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Archive for July, 2006
Camp!
Jul 24th
I will be directing a week of camp at Northwestern Ohio Christian Youth Camp next week. It is my first year to serve as director.
Let me ask something of my loyal readers. Do you have a favorite memory from camp? Some event or activity that you will always remember? Something we should avoid at all costs? What made camp special for you when you were a kid? Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated!
Oh, and I still need a lifeguard. If you are certified, come and join us for the week!
A Piece of History
Jul 17th
In honor of the Detroit Tigers doing so well this season, I decided to finish restoring my old seat from Tiger Stadium. Back in the mid-70’s, they ripped all the old green wooden seats out of Tiger Stadium and replaced them with plastic ones. I got my hands on one of the old green ones back in 1999. It was in bad shape, but not beyond restoring. As you can see, it came out pretty well. I have it mounted in my ManCave (basement rec room).
The first time I ever saw a ballgame at Tiger Stadium was around 1971. I remember sitting in those green wooden seats. After they replaced them, I saw a couple of them mounted on someone’s front porch, and I thought it would be great to have one, but never thought I would have the opportunity.
I think my seat is pretty solid. As you can see, it can support my 200 pound frame!
Worship
Jul 12th
In the foreword to David Edwards’ book Worship 365, Sally Morgenthaler has this to say about the nucleus of worship: “(it is) an extravagant, no-holds-barred love relationship with the living God.”
I love that definition. For years I thought of worship as a series of acts on Sunday morning (and usually Sunday evening) that had to be performed just right in order to appease the wrath of an angry God. Perhaps you never thought of it in those terms, but many Christians did (and still do). When worship is defined as a series of acts, then it is necessary to have many serious discussions about what is and isn’t allowed, which worship style is appropriate, how the worshipers must dress, blah, blah, blah. Consequently, worship is a matter of checking off boxes and getting all our doctrinal ducks in a row. Spontaneous emotional expression is seriously frowned upon, anything innovative or non-traditional is unsound, dangerous and even heretical. The “Pattern” must be adhered to at all cost.
But when we see worship as the expression of our love relationship with God, everything changes. All of that legalistic mumbo-jumbo gets tossed out the window and we’re free to express our love and adoration for our Father in wonderful, extravagant ways. The “worship wars” we fought (and are still fighting) will be seen for what they really are – unnecessary, silly, distracting, and sinful.
It is my prayer that we can get past the fussing and fighting over worship styles, song selections, rules and regulations – and get down to the serious business of worshiping our God.
“I’m coming back to the heart of worship
and its all about You, its all about You, Jesus.
I’m sorry, Lord, for the thing I’ve made it
when its all about You, its all about You, Jesus.”
–from “The Heart of Worship” by Matt Redman
Jeff Slater
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