BEAUTIFUL IS OUT----UGLY IS IN

Thursday, June 06, 2013

CHANGE? I'm not against change. I just don't think everything needs to be changed.

Many things have changed from the time I was young and some things needed to change, but not all things.

When I was young we wore our pants up around our waist and a belt to keep them there. A change from that would be alright. But do we really need to wear them hanging off our butts?

I grew up holding a hymnal/song book and singing hymns in church. It was good. I think there was and is something beautiful about most---not all, hymns. The hymnals are gone today and so are the hymns. A change is alright but did we need to get rid all hymns and any songs that sounded like church?

Preachers always wore suits and ties when I was young---and not so young. Did that need to change? Maybe, but not so severely. Why do men still dress more formally for a funeral than preachers do who stand in the pulpit? Relaxed dress, less formal? Yes. But to stand in the pulpit preaching the Word of God looking like you're going fishing is a bit much for my taste. Yes, we should be trying to reach young people who are not so concerned with such things. But should we become just like them in order to win them? I don't think so. But if so, where do we draw the line?

The message today is: Out with song books, hymns, choirs, pews, stained glass, -----anything that looks religious.

In some places, gone is any out reach to the elderly. Gone is the family concept. That's smacks too much of religion. In is youth, cool, ugly, community. The plea is for SIMPLE. But is it simple? No!
It's complicated and confusing. What's cool today may not be tomorrow. You have to put forth effort to be "politically correct" in what you do and say. It's tiring. And in my mind, boring.

One young woman confided in me that she likes to honk real loud at elderly people in cross walks to see the look on their faces. And she also thinks they smell bad. It's probably because I'm old but that lack of respect makes me sad. There is so much that is beautiful about the elderly.

I'll never understand why we can't sing contemporary songs and hymns.

Why was stained glass once considered beautiful but not today?

It seems to me that Christ can be preached and held high and at the same time doctrine and all things religious can be respected without distracting from CHRIST and having to be "thrown out."

SIMPLE CHURCH is what you find in the first days of the church in Acts 2:43-47

43-45Everyone around was in awe—all those wonders and signs done through the apostles! And all the believers lived in a wonderful harmony, holding everything in common. They sold whatever they owned and pooled their resources so that each person's need was met.

46-47They followed a daily discipline of worship in the Temple followed by meals at home, every meal a celebration, exuberant and joyful, as they praised God. People in general liked what they saw. Every day their number grew as God added those who were saved.

 

I DON'T KNOW ANY CHURCHS PLEADING FOR SIMPLE CHURCH THAT WANT TO DO THIS!!!