The other day I read a thought provoking post over at the Internet Monk where he decries the way “[w]orship is now a major audience event, led by skilled entertainers, aimed at a demographic and judged by the audience reaction.” He goes on to assert:

Worship has now become a musical term. Praise and worship means music. Let’s worship means the band will play. We need to give more time to worship doesn’t mean silent prayer or public scripture reading or any kind of participatory liturgy. It means music.

After I read this post, I went away and pondered what I read and I disagree with him about the music is used as a form of worship.

I have always liked the formal liturgy that is used in Catholic and Anglican churches. There is a certain stately measure in the more formal worship service that appeals to the OCD part of my nature. It’s also the form of worship I grew up with in the Conservative Baptist church my family were members of. But there is another part of me that is drawn to music as worship.

There are seven references in Psalms about worship through songs. All of them refer to music as a “joyful noise.” I like that term. It doesn’t say “joyful harmony” so don’t worry about being able to carry a tune! Two of the references in particular point to music as a form of worship:

Psalm 95:2
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.

Psalm 98:4
Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.

Have you ever been to a Southern Baptist or Full Gospel (Pentecostal) church service? They really know how to make a joyful noise! If you allow yourself to get completely caught up in the joyful singing, you can be raised up to a place where all your burdens, distress, unhappiness, and all the other negative thoughts and feelings drop away.

I can’t think of a better way to place all your burdens in God’s hands – submission, acknowledgment,  praise, and adoration all wrapped up in music. So make a joyful noise –in church, at home, in your car… turn up the music and sing along at the top of your lungs. It’s good for body, mind and soul.

I was raised in a conservative home ­– religious and political. However, I’ve noticed that the older I get the more moderate (and Libertarian) I become. My opinion regarding separation of Church and State (note the capital letters) is probably at odds with many in my family. Most of the arguments in the debate on separation are from non-believers (in Christianity) and are, for the most part, rather extreme in their desire to keep public institutions completely secular. I am on the other side of that argument. I believe that governing and politics should be kept out of the pulpit.

In my opinion, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and other like-minded Christian leaders have done more harm than good in their attempts to promote a political agenda that can be construed as legislating morality.  If they were to be successful in creating a government that adhered to the platform of the Moral Majority Coalition, would that government be any different than Iran’s Islamic government?

We live in a secular society governed by secular laws. Respecting and obeying those laws is no different than respecting and obeying God’s laws.  Part of being a Christian is to also be a good citizen.  I don’t even have a real problem with the Moral Majority Coalition – I just don’t want to see politics preached from a pulpit where Christ’s teachings should be paramount.

Considering the eternity we will be able to spend in Heaven, our time here on earth is rather fleeting. I think it’s more important to be a “beacon of light” to those around me than to “play politics” with my faith.

It seems like these days there is nothing more depressing than the news. The Arabs and Jews are trying to destroy each other in the name of God, terrorists are trying to destroy the United States in the name of God, and the Catholic church appears to have been infested with pedophiles using God to gain access to little boys. Adults and teens with grudges kill for revenge. Gangs kill as part of initiation or in drug and turf wars. It’’s enough to make a person want to hide under a rock or run for the hills; and everyone asks: Why? Why do people do these things? If He exists, how could God allow this to happen?

At some point in the last 50 years or so ethics got thrown out the window and replaced with “I can do anything I want as long as I don’t hurt anyone else.” Then someone decided that children who did poorly in school and got in trouble weren’t really responsible for their actions. It was the fault of a society that didn’t provide those children with the opportunities and lifestyle they “deserved.” As a result, we now have at least two generations who feel entitled to have anything they want without having to earn it or pay for it. And society is now paying a heavy price for not teaching ethics and accountability from the time these children were born.

Newton’’s Third Law of Motion states that “for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” In other words for every decision we make there is a consequence. Of all the things I tried to teach my children while they were growing up, the one concept I tried to instill in them was the concept of consequences. Our lives are filled with decisions and choices. Many are small and may only affect ourselves. Some choices, however, can affect an entire family, community, nation, or the whole world. The choices we make, whether large or small, have repercussions, or in other words, consequences. Depending on the choices we make, those consequences can be good or bad.

How ironic that the people who rail against God for all the bad things that happen can choose to do so because God gave us free will. God wants us to believe in Him, obey His commands and live as He teaches, but because we want to not because we have to. The bible says in Psalm 8:

4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?

5 You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.

6 You made him ruler over the works of your hands;
you put everything under his feet:

We have the ability to think for ourselves, to learn and grow, to make choices for ourselves that will affect our success in life, to do great good for others. We also have the capability through our choices to do great harm to ourselves and others. And the bottom line is that no one is to blame for our decisions and choices but ourselves. Not God, not the devil, not society, not our parents. Ourselves.

My sister the minister wrote a post yesterday about an upcoming sermon.  She asks a question: “When did the church I grew up in disconnect the ‘heart’ from obedience?” Good question. I’ve been struggling with disconnect nearly all of my life – mostly by rebelling against both my earthly father and my Heavenly Father.

As my sister pointed out, our father had a rigid mindset when it came to obedience and being a “good” Christian. Barb saw that rigid mindset in the sermons at our church.  I don’t seem to recall that, but then, I opted out when I was still in my early twenties.  For me, what made obedience so hard and rebellion so seemingly necessary were the rules we had to follow in order to be “good” – both as a daughter and a Christian. If you broke the rules you were punished, severely and often physically.  My dad was a firm believer in not sparing the rod. So we obeyed… mostly, but not out of desire or love. We obeyed because we were afraid.  My mother commented once that when our two youngest brothers were still preschool age, when Dad would come home from work they would run to the door to greet him, but we four older kids would run away and hide.  She also said that at dinner, when Dad would lean back and loosen his belt we would flinch.  I’m not sure if my siblings grew up with this belief, but I came to believe that my father was the earthly representation of our Heavenly Father.  Disobeying your father was tantamount to disobeying God.

I wonder if the disconnect between love and obedience didn’t start with the “fire and brimstone” preachers who traveled around the country holding tent revivals.  They presented a gospel that promised a fiery eternity in Hell unless you repented your sins and turned your footsteps to the “straight and narrow” path to heaven.  I have no doubt that there are a lot of unbelievers in the world today whose view of Christianity is exactly that.  In that world view, eChristians are no better than the Muslim extremists; especially Christian leaders like Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and James Dobson (heresy!).

I am reminded of my first real boss. I worked for tiny Christian radio station in Merced, California and my boss was the Station Manager.  It didn’t seem to matter what I did or how trivial it might have been; his response was always as if I had done him the greatest favor in all the world.  I would have done anything for him.  Why shouldn’t our relationship with God be just like that? John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (NIV, emphasis mine)  There is no “or else” in that simple statement. Neither does it say that if we don’t love God, He will withhold His love from us.

God loves me whether I am obedient or not.  In fact, He loved us all so much that He gave us free will – to walk away from Him or to run into His arms.  I’m not exactly running yet – there’s still that rebellion issue, but I’m beginning to learn that not only does God love me, He can be incredibly patient with me.