To Worship God

Church services are changing.  Someone replaced the old songs with new ones.  The preachers tell jokes instead of screaming hellfire.  Even building structures look different.  Does that excite or irritate you?  Has it stopped feeling like church?  Or, does it finally feel like church?

I was raised in a denomination that was quite restrictive.  We sang beautifully, but never expressed the emotions mentioned within those songs.  Communion was quiet, solemn, reflective, but it lacked any actual communing.  Bible readings were formal, dramatically monotone, as if the words never mentioned anything sad or funny.

Expressing emotions during worship was disrespectful to God.  Yet, the emotion too often experienced was boredom.  If the service ran long, then the “wrist twitch” crossed the room.  Would the roast burn or the ball game start?  Could we sit fifteen more minutes without falling asleep?

Once the service was over, particularly after leaving the sanctuary, people changed.  They greeted each other in friendly laughter.  Some quietly fed on “roast preacher,” criticizing what was just said.  At social gatherings, members talked about everything, including each other, but only the opening prayer spoke to or about God.  Too many members acted like unbelievers once they left the church grounds, or at least, that was the subject of too many sermons.

Then, I met a group who enjoyed going to church.  Instead of gossiping about each other, they talked freely about their God and their trials in their walk with God.  Their favorite topic was what He did for them that week.  Most sermons centered on our relationship with God, and people voiced reluctance to end even a long service.  We sang to God, not about God.  The words of the songs became our words.  Communion with God was a communication of admiration.  God loved us during worship.  God walked with us outside the building and throughout our days.

Many large traditional churches now provide “progressive” services.  They sing current songs, or at least those written after the 1930’s.  Lyrics are projected on screens eliminating fumbling with books.  The people raise their hands and shout God’s praise.  Occasionally, someone will dance in the aisle.

All good, if done for the right reasons.  I’ve heard of congregations that accept the change simply to keep “the youth” from leaving or to entice outsiders in.  It works for a while, since newness replaces boredom.  However, newness ends.  Progressive services take much more effort to organize and present.  They also require volunteers that are more “qualified.”  Fewer members of the congregation are involved.  Even if the leaders began with good intentions, they burn out.

Those who forged the path of change feel continued besiegement by fellow members for disrespecting tradition or for not going farther away from tradition.  Groups vie for control and long-standing quarrels surface.  Without congregational cooperation, tension turns to anger and a church will split or return to traditional worship.  That pain will linger.

Such events provide fuel for those who oppose “emotion filled” services.  They claim the emotions were superficial or fake, stirred up because of a song.  They proclaim negligence toward leaders who did not teach the people respectful self-control.  Yet, these same naysayers ignore the superficial “serenity” of their version of worship.  They do not see their structured tradition does not teach intimacy with God.

Style means nothing to God if done for the sake of style.  Tradition means nothing to God for the same reason.  These build human community.  They also segregate human community.  Styles and traditions can only teach the ways of God superficially.  None of them develops relationship with the Creator.

Relationship requires dedication to more than religion.  Our intimate allegiance must be to God.  Each of us must deny self.  That means realizing our ways might not be the best, or even preferable for another believer.  We need to open ourselves to instruction.  We must search for evidence within that confirms God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness.  Any cultural style, tradition, or religious acts that distract, overshadow, or replace those attributes are suspect.  Only then can we see that the differences are external and our spirits are the same.

In the calm and in the rowdy, we find Him.  Let our eyes and ears be open.

The Natural Law of Tithing

Christian denominations teach conflicting doctrines on tithing.  The extremes range widely, from super casual to a neurotic state of oppression. 

Under Mosaic Law, the tithe was mandatory, a kind of tax.  Each family held the responsibility to provide a livelihood to the Levite families who were not given a potion of the Promised Land.  This “family” acted as priests, teachers, and administrators.  They in turn, tithed their income.  Tithing made them a corporate entity.  They built a nation together.

This simple concept, however, was rather complicated.  The biblical documentation did not detail the rules well enough to know how to “do it right.”  Not everything was tithed.  Not every year had the same tithe or had the same reason for tithing.  Also, tithing was not the only type of giving.  They were to be generous so that everyone who lived in their area prospered.

However, the Israelites did not act as one people.  They insisted on being tribes and city-states.  Once they became a kingdom, additional taxes were applied.  Abuse of power produced internal conflict, which added to the Israelites repeated rejection of Law.  They spent their tithes on themselves or gave it to idols.

Many Christian denominations comply with the teaching of tithe.  However, some groups go to the extreme.  They require a disclosure of all income “for accountability.”  Noncompliance ends in expulsion from the congregation.  Bureaucratic legalism rules.  At some point, policy rejects mercy.

Other denominations insist the Mosaic Law is defunct, therefore tithe is not held.  They say that keeping any of the Law rejects God’s grace and imposes the consequence of Law.  However, having no guidelines is just as confusing as too many.  The people never know how much to give or even what part of their income/property/estate is tithed.  Despite donating generously to organized charities, too many believers put a few bucks in the plate to dissuade guilt.  The people never learn to support their local congregation.

The middle road varies greatly and often swings back and forth between the extremes.  Without a dogmatic requirement of tithe, most preachers must continuously beg to pay wages and fund building upkeep.  Announcements embellish the necessary weekly pulpit fundraisers.  These speeches either coax through greed (God must bless a giver), or inflict fear (God cannot bless a non-giver).

If prosperity comes without giving or disaster comes while giving, then people become deaf to the pleas.  Misuse of funds produces distrust.  Frustration leads to not giving.  Dictatorial disagreement and non-biblical seduction divide the church.  We spend our money on ourselves or give it to “a worthy cause.”

I have struggled with this problem my whole life.  You see, I am dyslexic.  Numbers are stressful, even something as simple as 10% causes anxiety.  So, God gave me another way.  He sends me a person in need.  He puts a number into my head.  I give that amount.  Simple.  I must not worry if that person spends the money wisely or not.  That is not my job.  The first few years I kept a record of these gifts.  Oddly enough, the yearly amount always exceeded ten percent, just slightly.  There was so much relief, that I stopped calculating the numbers.

However, the weekly fundraisers continue to inject fear of “doing it wrong.”  I sow into the flock, but rarely into the corporate entity.  Every Sunday morning, the war of extremes wage in my head.  I regularly calm myself with, “The church is the people.” 

A friend recently gave the announcements.  He described giving in a different light, and it fits well with my belief that we learn about God through His creation.

He said we should not think of the tithe as a tax, a punitive law filled with eternal judgment.  Instead, look at giving as a natural law of nature that God set at the beginning of time.  Natural laws cannot be broken.  In giving back, we acknowledge that our very existence came from Him.  We share our excess so others benefit from our blessing.  We hope that they too will pass on that blessing.  The “natural law of giving” is a progression of blessing.

This natural law does not dictate percentage: it shapes the soul.  Ten percent is a simple number of division and useful because of its simplicity.  God made it easy.  If regulations complicate simplicity, then the regulations are wrong.  If God gives you a different percentage or way to calculate, then use that number.  The number is not the issue.  What is important is the act of giving.

The Bible presents a wonderful aspect of giving: joy, lots of joy.  Giving joyfully reduces our natural tendency toward selfishness and greed.  Giving allows you to express God’s love for you and through you.  Giving brings people together to build a beautiful place of worship.  Giving supports those who dedicate their life to provide a worship environment.  Giving to the poor offers them joy.  We give to make the world a better place.

Give as God gives, with joy.

The Purity of God

What is your basic concept of God?  Do you think of Him as far away, secluded in heaven, and isolated from the evils of this corrupt world?  Are your sins intolerable to a holy God?  Do you wonder how He could love you?

Such theology is old.  It is common in many religions, including several that influenced the Israelites at the various times the Bible was written and canonized.  This belief requires a holy and pure god to remain separate from everything unholy and impure.  Religious rituals bridge the gap to allow at least partial access and the hope of answered prayers.

The Bible regularly references such ideas.  One of the favorite “proof” texts is Habakkuk 1:13a “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing.”  (NIV)  However, that passage is immediately followed by “Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?”

The Hebrew word translated “tolerate” has the same base as “look on.”  God does see.  He sees every sin, every evil.  Yet, He lets it happen.  This is God’s normal behavior.  He did not stop the serpent from entering the garden.  He did not hinder Abel from going into the field with Cain.  He did not blind David to the beauty of Bathsheba.  This inaction leads theologians to deduce segregation.  Sin repels God so much that He cannot interact with people.  Then, to repress the growth of sin in a society, God suddenly resorts to extreme anger and violence from a distance.

Where is the justice in that scenario?  Where is God’s love?

The problem actually begins with the first assessment of God.  For humans to remain pure, we must separate ourselves physically and emotionally from things that pollute our endeavor to remain pure.  Mingling that into theology is wrong.  It remakes God into our image.

Nothing we do sullies God’s holiness or His purity.  This imperfect world is His creation.  If He is everywhere, then He interacts with every particle of every atom throughout the entire universe.  He even controls the space between.  “Everywhere” includes the most evil humans that ever existed.  He was with them as they made their plans and committed their crimes.  God was with them as they murdered good people.  God was right there.  “Everywhere” also includes you and me.  He is with us when we sin.  We cannot hide.

That concept makes our head spin.  We do not want God to hang out with evil people.  We do not want God to know when we are bad.  Yet, that is what the Bible teaches.  God knows our vile thoughts because He is with us.  That intimacy is why sin makes God sad or angry.  He is right there as we deliberately choose to do something wrong.

We ask, “Why would God subject Himself to such horrors?  Why doesn’t He just take away sin?”

The answer is simple: because He loves us.  If God destroyed sin then no human could exist, because we all sin.  If God never gave humans the capability to sin, then we would not have the God-like ability to choose between good and evil.  Giving us free will was God’s plan from the beginning.  He gave us the choice to act like Him, or not.  He wants our love freely given, and love cannot be forced.

God did not set up a hierarchy of big evils and little sins.  Religion did that.  Sin is sin, simply the transgression of law.  Evil is a conscious effort to harm someone unjustly or to persuade someone to commit sin.  God desires that we realize sin is bad and choose to make better choices.  Our Creator set up a system to redeem us, where He took responsibility for humanity’s ability to sin.  Our holy God, as Jesus, paid the price of death because He knew we could not do so ourselves.  He continuously gives mercy when we falter.  And, God freely grants forgiveness to each repentant heart.

He does the same for every generation within a nation.  He sends prophets and teachers to guide and teach.  However, when leaders repeatedly choose contempt over kindness, the population eventually considers evil as normal and goodness as foolishness.  Love, mercy, and forgiveness become restricted to the few, their value hoarded for selfish desires yet compromised on a whim.  God will wait for generations until the sins of that nation become irreversible.  Only then does He act to cleanse the region of the influence of evil.  The people chose their path and their judgment.

Our Father wants us to live as good people where we mirror His love towards humanity.  Still, we transgress law.  God grants us mercy.  This demonstrates His undying love.  We sin repeatedly.  Our Creator offers us complete forgiveness each time we repent.  All we need to do is trust Him to do what He says He will do.  Then the God of Abraham will count our faith as righteous.

[Lessons from God Makes Us Holy, by Jo Helen Cox.  This book is available on Amazon.]

[Lessons from Creation’s Parables: Genesis and Standard Science, Sung as One, by Jo Helen Cox.]

I need reader reviews!

The Amazon page for my book, God Makes Us Holy, is now working (mostly right).  Now, I need reader reviews!  Reviews raise the page’s status so more people can find the book.

Click this link, and you can purchase a paperback or Kindle version (Thank you!).  Or, I can email you a free PDF version if you send me a note (call, text, email, or leave me a message in the comment section below).  Or, this week I should get a box of books (Whoop).  Read, enjoy, and then PLEASE post a review.  Tell the world how the book made you feel or think.  The more personal the comments the better, because Amazon is getting picky.

I need 15-20 reviews as soon as possible before starting the focused promotion phase of the book.  During that week, the price of the Kindle version will be free or greatly reduced.  Tell your friends.  Help me get the word out.

So, why read my book?  God takes us through a daily and life long journey to remake us into someone holy, like He is holy.  It is beautiful, wholesome, and simple process of change.  He eagerly grants grace, mercy, and forgiveness.  No atrocity is too big.  No sin turns Him away.  Yet, burdensome religious condemnation stole our understanding of that joy.  Complicated theology blinded believers to the simplicity of restoration, regeneration, sanctification, and resurrection.

God Makes Us Holy turns that around and takes us through the steps.  Each one starts with God who gives us a choice of how we will respond.  God then acts on that response.  It is that simple.  If we let Him, He will make us holy.  This is our Creator’s way.

It is time to accept God’s blessing.

God’s Fire Within

We are vessels uniquely made by God.  He created our bodies, but this “vessel” has little to do with skin that grows wrinkled with age.  If we let Him, God’s artistry makes our inner form more pliable and stronger throughout our lives.

He does not toss the undeserving aside as garbage or make us perfect to sit untouched as knick-knacks.  He focuses dysfunction until we become essential.  He desires to reform the broken and rededicate the lifeless.  He creates utilitarian vessels, beautifully crafted and practical.  He fashions each one of us in a style and size all our own, for His purposes.

God becomes our passion and fills us with fire that satisfies.  Without fire, our usefulness draws dust.  Filled with strange fire, we become an abomination.  With His fire, we become exceptional.

Sometimes we are small vessels.  Censers contain only a very tiny fire, but that fire combined with a bit of incense produces an aroma that fills a room with perfume.  Firepots, lidded bowls, store embers for tomorrow’s bonfire.  A single candle can light a room, flooding out the darkness of stumbling fear.

Sometimes God expands our vessels to contain a blaze.  As a torch, we carry His brilliance into the darkest pits.  A brilliant beacon on a hill calls the lost home.  Controlled wildfire pushes back the enemy and destroys its escape.

Our willingness to house God’s fire builds His Temple within us.  We become a holy place where seekers meet their Creator.  He can take even “the least” of us and form that vessel into His holy altar when we confess sins to one another.  God does all the rest.

Throughout our lives, our Creator wants us to present our personal sins.  He waits for us to sacrifice our selfishness and pride, those thoughts and actions that block the light.  He daily purifies us with His own blood and removes transgressions from our record.  He smelts our life into malleable gold.

God does the same with our community’s corporate sins, those acts that bind us together but are not His ways.  We blind ourselves to these by claiming they are other people’s sins, not ours.  Fighting the great world sins is more important.  However, the community that needs repentance consists of believers only.  Complacency allows the world’s ways to become normality.  Like the Jews of the Bible, Christians believe they are saved simply because they call themselves Christian.  Hardness grows within.  This pride-filled sense of security lets strange fire fill our vessel.  Eventually, God will purge the offence.  His fire produces a clean people.

The fire is God.  This is not just a symbol or metaphor.  God’s presence is living fire.  Through our obedience, God teaches His ways of love.  We simply hold the fire.

Be His vessel.

[Lessons from Creation’s Parables: Genesis and Standard Science, Sung as One, by Jo Helen Cox.]

[Lessons from God Makes Us Holy, by Jo Helen Cox.  This book is available on Amazon.]