Preparing Our Hearts for What?

Some of my thinking is changing.  I guess, since none of us are perfect, we should all have a continual progression of thinking.

Maybe it’s a little thing, or a big thing.

We say this in church, but do we ever question it?  We address our time of worship and ascribe to it the purpose of ‘preparing our hearts to receive the Word’.  It struck me today.  "Wait a minute!  We worship God to worship God.  It is not a device of mental preparation." 

I’m not going to totally discount the value that worship might have for me personally.  The value is a reality, however, I’m not going to focus on it.  My motivation for worship should never be, in any way, personally beneficial.  Allow that to be a side issue.  Priority number one:  God is worshipped because God should be worshipped.

As  I continued to think about it, I found the opposite to bear more truth.  Learning the Word should prepare our hearts to worship.  That sounds way more appropriate to me.

This is what I’m thinking about right now.

With A Crack Of The Whip…

… the witch hunt is on.  That’s what Ojo Taylor said on his solo album Relative.  What was he talking about?  I’ll be honest with you.  I can’t remember.  But, if I had put those lyrics in a song, it would be a sarcastic reference to the witch hunt trials that many of today’s “discernment ministries” (I use the term “ministry” loosely) are conducting.

Man Centered Ministry

I just finished reading Blood Brothers by Elias Chacour.  It’s the story of a Palestinian Christian who grew up in the early years of Israel’s reestablishment as a nation.  His village was destroyed and his family lost everything.  The one thing that remained, was his faith in God.  Elias was especially impressed by the Beatitudes.  It was from this teaching, that he found his calling in life.  “Blessed are the peacemakers.”  To this day, Elias Chacour is still working for peace in Israel.

I highly recommend this book, but, this is not why I’m writing this post.

While reading it, I was especially impressed by a comment that Elias made while in seminary.  He made an observation and shared his frustration concerning the church being so “man centered” rather than “God centered”.

It was just a few lines.  He didn’t even explain what he meant.  I’m not sure what Elias would have defined as being: “man centered” as opposed to “God centered”.  In the book, it was a passing comment.  In my mind, it was etched with undeniable emphasis.

simplemindednews 1/3/08

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Ecology

Global Warming Crisis:  Cold iguanas are dropping out the trees in Southern Florida.  Don’t fear, they’re not all dead.  Experts say that many are just in a suspended state of animation.  Elsewhere in the animal kingdom, the Center for Biological Diversity in Albuquerque, NM is raising awareness to the extinction crisis by offering free wildlife ringtones.  So far, 100,000 have been uploaded, but there is no report as of yet to how this is impacting the critical populations of any particular species.  Just the other day I was startled by the mating call of an Arctic Beluga Whale resounding from someone’s Motorola Razor.  I’m sure someone in that room pulled out a checkbook and made a contribution to preserve their habitat.  Not me.  I was looking for the dead Chihuahua. 

Polotics

Remember the girl who took a shot at President Ford?