GW – Experiencing the Real Reality

Reality…how is it defined?
By your flesh, your natural instincts, your “wants”?
Or is there something more real than that, more true, more genuine?””‘
“He told his next story to some who were complacently pleased with themselves over their moral performance and looked down their noses at the common people: “Two men went up to the Temple to [...]

GW – Genuineness: What Is “Real”?

Yesterday, I talked a bit about the realities of our modern techno-culture which mitigate against genuineness in our relationships. The world flashes images to us that are not trustworthy, and calls us to become like these images. We then find ourselves, on the one hand, lured to become like the world’s image of success, and [...]

GW – Genuineness: Being “Real”

(My apologies for not blogging in a long time – we’ll try to be more faithful over the next two weeks!)
Get “real”. This is a well-used (one might argue over-used) expression in our contemporary dialogue. It seems that one of the un-desired fruits of modern living is a brand of ingenuine living, leaving people today [...]

GW – Committed: Disciplined Worship

The fifth hallmark of genuine worship is that it is a commitment. That it is a part of our :discipleship” … which comes from the same word as “discipline” … which calls to mind this passage from the book of Hebrews:
“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a [...]

GW – Corporate: How WE Pray

(Kudos to my lovely wife for reminding me of the truth that the Lord’s Prayer is a call to corporate worship!)
LUKE 11
One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” He said to them, [...]

GW – Corporate: Passion Within Prescription

More on David, from 2 Samuel 6…
As I mentioned yesterday, I believe too much is made of David’s passionate dancing before the Ark of the Covenant, especially when we attempt to apply his experience to our individual experiences in corporate worship in the church.
I think it is healthy to see just how much prescription there [...]

GW – Corporate: A “We” Thing

So far, we’ve said that worship is to be 1) Inspired (God must be there), 2) True (according to Biblical prescriptions), and 3) Transforming (encounters with God always result in changed lives). Our fourth hallmark of worship is that is a “we” thing, not an “I” thing. Worship is corporate.

In much contemporary worship in our [...]