New Years Resolutions

You may also like...

22 Responses

  1. LInn says:

    Michael,

    My take on New Year’s resolutions-if it’s something I really need to do I should start now (especially if it’s an important area of spiritual obedience). Otherwise, I’m grateful to be alive and breathing on January 1, and thankful for another year of life. That’s a lot, I think!

  2. Michael says:

    Linn,

    Indeed it is!

  3. filistine says:

    I/we can do better–a daily mantra, not a yearly one.

  4. Captain Kevin says:

    I needed this reminder. I’m going to share this with my oldest daughter. She’s 41 years old and was diagnosed with Parkinson’s a few months back. She’s regressing quickly. The worst part is that she now wants absolutely nothing to do with God. Please pray for her.

  5. Michael says:

    CK,

    Very sorry to hear that…it’s hard to get our arms around all the pain in a fallen world.

  6. Em Wegemer says:

    CK, praying for your daughter…
    Hopefully He will let her know that John 3:16 & 17 are not a joke

  7. Muff Potter says:

    “Trust God, they say.”

    “You’re safe, they say.”

    “All things work together for your good, they say.”

    I agree with you Michael, and I also think that these sayings can be flippant, trite, and weaponized.
    They’re a lot easier to spout than to actually get out of the box and go out of your way to help somebody who’s hurting.

  8. Officerhoppy says:

    Michael
    This is my favorite part of you OP: ā€œ For years my only resolutions have been to persevere in the faith and be faithful to what I believe.

    I’ve done neither well, but here I am.

    He’s been faithful.ā€

    That’s how I feel too—all the time.

    I tend to think that here in America, we have wrongly interpreted and applied the scriptures thru a Western lens.

    Often times when a person approaches the scriptures the question asked by readers is ā€œWhat does this passage mean to me?ā€. But you can’t ask that question until you’ve answered another question and that is ā€œWhat does it say?ā€

    But we Americans can’t help ourselves. We are self absorbed (for the most part). We evaluate everything thru the lens of ā€œwhat’s in it for meā€

    It’s one reason, I believe, that worship is so meaningless in church. The heart of worship is stated in Psalm 29 ā€œGive unto the Lord the glory due His Nameā€

    We’ll give—-but we feel the need to be rewarded for our giving.

    So most songs we sing in church are ā€œmeā€ focused.

    That’s not to say there’s no place for reflecting on yourself when singing church music.

    The Psalms are full of real-life self talk. David and other Psalmists speak openly about things like anxiety, doubt, depression—even rage.

    But what sets these Psalms apart is that the writers aren’t using their own writing as a mood booster. They might mourn their loneliness, confess their fear or sic God on their enemies! But you never get the sense that they’re looking in the mirror, trying to pump themselves up to feel ā€œblessedā€ That’s not the goal of the Psalms and it shouldn’t be our goal either.

    Worship isn’t about looking within ourselves to find the strength and resolve to do better. It’s about confessing our own inability to do better!

    It’s about taking a deliberate break from making much of ourselves and making much of God instead.

  9. Em Wegemer says:

    Good words, Officer Holly @3:29

  10. Em Wegemer says:

    Okay, I wrote _”Hoppy” and spell check changed it. šŸ‘Ž šŸ‘Ž

  11. Officerhoppy says:

    Em
    Hahaha

  12. Captain Kevin says:

    Hoppy,
    Damn, that was good!

  13. Captain Kevin says:

    Along those same lines:

    ā€œWE WORSHIP GOD because He is worthy and not because we as worshipers get something out of it. If we look upon worship only as a means of getting something from God, rather than giving something to God, then we make God our servant instead of our Lord, and the elements of worship become a cheap formula for selfish gratification. We then become like those backslidden priests that the prophet Malachi denounced, men who said, ā€œIt is useless to serve God; what profit is it that we have kept His ordinance, and that we have walked as mourners before the LORD of hosts?ā€ (Mal. 3: 14).ā€
    Warren Wiersbe

  14. Michael says:

    Officerhoppy,

    I’m so disconnected from evangelicalism and evangelical worship that I’m not qualified to speak…I just know what I see online…and it’s usually ….different than I prefer…

  15. Officerhoppy says:

    Michael
    I’ve been raised since birth in Evangelicalism and know no other way. But you have oft spoken of a different way to worship, serve and understand God. I would truly love to see what that looks like. Attempts have been made by you and others to explain the difference but to completely ā€œget itā€ I probable need to experience it. Can you recommend a local study or gathering of folks?

  16. Michael says:

    Officerhoppy,

    Honestly, there are none around here that I know of.
    That doesn’t mean they don’t exist, but I’m not aware of them.

    I am utterly Anglican in my convictions about worship, but have great respect for traditional Lutheran and Methodist churches that are liturgically based.

    I am utterly persuaded that a liturgical worship centered on the Eucharist is the basis for all correct worship and the “study” should be brief and from the readings of the day.

    There are other days to teach the Bible or in Sunday School classes before worship.

    The music should be theologically sound…and the hymns of the church are tried and true.

    On the other hand, I hope to have the first Anglican Church with a black choir…

  17. Officerhoppy says:

    ā€œ On the other hand, I hope to have the first Anglican Church with a black choirā€¦ā€

    I’ll be your first convert if you put together a choir of black folks!!

  18. Michael says:

    Interesting (to me) sidenote.

    I’m teaching through Daniel…and realized going through the first five chapters that I knew them well because of the songs that I learned as a kid…on old Johnny Cash records from the Sun years.

    I’ve been tempted to play them during services…

    There was a time when biblical themes were a big part of pop culture…

  19. Em Wegemer says:

    CK @648pm
    Good old Warren Diets be. šŸ‘ šŸ‘

  20. Em Wegemer says:

    NOT AGAIN!
    “Wiersbe!”

  21. Muff Potter says:

    Michael wrote:
    “I am utterly persuaded that a liturgical worship centered on the Eucharist is the basis for all correct worship and the ā€œstudyā€ should be brief and from the readings of the day.
    There are other days to teach the Bible or in Sunday School classes before worship.”

    I think that the Bible suffers from two extremes.
    Not giving it the credence it deserves at one polarity, and making way too much of it at the other.

  22. Michael says:

    Muff,

    That does happen…I have a high regard for Bible teaching, but also as much for prayer and worship in word and song.
    A typical Anglican service is an hour long and a quarter is given to the homily…there is much more to do.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

%d bloggers like this: