Back to work I go with a full plate of thoughts on my mind and a heavy slate of meetings and work to catch up on. My Door County Pumpkin Spice Coffee will do the trick to wake me up. I already can't wait to return home!
Back a thousand years ago when I first can remember attending church as a child we would enter church very quietly and take a seat. A little old lady would walk in by the organ about fifteen minutes before the service started and she would play some music. The music she played was slow, quiet, and soft. The mood was set for prayer and solitude.
I attend quite a few different church services around town, and very few if any still play music with an organ, let alone quiet, peaceful chamber music which promotes a time of prayer and soul searching.
Sunday morning, I was awake about Two AM and decided to retreat to the radio and my Bible. I tuned into a Christian Station in Milwaukee 107.7 FM They have a radio program "Music Till Dawn" which consists of hymns quietly played along with an occasional tune from an organ. The music was food for my soul.
Isaiah 29:13New International Version (NIV)
13 The Lord says:
“These people come near to me with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.
and honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.
I realize things change, but in my opinion, not always for the best. Music is still played but with a more upbeat tempo and very loudly as well. A chatty time of gabbing takes place in the sanctuaries which are now called auditoriums. People stroll in late, clutching their coffee and have not done one thing to engage or prepare their heart for worship. Then if they don't like the service, they complain and it is someone else's fault for not jarring their soul or giving them a warm fuzzy. Not good. Even Jesus refers to the gathering of believers as "the church". But what happened to the church? Where did it go? Did church become a show when the organ music left?
I say my friends, church should be uplifting but at what cost? Where is prayer before church? Where does a heart go to unscramble and be fed before church? Just some food for thought? Anyone biting today?
Marty
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