Tradition

I am responding to my friend Amanda’s blog. She asked for opinions and I started to make a comment and it turned into a long exposition so I just decided to make it a post of my own. Here is what Amanda Posted: "Man, with my advocating for hymns and better dress in church I out-of-character for someone in their mid-twenties. Am I alone on this, or does anyone else have thoughts on this?"

**Note - read her entire post at the link above to get the entire idea of what she said, the above quote doesn't do the post justice**

I feel old when I get into discussions about this issue with my peers as I didn't used to feel so strongly on this issue until God called Paul and I to a church that is NOT contemporary. Even though we do not have children of our own yet, our attitude and "posture" is looked at closly by our students and families, we had to quickly ask God to lead us and mold us into examples for our church...if possible. I am still not sure if we pressent what God truly wants, but I know that I can say God has molded my heart and changed me a lot in this area. For me it is a:

1. Respect issue. As Amanda said, church is a place that was build and designated as a place of worship. Approaching this place should be that much more important than approaching any other- with respect and reverence. Dress accordingly. God doesn't necessarily care what we are wearing, but he does care about the "posture" of our hearts. I fully believe that the actions that we take to prepare ourselves for worship matters in our attitude that we carry into the meeting.
   
2. I also believe, as an educated young person, in working to keep generations united in worship. The more contemporary a church veers (and the same for the traditional and strict side too) the more you run the risk of alienating a large population of people. Worship, in my opinion, should be varied. Not just worship songs on a large screen with a "band" to accompany. Because, like you said, there is a lack of depth in thought and meaning sometimes when you exclude hymns, however it is at times hard to just meditate on simple truths to God when you are singing a hymn, I know I think a lot about stuff when I am reading them but I love the opportunity I have to pray the words of a simple worship song when I get the chance.

In our church, it is issues like these that cause conflict, and God has taught me some things about being a peace maker rather than a rabble rouser (which is what I lean towards - I hate conformity and avoidance on principle). If God can be reached through either means, and if Holiness is present in both routs, who am I to push others toward what I want? So my current stance is to respect the traditions that are important to my elders, but to also do what I can to include and advocate for the younger generations that may feel like fish out of water in a church like mine. I believe that it can be done. God intends us all to worship together in harmony and unity in heaven, so lets work on practicing that here on earth!

Random Facts

1. I got a call from my field advisor yesterday and I have some really exciting options for my field placement this fall.
2. Karen and Jay came out with us last night to Big Buck. It was the FIRST double date Paul and I had been on in the two years that we have lived here. It was an exciting moment. I wore a new shirt for the occasion!
3. It is repoted to get up to 70 today - goodbye snow.
4. I get to clean the office fish bowl today.
5. Jay came up with a great new show - Gaylord Law and Order. I wish I could go into the details that we created for this pilot, but when we were making it up last night over soft serve at McDonalds we all had tears in our eyes we were laughing to hard. Sigh. Yah Gaylord.
6. I am graduating in one year. Clap, clap, calp.
7. I thought of my friend Andrea the other day and I started to laugh and wished that she was with me because I wanted to laugh some more.
8. I like Dr. James Dobson (as a porfessional, not as a, you know-ew)
   
9. I am still reading Jane Eyre and I still love that book.
10. Paul got some new shoes Saturday. We were window shoping and we found running shoes that were his size, we NEVER find shoes that fit him and as a result he ends up tearing the shoes apart after 6-12 months. It doesnt matter what the quality of shoe is, it always gets destroyed! So these shoes were on sale (28$ when they were origionally 50$) so we bought them. I wish we had the money to buy a few pair!