Things we do in church services

Here’s a couple of articles I’ve read recently that both touch on potentially distracting stuff that happens during a church service.

Do you take notes?

Or maybe you prefer to doodle? (Photo credit: Patrick Hoesly)

In A Noteworthy Sermon?, the author writes:

As I sat listening to the sermon at church last Sunday morning, I was struck by a big division. Some folk were scribbling earnestly in notebooks as the end of 2 Corinthians was unfolded for us. Others just sat listening.

He goes on to give some points in favour of and against note-taking. I found the latter interesting, never having considered why a pastor would ask the congregation to refrain from taking notes. Personally, I’m in the just-sit-and-listen camp. I cannot claim any high ideals behind my decision, however: I simply fell out of the habit of taking notes.

Do you use your smartphone/tablet?

Here’s the opening paragraph of The Texture of Screens Amidst Communities of Faith:

As more people make the move from regular cell phones to smart phones and tablets, many want to use the “smart” features during worship services to access the Scriptures, take notes, and even interact with the pastor. This has led to an ongoing, though fairly quiet debate about the proper place of such devices in church.

The author proposes three reasons why we find electronic devices so distracting, along with some helpful recommendations. I appreciated his stance—neither “get rid of them” nor “get used to it”. I also identified with some of his cynicism

Notes, screens and me

From my personal experience, I’ve not found note-taking to be a hindrance to concentration. However, for most of my Christian life I regarded sermons solely as containers for information, so maybe it was good that I stopped taking notes. Nowadays, most of the notes I take are from MP3s that I can listen to endlessly, and occasionally I even turn them into blog posts.

As for gadgets, I’ve not developed adequate resistance to the draw of shiny screens. I probably care too much about my image to be caught using my device for non-biblical purposes during a service, but I rather prefer to keep as far away from that temptation as I reasonably can!

How to figure out your divine calling

How do you find out what God has called you to do? Moses got a burning bush, Isaiah and Ezekiel saw heavenly visions and Saul of Tarsus was blinded. Dramatic stuff. Matthew was at his tax-booth, Zacchaeus was up a tree and Timothy was in a local church when each was called. Not quite as dramatic. Clearly, one size doesn’t fit all.

A church-planting couple in Vancouver has compiled a list of the neat and tidy tips on figuring out your call as well as a list of the messy and ugly confessions that inhibited them from hearing and from following God’s call.

The main points in each list  are summarised below:

Do read the posts in full!

Do you have a Bible reading plan?

For two years now, I’ve been following a daily Bible reading plan, and I love it! (And I’m not the only one) In 2012, I plan to use a chronological reading plan because (a) I’ve never tried it before, and (b) the daily readings consist of large chunks of text, which I also love. I’ve been thinking why I didn’t start this practice sooner, and here are some of the objections I would have raised:

Objection #1: Why do I need a plan? Well, when did you last read all of Obadiah? Do you realise that it is able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ? Having a plan and following it takes you to the deep recesses of Leviticus and the second half of Exodus that you wouldn’t venture into otherwise. Plus, you don’t spend time choosing what to read next.

Objection #2: I don’t have the time. Of course you do. You just spend it doing something else. Like with other spiritual disciplines, you have to make time. The devil won’t sit around twiddling his proverbial thumbs as you make an effort to grow in Christ.

Objection #3: What if I fall behind? It’s like medicine—if you miss a dose, just take the next one.

On a practical level, you may want to start small, for example with this 28-day plan which contains passages from both the Old and New Testament. Alternatively, the Navigators  have plans with 25 readings a month: you can use the extra days to catch up or for reflection.

Objection #4. I don’t want it to become just another routine. I heartily agree. But wouldn’t you agree that the benefits of daily Bible reading outweigh the drawbacks?

Committing to reading 2, 4, or 10 chapters a day isn’t easy. But it’s so worth it. So, go get yourself a plan you’re comfortable with and pray to the God who wrote the Bible that you may stick to reading it and glorify Him in the whole process!

How can you tell if you love Christ?

Some years back, I went through a months-long crisis during which I questioned myself on whether I really loved Jesus or not. Maybe if I’d read the following before my crisis, it would never have happened.

J. C. Ryle in his book Holiness wrote:

1. If we love a person, we like to think about him. We do not need to be reminded of him. We do not forget his name or his appearance or his character or his opinions or his tastes or his position or his occupation… Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ!
2. If we love a person, we like to hear about him. We find a pleasure in listening to those who speak of him. We feel an interest in any report which others make of him… Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ!
3. If we love a person, we like to read about him. What intense pleasure a letter from an absent husband gives to a wife, or a letter from an absent son to his mother… Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ!
4. If we love a person, we like to please him. We are glad to consult his tastes and opinions, to act upon his advice and do the things which he approves… Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ!
5. If we love a person, we like his friends. We are favorably inclined to them, even before we know them. We are drawn to them by the common tie of common love to one and the same person… Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ!
6. If we love a person, we are jealous about his name and honor. We do not like to hear him spoken against, without speaking up for him and defending him… Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ!
7. If we love a person, we like to talk to him. We tell him all our thoughts, and pour out all our heart to him. We find no difficulty in discovering subjects of conversation… Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ!
8. Finally, if we love a person, we like to be always with him. Thinking and hearing and reading and occasionally talking are all well in their way. But when we really love people we want something more… Well, it is just so between the true Christian and Christ!

So how did I get out of my crisis? I happened to read 1 Corinthians 16:22, and snapped out of it almost immediately! God’s word is effective like that!

J. C. Ryle quote via Desiring God.

Reading the Bible out loud

You probably know that the main problem people have in reading the Bible aloud is monotony. And you’ve probably struggled with those unfamiliar names in the Old Testament. What to do? For starters, you can listen to this 29-minute interview over at Matthias Media for tips on how to overcome these and other obstacles. The edited transcript gives you the big idea, but the audio has an exceedingly helpful live demo!

I think I’ll go and record myself reading something now…

The Christian is a paradox

A real Christian is an odd number anyway. He feels supreme love for One whom he has never seen, talks familiarly every day to Someone he cannot see, expects to go to heaven on the virtue of Another, empties himself in order to be full, admits he is wrong so he can be declared right, goes down in order to get up, is strongest when he is weakest, richest when he is poorest, and happiest when he feels worst. He dies so he can live, forsakes in order to have, gives away so he can keep, sees the invisible, hears the inaudible, and knows that which passeth knowledge.
—A. W. Tozer, The Root of the Righteous (Harrisburg, PA: Christian Publications, 1955), 156

Via Chris Castaldo

Worldly sorrow or godly sorrow?

If you’ve lived long enough, you’ve had unpleasant interpersonal experiences—either as instigator, victim or bystander. In 2 Corinthians 7:10, the apostle contrasts godly grief which leads to repentance, and worldly grief which leads to death. What indicators can you look for to determine which is which?

From a slightly longer post on Counseling One Another.

See also When “I’m sorry, I messed up” isn’t enough.

How do we become holy without becoming ‘holier than thou’?

Jared Wilson says that the answer is simple: By actually becoming holy, not just thinking we are.

He goes on to say:

Holiness and holier-than-thou-ness aren’t parallel phenomena. They run on different tracks. If someone is growing in arrogance, pride, and self-righteousness, by definition they are not growing in holiness.

The problem arises in equating holiness with religious behavior. Holy people do obey God, of course. But the character of holiness, in which the Spirit does his progressive sanctifying work in our hearts (and therefore in our thoughts, speech, and actions), produces qualities of humility, gentleness, kindness, and self-control. Any arrogant fool can abstain from certain sins or give to charity and what-not. The Pharisees certainly did that, and all our legalistic contemporaries do too. But that is not real holiness. That is moralistic separatism or some such thing.

Therefore, it is impossible to become both holy and holier-than-thou. To grow in one, is to atrophy in the other.

The bad news is that God—who said, “Be holy for I am holy”—knows when your actions are all behaviour modification without heart change (Jeremiah 17:10). More bad news is that outward actions, in and of themselves, don’t actually help (Colossians 2:23).

The good news is that God’s commands aren’t burdensome (1 John 5:3) and that He’s working in the lives of His children to accomplish His purposes (Philippians 2:12-13).