God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. (1 John 4:16)
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these. (Mark 12:30, 31)
Love must be sincere. (Romans 12:9)
Do everything in love. (1 Corinthians 16:14)
If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. (1 John 3:17, 18)
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. (John 13:34, 35)
Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:8, 10)
If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? (Matthew 5:46)
But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you. (Luke 6:27)
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 John 4:8)
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Commercialization of worship
It's been done for decades in the secular industry, that of marketing and selling emotions. But it's relatively a new phenomenon within the Church to have a worship industry. Marketing and selling praise for the Holy One.
I'm thinking about this a lot these days because I play in a worship band. Every member of this band is so jaded with the worship industry, and the commerce taking place in our worship. We're sick of it. We want no part of it.
We're now in 2009, and half of the band is struggling to get by because of the economy. One of the members hasn't had a real job in about six months. Every once in a while we get an honorarium from the congregations we lead worship at and this has been helping these brothers of mine to pay their bills.
When one of my closest friends (and brother by law) is facing the reality of losing his home, the temptations of monetizing the worship we perform for the Lord becomes very real. I don't know if it would cheapen the worship for God, but it would certainly injure the consciences of each band member to be payed to pray.
We are working on a worship album though (an EP really). We wanted to record a few songs we perform which are original (by us) or written by friends of ours (most people know them as ours). We wanted to give credit where credit is due and at the same time offer a CD for these congregations so they can also get to know these wonderful songs.
So are we commercializing worship? Are we the biggest hypocrites in the Church? Maybe. I know I'm a hypocrite. They say, "You hate what you are," and that's probably why everything I write about and I'm passionate about is the opposite of what I am really like.
But we're not in it to make money. And I suppose this is the same answer Chris Tomlin or some other "worship artist" would give. We're spending our own money to records songs, and most of the money we receive will go to the writers of the songs, not to us, the performers of these songs. We're giving these writers the option to have their portion go to a different purpose so they don't have to profit from their songs either.
And this is an expensive process. We're looking in the thousands of dollars range. We don't make much off of honorariums, so it could take a couple years to earn back what we're spending here.
I don't know why I'm making this into a moral dilemma. Usually I write on the blog to get a mostly-processed idea out of my system after it's brewed for a while. This is still brewing, I'm just opening myself up at this point.
I'm thinking about this a lot these days because I play in a worship band. Every member of this band is so jaded with the worship industry, and the commerce taking place in our worship. We're sick of it. We want no part of it.
We're now in 2009, and half of the band is struggling to get by because of the economy. One of the members hasn't had a real job in about six months. Every once in a while we get an honorarium from the congregations we lead worship at and this has been helping these brothers of mine to pay their bills.
When one of my closest friends (and brother by law) is facing the reality of losing his home, the temptations of monetizing the worship we perform for the Lord becomes very real. I don't know if it would cheapen the worship for God, but it would certainly injure the consciences of each band member to be payed to pray.
We are working on a worship album though (an EP really). We wanted to record a few songs we perform which are original (by us) or written by friends of ours (most people know them as ours). We wanted to give credit where credit is due and at the same time offer a CD for these congregations so they can also get to know these wonderful songs.
So are we commercializing worship? Are we the biggest hypocrites in the Church? Maybe. I know I'm a hypocrite. They say, "You hate what you are," and that's probably why everything I write about and I'm passionate about is the opposite of what I am really like.
But we're not in it to make money. And I suppose this is the same answer Chris Tomlin or some other "worship artist" would give. We're spending our own money to records songs, and most of the money we receive will go to the writers of the songs, not to us, the performers of these songs. We're giving these writers the option to have their portion go to a different purpose so they don't have to profit from their songs either.
And this is an expensive process. We're looking in the thousands of dollars range. We don't make much off of honorariums, so it could take a couple years to earn back what we're spending here.
I don't know why I'm making this into a moral dilemma. Usually I write on the blog to get a mostly-processed idea out of my system after it's brewed for a while. This is still brewing, I'm just opening myself up at this point.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
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