How They Began (2)

This is the second time I’ve looked at the first, or an early post by a blogger you already know.   (The first one is here; it had five quotations; I’ll try to do this more often with fewer bloggers.  Submissions welcomed!)   Availability is limited to the current blog however, some have been blogging a lot longer than what is currently online…

Zach Nielsen (Take Your Vitamin Z)

Worship disconnect

I was recently in a prominent church in the midwest and observed something that troubled me very deeply. The worship leader was leading the congregation in the song “Blessed Be The Name” by Matt Redman. The context of the song is Job and the song talks all about suffering. When all was stripped away from Job he was still able to say, “Blessed Be The Name of the Lord”. Now in light of the fact that all of Job’s family was killed, except for his wife and he lost all his material possessions as well, it goes with out saying that this song is not a “happy” song. The problem was that the worship leader was leading the song with a huge smile and his face and he was exhorting us to dance and clap like it was a high school pep rally. Granted it is a an upbeat song, but for sure it is not chipper in light of the lyrics. There seemed to a be vast disconnect between the content of the song and the way in which it was presented. It was a great reminder for me as a worship leader (cause I have done this in the past I’m sure) to seek to be true to the tone and meaning of the song in its presentation. The flip side would be presenting a song about the joy of the Lord and we lead it stone faced and seemingly bored.. .

Michael Spencer (Internet Monk)

It’s been no secret that

It’s been no secret that Denise has always thought my views on “the will of God” to be distinctly unspiritual, and I found hers to be far too mystical. Tonight we listened to two programs on the subject (from a recent series on the White Horse Inn) and I think I won out!

God has a secret will and a revealed will. We are not called to try and discover the secret will of God. There is no “secret thread” of certainty waiting for those who find a way to “hear God’s voice.” God gives us His Word, His son, reason, providence, examples, desires, interests, opportunities, etc. We follow these and “Do as we please.” This seemed a great relief to her, even though it took quite a bit of discussion to clear out those old evangelical notions of playing “let’s make a deal” with the Almighty.

Steve McCoy (Reformissionary)

theology proper/proper theology

Sometimes what people mean when they say “I don’t want theology, I just want Jesus” is that they don’t want to read really big books with big words written by overeducated guys who explain God like a scientist would explain the elements of a foot fungus on a Petri dish.

In the proper sense, theology is the business of every Christian as we meditate on and study our great God through the Scriptures for the purpose of knowing Him better, praising His greatness, and knowing how to devote our lives to Him with greater fervor and consistency.    (July 31/04)

Wednesday Link List

For your consideration…

• Top Trend of the Week On Christian Blogs (and Everywhere Else) — Quitting Facebook.   This one isn’t a faith blogger, but it makes the point well.
• C. Michael Patton may call his post Why I Am Not Charismatic, but he’s more Charismatic-friendly than most.   Besides, I have a thing for charts:

• Speakers, worship leaders, pastors:  If your church has an audio system, act as though The Mic Is Always On.   (Actually it’s a good rule for life, too.)
• This British TV commercial — a long one, at 1:30 — for the John Lewis department stores is our YouTube clip of the week, as it could easily be one of those media clips your church uses on Sunday morning.
• Donald Miller thinks the next time you’re at a party, instead of asking someone, “What do you do?” you might try asking, “What is your story?”  Everybody has one.
• Even the little ethnic churches in major cities are prone to sex scandals.   This one took place in Toronto and you probably didn’t hear about it, but South Korea’s two largest TV networks were all over it.
• This post on theological systems isn’t very long, but makes a good point, and besides, like I said, I’ve got a thing for charts.   Go to Matt Stone’s blog and double click the image there for a clearer vision.

• Here’s a longer post I wrote on the weekend over at Christianity 201 which includes a long re-post of something serious by Jon Acuff.  Check out Where Sin Abounds.
• Tired of getting all your blog input from 20-somethings and 30-somethings?   Donald M. Bastian is no spring chicken, but if you appreciate the wisdom of older mentors — especially if you’re in ministry — check out Just Call Me Pastor.   (And the page which explains the blog’s name.)
• I need you to check this apologetics blog out — pretend you’re a skeptic for a few minutes — and tell me what you think of Proof That God Exists.
• Joel Taylor discovers that your local hospital may not be able to call that little room a chapel anymore, because that word is too sectarian.
• Will Mancini says that when you break down Jesus’ spoken word content, his influence boils down to the use of metaphors.   As a matter of fact, this blog post even has a chart:

• Book Trailer of the Week:  David W. Pierce describes his 2009 Waterbrook story of mountain climbing with his daughter, Don’t Let Me Go.
• Devotional Blog Discovery of the Week:  Smoodock’s Blog.   The writer is actually named Eddie, and his “about” page tells you what a Smoodock is.  (You already know, you just didn’t know it had a name.)  Short devos posted every other day or so.  Reminds me a bit of Rick Apperson‘s blog.
• In our Saving-The-Best-For-Last department, Matt Stone scores another Wednesday link with this post — you so gotta do this — asking you to compare two worship songs.
• This actually isn’t part of the Wednesday Link List — It was in my image file and I truly have no idea where I got this — but like I said, I have thing for charts:

• Instead of actual cartoons this week, we have some panels from Sacred Sandwich: