Festivals

Soon in church we will again see the C & E people. The church will be packed and the music and service traditional in so many respects. The themes are so well know and the music so well established that it is easy to predict what we will sing on those festival occasions. I think those C& E people really think it is just the same old church without any changes. My church is different at 11 for sure 9 often during the rest of the year, but even the contemporary service comes closer to traditional on Christmas & Easter. It is no secret that the church can get stuck in the past in the way it gathers for worship. Resistance to change is inherent in the institutional church.

It is too bad that God is being graded for the performance by people who don't get the truth of the message. I may be boring at times when I lead worship, maybe even all the time to some, but I pray God will forgive me if I keep people from the experience of His love for them and the great benefit that is found in personally knowing Him. It is not about festivals or church services. It is about a God who is bigger than anything we can imagine. I heard yesterday that Tiger Woods has passed the 2 million mark in twitter followers, and I'm sure he doesn't have the biggest following on Twitter. That is miniscule in comparison to the Jesus account.  Over 35% of the world's population has a regular conversation with Jesus, those numbers stagger even the wildest high tech imagination.

I love that old saying, "Doing the same thing or and over again while expecting a different result is a perfect definition of insanity." Sometimes I think the church needs some anti-paranoia medication to overcome the huge fear of change.