Be Careful What We Sing at Church The tempo was upbeat and the song was inviting. Though new to me, I picked it up quickly. On the third time through the chorus, I started really contemplating the words—and I stopped singing. Really, I did—right in midsentence. The words were wrong. Though it’s technically illegal for […]
Most people whose faith is more than in name only, have certain religious rituals as part of their spiritual practices. A common one is church attendance. Another may be giving money or tithing to the church. Participation in a Bible study, small group, or midweek meeting is a third practice many people pursue. Introspective spiritual […]
Celebrate the Savior Many churches call their Sunday morning services a worship service. Does that mean going to church is worshipping God? I suppose it could be, but I don’t think many people believe that. Instead, they focus on a particular aspect of the service as worship: the singing part. So singing can be worship. […]
Worshiping God in the Afterlife One of the key reasons there are so many churches is that people have different musical tastes and prefer different forms of worship. They pick a church with music they like. Even though I know I shouldn’t, I do too. Worship shouldn’t be about what we prefer; it should be […]
It’s Your Job to Spiritually Feed Yourself Have you ever heard someone grumble about church by saying, “I’m just not being fed”? Perhaps you’ve even said it. I have. However, we’re not talking about physical food, but spiritual sustenance. When we say this, we sound so righteous, but what we’re really doing is complaining that […]
Pursue Christian Community As a child, my parents told me we went to church to learn about God. The sermon was when I learned about God, so I assumed the rest of the service was unnecessary. I deemed everything outside the message as obligatory filler and tuned it out, waiting for the main event. According […]
Be Careful of the Word You Sing The song said, “We lift up our hands.” Except for my wife, no one else in the church service moved, not even me. It seemed disingenuous to only raise my hands when the song told me to. Shouldn’t I have already been doing that? We all sang the […]
The prophet Amos had some condemning words for the people of Israel. Through Amos, God unleashed a lament against his chosen people. He says he despises their religious festivals, and their assemblies are a stench to him. Yeah, I get that. Those people sure rebelled against God. They deserved his stern rebuke. They went through […]
Manmade Gods Can’t Save You The prophet Habakkuk, like many Old Testament mouthpieces for God, talked about the folly of a person who fashioned an object and then turned around to worship it. In essence, these ancient people would make something less them themselves and then revere it as something more. They would turn a […]
Many people think that singing songs in church is worshiping God. They’re right, but there’s more. Other people call the entire church service, “worship,” as in “Our worship service is at ten.” I suppose they’re right, too. But there’s more to worship than a one hour a week effort. Ideally, everything we do, say, and […]