Communion

So i'm busy planning a Communion service that is coming up on September 7th in the evening.  As   i am thinking and praying about it, i am trying to let the ritual truly sink in to my brain and heart.  Too often i get in the rut of planning services and doing things that we church people do without a whole lot of thought going into it.  So i have been thinking about what was going thru the minds of the people involved in the first communion.  WOW!! Jesus knowing that within days He would do what He came to earth to do.  He would fulfill what His short 33 year life on earth was all about.  We "do" communion quarterly or monthly or weekly... how ever it falls on the church calendar...Jesus was doing this out of a movement of His heart by the prodding of his Father.  The disciples had to be wondering what this new "thing" was.  You know...they had been doing the passover their entire lives.  But this time, Jesus takes the cup and bread and tells them that "this is My body...this is My blood"...What do you say to that?  What do we say to that?  I pray that on September 7th at 6pm, that Journey Church does not enter into this service because it is the proper time in the quarter to partake in Communion...But enter with the awe that the disciples must have felt when Jesus introduced it to them...What if that was possible?????

Engage the culture...or be transformed?

Thought? is the contemporary church more interested in engaging our culture than being transformed by God's presence? Have we lost having actual spiritual weight and exchanged it for a empty experience and clever gimmicks. Where is the line between being relevant and being a parlor for cheap tricks? What good are getting them to the church "building" but never building the church by giving them the opportunity to be transformed in the likeness of Christ.

Could it be that if we, the church, lived more and more like Christ that the culture would notice the changes in US and not so much the changes in church from 50 years ago. Could that in and of itself attract this post-church culture?

Let's think for a moment about....O i don't know...McDonalds! When you buy a happy meal for your kid's...you get a meal and a cheap toy. Now, when you are a child, the toy is what it's all about! It's the reason you want to go to McDonalds. (That and the plastic fantasy world in the parking lot). But, as mature adults, as the parents, you are more concerned with your child eating the food for nurishment. Why...they need food to help them grow. Not cheap toys. If we continue to only offer cheap toys to our culture and not nurishment, how will they grow?

Just a thought...not an easy one...'cause i really like cheap toys.

The Beautiful Fight

    I am currently reading "The Beautiful Fight" by Gary Thomas.  It is dealing with the issue of surrendering to the transforming presence of God every day of your life.  WOW...the idea that we can "experience" God in our everyday walking around is a concept that blows my mind.  I reduce God to "showing up at ....i don't know....BIG things.  Events, conferences, worship services...wherever Billy Graham is preaching!  But,  every day...  How?  You mean i can experience being with God when i am mountain biking with my wife and son?  sitting in a carpool line?  typing this?  If so...this may really change the way i view my everyday life.  

much more to come on this amazing book i am reading.

Oh yeah...school started yesterday and it was my sons first time in public school....3rd grade.  He had an assignment centered around getting to know the students.  One of the questions...What is your favorite book?  His response....The Bible!   yeah!!!!  I felt it as my first victory as a parent, that he somehow is getting this thing called life at an early age.  Oh yeah...another question....What do you want to get the most out of this year at school?  His response.....Lunch!!  Well...at least I have the Bible thing going for us.

here i am

Ok...I know i'm a little behind in getting into this blogging thing, but here i am anyway.  So, here i plan on talking about issues to do with the Church, worship, music, poetry and anything else that comes to mind in the late hours of the night.  Who am i....i am the worship pastor at Journey Church in Griffin Georgia.  I am a husband and a father.  I am a mountain biker with a lot of love for the sport but not a lot of skill (yet).  I am a lover of Jesus and live to find ways to impact our culture with His love for us.  I am an avid drinker of Mona Vie (lots more to come on that).  I love the group of people called Journey Church in Griffin.  Well...thats it for now

Thanks for stopping by

C