I Was Ignorant, and You Taught Me

Nov 29, 2010
David Mills

Over the years, I have learned five things about the sort of people who write strangers to ask religious questions: 1) even a question about an apparently trivial matter or a wildly unfair criticism may reflect a real spiritual struggle; 2) most inquirers are looking more for confirmation or consolation than engagement and teaching; 3) many of those who honestly want to be taught do not want to be taught that much, beyond a “yes” or a “no” and a two sentence explanation; 4) many who ask your advice believe they know as much as you even though they have never read more than three pages on the subject; and 5) few will read you closely and will instead often misread what you’ve written as agreement or approval because that is what they really want.

Here are ten rules developed from my experiences writing people I don't know, for those who find them helpful. the rest

The Antidote to Worship Crankiness

9.19.10
By Mark D. Roberts,
Laity Lodge Senior Director and Scholar-in-Residence

Praise him with the tambourine and dancing;
praise him with strings and flutes! Psalm 150:4

Worship crankiness. As a pastor, I've dealt with it for years. As a worshiper, I struggle with it.

What is worship crankiness? It's engaging in worship that is meant for God's glory but getting stuck in grumpiness. It's when the choir is off-key, the sermon is under par, the praise music is too loud, and you just get grouchy. Rather than focusing on God, you end up worrying about the things that bug you in the worship service. Instead of giving yourself to God in humble worship, you end up preoccupied by yourself and your frustrations.

You know you're infected with worship crankiness if you continually find yourself bothered by things in worship that, in the end, really aren't that important. Or you know you've got the bug if your comments after a worship service tend to be critical rather than reflective of your relationship with God.

In my experience, worship crankiness often has to do with music. Some folks get bugged when musical quality is low. Many become irritable when the genre of worship music is not to their liking. If you're a hymn person, you get cranky when you're supposed to sing praise songs. If you prefer contemporary music, you want to fold your arms and frown if you have to sing hymns led by an organ. And so it goes, week in, week out. the rest image

The more we seek God's glory, the less we will be focused on our personal likes and dislikes in worship. The more we focus on giving ourselves to God, the less we will be preoccupied with ourselves and our feelings. The more we remember God's greatness, the more we will want him to be praised with every instrument, every voice, every genre, and every person.