I remember many a bulletin as a child in which the service order was printed line for line, item for item, song for song. I particularly remember a funny word at the very end of the service: the benediction. But what in the world is it?
Ordinary Time, Ordinary Means
We find ourselves today not crossing seas on dry land, raising the dead, or calling fire down from Heaven; but living seemingly normal, average, and even mundane lives. How ordinary.
The Problem with Christmas and Easter Christians
Christmas and Easter do indeed have a lasting and perpetual hold on even the most staunchly evangelical-Protestant hearts and minds. The problem is, there's more to the story of Christ and the gospel than Christmas and Easter.
Jonah and Holy Saturday
Amid all the hustle and bustle and the rush toward Easter morning with candy at the ready and hams basted and bound for the oven; do we ever stop to think of the day when the very agent of creation, the Word of the Father whose power created all things and sustains all things was silent in the grave in the person of Jesus Christ?
Angels Make me Cry
There are two times when I can specifically remember bawling my eyes out during a church service and both of them have to do with... angels.
The “Mandate” of Maundy Thursday
Many of the traditions of Maundy Thursday are centuries old and carry a boat load of symbolism and tradition. But what happens when the meaning behind these symbols is lost?
Wailing at the Feet of Jesus- Lament in the Life of the Church
"All you young people want to do is wail at the feet of Jesus," some friends of mine were once told concerning the songs they had chosen for a worship gathering. Does God want us to "wail," to him? Isn't worship about celebration and forgetting your troubles? We need to rediscover the lament.
To Every Generation: The Mandate of Intergenerational Worship Part IV- The Prize, Unity
We’ve divided our churches between young and old, we’ve split congregations in “traditional” and “contemporary,” and in doing so, we have divided God’s people and broken God’s heart.
Learning To Sing
Building on Matt's post on the vapid nature of most contemporary worship music I want to address a question many have brought up to me and one that I have heard time and again asked to others. It goes a little something like this - “Ok, I buy in principle your argument that today's worship … Continue reading Learning To Sing
To Every Generation: The Mandate of Intergenerational Worship Part III- Music
We have seen that God has been concerned for his people to worship him together since the creation of man. From the creation of mankind in his image, to the calling of his covenant people, Israel, to the fulfillment of that covenant people in the New Covenant Church, God has desired that his people, regardless … Continue reading To Every Generation: The Mandate of Intergenerational Worship Part III- Music
A Table Prepared 