Of Worship and Hockey

Recently while attending church, something that the pastor said really got me thinking. He compared the act of worship to being at a hockey game, and the more I thought about it, the more sense it made. He said that at a hockey game, you cheer when your team scores because it is the most natural thing in the world. Nobody cheers because they feel that there is some rule or regulation that commands it, but simply because they are unable to hold in their joy and excitement. This, I believe, is how we should worship; a raw outpouring of praise because of who God is, what He has done, what He is currently doing, and what He will do in the future. Worship should not be fueled by the desire to conform to the expectations of the church, but fueled by our great love for God, no more, no less.

At a hockey game, or any other sports event,there will doubtless be some crazy diehard fans in attendance. You know the guys I'm talking about. They're the guys with the large bellies who seem to have lost their shirts, and in the process become covered in paint sporting the team's colors. By the middle of the first period, the paint has become smeared as it mixes with the streams of sweat running down his body (just thought I'd share that nice mental image with you). When the home team scores, they yell the loadest and have the craziest victory dances. Why am I writing about this? Simply because it parallels King David's celebration of praise and worship after God helped him achieve victory over his enemies. David, the most powerful king in the world at the time. stripped down and went dancing through the streets of the city. He did not care what others thought of him, including his horrified wife. His only concern was that God knew how grateful and thankful he was. I am not saying that we should all dance naked through the aisles of the sanctuary during the next worship service, but I still think that we can learn something from David. When we worship, it should be with a kind of reckless abandon, caring nothing for what others might think of us. I think that Starfield very effectively captures this desire loose the chains that prevent us from entering into this kind of worship, and at the same time our fear of doing so, in the song "All For You". One of the verses reads:

What is it in me

That hangs on for so long

Why do I fight the tears that come?

I work so hard to

Keep in control when

All that I want is to let go

I think that it is only when we let go of all these fears and worries of what others will think of us that we can finally enter into true worship. Well, those are my deep thoughts for the day, and, in keeping with the theme, GO OILERS!!!

Rolling Out The Welcome Mat

This year, the focus of out youth ministry is on service, and in particular, serving those who are less fortunate than us. It got me to thinking, would a poor and needy person feel welcomed and loved in today's church? Does today's church focus all of it's energy on helping the needy overseas, while ignoring those in our own community?

I began to wonder how a church would react if a homeless person decided to drop in on a Sunday morning service. What if their clothes were little more than rags, and they smelled as if they hadn't showered in weeks? What if their breath smelled of stale alcohol, or they bore the scars from many years of drug abuse? What if they showed multiple tatoos or piercings, which seemed vastly out of place with our regular Sunday attire? Would these people be welcomed, or forced to slink into a vacant pew at the back of the sanctuary, where the only acknowledgement of their presence is the looks of self-righteous disgust from those around them, although not to close? After all, it is to these types of people, the tax collectors, the prostitutes, the drunks, and other "sinners" that Jesus chose to associate with. If a church claims to follow Christ's example, then, does it not make sense that we should also do what we can to help those less fortunate than us, whether it is through actual monetary aid or simply by providing them with a listening ear? I know these are a lot of questions, but I believe that they are valid ones.

In his book Searching For God Knows What, Donald Miller writes in regards to Jesus' return: "But what if the guys playing the horns turned out to be a few men playing on a street corner in a small town in Arkansas, and what if the horse Jesus rode in on wasn't a Kentucky thoroughbred, but a beligerent donkey? And what if Jesus, after He got here, frequented homeless shelters and bars and ate and drank with the kinds of cultures evangelicals have declared war against?" And what if, when He came like a thief in the night, He came very quietly so that nobody noticed, and what if, crime of all crimes, He was ugly and when He went on CNN producers were uncomfortable with His appearance and only shot Him from the waist up..."

I think that this very effectively conveys Jesus' attitudes towards those deemed outcasts by society. From what I have learned about the character of Jesus, I don't think that I would be all that surprised if the above scenario took place upon Jesus' return. I think that it is the duty of the church to pick up where Jesus left off, and care for the needs of everyone, not just those that society says are worthy of our time and energy.

Jesus: The Human Factor

This is my first blog, through which I will attempt to share a part of my journey over the past couple of months with regards to the human nature of Jesus. Growing up, I never had any difficulty believing that Jesus was in fact wholly God, and one third of the Trinity (although I do not even have a basic understanding of this concept). As a result of hearing stories of Jesus' miracles from the moment I was born (not much of an exaggeration, really), I had little doubt in my mind that these marvelous feats could not be accomplished by a mere human. This led to my partially believing the stereotype that Jesus is simply just a Deity that looks down on earth from His throne in heaven. Although this is in fact truth, I have discovered in the past couple of months that it is far from being the whole truth.

In New Testament times, I am quite sure that people would have made a mockery of anyone who did not believe that Jesus was completely human. They heard His teachings, ate with Him, talked with Him, laughed with Him, cried with Him, and well, you get the picture. The point is that they had a relationship with Jesus like they would any other human being. What many were not convinced of was Jesus' claims to be the Son of God, and in fact, God. I think that in this day and age, the opposite is true of us because we have not physically seen Jesus. Over the past few months, in reading through the gospels and some other books, I have become increasingly aware of Jesus' human side. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the final 48 hours of His life on earth.

The Bible tells us that in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was so overcome with anguish that God had to send an angel to strengthen Him. Even though Jesus is God, it was because He is also fully human that it was necessary for God to send an angel, a being that Jesus created, to strengthen Him. It just blows my mind that the God of the universe would allow Himself to take on a human form, and in this weakened state require the assistance of one of His servants in order to complete His task.

Another concept that I always had trouble believing was when the Bible says that Jesus was tempted in every way, so that we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses (I hope I remembered that accurately enough). In my mind, I always thought, "Since when has Jesus faced the same temptations that we endure here on earth? When have I ever been tempted to turn stones into bread or jump off the roof of a temple, only to have a legion of angels catch me?" It is only recently that I realized that I had been looking at the temptation of Jesus far to literally. When the devil told Jesus to turn stones into bread so that he could eat and end His 40 day fast, I realized that the real temptation was to carry out His own plans, without relying on God for guidance and direction. When Jesus was tempted to jump off the roof of the temple, it was a temptation to flaunt and/or abuse His power. When Jesus was offered all the kingdoms and pleasures of the world, I realized that this meant fame, wealth, women, and everything the world has to offer. When I began to look at the temptation at from this perspective, I realized, "Hey, I guess this guy really does have some understanding of what we are going through on earth". On a side note, it says that Jesus wept when He learned of the death of His friend Lazarus. Even though He was God, and knew that in a couple of days He would bring Lazarus back to life, Jesus still wept because He was also still fully human.

As I begin to understand this dual nature of Christ, it is comforting to know that Jesus really is able to help us in our weakness because He understands completely what we are going through, not just from the perspective of an all-knowing God, but also from the perspective of a human. I think that when we begin to understand the human characteristics of Jesus, it enables us to have a deeper relationship with Him because we as humans are best able to relate to our fellow human beings. I do not know what backing there is to some of my interpretations, but they are simply some ideas that have popped into my head as I study the gospels in an attempt to better understand who Jesus is. I know this is maybe a little heavy for my first blog, but it is what has been on my mind as of late.