It has to be said,

I have to say some things about Pat Robertson's comments about Venezuela's President, Hugo Chavez. Ever since Pat's connection to Charles Taylor was exposed, he's been even further outside the Christian mainstream, and that connection, which involved supporting a brutal dictator because an investment in gold mining, makes me wonder if Pat has a stake in the potential departure of Chavez as well. The minute the motives of any minister are mixed in with financial gain is the minute their ministry dies. And it's not like we weren't warned about it...

And that's just one of the many ways that Robertson's comments are outside of what's acceptable for a believer. He calls for the death of a ruler of another country for spreading Communism and Islam. I'll leave the inanity of combining atheist oppression with theological fascism as a common threat for others, instead, I'll issue a challenge to Robertson and his supporters: Show me a passage in the New Testament where we are to pray for the death of our enemies, or call on God to kill them, or anything other than ask God to do His will. And no, Revelations doesn't count, unless you believe we're in the midst of the Tribulation as we speak. If anything, we should be praying for something else.

I look at Robertson, Bakker, Falwell and the rest of the Christian leaders who've ran afoul of either the law or common standards of acceptable behaviour, and they have one thing in common: They are all leading according to mankind's standard, from the front, where they can be seen and receive the glory for their actions. When we're specifically told not to do that. Sure, to us, that makes sense and *seems* the right thing to do. But we're told, again and again and again, that God's ways are not our ways.

Letting others, especially God, take the accolades is not something we, because of our sinful nature, are able to do.

Fortunately, I don't have to do it by myself. I have someone to help me.

Just a thought...

Christians take a lot of flak for the idea of "hate the sin, love the sinner", that somehow that dichotomy is impossible to maintain.

If that's true, then hating war (the action) and yet supporting the troops (the persons doing the action) is impossible, too.

Something to think about.

The nature of worship

It is not often, it seems, that a sermon come along that strikes you so deeply as one that I heard this past Sunday. More often it is a collection of wit and brevity that mesh with your beliefs. This past Sunday we got a lesson on Kierkegaard. From his book, Purity of Heart Is to Will One Thing, Kierkegaard comments on the roles of worship. He likens worship to theater for the configuration is often the same. An audience watches as an actor plays out the drama while a prompter gives the actor their cues. In the commonly held view, the audience are the worshipers, the prompter is God and the actors are the pastors and priests of our churches. Kierkegaard, however, believes this to be counter-productive to worship:

Alas, in regard to things spiritual, the foolishness of many is this, that they in the secular sense look upon the speaker as an actor, and the listeners as theatergoers who are to pass judgment upon the artist. But the speaker is not the actor -- not in the remotest sense. No, the speaker is the prompter. There are no mere theatergoers present, for each listener will be looking into his own heart. The stage is eternity, and the listener, if he is the true listener (and if he is not, he is at fault) stands before God during the talk. The prompter whispers to the actor what he is to say, but the actor’s repetition of it is the main concern -- is the solemn charm of the art. The speaker whispers the word to the listeners. But the main concern is earnestness: that the listeners by themselves, with themselves, and to themselves, in the silence before God, may speak with the help of this address.

The address is not given for the speaker’s sake, in order that men may praise or blame him. The listener’s repetition of it is what is aimed at. If the speaker has the responsibility for what he whispers, then the listener has an equally great responsibility not to fall short in his task. In the theater, the play is staged before an audience who are called theatergoers; but at the devotional address, God himself is present. In the most earnest sense, God is the critical theatergoer, who looks on to see how the lines are spoken and how they are listened to: hence here the customary audience is wanting. The speaker is then the prompter, and the listener stands openly before God. The listener, if I may say so, is the actor, who in all truth acts before God.


So, to his view, God is the audience of one while we, the worshipers are the actors and our pastors are the promptors, guiding us when we falter in our words. They are the gentle reminder of our path while God is the attentive listener.

It impressed me how simple an idea can change how you view your role in worship.

Got one.

"Now the tax collectors and 'sinners' were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, 'This man welcomes sinners and eats with them'."

"Then Jesus told them this parable: 'Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.' I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent."

Start rejoicing, all you angels