Posts Tagged ‘Churchianity’
Celebrity and the foolishness of God
July 7, 2011 | 
Author Great article here: http://www.theblazingcenter.com/2011/07/if-leonardo-dicaprio-got-saved.html
I estimate that the most profitable remark, even above such a great post, is the comment at the bottom by Louis.
The Western Church is a Stepford Wife
Maybe you don’t know the premise of the story . . .
Essentially a community is designed and populated with robotic wives – perfect robotic wives, so their husbands can do what ever they want without the trappings of spousal accountability, commitment, humility, etc. It is: I create a world that appears to be like the real world, yet under the surface it is artificial . . . maybe sinister.
Remember that idolatry is really self-worship. That is, when one carves an idol, names the idol, places the idol and then decides (without the input of the idol, I might add) how the idol is to be worshipped – and yes, I’m talking about pseudo-pagan/animistic polity here – at the end of the day, who’s Creator; who’s Sovereign; who’s the real God? For the idolators, it’s themselves.
Let me lob another kernal into the popper before I get to the punch-line. It was C.S. Lewis in his The Four Loves, I think, that remarked in regards to love, that at the moment it becomes your god, it becomes your devil.
Now, with those two ideas in the hopper, let’s get back to the original. The church is messy and sometimes a mess. Why? What’s the problem? People.
Of course, they’re (we’re) the point also.
Posted in "Ruminations", Paradigm Shift, Sovereign Christ Church | 
Tags: Church, Churchianity, Jesus, Pride | 
1 Comment »
The most subtle sin . . . self.
It was a phrase that just popped out today during our friends of the church plant meeting – “We worship the way we worship Jesus more than we just worship Jesus.”
If we look around we see it all the time – great emphasis on style, little emphasis on content. Even when we have solid content, the way that it is presented eclipses the message. I remember being at the T4G conference last year and when John Piper spoke, I literally thought the two guys directly in front of me were going to come out of their skin. The were shaking first at his appearance and then about every 30 seconds one would say to the other, “Hear how he said that? He’s awesome!” - Or some derivative of the like.
“Hear how he said that” . . .
This is Way Worship, not even real worship – not even real idolatry. It’s a cheat.
Posted in Lyrical Theology, Paradigm Shift, Sovereign Christ Church | Tags: Church, Churchianity, Lecrae, Piper, Worship | No Comments »
Rich churches, camels and such (redux)
I have been thinking a lot lately how grossly rich our churches are here in America – and how we are ok with that. We are driven to the next novelty and the next programmatic push, simply because we can. We have redeemed our tickets at Pleasure Island and we do not even know what we have made of ourselves – mainly because most everyone else looks just like us.
We want.
That is the nature of us – we want.
more lights
more electronics
more leather
more space
more numbers
more control
more praise
more me
I am reminded that Jesus said, “For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
Then, I wonder about a whole caravan of them . . . Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in "Ruminations", Paradigm Shift, Sovereign Christ Church | Tags: Chief End, Christianity, Churchianity, God, Humility, Pride, salvation, Worship | 4 Comments »