"When any man-made tradition or expression of worship—old or new—is held on equal par with the Scriptures, we have gone too far." ~ copied

I know some of you are likely more tech savvy than me, and perhaps you have an idea how to retrieve that lost episode, maybe from the cloud, or, in my case, from the clouds themselves and maybe it will somehow be rained down. Ha! Before I turn to any technology solutions I need to do some work on the frontal lobe, sides and back lobes here on what my grandfather used to say it like this, "Son, are you going to use your noggin for something other than a hat rack?" No. I refuse to do an interpretation of that observation because I think you can figure it out. It is Thursday, March 12, 2025, and, I do bid everyone a hearty hello and that each one will experience the presence of God as provided through Jesus Christ via the abiding Holy Spirit. You will notice that I am much better at packing sentences together than I am at unpacking them. I've told you before how I watch quite a few different Church services, small, medium, and large out on YouTube originating from across the fruited plain. One thing I notice. Church services today are quite different than they were when I was growing up. I did not say they were not better, but, they are different. Here's something that intrigues me. Maybe not you, but, as I have said over and over from the beginning, feel free to skip any and all at any time. Back to my thought here. It's almost like the changed environment has become a template as in everybody's doing it. I'm talking about how so called worship is conducted. I say so called because genuine worship comes from the heart to God and it may or may not be responded to in a 'worship service'. The current template goes like this: There's the praise team, the choir, the orchestra, and, then the hand off to the pastor/teacher. That would be the template for mostly larger congregations but some facsimile of it does edge into the medium sized as well. Now the smaller gatherings tend to reflect what's available in the congregation, maybe a piano and an organ for instruments with no orchestra. Then, yes, then, you have those who intentionally do it only the 'old fashioned way', or at least the version of old fashioned they envision, and they do it that way because God loves it better than the other ways, along with the 1611 King James Version only of the Bible. I happen to think that particular approach is basically nonsense but I do see it being embraced by some. My point? The more things change it is the more they pretty much stay the same. I heard one preacher saying this about his local fellowship, "Y'all love the music and the specials and you can't get enough of it, but, when I stand up to deliver God's Word you tune me out." There are many who believe Churches have become centers for entertainment, and, there are probably a good number who have. Here's the critical issue for us all: God honoring worship comes from the individual's innermost being and God inhabits the praise of His people whenever that praise is genuine. I believe that can happen in a large congregation, a medium sized fellowship, or, even, yes even where just a handful show up to seek God's face. If you can't say Amen, here it is, I will say it for you, AMEN!

 

Sorry about the length of that first paragraph, but, you should hear me talk about it, then, you will be glad you only got the abbreviated version. I saw one comment of a teacher about the student's essay, "It's much too wordy but not nearly long enough." Yikes. I feel some serious conviction coming on. I would say I was recovering from long running verbosity, but, the recovering part would be incorrect, as proven in paragraph one. I do appreciate those who take the time. Time. That is accurate my friend because it does take time to read one of my blogs. Thank you. Having said all of that I will make it even longer by saying this, may God add His blessings and may we all find ourselves worshiping Him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:24) ~ Amen.