Mr Average Christian - Thoughts on Life

I am fascinated by the growing trend in evangelical churches to have dedicated ‘contemporary services’. The main focus of the shift being the worship songs.

Firstly let me say, I am in my late(ish) twenties – I am not a student who craves the big band experience, neither am I a Hymn purist who loves all the ‘thee’s and thou’s’.

Praise Songs explained…
Not long ago a farmer went to the city one weekend and attended the big city church. He came home and his wife asked him how it was.

“Well,” said the farmer, “It was good. They did something different, however. They sang praise choruses instead of hymns.”

“Praise choruses,” said his wife, “What are those?”

“Oh, they’re okay. They’re sort of like hymns, only different,” said the farmer.

“Well, what’s the difference?” asked his wife.

The farmer said, “Well it’s like this - If I were to say to you:

`Martha, the cows are in the corn,’ well that would be a hymn.

If, on the other hand, I were to say to you:
`Martha Martha, Martha, Oh, Martha, MARTHA, MARTHA,
the cows, the big cows, the brown cows, the black cows,
the white cows, the black and white cows,
the COWS, COWS, COWS are in the corn,
are in the corn, are in the corn, are in the corn,
the CORN, CORN, CORN,’

Then, if I were to repeat the whole thing two or three times, well that would be a praise chorus.”

Hymns explained…
A young, new Christian from the big city attended the small town church one weekend. He came home and his wife asked him how it was.

“Well,” said the young man, “It was good. They did something different, however. They sang hymns instead of regular songs.”

“Hymns,” said his wife, “What are those?”

“Oh, they’re okay. They’re sort of like regular songs, only different,” said the young man.

“Well, what’s the difference?” asked his wife.

The young man said, “Well it’s like this - If I were to say to you, `Martha, the cows are in the corn,’ well that would be a regular song.

If, on the other hand, I were to say to you:
Oh Martha, dear Martha, hear thou my cry
Inclinest thine ear to the words of my mouth.
Turn thou thy whole wondrous ear by and by
To the righteous, inimitable, glorious truth.

For the way of the animals who can explain
There in their heads is no shadow of sense,
Hearkenest they in God’s sun or his rain
Unless from the mild, tempting corn they are fenced.

Yea those cows in glad bovine, rebellious delight,
Have broke free their shackles, their warm pens eschewed.
Then goaded by minions of darkness and night
They all my mild Chilliwack sweet corn have chewed.

So look to that bright shining day by and by,
Where all foul corruptions of earth are reborn.
Where no vicious animal makes my soul cry
And I no longer see those foul cows in the corn.

Then, if I were to do only verses one, three, and four and do a key change on the last verse, well that would be a hymn.”

(I jest to the extreme of course)… 

Old hymns generally have a bland uninspiring outlook , but have amazing lyrics and are steeped in deep theology. Modern worship songs are generally a bit lighter theologically but have fantastic, hold your hand in the air, tunes.

But why does the church feel it needs to have an exclusive modern service?

Do we choose our churches and services based on what songs are sung? Surely that’s not right.

I love the new modern worship and praise songs but you can’t beat some of the old school stuff. My favourite song is Charles Wesleys ‘and can it be’, they don’t come more old school then that. It reminds me of how it felt when I was saved on a youth camp in 1997.

Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;

Thine eye diffused a quickening ray—
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;

My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee. 

Nothing makes my hair stand on end more then when I’m belting out those wonderful words

Or how about the fantastic truths contained within ‘it is well with my soul’

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:

If Jordan above me shall roll,

No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life

Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

If we feel we can only lift our voices to Father God with the aid of guitars and drums than perhaps we should take a long hard look at ourselves and our spiritual maturity.

And as a body of believers shouldn’t we be encouraging each other to deepen our walk with Christ and not pandering to different tastes in the church?

Surely a healthy balanced church would not choose one or the other, but embrace both. After all variety is the spice of life (apparently).

In the past year I’ve worked out one of my greatest weaknesses – I’m not brave enough, or in other words, I’m a coward.

Let me clarify, when I’m within my comfort zones, feeling nice and safe with what’s going on in my life then I feel like I’m the proverbial knight in shining armour – ready to take on all comers. But knock me off balance, take me away from what I’m comfortable with and I start doubting myself, my capabilities, what I’m all about and as a Christian I’ll make the mistake of doubting God and his plans for me.

This last year has seen a lot of change in my life, more than I think I can handle sometimes. Coming away from my life in London, then away from my parents, now moving to another part of the country, new job, new people and here I am feeling scared and once again doubting, to say I am out of my comfort zone would be an understatement (the zone is a blur to me!).

Last Sunday I was reminded of an important truth in the Christian faith – and am so glad of it… 

I have, on many occasions, heard that the safest place to be is at the centre of God’s will – in other words being totally open to his leading, whatever that means for your life. I’d like to challenge that and say that actually being at the centre of Gods will is the most dangerous place to be, it’s risky.

During the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.

But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

“Come,” he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

(Matthew 14:25-33)

This is risk taking in the extreme!

I always feel Peter gets a bad press here, remembered for having ‘little faith’. But notice that he is so taken up with Jesus that he asks him to call him out onto the water – his eyes were firmly fixed on Christ and because his focus was so, he wanted to take the risk.

Of course we mustn’t run away with the idea that taking a risk for Christ will be pain free, otherwise it wouldn’t be a risk! We are called out of our comfort zones to do something for Jesus, we are asked in our relationship with Christ to be obedient.

Yes we will get it wrong, we will take our eyes off of Jesus. We will doubt and be scared and we will start sinking. He of course knows these things about us. What matters is that I am walking toward Jesus, whose hand is held toward me, stretched out in invitation, ready to catch me should I fall.

So I make my move, I believe it is what the Lord wants me to do, though I feel I can’t handle it I will take the risk, out of my comfort zone onto the water.

“Here I am Lord, what would you have me do?”

I’ve had an unsettling feeling for some time, I wasn’t quite sure what it was until recently.

I was best man at my cousins wedding and after I had done revealing the gory details of our childhood, my uncle put his arm around me and said “I just realised that you two are no longer the young boys playing football in the garden anymore”. And then it hit me - I was old! well at least I was an adult (which when you’re ten years old, anything over twenty one is classed as old!).

For years we are part of a family unit – our mums, our dads, are our guides, our conscience. We did what we were told; we went where our parents went. We knew our boundaries and we grew as individuals based around those boundaries, combining this with our own life experience and the lessons life has taught us in our short existence on earth.

But there comes a point in life when we must step out from being the junior officer in the family unit and stand out on our own two feet as the general… an adult! It’s a scary feeling, knowing we don’t have our parents to fall back on. Knowing that with every decision we take and with every mistake made, our parents won’t be bailing us out. We have to find our own way in the world and eventually begin our very own family unit (then again you could live the life of a bachelor for the rest of your days!).

As I find myself saying things like “I remember when a snickers used to be called a marathon” and “we never used to have the Disney channel when I was a kid”, I can’t help but remember that as a child we couldn’t wait to be grown up and do exactly what we want and yet now I wonder, was it better when we were reliant on our parents and didn’t have a care in the world?