Say those words as much as you want but you need me like I need you.

Happy

50th 

Post!

    And happy Monday....

    Though both are lame reasons to celebrate, one is still less enthusiastic than the other.  Can you guess which?

    Yesterday I went to New Life Christian Fellowship for church.  It was an incredible experience, but I don't think I want to go there again.  It was very different from what I'm used to in a church.  They are non-denominational and charismatic, and they have an interesting set up for their services.  The one yesterday was 2 hours long (and none of the regulars seemed too restless, so I'm pretty sure they are generally that length) the first hour being worship and healing and the second being a sermon-type object.  

    The worship was very individualistic.  Some people grabbed these flag, banner things and stood around the room waving them at their leisure.  Some people were dancing and flailing themselves around, some people were kneeling, some were sitting, some were standing.  There were only four or so songs sung, but as I said, the worship was half of the service.  At one point, a woman from the makeshift choir went up to the microphone and shared a prophecy she had had about freeing people from their cages of worship and then she prayed over everyone in the audience who felt the trappedness she described.

    The sermon was about climbing mountains of culture and exerting control over a sphere of influence for God's glory.  There was very little scripture mentioned, and certainly none that really drove the meaning, which is what I am used to.  The pastor mentioned the cage prophecy again, and then at the end, a woman gave a testimony about how the cage prophecy and the sermon applied to her life.  And then when the pastor finished the prayer and told us to go in peace, only my boyfriend and I left.  Everyone else just sat there...

    The reason I thought this was such an incredible experience is that it made me start to think.  Why do I have such a problem taking these people seriously?  Is my faith second to my logic?  I mean, I know I have issue with people who say that, if someone dies young or of a disease, it was because they did not have enough faith.  But the whole service caught me off guard.  I wonder if there's not some happy medium God wants us to reach, somewhere between scriptureless faith and faithless scripture, between charismatics and intellectualists.  I believe in the miracles of God, but do I trust that they will happen?

Anyway, just pondering, and putting off writing my paper.

<3>spadeALLcross