Worship : Chapter 9

I wrote the following in 11th grade for my bible class and I thought I'd share it with you. For class we had to read a chapter out of this book called "Finding Faith" by Brian D. McLaren and then answer some response questions replying what we got out of the chapter. This is what I got out of chapter nine.

I have experienced God through Ritual, Nature, and Art/Worship the most out of the five experiences. I have examples from all of the three above which I will discuss in another question.

Worship/Art: I am interested in further pursuing worship and art. It’s hard to do something you love and still keep God involved sometimes. For me, my personal experience in this is baseball. I absolutely positively without-a-doubt love baseball. I love playing it and I enjoy watching it (hence the die hard Twins fan). There were times were I would think that I loved baseball more than I loved God. I realized then how much I was grabbing onto a worldly desire and possession. God is so much better than any worldly possession of desire. I think so many professional athletes play for only for themselves so much, and that they only play to earn the big contract to spend on other worldly possessions. Other athletes who play for the love of the game, which are a select few, are the ones who have the good attitude and love playing the game. I think Morneau said it best when discussing his contract when he said “That my agents job, I just want to play baseball.” Wow, sorry totally getting off topic. Recently, in the beginning of baseball season, Mr. Callahan talks about who we represent on and off the field. He told us that the biggest thing we represent as part of this team is God. He said how you play out there in the field is an act of worship. My mom always tells me to do the best I can in everything even if I don’t like it (homework). I think God wants you to be successful in everything you do, but to always do it not for worldly glory, but for the Lord.

Ritual: Something that stuck out to me when it talked about rituals was a story about when I first started working out on a consistent basis. People say it takes at least 21 days to get into a continuous habit. I’m not sure that this section is also considered to be habitual but I only worked out if other people were working out to keep me company. After awhile I would start working out by myself cause because it became a habit. I’ll admit it was harder with nobody around to push me to my limits but it still became a habit. Another time for me was trying to get me to read the Bible everyday, it was hard for me because I would always find an excuse to not do it and it was hard for me to keep it a habit. Then someone became my accountability partner and reminded me a lot to read my bible everyday, it was very encouraging for me and really enjoyed it. This person was somewhat of an odd source for being such an encouragement for me but I really appreciated it and reading my bible everyday eventually became a habit for me. He also talks about how habits are too much and how when we do them everyday they just get old and you don’t tend to learn anything from them. That is true in some respects, going to church every Sunday can sometimes be a drag, I'll be honest. Working out every day seemed to do nothing for me, but when you look at the end result, from the first time you worked out to the last time, you can really really see a difference. I think if you have the right mind set and want to expand in your relationship with God and church then it won't become such a drag.

Nature: I like taking pictures a lot, and every time I take nature shot and analyze it I can always see God’s beautiful design in this world. There is this spot at my cabin (which I’m not exactly fond of) that I can see all the way down the lake and all the trees and sunsets and the way the light comes from it is just marvelous. A moment happened today when I was procrastinating before dinner and not doing homework. I was looking at Brittany Brackett’s Facebook pictures from her recent mission trip to somewhere and it had this picture of some flowers in a sketchy part of town. Under the picture was a caption “God’s beauty in an ugly place.” It struck me as that God is everywhere, even in the most desolate places.

Another Language

So I am pretty sure that everytime I walk out of chapel I have something new to ponder about. I sit in my chair sometimes just staring at the speaker or band playing giving them some inquistive look wondering what they are even doing here. I hope one day they see me and can read my face and know everything that is racing through my head at that moment.

This week featured a lot of people reading prayer. For some reason people who type out their prayers onto a piece of paper and then read it to the crowd frustrates me. The tone of their voice is unnatural and they usually fill in some big words to make themselves sound smart. They usually start with, "Please pray with me." Everyone bows their heads and folds their hands while the speaker pauses and stares straight down at their notes reading what they typed before hand. Their is no realness to the prayer, it's all just words. It's like another language.

I've been taught that prayer is communication to God. It's like a direct phone line that is always connected to the heavens. Now I have done my fair share of read prayers don't get me wrong. I just don't think we should put a mask over what we say to God. Doesn't He already know our hearts desires? Why cover it up with big words and fancy sentences? I don't write down what I'm going to say to my friend on the phone. To me, writing it down leaves no room for the Spirit to talk to you. Prayer should be a conversation, not a scene in a play. What does it mean to you if you're speaking in a language that is not even your own?

I try to say my own prayer when the speaker is "praying." I pray for an overflowing of His love through me. That truth will fall on me. I speak to God directly, not with fancy words or poetic speeches but with an open heart and honest remarks.

KING

Generation

To this generation of the future, the generation of change, action, love, hope, desire, forgiveness, responsibility, and of a revolution,

We are the future and I don't like the way the future looks with us. A jumpstart would be nice or even a push from behind because we aren't going anywhere. Maybe we are lost. A lost generation in a dark world that doesn't know even where to begin. We need to seek something or better yet, someone. I was in chapel today and we sang the words, "Oh God let us be a generation that seeks. That seeks Your face." So God is what we are striving for. He is our fearless leader that shall lead us into the world and little by little through revolutionary acts of love we shall overcome. This is not a war or a battle. Our enemies our not the liberals, conservatives, gays, hippies, terrorists, abortionists, or evolutionists. Our enemies are the principalities and powers of this present darkenss.

It is time to come back. To come back to the center, where the heart of the darkness lies, and begin anew. Too much do we just coast through life on the outsides avoiding the middle by just running around it. We don't face are problems, we just evolve around it. We need to seek God because we all can't be the leaders of ourselves because we'll all mess up.

So let us be a generation that seeks God.

Jesus the Manly Man

I read today that we will never feel what Jesus felt. We can think about the whole crucifixion process but we will never feel the way he did.

I think that if the real Jesus was put into a super hero movie nobody would like him. He would be too human. He would show too much emotion and justice would never be served. I don't think he would fight the bad guys or capture the crooks.

If a modern day hero was put into a situation like Jesus was I don't think he would talk about his feelings to his followers and go into the woods just to pray about it. I don't think he would still actually go through with it. When the people came to get him he would've said, "let's do it," instead of doing what Jesus did. I think he would find the people who corrupted his trial and beat them up. He would serve justice to the courts and out smart the jury with his speeches and supports and in the end he would win the crowd back with some motivational speech. The crowd would go wild and they would carry him off into the sunset.

Jesus got so stressed it says He started to bleed. All He wanted was to be with his disciples. When they came to arrest him He stopped his disciple from fighting and went quietly. Throughout the trial He suffered through mockery and embarrassment. Still, Jesus said nothing. He got crucified and died for doing nothing wrong. He suffered through the most corrupt trial in history. He gave himself up willingly.

He knew what he was doing though. He turned the superhero, macho man, fighter stereotype upside-down. He didn't fight. He didn't speak (a lot). He didn't fight. He became the greatest man ever to roam the earth. He did what nobody else could do, or would do.

He changed everything.

He cried when people were watching and openly did not fight. He never gave into temptations or fell in love with an object. He was the perfect lamb and we slaughtered it.

Yet, through it all, the manly man died for you and for me. He was the perfect offering for our imperfect lives and that's all that would suffice. Through Him, I'm alive today and through Him, I hope to become a manly man.