Lent

So this Wednesday (Ash Wednesday) marks the beginning of the Christian season of Lent. Lent is the season that prepares us for Easter. It's a time of reflection, repentance, and denying oneself; a season to identify with the sufferings of Christ. This will by my second season of Lent practicing it. I know that last year, experiencing the darkness and somberness of Lent made the joy of Easter even sweeter.

Part of the practice of Lent is the daily Scripture readings. I'd encourage everyone to take part in the daily Scripture readings. It seems so powerful to know that Christians all over the world will be reading the same Scriptures with the same themes at the same time. That's why I love the Christian Year. Sometimes I just get lost in the "world's time:" school semesters, deadlines for papers, fiscal years, etc... The Christian Year takes us out of that and truly unites the Body of Christ; it really connects us with the larger global Church, past and present.

Jill at church is going to print out the readings for people to take home with them tonight. I'm going to make a general announcement explaining Lent and inviting people to take part. I'm excited to see who's willing to journey through Lent together. Up 'til now, I've been pretty much the only person I know personally who's practiced it. It'd be great to have others alongside me journeying through Lent. Me and Sarah are going to try to attend an Ash Wednesday service this week. Last year, I wasn't able to due to school. So I'm pretty excited about it. God bless everyone this Lent season.

A great Rich Mullins quote

I'm reading a fantastic book right now by Shane Claiborne called Irresistible Revolution. He recalls a time when Rich Mullins led a chapel service at Wheaton College. Here's what Rich said. (Classic Rich):

"You guys are all into that born again thing, which is great. We do need to be born again, since Jesus said that to a guy named Nicodemus. But if you tell me I have to be born again to enter the kingdom of God, I can tell you that you just have to sell everything you have and give it to the poor, because Jesus said that to one guy too...[And he paused in the ackward silence.] But I guess that's why God invented highlighters, so we can highlight the parts we like and ignore the rest."

worship music

I admit it, when the whole "modern worship" thing really started taking form in the Christian music industry around '99 & '00, I was totally behind it. Delirious, SonicFlood, Matt Redman, Passion...They definetely had my support & excitement. I tried as hard as I could to get my old church's worship pastor to join the fray, & soon enough our church was singing the same Top 20 worship hits the rest of the country was singing.

6 years later, & I'm totally "worship music'd out." More & more, it just seems like noise to my ears. Especially after working in a Christian bookstore for a few years, I got sick of it. I got sick of the industry, the commercialism, the same song being redone by 20 different artists making their "rendition" of it. I can't stand the thought of taking something so simple, and making it so complicated. Sure there's a Bible verse about singing a "new song," but can we take that too far or misinterpret it? Was that verse really supposed to find its ultimate fufillment in the modern worship industry?

More & more, I'm finding a lot of respect for churches that aren't buying into the whole Top 20 worship hits thing. Churches need songs that reflect who they are, their values; songs that are birthed out of the things they experience together as a community. I talked to someone recently who went to a church that sang pretty much only their own songs. This person was disappointed this church wasn't singing the songs other churches were. I thought to myself "Excactly! Kudos to that church for not playing the game."

So in my recent worship music frustration, I've been finding much hope & refreshment in hymns. I think hymns have the power to take us out of our commercial-driven mentality and really connect us with the larger Body of Christ, past & present. As always, share your thoughts.