What do non-Christians see when they go into churches? What is it they’re really looking for? What, out of all of the things that full-time and volunteer ministry people spend hours and hours preparing, sticks with non-Christians when they leave after a Sunday service?

“You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. For people will love only themselves and their money. They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!” ~ St. Paul to Timothy, a young pastor he was mentoring

Scott, with his usual entertaining commentary, pulls out some good bits from an experiment sponsored by a Christian talk show host in Canada. Frankly, the answer doesn’t surprise me. Christian leaders have been grappling with this from the very beginning.

This blog is a pretty poor representation of my life, for the most part.  It’s way too serious and not nearly dorky enough.  So, feast on this little bit of genius from the Flight Of The Conchords:

Thanks to Scott’s blog for the heads-up.

We watched this video tonight –The Changing Face of Worship – hosted by Rebecca St. James — that talks about “post-modern” churches and their worship style. Neil saw it and thought it would be interesting to us, so all four of us in the house watched it. They covered several of the most well-known churches out there — Mosaic, Mars Hill Church, Solomon’s Porch, Ecclesia and others. It struck me that, in addition to a strong commitment to have kick-ass websites, the leaders of these churches (and many others) share the distinctive characteristic of being consumed with the desire to know God and evidence Christianity in the world around them.

This last Lent season, I felt the call to full time ministry of some kind — something related to sacramental art. Tonight’s video brought up a fundamental issue to meditate on. Looking at those pastors, I feel completely unready to fulfill that calling. I don’t really know God. I don’t know how God works in my life. I talk a lot with others about God, about God-related things, and those things interest me, but I feel very little actual mystical connection to God. God is not embedded in my heart and soul, not like Janece or Amira are embedded in my soul. It seems like my connection with God is largely one of professional interest.

The question that is my task to address as I look forward this year is: How can I know what sacramental art really is without that connection? How could I possibly give others a lover’s passion for God that I know nothing about? In the video, Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church said something profound, to the effect of: when you want to know what’s next in your life, don’t seek God’s will — seek God.

That’s my next, and probably only, real life task. Seek God.

On Father’s Day, Janece was coaching Amira:

Janece: Amira, say, “Happy Father’s Day, Daddy!”

Amira: Happy Farters Day, Daddy!

Only 2.5 years old, and already speaking truth to power.  I’m so proud…

People are often unreasonable,
illogical and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind,
people may accuse you of selfish ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful,
you will win some false friends and true enemies;
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank,
people may cheat you;
Be honest anyway.

What you spend years building,
someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness,
they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today,
people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have,
and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis,
it is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.

~ attributed to Mother Teresa (1910-1997)

Sky sent me an extraordinarily beautiful reflection on liturgy and sung theology:

Past Spite: On books and music

Some great takeaways:

Truth is to be sung. If a theological proposition or idea was not intended, finally, perhaps even primarily, for expression in hymn and sacred song or chant, it is false. If the Church does not sing it, the Church does not know it.

…

[George MacDonald] said that in heaven there will only be two things: silence and music, and that it would do us good to be practiced in both.

…

What makes a thing or a space holy is presence, specifically the presence of holy persons. Where holy persons meet in loving communion, everything is made sacrament. Nothing can be left profane. It is vital to understand that this dance and space is not a performance, it is not an attempt at art (in the modern sense). If it were such it would carry all of modern art’s affectations. It is a dance (a dance both solemn and joyful) between persons who love one another and are concerned about the movement of the other for reasons of personal intimacy, and not for reasons of stylization.

…

It goes without saying that almost all Evangelical and Oldline worship these days is no more than the most crass of performances. There are a very few exceptions holding out, may God bless them. All of these performances are intended to flatter audiences in order to get them to assent to mere forms of ideas. There can be no actual communion, and no making of sacred spaces and things at a performance. Nothing is really blessed in such a context.

…

And its form involves times of touch and lack of touch, times of movement and times of complete stillness, times of sound and times of silence, words and the spaces between them. This music and silence, movement and stillness, is the icon of how it is persons actually love one another.

As I start my journey into the next phase of my life, looking at what it will mean to use my artistic gifts to (God willing) minister to people’s souls and provide the space for authentic life-changing worship, these observations strike me as essential places to start. Worship is communion between us, between us and God – not an exercise in the catchy presentation of intellectual truths. From that perspective, it occurs to me that anything created for worship must start at a place of spiritual nakedness and honesty and longing — not a professor to student, but as a lover to lover or friend to friend. That’s much tougher and longer work than writing a ditty about the 4 spiritual laws.