Too many of our worship songs are more about us than God. [... We] praise God for holding us close, for keeping us secure, for making us feel loved and blessed and forgiven and warm and cozy in our electric blanket of eternal security (with a warm comforter of national security thrown in too). We congratulate God on how well God is meeting our needs. When we say, “You’re such a good God,” it sometimes sounds like comforting words spoken to a pet.

– Brian McLaren, Christianity Today (2004)

• El Shaddai Ministries

At least that’s more on target than the “ElShaddai Limousine Service” in West Warick, Rhode Island or “ElShaddai Florist” in Bermuda…

Happily, I read on Biltz’s site that he is not caught up in “rapture fever”:

It’s not even on my radar! I’m not focused on it, I am focused on the mission at hand. I will work till Messiah comes. Believe me He will take whoever He wants to take, whenever He wants to take them and no one will lose points for being wrong. If your house is on fire and you escape are you satisfied that you are out or will you do all you can to get your children out as well? With any fire there are people rushing out and firemen rushing in. I guess it depends on what you feel you’re calling is. I don’t remember who, but someone said (and now in a popular song):

“Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell;
but I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell!”

That is my motto. If the Lord wants to keep me here during the tribulation on a mission run, I’m happy to stay. If He wants me out, then I’m happy to go! It’s not my will or rapture theology that will take me or leave me but His will.

For more on Biltz’s comments on the reception of his eclipse commentary, click here.

For those who don’t want to watch, I’ll summarize: taking his cue from Joel 2:31, Hadley describes the upcoming alignment of the lunar calendar with the Jewish feast calendar in 2014 and 2015. Essentially there will be lunar eclipses or “blood moons” on Passover (Pesach) and Tabernacles (Sukkot) in both 2014 and 2015. This coincidence of four lunar events and Jewish feasts has reportedly only happened three times before in the last 600 years or so… in 1948, 1967 and in 1492. The importance of the former dates to Jewish state history should be well known; the latter coincides with the explusion of the Jews from Spain as part of the Spanish Inquisition. Hadley also identifies two solar eclipses that will land on important Jewish dates in 2015.

To make a long presentation short, the start of the Jewish New Year on September 29, 2008 is the start of a new Levitical “week”, the repeating seven-year cycle that ends with a Shmita year of rest; this new seven-year cycle will end in 2015. Hadley conflates all of the above (and much more, especially related to the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur) with the eschatological 70th “week” of Daniel, such that he sees the blood moons and solar eclipses of 2014/15 as fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy and announcing the Day of the Lord at the end of Daniel’s 70th week.

Working backwards from 2015 through a seven-year tribulation, Hadley effectively equates the start of the Great Tribulation with the start of Rosh Hashanah next month, when he believes the Church will be raptured and the chains binding Satan are removed, allowing the supposed Gog-Magog conflict between Russia, Iran and Israel to begin.

This is clearly a premillennial, pre-tribulation interpretation of end times, so holders of other viewpoints will find plenty of holes to poke, not least that it depends on the insertion of a non-literal “gap” between weeks 69 and 70 in Daniel’s prophecy.

If nothing else, I guess this would be one way for Dr. James Dobson to avoid voting for Senators Obama or McCain… asssuming any or all of them are raptured next month.

• Sermon links: MP3 | Windows Media

Using the examples of Paul presenting to different audiences in Acts 13 (Jews) and 17 (Greeks) and working from 2 Corinthians 5:17-21, Micah taught that Christians have been entrusted with the truth of God’s unchanging word and the Church has been commissioned to communicate the gospel to an everchanging world as Christ’s ambassadors. In order to effectively engage the world and present the gospel message, we have to be constantly aware of the context of culture around us.

Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings. (1 Corinthians 9:19-23, TNIV)

Bearing in mind Romans 12:2, the church is not to become the culture of the world around us, but we have to thoroughly understand it and be sensitive to it in order to engage with it and most effectively present the gospel so that the Holy Spirit can begin working.

It was within this context that Micah presented the concepts that are at the heart of his specific ministry focus, SOULstice, which focuses on a “postmodern” experiential community:

The name of our faith community came from the desire to seek and enjoy our Creator who desires to continually renew our being, our person, and our soul. We desire to experience the rhythm of change together. Every spring new things … spring up from the earth, reaching, receiving, and expressing towards what is bright. There is a cadence of change through the seasons. What fell in the autumn, and sat still in the winter, will be the very thing God will use to nourish the new things to come. In this way we pray that God will continually be molding and shaping us into His perfect image. (about SOULstice)

Do your churches have similar efforts? I realize that there are whole movements, e.g. the Emergent Church, built around “postmodern experience”, however, my understanding of them has tempered by the general criticism that these groups or movements put experience first instead of the message of the gospel.

I have not yet been to a SOULstice service, so I’m not qualified to describe the actual differences in practice. However, as long as the message is coming from the gospel to shape the experience of the group, as Micah taught, and they are not trying to shape the truth of the gospel through experience, then I’m inclined to support the effort.

Inside I was ripping myself to shreds, frustrated to point of questioning the fruits of my spirit, questioning whether I belonged at church or not. I went and, after dropping the boys off for Sunday school, found a corner of the sanctuary to sit in, trying to find a quiet place to rest and get reoriented.

I was mute during the music worship, fighting the words. Reflecting, reflecting, reflecting hard before communion… pleading to bear the fruit of the Spirit and not the foul garbage that had been evident earlier. My heart screamed as the woman in the pew in front of me read her junk mail during communion, wafer in one hand, Father’s Day ad flyer in the other.

Pastor came to the front and began his remarks. “… some of you may be having a crisis of Spirit and don’t know which way to turn … you may be questioning whether you even have the Spirit in you … you desire to be full, to experience life fully.” The sermon was on Ephesians 5:18 and being filled by the Spirit, the conclusion of a lengthy series that’s been taught on the Holy Spirit.

15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another with psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 5:15-20, TNIV)

At the start of the day, I felt like I had been physically and spiritually cut open and all the crap revealed, so that I experienced the extreme negative of being empty in the Spirit. Then overflowing with goodness as the word was preached and taught and I was filled with the Spirit. I will try to post a little more on the sermon specifics later this week, but the reality is that the specifics of what was said mattered little; the reality is that my heart was prepared for the message and I received it.

The preparation was painful, but at the finish of the service, I sang (finally!) and made music from my heart to the Lord, experiencing the joy of worship again. Amen!

John Hobbins posted an excerpt of Senator Obama’s explanation for resigning as a member from Trinity UCC. I don’t have a specific issue with him leaving his longtime church home, but his comments on what he’s looking for in his family’s next church struck me particularly cold:

[...] what I want to do in church is I want to be able to take Michelle and my girls, sit in a pew quietly, hopefully get some nice music, some good reflection, praise God, thank Him for all of the blessings He has given our family, put some money in the collection plate, maybe afterwards go out and grab some brunch, have my girls go to Sunday school. That’s what I am looking for.

Milk milk milk! This is church as the Sunday social club. What about strengthening your understanding of God’s word, Senator? Becoming a more mature Christian? Learning what wisdom the Bible instructs us about? Surely these might be beneficial to you as a man, a father, a husband, a Senator, perhaps even a President?

But no, the good Senator seems to feel that a church is a place to go and feel good about yourself. Is the Bible taught in your church, Senator? Or is church a social platform to see and be seen? I see no difference in what the Senator has described and going to the park, listening to a free concert, dropping a few dollars into a fund raising bucket, then getting ice cream for the kids. Do you?

David Ker tagged me and several others with a “weird worship” meme, which evidently focuses on bizarre worship song lyrics. In addition to David’s original post, there have been a number of great replies, including this from Peter and this from Eclexia and now this from Doug. I’m not sure that I’ll come up with five, but I’ll try.

#1: Leading off is one that has bothered me from the first time I heard the song. It’s from the group Avalon; their song “I Don’t Want To Go” includes this chorus:

I don’t want to go somewhere
If I know that You’re not there
‘Cause I know that me without You is a lie
And I don’t want to walk that road
Be a million miles from home
‘Cause my heart needs to be where You are
So I don’t want to go

First off, is there anywhere that God is not? So the whole premise is faulty. But let’s say that for some reason, it was valid. Isn’t the heart of evangelism proclaiming Christ where the gospel has not been presented? So, basically, this song is saying “No, God, I don’t want to go proclaim your gospel. Let me stay home and sing comfy praise songs”. Ouch. It doesn’t help that the music is arranged as a power ballad, with the “emotional quotient” set at 11.

#2: Because no worship song meme would be complete without a “Jesus is my boyfriend” (JIMB) reference, I offer the following from Lenny LeBlanc, whose music I normally enjoy. The musical premise of this one is great and if you don’t listen to the lyrics, it’s a great song to bop along with in the car. However, about those lyrics…

I’m crazy no mistakin’
My heart’s been overtaken
Hopelessly in love with You Jesus
Gone off the deep end
Out of my head
Over the edge I’m truly devoted
When it comes to loving You
I have to say
I’m crazy

Crazy indeed. And just a little bit weird sung by the silver goatee’d Lenny.

#3: As an antidote to the JIMB of “I’m Crazy”, I turn to Billy and Cindy Foote’s new song “If I Say I love You“:

If I say I love You
I will do what You say
I will obey You and surrender all
If I say I’m Your friend
I will keep Your commands
I will obey You and surrender all

What, personal responsibility and accountable obedience in a worship song? Weird indeed, pretty cool. Calvinists will probably scream that all those “I will…” lines is putting human response over the work of Spirit. Heh, heh… gotta like those Pelagian worship songs.

#4: I wonder… if Thomas Ken hadn’t felt the need to write no less than 11 (!) verses to his 1674 hymn “Awake, My Soul, and with the Sun“, would he have come up with something a little less goofy than the rhyming in his last verse?

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

How many millions of children and liturgical chanteuses (both male and female) hence have needed the theological correction that Casper is not part of the Trinity? Which is ironic because Ken wrote in a time “when the es­tab­lished church be­lieved on­ly Script­ure should be sung as hymns-with an em­pha­sis on the Psalms. Some con­sid­ered it sin­ful and blas­phe­mous to write new lyr­ics for church mu­sic, akin to ad­ding to the Script­ures.”

#5: Finally, this one by Michael Card (no, not Amy Grant) is weird probably just for me and me alone. Certainly thousands, if not millions, of others enjoy singing this song, if their personal testimony to me is to be believed. For me, it’s just weird.

El-Shaddai, El-Shaddai (God Almighty, God Almighty)
El-Elyon na Adonai (God most high, O Lord)
Age to age, You’re still the same
By the power of the name.
El-Shaddai, El-Shaddai (God Almighty, God Almighty)
Erkamka na Adonai (I love you, O Lord)
We will praise and lift You high
El-Shaddai (God Almighty)

With that, my contribution to the meme is complete. Now I’m supposed to tag five more people and have them contribute. First, as one of few musical bloggers I know, I tag Greg Willson. For introducing me to the decidedly not weird Sovereign Grace Music, I tag Steve Douglas. For confusing me with their names, I tag Bryan L. and Bryan Lilly. Finally, to get more content on his new blog, Genesis III, I tag Byron S. So for the new victims, please give five examples of Weird Worship and tag five more people to do the same.

God’s creatorhood entails much more than making things; it includes salvation, which is a unique kind of creating work, drawn from the wells of a triune imagination, the extent and purity of which escapes us. Salvation is not artwork even though it took singular imagination and singular work; it is infinite and transcendent, soaring about any earthbound definitions of quality, quantity, effort, expressiveness and beauty.

“Though your sins are scarlet,
they may yet be white as snow;
though they are dyed crimson,
they may become white as wool.”
- Isaiah 1:18 (REB)

If your Good Friday or Easter service includes music or other performing arts that touches you and heightens your perceptions in these days of remembrance, will you take a moment and say “thank you” to the musicians and other performers?

Many will have been at the church since the early hours of dawn preparing and rehearsing the worship service for you. Most will not have the opportunity to worship with their families on these most sacred of days and feel a certain disconnectedness from the entire Easter celebration. While we certainly don’t perform for our own edification, it is nice to hear “thank you” as a reminder that we are all part of the common body of Christ.

He is risen!