So, I have decided that I'm ready for a change of sorts, and since much of the blogging that I read daily is found on either wordpress or blogspot, I have opened a new wordpress account.  I will no longer be writing on Xanga, but instead at my new home..  I hope that whatever fan base I have made here will follow me and still feel free to comment and the whatnot; it's not that I don't love my Xangateers...it's just time for a change of pace. 

So, I have some time on my hands today at work that I think I can spend talking about the church, writing down some conclusions I am coming to (maybe), and answering Heather’s questions she posed on my entry “More on Community.”  To refresh, here they are:

In what ways would you like to see more joy manifested in a church worship setting? What about reverence? How could they be collectively encouraged in a congregation?

I was on Itunes the other day and found something called Utunes (I think), in which universities post lectures, etc.  One school stood out to me, perhaps because it was on the top of the list, perhaps just because it’s Abilene.  Anyway, long story short, I downloaded some lectures (mostly for the Randy Harris ones on doctrine) and I’m slowly going to be making my way though them.  After I listened to the first Randy Harris that caught my interest, the second was a lecture that I thought would be addressed more about the history of the Restoration movement, but ended up being more of a plug for the encyclopedia that came out a couple years ago on it.  That’s ok though; because I learned something.

One of the editors was the speaker and he spent some time telling the story about how the book came about, who all were involved, etc.  One thing he said stuck with me.  In case you aren’t familiar with this book, it was compiled by three men; one from each church now associated with the “Stone Campbell movement.”  The thing he said was this: “Through the writing of this book, I met family members I never knew I had.”

Growing up in a conservative Church of Christ, I developed a very limited view of who my brother really was.  I think, far too limited.  And as I wade through all of this and try to decide what scripture says about who is in Christ and who isn’t, I’m realizing two things: 1) Isolationism in killing Christianity and 2) If the churches associated with the Restoration movement sucked things up and unified, got fo’ real about Christ following, and stopped arguing about stupidity, they would be a Jesus force to be reckoned with.  (I use the churches associated with the Restoration movement here for an example bc it’s my heritage.)  All of this divisiveness is killing the cause of Christ, particularly here in America.  I know very little about mission fields outside of the states other than what I learned in my Incarnational Medical Missions class at Lipscomb, but I got the feeling from that class that missionaries of all denominations are pretty well forced by necessity to work together.  

I love my Church of Christ roots; they gave me a lot.  A passion for understanding and knowing scripture is one of them.  A strong desire for hospitality and putting others first is another.  (Although hospitality and heightened sense of community may just spawn from the “small” congregation experience, or my Southern heritage; I dunno…) 

I don’t like rebellion for the sake of rebellion.  I don’t like name calling and intolerance of ideas or convictions.  What  I’m saying here is I don’t  like that the “conservative church” has been so intolerant, but I don’t like that the “liberal church” has acted like a college student that has come home to visit his parents now “enlightened and wise.”  

There is room for tradition in this world.  Tradition does not have to be a bad thing…and I think this might lie in participating in tradition as a part of paying homage.  Let’s walk through the murky waters of a cappella vs. non-a cappella for a minute.  

I’m not going to take sides on this.  I will let me preference be known though; after experiencing both, I enjoy a cappella worship.  Maybe it’s because it’s what I’m used to.  Maybe it’s because I’m slightly ADD and have a hard time focusing when there’s too much going on around me at the moment.  Maybe it’s because I know my parents would be beside themselves if I said any thing different (but they don’t read this Xanga, so I don’t know what it matters), but I think most of all it’s because of the simplicity in worship thing and not getting too caught up in if the piano is in tune and such.  That might not be an issue for others, but for someone like Craig that can tell if things are an inch off pitch, it’s that much more distraction for him.  Plus he just really loves to sit and watch people play instruments.  That being said…

I don’t think the case for instruments in worship being sinful holds water.  I just don’t.  And believe me, I know the arguments.

I don’t like when others dismiss this view as “silly.”  I have a friend that refers to people who believe in only using our voices in worship as being “silly.”  I cringe every time I hear him say it.  The reason I think he does, is because he doesn’t understand.  One, he doesn’t understand the point of view and where it came from.  Two, he doesn’t understand he’s only agitating the problem.  Being called silly is going to push people that much further on the "I'm right, you're wrong side."  In fact, I think by name calling that causes the name caller to do the same as well.

What I’m getting at here, in a very round about way, is that I think it all comes down to an issue of submission to one anther.  Ooooo!  There’s that word we all hate to hear!  Why?  Because it’s about giving up what we want for the sake of the whole.  It’s about choosing our battles, and it’s about asking, very honestly, “does this hurt the cause of Christ, or does it hurt the cause of Courtney?”  It’s asking “why do I care about this?”  And this isn’t exclusive to the instrumental music debate.  I heard someone once before complaining about a teenager at their church wearing a SMBC shirt while serving the Lord’s Supper.  “It’s distracting.”  Do what?  Why, because it’s such a shame this kid goes to Bible camp?  I’m so confused about how our priorities have gotten to where they are.  

So, my answer is becoming….when deciding what convictions are important in religion, we need to start asking 1) does this hurt the cause of Christ?  and if so, 2) how much does this hurt that cause of Christ?  (Or maybe, rather, Does this HELP the cause of Christ?)

But then that leaves us with the questions that I don’t think many Christians really think about anymore.  What is the cause of Christ?  and,  What am I doing to help it?

I hope this rant hasn’t gotten confusing, or isn’t too altogether frustrating.  I just really feel like things have gotten so out-of-hand confusing and political religiously, that there’s needs to be some sort of “sorting out” of things.  And that’s what goes through my head about 24/7, is a “sorting out.”  And it’s confusing and at times overwhelming.

So, to answer Heather’s questions:

In what ways would you like to see more joy manifested in a church worship setting? What about reverence? How could they be collectively encouraged in a congregation?

Let’s start small with the joy.  I would like to look around during corporate worship and actually see smiles (not that’s it’s not ok to be sad at these times either; we’re there to carry one another’s burdens as well) but to see some sort of emotion on someone’s face at worship other than neckbreakers.  Reverence is important though.  Really important.  Like those times in Revelation when people are falling down in the presence of God.  Or when Moses has to take his shoes off bc he’s standing on Holy ground.  That’s huge. 

I think they can both be encouraged by teachers talking about them in class, and preachers speaking about them from the pulpit.  It's like we're scared of talking about anything beyond surface level anymore.  But now let’s talk about the church outside of corporate worship, because that’s where I think someone that is healthy should be spending a majority of his or her “church” time.  

Small group Bible studies are wonderful for developing these things.  They create a heightened sense of community among believers, and give us all outlets to come together, talk about the incredible things God is actively doing in our lives, and share each others burdens so we can encourage one another.  And when you’re out with a Christian friend, try for just five minutes to not talk about TV last night and instead talk about the joys God gives us everyday.  This will do two things…make you look for the joys throughout the day so you’ll have something to share, and make your spirit happy when you start realizing these things aren’t really that hard to notice, once you open your eyes to the way the Spirit is working in you.

Reverence is something that I come by most frequently when contemplating the creation.  Math in particular is a big one for me, because it’s so intricately designed and I am so thankful God chose to give us a small glimpse of His creativity and intelligence by allowing us to construct a system to describe the natural world around us.  A-MAZING.

That’s it for me today.  Maybe more later, when I feel like typing a lot again.

Remember those Budweiser commercials that were on the radio a few years ago, that started “Here’s to you…so and so guy.”  Well, I have a new one for the company, and it goes like this.

Here’s to you genius landlord of mine.

Instead of fixing the pipe with the leak in my ceiling for the sink in the apartment directly above me, you put a margarine tub there to catch the water from the leak instead.

Well, it’s worked for five years now, collecting mold that I’m sure will fill my lungs and kill me some day, but tonight will live in infamy as the day that the margarine tub finally reached its maximum capacity, filling the ceiling tiles with water that would later burst and drip all over my stereo placed conveniently right under said pipe unbeknownst to me.

Here’s to you for giving me a wonderful present to come home to after a nice weekend spent in Jeffersonville with my parents and Craig.  Congrats on your extreme amount of innovation in thinking a leak would be able to be controlled with a small bowl for over five years.  

And finally, here’s to you for making my apartment have a very curious smell over the past four months I’ve lived there, because of a mouse carcass that was slowly rotting and decomposing up above my sink.  Yes, here’s to you.

Genius  I tell you genius.  Last night was pretty eventful, what with my kitchen ceiling caving in and all.  I should have just let it be and allowed the water to slowly pour all over the refrigerator below it; maybe I could have gotten a new fridge out of the deal.  Thank God for Mindy Hart and her extra bedroom…I hate to think of the live animals that might be coming out of me ceiling now; at least one mouse was already dead.  The poor thing probably drowned to death.  I really hope that my stereo wasn’t damaged.  They can buy me a new one if so.  

Oh, by the way…this blog is courtesy of the fact that I now have internet at work.  So, hopefully I will be able to update more often.  Please control your enthusiasm.

And sorry to come back from blog vacation with a more “negative” sounding post.  It is a funny story, so I thought I would share.