I just finished ironing over 30 pieces of clothes though I was tired when I came home. Since I would have to iron them eventually, I might as well do them now.
I know I have not been blogging regularly as much as I would love to but for today I feel compelled to do so as I was troubled by a service I attended at a certain church in the east which I shall not name. I was invited by a friend as her church had a guest speaker from Chicago, USA.
Right from the start of the service I was already feeling uncomfortable though prior to that I was actually all excited to worship God through praise, listening to His Word and of course fellowship with a group of new siblings-in-Christ.
The words of one of the songs during the praise session were questionable as the worship leader kept repeating this phrase, "Jesus, lift me higher" I felt that when we are offering praise to God that Jesus should be the One being lifted higher and not us. I decided not to sing it as the words did not make sense at all.
Next is the volume in the hall which was so loud that it became more irritable than edifying. Some may dispute that maybe older people like me may not be used to such high volume but on my left, there was this group of youths who also commented the same thing.
I also feel that nowadays certain denominations of churches are creating too much hype in the stage settings... and it is already very sad that the word "stage" (mentioned by the senior pastor) is being used because that denotes a performance rather than a platform where people are drawn into the presence of God. "Chancel" would have been a better word.
Anyway, back to the topic of hype, I feel that wasted finances are channelled to buying too many hi-tech equipment - on the "stage" there were like 6 huge LCD televisions, three big projection screens, a camera mounted on a boom which was super distracting as it kept going up and down when the worship session was on, colourful lights flashing here and there as if it was a disco floor. There was also this video person who was constantly walking across the "stage" featuring each musician who was playing and the sad part was that every one of them was placed on a raised platform as if they were the main focus of the worship... to a certain extent, it felt as if it was. Why did I say that? When the camera was not featuring them they were basically motionless as they played but when the video-person came to them, they started to show off their moves by twisting and turning. Hmmm...
Yes, this service was mainly for the youths but we just need to be careful that worship is not about letting our emotions get the better of us but to simply go back to the heart of worship which is none other than focusing on God Himself. We need not have to feature musicians etc on screen because then that would kind of give the glory to them. Appreciating them for their service is different from featuring them so prominently when God should have been the One in focus.
Then came the speaker. I was all ready to listen to the Word being preached but it was not to be - he started making some advertisements about his products and that went on for a good 10 minutes.
After that commercial break, he went on to thanking the church for making him more well-known by setting up a facebook account about him and how he felt flattered etc. Man! I just wanted to tell him to just move on instead of trying to glorify himself on "stage."
Finally his "sermon" but throughout there were more questions in me than being edified by the Word. He was preaching on bringing the future to the present and how that would make Christians more victorious etc. It is okay to trust God for our future because He is all-knowing but it is different when the whole message he was giving sounded as if we are telling God what we want our future to be like and that He must jolly-well bless our desires. It is no doubt we can ask God for anything in His name but there is also the element of having to be in accordance to His will.
Then he was telling the congregation that they can tell God what they would like to be - millionaires, beauty pageant winner, CEOs, President of the country... basically all the glorified positions one could think of but is that what life is about? It felt really wrong when he kept repeating these positions over and over and over again. Then what happens to the less glorified jobs that the world has labelled them to be which are also available in this world like being roadsweepers, cleaners, janitors, etc... are these jobs not also blessed by God?
How about being called into full-time ministry or for that matter not being able to obtain that position we want, does that mean God is not blessing us? I just feel it is dangerous to give people empty promises as it would stumble them.
What made me really mad was when the preacher used God's name in vain... a couple of times he used phrases like "Oh my God!" and "My God!" Hey, as a supposedly renowned speaker, he should be careful in using these phrases so loosely. Sigh.
Then he was preaching about Jacob and how he fell in love with Rachel but in the end he was cheated into marrying Leah, Rachel's sister. That was okay till he mentioned this point where Jacob was disgusted about Leah being fat.
How can you put fat people down in your sermon when God has created every one in His image and that none should be discriminated against? It was really sad. I was telling my sister this - if it was not for my friend's invite, I would have left the service long time ago!
Oh yah, I forgot to mention that throughout his sermon, secular songs were played in the background to enhance the atmosphere of his message which I felt was using this medium to play the minds and emotions of the congregation.
I had to fill up a guest's card at the end of the service and I was told to rate the service... is it that important?! I rated it as 4 out of 10 and I also remarked in the card that I would want to speak to the pastor on the above-mentioned.
One positive point I must say about this church is that the connection from entering the church to leaving it was great... the greeters, ushers and even the congregation made newcomers like me very welcomed. This observation I would take it back to my own church and see how we can work on that to bring every individual into the presence of God and making them comfortable.
Anyway, after that I had dinner with my sister and two other friends at Toa Payoh and had a good time of catching up with them.
Okay, I am tired and have spoken enough.
Good night, world! :)
