Tantalizing If True

For me, the scariest worship service is one where the congregation waits on God alone to speak and act. The minutes pass, and you can’t fill in your uneasiness by reading the bulletin, because there isn’t one. You can’t wait for the next part of the program to begin, because there is no program. Nothing at all happens unless God speaks, and you can’t break the tension by sharing your own pious or clever thoughts. It won’t work, because the leaders are mature enough to tell if it was God who spoke through you, or man.

The chief danger of the Church today is that it is trying to get on the same side as the world, instead of turning the world upside down.

-A. B. Simpson

The call for Christians to become involved in every facet of society reminds me of Kurt Gerstein, a conservative German nationalist who tried to serve the Lord – as a concentration camp staff member. (more…)

I can’t understand people who seem to say that, because they talked to Jesus once when an evangelist asked them to, they now have a relationship with Jesus, with whom they hardly ever talk now.

A young French anthopologist working in the South Pacific told a tribal chieftain reading the Bible, “Back in Europe nobody believes that old book of stories anymore.”

The old chieftain indulgently looked up from his Bible and told the young man, “Maybe so. But if it were not for that book of stories, we would have eaten you by now.”

One of the clearest depictions I’ve ever read of my Christian liberal arts college, ca. 1980, is Joseph Bayly’s story “Ceiling Zero.” It’s the sequel to “I Saw Gooley Fly,” which can be found in a compilation called A Voice in the Wilderness. In these stories, Herb Gooley can’t do much of anything right – but he’s the only one on campus who flies. (more…)

You are my jackpot.
You are my wildflower.
You are my yokefellow.
You are my candle.
You are my match.

Question: You lead Congregation Shomer Negiah, but you’re also an accomplished banjo and harmonica player. How did you get involved in music?

“From my parents. When she was a teenager, instead of a picture of Elvis, my mother had a photograph of Shlomo Carlebach on her wall. (more…)

Love will never come to nothing. Everything has an end but love. Love alone shall stand… Love clothes us for the wedding feast because God is love and love is God. He helps us out of all distress, and who shall take us far from him? Knowledge swells but love builds up. Everything done without love comes to ruin. Oh love! Oh love! Lead us with your hand and bind us together. False love is that which deceives us. Amen.

– Ludwig Haetzer, based on I Corinthians 13, Ausbund, 57:6-7

I’m skeptical about society. Most people in churches assume that the world is innocent until proven guilty. I believe it’s guilty until proven innocent. So most people consume most mass media, perhaps being cautious about some content, but asking few questions. But I assume that most television, film, advertising, and popular music were not created to glorify God, and I’m cautious about taking it into myself unless I feel good about a specific product. One reason I like international music is that it can get my feet moving without triggering sinful responses from my own culture.