Embracing a Service in Mandarin With our journey of visiting fifty-two churches over, I can reflect more on the complete experience. Today, I’ll add to my thoughts about Church #20. Although I’m uncomfortable in situations where language differences make conversation hard, if not impossible, something about this church draws me. Despite not knowing Mandarin, I […]
Liturgical Church Services With our journey of visiting fifty-two churches over, I can reflect more on the complete experience. Today, I’ll add to my thoughts about Church #18. We’ve now been to three churches with liturgical services (Church #5, 17, and 18), two of them Roman Catholic. I’ve struggled with the liturgy at all three. […]
A High Church Experience With our journey of visiting fifty-two churches over, I can reflect more on the complete experience. Today, I’ll add to my thoughts about Church #17. This high church experience gave me much to contemplate about worshiping God in a more formal, liturgical manner. In contrast, most all of my church experiences […]
Consider Your Sacrifices Do you worship your work? Of course we would say “no.” But consider that what we make sacrifices for is that which is important to us. If so, then perhaps we are at risk of worshiping our work. In doing so, might it be that we’ve elevated our vocation to the status […]
The Four Gospels Each Have a Story of a Woman Who Worships Jesus Each of the four accounts of Jesus’s life—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—give a story about a woman who anoints Jesus with expensive perfume, but the details in each report vary. It may be that this happens on four separate occasions. Or it […]
Our journey is over. I’m sad and excited at the same time. Our spiritual sojourn of fifty-two churches has ended. Reunion with our home church, church 53, community looms large. Today is Good Friday and our Easter celebration will be in two days, but I can’t wait for Sunday. I desire a preview, a reminder […]
Ideas for Having a House Church Over the years there have been times when I couldn’t go to church. I’m not talking about the Sundays I was ill or traveling. Instead, I’m referring to times when the church canceled its service. These have included weather-related problems, power outages, no heat, and construction issues. Each of […]
Celebrate the Holiness of God The prophet Isaiah has a dream, a vision. He sees into heaven. God sits on his throne over the temple. Six-winged angels, seraphim, hover above him. They sing out, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty. Earth fills with his glory.” As their voices ring out, the temple shakes and […]
Embrace Seraphim As Celestial Beings Quick, are seraphim angels? Until recently I would have said “yes” without hesitation. That’s what I was taught. However, after researching for the post Holy, Holy, Holy, I’ve reached a different conclusion. First, the dictionary says seraphim are “celestial beings.” Celestial implies heaven or the divine (God). I equate celestial […]
When we arrive at church portrays something about us. More importantly it reveals much about the importance we place on God and worshipping him. Aside from conditioned and cultural predispositions towards punctuality, we also have personal circumstances that can interfere with our best intentions. Having a baby, small children, or many children can all impede […]