Chapter 3 - False Dangers

Back from conference in Decatur, Illinois and trying to get back on track with all of those things life throws at us. My foot is still in a big boot, but hopefully on Monday, it will be history (the boot, not my foot). Carrie has headed off to Findlay, so things seem kind of strange, but there is a big pile of her stuff still in the kitchen, so she doesn't seem all that far away.

On to the book. This chapter talks about the false dangers we sometimes worry about when it comes to worshiping God. He points to how we attempt to "manage" our encounters with God - calling it our attempt to domesticate Him. I thought that was a pretty good observation. When you think about all of the Biblical encounters with God, they were usually anything but safe or manageable. Most people instinctively fell on their faces. I wonder how God feels when we are sitting in a worship service thinking about where we're going for lunch, nodding off, not paying attention, thinking about how we don't care for what is going on, etc., etc.

I suppose really, when you think about it, the God we claim to worship is anything but safe. When you read about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, having faith in God was probably anything but safe to them by our definition. But, they actually feared idolatry more than fire. As the author says, "The furnace was blazing hot, a dramatic threat. Idolatry by comparison was quiet, invisible, barely noticeable when everyone else was already on their knees." Do we really know where the real danger lies?

The author lists six false dangers: Worship That's Not Under Control, Worship that Doesn't Seem Relevant, Worship that Doesn't Meet Expectations, Worship that Isn't Popular, Worship That's Unfamiliar. In other words, we want what's safe.

Here are his final thoughts on this:

"Safe worship. It's the kind of primrose path that draws us but misleads us. It has the allure of beauty but can mask pain, alienation, injustice. It can leave us feeling better but does nothing to help others who suffer. It can occupy so much energy and time that it leaves us too tired for ministry that might actually take us to where the needs are greatest. It can lead us to feel faith, but not actually to believe. It can lead us to imply we are trusting, without ever really taking a risk. It can preoccupy us with the false dangers of worship while we miss the real ones. It leaves us safe--which can mean lost, disengaged, disconnected, disinterested. So we often leave our services with what we came for, which sadly and ironically means we have little more than when we arrived. For better and worse, everything that matters is at stake in worship."

How does my life and attitude of worshiping God need to change so that I'm not just the same person day after day always wishing I could make changes in my life, but never really doing anything about it. Where does my true hope come from?

Needing to be more radical-
JAH