This is the crisis we’re in:  God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness.  They went for the darkness because they were really not interested in pleasing God.  Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won’t come near it, fearing a painful exposure.  But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is.  (John 3:19-21, MSG)

When Jesus Christ knocks at the door, He finds two types of men.  One man runs.  The other man opens the door.  One man’s commitment is insincere.  The other man is eager to go to work with God.  One man fears his charade will be exposed.  The other man sees himself as a work in progress.  One man knows that he habitually lies to himself.  The other man works with God to deal with his shortcomings.  One man makes himself scarce so no one will see who he really is.  The other man allows others to see his progress.  One man pretends to know God.  The other man partners with God and gives Him credit for the good work that the truth accomplishes in his life.

When I first started working in the field of mental health, I was trained to do patient assessments – a task known as intake.  This involved asking a series of questions to determine how serious a potential patient’s depression, addiction, or difficulties were and then recommend several avenues of treatment.  I enjoyed the process because it helped people squarely face their worst fears.

I also learned how to “read” people.  From the get-go, I could tell from the responses to my questions whether I would be able to help.  A person was either in denial, or he was broken and real.  A person either pretended everything was fine when her whole world was collapsing, or she was in touch with the truth and ready to listen.

Most people first contacted us by phone.  I often began by asking, “Why did you call us today?”

“My wife says I have to see a counselor or else she will leave me,” was a standard response.

Another would answer, “I was listening to your program on the radio and I heard the guy talk about symptoms of depression.  Well, I felt like he was describing me.  I couldn’t believe it.”

See the difference?  One guy says, “It’s not me, but if I don’t call in, my wife’s going to leave me.  I don’t really need this.”

The other guys says, “Yeah, it’s me.  I think I need some help.”

When the mirror of truth is turned on a man, he will either face it or flee.  If he chooses to flee, it’s because the reality of his life, with all its destructive behavior, seems too fearful to face head-on.  It’s easier to walk away.”

More than 90 percent of the men indicated (anonymously) that lust, porn, and sexual fantasy were their top reasons for spiritual disconnection.  Many men took advantage of the survey’s anonymity to reveal their involvement in love affairs, their compulsive addiction to pornography, and the inner struggles that plague their consciences and drain their spirits.  Shockingly, more than fifty men at the retreat admitted they were having – or have had – an extramarital affair.  Equally shocking was the fact that the majority of the men were serving in key leadership positions throughout the church.  One man told a familiar story:

I know it’s wrong.  I know I shouldn’t do that, say that, or watch that.  It feels wrong, but I do it anyway.  I always say to myself that I’ll start all over tomorrow.  Just one more day, then I’ll start over on Monday.  I can change.  I’ll just do it later.

Intellectually and mentally, this fellow knows God’s standard for such behavior.  Practically and experientially, however, he’s experienced an erosion of character that is failing to stop the landslides of failure.

This struggle isn’t limited to the pews of the church – it also exists at the front of the church.  The recent sexual-abuse crisis among the Roman Catholic priesthood is an obvious example, but there are many other problems among those of us who would never molest a child.  When pastor Rick Warren surveyed a number of pastors, more than 30 percent admitted they had visited an Internet porn site within the past thirty days.  Nearly one-third of pastors are involved with Internet porn – and that does not take into account the magazines, videos, and other forms of sexual gratification being used away from the marital bed.

My point?  You are not alone when you admit that you have something less than sexual integrity.

derek, for example, knew God’s standard, but he began to entertain a lie regarding his relationships with women other than his wife.  It wasn’t what he did at first.  It was what he allowed.  Derek allowed himself to cultivate close friendships with female coworkers.  He enjoyed their camaraderie and appreciated their compliments.  This caused him to send a few not-so-innocent signals that later came back to haunt him.

Then, at a staff Christmas party, Derek’s wife witnessed firsthand the bonds he had formed with several ladies at work.  They acted as though she wasn’t even there – by how they talked with him and placed their hands on his shoulder.  Derek acted embarrassed and adopted an aw-shucks tone.  Nothing was happening, right?  He hadn’t stepped over the line physically, so this was acceptable behavior for a married father of three.

His wife was not so accommodating.  Actually, it gave her the ammunition she needed to spring her own ambush and subsequent departure from the marriage.  She confronted him with her suspicions, inferred the necessary conclusions to justify her actions, and then coolly announced that she wanted a separation.  Within a year, they were divorced.  A beautiful Christian family was blown apart because a husband and father had slowly but deliberately allowed a small lie to live and grow in his heart.

The wise father of Proverbs implores the son to “watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life” (Proverbs 4:23, NASB).  But Derek thought he could handle an innocent indulgence.  I’ve discovered that this cancerous mind-set is widespread.

Men, we are watchmen who must stand guard and diligently screen what we allow into our hearts for consumption.  Otherwise, the full cycle of good intention, failure, and guilt repeats itself and will keep repeating itself until a final, painful event that leads to devastation.  The big issues that impact our spiritual health and relationships require more than just abstaining from certain behaviors or words.  It is an issue of the heart, mind, and soul.

During a break at a men’s conference, a fellow came to me, shook my hand, and took a deep breath before asking a good, selfish question.  ”So, what’s the payoff?” he asked.

“Freedom,” I answered.

King Solomon explained it another way: “He who walks in integrity walks securely” (Proverbs 10:9 NASB).  For God’s man, the payoff is a confident, secure walk with God.  With undivided loyalty, his choices are clear.  With no duplicity, he has no hangovers of character.  When he’s away on business, he is the same person as he is at home.  He is the sam man on Friday and Saturday night as he is on Sunday mornings.  He’s a father who says what he does and does what he says.  He is a husband his wife can trust and follow.

God’s man has moved beyond the payoff of instant gratification.  Imagine it!  Feeling good is replaced with feeling right about yourself, no matter what your circumstances or your mood, you are content and connected to God, your family, and your purpose as God’s man.  Now that’s security without stress.

Our wise king also pointed out that the “integrity of the upright guides them” (Proverbs 11:3).  We see this as meaning that if you are not divided inwardly in your heart or character, the voices representing competing loyalties will be muted.  Instead, your spiritual focus will work to provide clear direction and guidance.  Your intuition will be guided by your spiritual commitments to the point where good decision making becomes second nature.

I once struggled so hard to make choices that God never intended to be difficult.  Putting my wife first.  Time with my family.  Giving to the church.  Boundaries with alcohol.  Full disclosure in my marriage.  Making God my first appointment of the day.  Sharing God’s love with the people He brings my way.  But then an undivided heart for God brought freedom to really live, and these choices weren’t difficult anymore.

It also brought one more important thing – an unbending spine.  An undivided heart eclipses fear.  If we’re to score big for God, we must have more than an undivided heart.  We must also have a spine.

–Stephen Arterburn

Do you have a spiritual mentor?  Does he seem so far advanced in his faith that you wonder whether you could do anything productive for the Kingdom?  What does Greg say about such “heroes of the faith” and our capabilities?

What are Greg’s four hard realities of spiritual growth?  1) Spiritual growth is perplexing (from our perspective); 2) Spiritual growth takes time (lots of it); 3) Spiritual growth hurts; 4) Spiritual growth doesn’t ultimately satisfy.  What lessons ought we learn from them?  1) Though most of the time, we don’t have the foggiest idea of what God is up to, I can be perplexed but not despairing (2 Timothy 1:12); 2) Spiritual fruit is like any other fruit – it becomes… over time, an important factor in real change; 3) Change happens in people’s lives, but generally it doesn’t happen unless it’s more painful to stay the same than to change; and hardship reminds us of a precious truth: “… we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves” (2 Corinthians 4:7); 4) We can experience a measure of fulfillment, but there’s always something missing… until our Christian hope is ultimately realized in heaven (Philippians 3:14; 2 Corinthians 5:2; Romans 8:23; 1 Peter 1:13).  Cite at least one passage of Scripture that Greg used to make each point.

From Truth to Experience, part 1

1)  Two and a half years ago, Chuck Colson wrote an op-ed for Christianity Today wherein he wrote: “… even when Christians know correct doctrine, they are afraid of speaking the truth for fear of offending others.  What right have I to impose my beliefs on others? is a thought that shapes too many of us believers.  This is why J.I. Packer, on his 80th birthday, said that the greatest challenge of evanglicalism is to recatechize our churches.  More than ever, Christians need to be able to speak intelligently and courageously about the hope that lies within… Orwell was right: In a crisis, we often have a duty to restate the obvious… The greatest challenge for serious Christians today is not reinventing Christianity, but rediscovering its core teachings.”

Where does Greg’s citation of the Barna Research Group’s statistics fit in here?  That many Christians are woefully ill-educated about cardinal doctrines of their own faith.  Are you prepared to “make a defense” of the faith “once for all delivered to the saints” – whether to an atheist neighbor, the agnostic at work, or the Jehovah’s Witness or Mormon on your doorstep?  Could you make a strong, biblical case 1) for the existence of moral absolutes and their being reflective of God’s character; 2) for the universal violation of those absolutes by Man; 3) that salvation is by grace and not by works; 4) for the deity of Christ and His exclusive and necessary role in effecting our salvation?  How?

2)  How does the adoption of post-modern relativism threaten our ability to make that defense?  At a very basic level, the Christian faith, among all the world’s religions, is uniquely founded upon the objective truth of a number of historical events.  Once you give up the very idea of Truth, it’s impossible to sustain their defense.

3)  What does Greg cite as a particularly ubiquitous form of relativism in the church today?  He characterizes it as “Ouija Bible.”  What are the consequences of believing that “the Holy Spirit gave me this verse?”  ”Truths” are obtained by one person that are not applicable in the same way to anyone else.  What does Greg mean by his axiom, “Never read a Bible verse”?  It is inappropriate to obtain some “truth” from a single verse without any context.  Have you had occasions where someone has drawn a mistaken conclusion from a single Bible verse without context?

4)  Greg’s use of 1 Corinthians 14:7-9 illustrates his treatment of what relativistic trend?  Looking at the Bible as something that needs to be decoded… the analogy of the bugle: is it sounding “Charge” or “Retreat” or “Taps”?

From Truth to Experience, part II

1)  Summarize Greg’s illustration of coaching methods and quarterbacks and apply it to the Christian life.  How are you doing on your own prep?

2)  In his section on “The Still, Small Voice” Greg argues against the very common notion that prayer is a two-way personal conversation with God.  He subsequently characterizes this as the “Hearing the Voice of God” doctrine.  What are the three claims (whether explicit or implicit) made by advocates of hearing the voice of God?  1)  Every Christian is entitled to special inerrant, personal revelation from God.  2)  We can each develop the ability to get our own special revelation from God.  3)  This revelation in on par with Scripture in authority, though it has a different application (i.e. for the individual, not the whole church, and is, therefore, not canon Scripture).  What is the common result of the introduction of additional sources of revelation?  The secondary becomes a primary: Examples would be the plethora of Watchtower publications, Mormon revelations (Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price, Doctrines and Covenants, pronouncements of the Prophets from Joseph Smith through Brigham Young and down to contemporary Presidents), the writings of Mary Baker Eddy, the Magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church and ex cathedra papal pronouncements… and Christians hearing the voice of God.

3)  What distinction does Greg draw between “Ouija Bible” and “Hearing God’s Voice”?  The latter is not explicitly relativistic while the former is.  However, operating under the tenets of “Hearing God’s Voice” has a relativizing influence on the church because it focuses on experience rather than on God’s Word.  According to Greg, why don’t we need to “hear the voice of God?”  First, because the Bible doesn’t teach it (when you examine John 10 – My sheep hear my voice” in context, the claim fails); second, because it is impossible to learn to hear the voice of God.

4)  When Greg takes a stand against “Hearing the Voice of God” and people claim that he is thereby limiting God, what is his response?  The issue is not alleged limitations on God; rather, the real issue is: What does the Bible teach?  Does the Bible teach that or imply that every Christian is entitled to special revelations from God?  Or, does the Bible teach or imply that we have to develop a special spiritual skill in order for us to “hear” His revelation?  The answer to both questions is “No”.

5)  In the section, Re-arming the Army, what is Greg’s prescription for remedying the problem?  1)  We have to quit trying to hear the voice of God, which the Bible doesn’t tell us to do.  2)  We have to start learning to understand and obey the Word of God, which the Bible tells us to do all the time.  Until that happens, we are listening for a voice He hasn’t promised while (largely) ignoring the Word He has already given; we are not giving first attention to first things.

What if every driver decided to ignore the center yellow lines? Smash-ups would rival apocalyptic visions. Those colored splotches in the roadway keep us on track. They keep us safe.

In our spiritual journey, praise and thanksgiving are like a yellow line, keeping our hearts on track. But it doesn’t take much to veer off course, does it? Think about the Levites. They were set apart to offer thanks and praise to God every morning and every night, day in and day out, in a never-ending cycle (see v. 30). It was their job. Forced “thank yous.” Praise, praise, praise.

Imagine the temptations inherent in this routine. Did easy-to-repeat prayers take the place of petitions motivated by full hearts and genuine gratitude? Did their minds wander as the words bubbled out? “Hear me, O God. Here we go again.”

We’ve all heard of the doctor who’s in terrible physical condition or the plumber whose house has leaky pipes. When you do something for a living, as these people do, it’s sometimes hard to stay motivated to keep your own life in order. This is what it may have been like for the Levites as well.

Praise and thanks are key ingredients in a healthy relationship with God. We need them as much as we need fresh air. Praise isn’t just an outward gesture; it reveals what’s inside us – the attitude we have toward God. When we offer meaningful thanks, we acknowledge that God’s goodness deserves our recognition and awe. Every gift comes from His hand. Nothing we’ve done grants us the sun’s bright rising or peaceful slumber at night – it all comes from God’s good hand.

How do we make our delight in God genuine and true every day? Unlike the Levites, God doesn’t demand that we follow certain daily requirements. Maybe that makes the routine more difficult. We are responsible for taking the time to bow before him and offer our praise and thanks.

When we skip this routine, we become like those drivers who disregard the center line – a potential accident waiting to happen. But when we take the time to regularly focus on and praise the God who loves us, he helps us to stay on track.

You knew that guy in high school – the guy with all the money, the looks, the clothes and the fastest car.  He was the popular one, the guy everyone liked to hang out with, the one who was a lock for being voted “Most Likely to Succeed.”  But instead of taking advantage of all these advantages, he decided to spend his time chasing girls and partying, to the dismay of his parents and the ruin of his GPA.

Trust Fund Babies.  College Playboys.  Frat-house Social Committee Chairman.  To direct these terms at other guys is to accuse them of riding Daddy’s coat-tails and to call into question their work ethic and the seriousness with which they take life.  Those who have less in the world can only scratch their heads and wonder what they could do with the same perks.

Now, this is a stereotype, to be sure.  A few bad apples don’t spoil the whole barrel in this case.  But as we can’t think back on that one guy and not wonder what happened, so also we can’t read the story of Samson and not wonder what went haywire.

Mighty Samson, who has never lost a battle, is captured by a woman, tortured by his enemies and enslaved until his death.  The mighty warrior who has killed scores of his enemies with rudimentary tools and with his bare hands trips up on the most obvious of ploys.  The one who was to be dedicated to God’s service for the purpose of saving his people ends up in bondage to the very people he was intended to conquer.

What was he thinking?  How could he have subjected himself to this kind of trickery?  Didn’t Delilah ask him repeatedly about the secret of his strength, and couldn’t he see where this was leading?  Did he forget that the Philistines had come into her house and tried to capture him on a number of occasions?  Or did he just enjoy playing this game, knowing he couldn’t lose?

The sad fact is that Samson was just as human as you and I.  He allowed his eyes to lead him astray, and he allowed his pride to strategize for him.  In some sense he was a victim of his own success – and he learned the hard way that even a slugger with a perfect batting average can strike out when it matters most.

So what can we learn from Samson’s story today?  Were you the one in high school who squandered your advantages and made foolish choices?  Can you think back on times when you deliberately disobeyed what you knew to be God’s will for your life – and paid the price?  If so, gain encouragement from the end of Samson’s story.  God gave him a second chance to show that he was God’s man, and Samson struck a crippling blow to his enemies.  God also gives us more chances than we can count to return to him and rededicate ourselves to his mission in the world.

If stories like these teach us anything, it’s that senior adults are capable of amazing things.

That was certainly true of Joshua. Even though he was probably nearing the century mark, God had a plan for him. Age didn’t matter to God. Rather than telling Joshua to rest, retire or step aside for a younger replacement, God instructed him to get to work.

Perhaps we should take a cue from God in our attitude toward older adults. From an early age most of us were taught to respect our elders. However, too often we confuse politeness for respect. What’s the difference? Politeness might include offering a hand to senior adults when they struggle with steps or making awkward small talk with aging relatives at family gatherings. Respect, however, would include realizing that with their years of challenges and experiences these adults are a rich, God-given resource.

In this age of politically correct labels, perhaps a better name for senior citizens is “ultra-experienced adults.” God entrusted Joshua with an important duty a quarter century after Joshua reached retirement age because of his vast military experience and knowledge.

Think of the older adults you know. How does God want to use them in your life? What experiences of theirs might benefit you? What life lessons have they learned that might keep you from making a bad decision? And what might you be able to learn from hearing their stories and asking for their advice?

We had a BALL at the Family Freeway Series on July 2!  70 of us went to see the Angels play the Dodgers at Angel’s Stadium.  Join us for our next event!  Check your Resource Folder or the table in the lobby on Sunday morning to keep up on the latest events!  Or contact Amber McEwen at amcewen@northpointcorona.org.

Doing more puts a man in control… Being more puts God in control.

Doing more is a safe style for men… Being more is risky.

Doing more implies there’s an end to it… Being more is a process – fluid and unpredictable.

Doing more lets a man pick the changes he needs to make… Being more allows God to reveal the changes a man needs to make.

Doing more requires trying harder… Being more relies on training humbly.

Doing more engenders spiritual pride… Being more produces humility through surrender.

Doing more is about correcting behavior patterns… Being more is about connecting with God’s character.

Doing more attaches to the public persona… Being more reaches the private self – the man God wants to reach.

Nevertheless, Great Books editor, Mortimer J. Adler, considered those same writers to be the most impactful that western civilization had to offer.  Adler divided the various works among four different categories: philosophy and theology, history, science, and literature.  He also conceived of the multitude of issues dealt with by these men as the Great Ideas, of which there were 102.  They ranged from “Angel” through “Education”, “Logic”, “Nature”, and “Sin” to “World”.  Each work dealt with multiple ideas.  Dr. Adler pointed out that of the 102 Great Ideas, three of them (Truth, Goodness and Beauty) have been described by some as “transcendental” because “everything that is is in some measure or manner subject to denomination as true or false, good or evil, beautiful or ugly.”  Others have believed that they ought to be assigned to particular areas of subject matter: that is, “the true to thought and logic, the good to action and morals, and the beautiful to enjoyment and aesthetics.”  Whatever the case, it’s easy to understand why these three, as Adler says, “form a triad of terms which have been discussed together throughout the tradition of western thought.”  And, it hardly needs noting that these three ideas have been extensively dealt with in the Bible.

In his introductory essay on the idea of Beauty in Volume 2 (entitled The Great Ideas – A Syntopicon I), Adler notes that “Truth, goodness, and beauty, singly and together, have been the focus of the age-old controversy concerning the absolute and the relative, the objective and the subjective, the universal and the individual.”… Hmm.  The whole idea of “relative” and “subjective” is causing me to have visions of elephants and blind men!

Moving on, it should be pointed out that the ideas of Truth and Goodness have been much more a part of objective-subjective discussions than has Beauty.  And even when Christian philosophers have once again in a major way taken up the task of contending for objective standards of truth and goodness, the idea that “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” (a very subjective/relativistic notion) has largely escaped attention.

Interestingly, persuasive arguments have been provided by Christian theologians and philosophers throughout history for treating all three ideas (but particularly truth and goodness) as absolute, objective and universal things.  This is backed up in John 14 where Jesus tells His disciples (and us) that He is – among other things – “the truth”.  And, knowing what we know of Jesus, would it not seem incoherent to say He was arguing for a relativistic view of the matter?  Imagine: “Well, Jesus, that may be true for you, but…..!!”

Furthermore, a biblical apologia for an absolute/objective/universal stance regarding the “triad” can go beyond Jesus’ claim.  Paul’s famous exhortation to the Philippians stands out: “Finally brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things” (4:8).  Whether noun or adjective, every single characteristic mentioned by Paul has something to do with Truth or Goodness or Beauty!

Before getting to Beauty specifically, I want to provide a recent example of how the other two ideas have been dealt with.  In his wonderfully accessible book Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air (co-authored with Frank Beckwith), and in frequent public lectures, Greg Koukl has argued that the whole idea of relativism – in whatever realm – commits suicide; that is, it is logically self-refuting; or, as the late Ronald Nash used to say (with a twinkle in his eye!), “self-referentially absurd”.  For example, with specific regard to ethics (that is, the good – or lack thereof – in action), Koukl gets to the nub of things by asking, “Who is the moral hero of ethical relativism?  That is, what do we call a person who, more than anything else, is characterized by marching to the beat of his own drum?”  The answer: a sociopath!  Koukl’s conclusion: If the moral hero of your view of what constitutes good behavior is a sociopath, it is bankrupt as a system of morality.  In truth, it cannot even be considered to be a system of morality at all.  Moreover, it stands as a significant danger to society.

Our specific concern this morning, however, is Beauty.  As mentioned, of the three ideas, Beauty has more consistently been thought of in relative, subjective, and individual terms than the other two.  I’ve already noted how prevalent this idea is by citing the old cliche, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”  But, is it really?!  Is Beauty entirely a relativistic thing?  Even in the absence of the Christian view of God, Aristotle regarded Beauty as an objective thing defined by proportionality, simplicity, harmony and complexity.  Later, both Thomas Aquinas (a medieval Roman Catholic) and Jonathan Edwards (an 18th century Protestant), coming from Christian perspectives, wrote in very similar veins.

More recently, R.C. Sproul has not only validated Aristotle’s view but also posited the idea that God is both the source and norm not only of Truth and Goodness but also Beauty.  That is, He is the standard by which all three of these basic ideas must be gauged.  In his notes for lecture number 3 (“Is Beauty in the Eye of the Beholder?”) – part of his DVD lecture series entitled, Recovering the Beauty of the Arts – Sproul concludes that “we see that historically Beauty was not determined by arbitrary feelings, or chaos, but was based on the interaction of the above four principles (i.e., proportionality, etc.).  All of these principles, Aristotle rightly understood, do not occur randomly, and they can be applied to every work of art regardless of form.”

With that in mind, in Psalm 27 David writes:

One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord, and to meditate in his temple.

Similarly, we have David’s Song of Thanks as recorded for us in 1 Chronicles 16.  [By the way, a lot of it is repeated in Psalm 96].  In the song, the king mentions God’s glory throughout – a word that speaks of majesty, worth and splendor.  David then calls on the people to worship the Lord “in the splendor (sometimes translated, ‘beauty’) of holiness.”  In other words, Yahweh – the True God, the God we are to worship – can be thought of as The Beautiful One.

Now, I find it fascinating what God says when He describes for Moses what Aaron’s priestly garments are to be made of and how they’re to be decorated.  First of all, they’re to be made with gold!  This is immediately followed by mention of blue and purple and scarlet yarns – the three colors of fabric that were the most costly to produce! – and “fine, twisted linen.”  And throughout all these descriptions, God says they are to be made “for glory and for beauty” (Ex 28:2)!!  Why?!  It is because these qualities reflect God’s character.  Additionally, it’s interesting to note that the first people in the Bible who are said to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God are the artisans that made everything having to do with the tabernacle and the priests – all the articles made for glory and for beauty!

With the Bible introducing the idea of beauty as applied to the priests’ attire – and, in light of the tearing of the veil, that of the High Priest in particular – does this say anything to us today about our attire in formal worship?  Sproul says it does.  The purpose of the beauty of Aaron’s garments was not to prompt him to think of himself as really spiffy!  Rather, it was a means of consecrating him to his various tasks.  Therefore, since we comprise a priesthood of all believers, should the controlling element in our Sunday dress be comfort?  I’ve argued for some time now that much of modern worship has come to be about “us”… that is, “me” writ large.  And comfort – in dress, atmosphere, etc. – is just part of the picture.  And, this is going to be way countercultural, but since we have been given the privilege of dealing directly with the Living God, ought not our attire on Sundays be more about glory and beauty than comfort?  I leave that to you to ponder.

Finally, though , something else to think about: Handel’s Messiah: ugly or beautiful?  Serrano’s Piss Christ?  Macbeth? Yorkminster?  Gwyneth Paltrow?  Reims cathedral?  Psalm 23?  Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater?  Rosie O’Donnell?  Hugh Jackman?  Leonardo’s Mona Lisa?  Grapes of Wrath? Psalm 51?!  Elphabah?  Or, Glinda?!  Much Ado About Nothing?  The South Bronx?  The prologue to John’s gospel?  The New World Translation?  Pick something/someone; and try to discern God’s judgment!