Pastor Peters Perpetually Provides Pertinent Perspectives

Today's post is perhaps his best ever.

OS keeps pounding at his contention that we have a much deeper cultural problem than an economic problem--that the economy is the symptom, not the disease.

One big part of the disease is our insistence that we feel good--happy, content, satisfied, untroubled--all the time. That's 24/7/365, ya'll.

It's really taken root in our churches here, which is tragic, because if that lie becomes part of the ecclesiastical culture, who will resist it in the popular culture?

In many respects this is the problem with contemporary worship and evangelistic zeal -- they are raised up to become the high altars of what Christianity is really about and the water of baptism, the bread and wine of the Eucharist, the gift of absolution, the Pastoral Office conferred by ordination, and the unchanging message of Scripture become less important than what we do in worship. We have to have music that appeals to the modern soul with a good dance beat, songs that say more about me than God, counters that keep a record of our witness like conquering armies record their kills on the battlefield, and Pastors who are pastors -- nobody special doing nothing any of us couldn't do if we wanted to... So we end up with a gospel that tells us we should be happy and that the purpose of sex, marriage, kids, and work is to make us happy -- oh, yeah, not to mention church.

Even for those who are more Protestant in orientation (like OS) he hits the nail on the head.

Something to think about when the ol' PrazeBand cranks it up this Sunday morning.

And Now, For Something Completely Different...

Sunday Morning at a 'Seeker Church':

"Sunday's Coming" Movie Trailer from North Point Media on Vimeo.

Sunday Morning at a 'Signs and Miracles Church: The Holy Ghost Hokey-Pokey (no kidding!)




And, finally, a church service with just a bit more dignity:

End Of April, A Thought For The Culture

It's one of those weeks--out of the house at 8:00 am, back in at 10:00 pm.  No time to think, much less write.

In the meantime, these wonderful words from the Sunday Times on the subject of music and worship. 

It's not a subject the general public spends a lot of time thinking about, but trust OS on this, it really matters.  How we say what we say at what should be our most serious and unguarded moments really matters.


Away we go....