"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." Have you ever been one of those people who comes up to a person with a tract in their hand with no intention to get to know them? I have. I know that God uses these means. As Jesus said, "do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you." It always felt a little awkward. A prepackaged one-sided conversation you might say. Have you ever been someone who spends their life doing “good” or “nice” things, but doesn't really acknowledge Jesus with their lips? I have. For me it is a constant battle to not teeter to one side or the other, but to simply dwell in Jesus.

I must confess, there has been a huge transformation in my thinking about the church and it's mission. I hope to in the future elaborate on the title of this blog, because these two terms are crucial for what it means to be a missionary. For now I give you a link to a blog that I ran into while reading our pastor's blog. The Beginnings of a Missional Church Plant

Well Heather, here goes nothing...5 worship songs I consider to be weird.

In no significant order...

1. 'Prepare the Way' by Charlie Hall. I think he is using the phrase 'prepare the way' as a call for God's people to clear their hearts for the work of God. I don't know. But what I do know is that when I have listened to this song I didn't get it and I didn't worship.
2. 'I will call upon the Lord'. Yeah it's fun to echo, and the words come from the Psalms. But it's at the point when I hit the 'liveth' I just want to laugh. It sounds so weird coming out of my mouth.
3. 'Micah 6:8'. I feel like I should be singing this song in a bar in Germany or Ireland really loud, along with other men who are singing this song really loud.
4. 'Above All'. The theology of the atonement in this song is weird and quite foreign to Scripture. The verses are great and I love to sing them. They exalt God above everything. Then you get to the words 'you took the fall and thought of me, above all'. How can we look at the cross and think that ME, my worth, was the driving force of His passion? He went to glorify the Father and to uphold the honor and beauty of God's righteousness that I once hated. He was becoming my sin and bearing the wrath of God against me, against the church universal. He was restoring communion between God and man and the whole kingdom of the earth now belongs to Jesus. Everything that was lost at the Fall He has and will make new. The cross isn't just about me, it's so much bigger than that. Yes, Jesus died for us. But, we are not the end. The glory and kingdom of God being restored is the end. These words were so contrary to Scripture that a friend of mine changed the words when he led worship to 'You bore it all to pay for sins, once for all'. Ahhh, much better. Let's sing about what He's really done.
5. 'Party' by Chris Tomlin. I'm still thinking about this one. When I first heard it I thought, "Oh Chris, no you didn't..."