We Are the Church: Pop Stars Encourage Tithing

Posted on February 27, 2009 by Jay F Guin
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Pastor Shepherd: How to Get Rich by Sending Me Money

Posted on February 27, 2009 by Jay F Guin
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Renewing Our Worship: Uniformity

Posted on February 27, 2009 by Jay F Guin

I’m an elder at a 700-member congregation. I fully realize that many of my suggestions are impractical for a small church. A congregation of 50 isn’t likely to need or want an 8-person praise team or to worry about its sound board operations. But I’m not trying to conjure a new, uniform pattern for our congregations to follow.

In fact, my aim is quite the opposite. I think our churches need to be filled with a rich variety of worship styles and experiences. And I think we need to share ideas, successes, and failures. We need to learn from one another and build on one another.

But not to one day achieve uniformity — which is simply not the goal. What works in Seattle isn’t likely to work in Lubbock. For matter, what works in west Tuscaloosa just might not work in north Tuscaloosa. What works in a predominantly urban professional church may not work in a rural, blue collar church. What works in a largely black congregation may not work in a predominantly white congregation. Continue reading →

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If Jay Wrote on Jay’s Facebook Wall

Posted on February 26, 2009 by Jay F Guin

I have a Facebook account. And sometimes I correspond using Facebook — although it seems much less efficient than old-fashioned email to me. (Did I just type “old-fashioned email”? Oh, wow.)

But I don’t write on my “Wall.”

For those readers who are hopelessly out of touch, the “Wall” is a Facebook feature where you tell all your friends simultaneously what you’re doing right now. It’s always third-person, present participle: “Jay is going to the grocery store to buy bananas.” And the posts are generally about that interesting. And as my life is more boring than most (“Jay is typing yet another blog post.”), I don’t bother.

Nonetheless, there is a multi-million person market for knowing who is going to the grocery store and when. It must be a generational thing. And I have some young-generation readers. So I thought, what would today look like if I had time and energy to write on my Wall? Continue reading →

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Renewing Our Worship: Contemporary Christian Music and the Apocalypse

Posted on February 26, 2009 by Jay F Guin

We have members of my congregation who are firmly persuaded that contemporary Christian music is a sign of the Apocalypse — rather like sword, famine, plague, and wild beasts. It’s just one more way for people to suffer.

And so, I thought I’d take a look at the actual Apocalypse and see what it actually says about contemporary Christian music. I mean, people think Revelation predicts World War II, Obama’s election, and global warming. Surely it speaks to contemporary Christian music!

Actually, the Revelation says quite a lot about worship. After all, it treats us to several scenes of worship as it takes place in heaven — which surely is worship done right! (I considered the instrumental music argument from Revelation a while back). And so I figure we can learn quite a lot about worship from the Apocalyse. Continue reading →

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Faith Lessons by Ray Vander Laan: Total Commitment

Posted on February 25, 2009 by Jay F Guin

The lessons takes place at Caesarea, in the Plain of Sharon, on the Mediterranean.

Herod enjoyed building things that defied nature. At Caesarea, he built into the Mediterranean. He built Roman baths, hot, cold, and lukewarm. His palace had a porch that extended into the sea so visitors could visit the palace directly from a ship.

About 40 BC Herod, governor of Galilee, was appointed king of Judea by the Romans. They wanted a buffer against Parthians and Idumeans to the south. They wanted ROman culture. And they wanted the trade routes protected. But Herod lacked a major sea port, which was needed to facilitate the entry of Roman soldiers, as well as trade. And so he built Caesarea. Continue reading →

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Faith Lessons by Ray Vander Laan: Power to the People

Posted on February 25, 2009 by Jay F Guin

How was it possible for the disciples to suddenly have the willpower needed to change the world. We can find the answer at Pentecost, on the southern stairway at the temple mount.

The southern stairs are inside the City of David, the most ancient part of the city. This was the main entrance for pilgrims coming to worship, coming by the hundreds of thousands.

The stairs have irregular widths, to force visitors to approach the temple slowly.

The staircase was also known as the rabbi-teaching staircase, as rabbis often taught at place. Some think that Jesus’ final discourse, from Matt 25, was delivered there. Continue reading →

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Faith Lessons By Ray Vander Laan: Roll Away the Stone

Posted on February 25, 2009 by Jay F Guin

No one knows exactly where Jesus was buried, but if the Garden Tomb is not that place, it’s very much like the genuine tomb.

Jesus’ death fulfills a promise God made to Abraham thousands of years earlier, as part of the blood oath God made with Abraham.

(Mat 27:45-46)  From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. 46 About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” — which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

RVL paraphrases: “My God, my God, why have you left me all alone?”

At 3:00 in the afternoon, every day, the afternoon sacrifice was made at the temple. The shofar was blown, and everyone knew that at that moment, the lamb died for the world. This had happened for centuries, perhaps back to the time of Moses. At the same time, Jesus declared, “It is finished,” and died. Continue reading →

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The Blue Parakeet: Naive Approaches

Posted on February 24, 2009 by Jay F Guin

parakeetMcKnight suggests that different people take different approaches to taming parakeets.

Retrieval

Some churches read the Bible to retrieve everything that was practiced in the First Century. If the early Christians met in homes, we should do the same. If they enjoyed table fellowship each week, so should we. If they washed feet, so should we. Indeed, some see all commands as perpetual.

Those in this camp tend to see scripture as a book of laws or a constitution. They assume therefore that the book has rules for how to assemble and worship and organize, and so they interpret reports of what the early church did as commands.

Sound familiar? Continue reading →

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Renewing Our Worship: Iconography, Part 3 of 3

Posted on February 23, 2009 by Jay F Guin

Most elders and many preachers are of the analytical, left-brained type. They get all they need from a great lesson and fine song service. But they are not typical of their flock, and they aren’t adequately feeding their flock if they don’t sometimes break the mold and do something that responds to the legitimate needs of their more creative, more feeling members.

In this series, we’ve considered lots and lots of ways to bring variety to our worship and to respond to the needs of the more creative among us. I’d just add that we have to sometimes think in terms of our iconography — our symbols and visual communications.

Lots of adults, as well as most children, are visual learners. Use the talents God has given us to be visual at every opportunity.

Here are some additional ideas. And I’m not a creative, right-brained sort. I just try to pay attention to what others respond to and learn from it. Continue reading →

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