Ourselves to Death is right on. And while I would also agree with Colson that institutional Christendom is severely lacking in substantial teaching, I would argue that what it needs more than intellectual understanding are actual experiences with the living Christ brought on by the sort of single-minded obedience talked about in Bonhoeffer's Cost of Discipleship. A lot of times, what they get instead is an empty, fleeting emotional experience brought on by dimmed lights, soothing music, and some whispery-voiced "worship-leader" (ugh, another term that makes my dinner want to come up for a visit) that is gone about an hour after parishioners walk out the door and are forced to go back to their compartmentalized, secular realities. So, yea Colson. More pastors should have the guts to call it like it is.
HOME  
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Jimmy Doyle is a dad, husband,
teacher, friend, and other things. Currently he's just trying to figure out what it means to follow Christ and be in community with others. He enjoys having conversations with fellow pilgrims on the journey.
Stephen Zedler has a wife and three kids who he loves very much. He has been called by God to study and teach history, particularly U.S.
history. He also believes that God has called him to reform the way children are educated in America.