Timing is Everything, or Has Anybody Seen the Bass Player?

    There are any number of qualifications that the individual members of a local church praise team must have in order for them to function well together.  In addition to all the spiritual requirements that may come to mind, there are also the natural ones. You know, like singers should be able to carry a tune, and I don’t mean in a bucket. Anyone who plays an instrument should demonstrate a certain level of skill before they’re allowed to join the band.  And in my book, the one attribute that all singers and musicians on a church worship team must have is a good sense of timing. Especially the drummer. Let’s face it, drums rule. If the drummer can’t keep good time, that’s a pretty tough challenge to work through because, in music, timing is everything.

    There’s another timing issue among musicians that concerns me on many a Sunday morning, and it has nothing to do with keeping the beat.  It has to do with actually being bodily present for the the start of the worship service. You would be amazed at the disappearing act that sometimes goes on at my church right before a service is supposed to begin. One minute our keyboard player (and main worship leader/ audiophile) is on the platform ready to play, and seconds later he is up in the balcony, hanging like a monkey and tweaking some audio connection.  Certain instruments I can start without, but the keyboard is not one of them. How does he move that fast, anyway?

    I should tell you that our pre-service prep and rehearsal only runs an hour, and I must allow everyone time for a break before the service begins. People do what they gotta do in that brief time, and this seems to include breakfasting on coffee and a pastry for some of the non-singers. I’m pretty sure they find it on the premises, but it takes them so long to make it back that sometimes I wonder. Ever see that Family Circle cartoon of little Billy after being instructed by his mom to “come straight home?”  If you can envision the rabbit trails that Billy takes between where he is and home, then you have a pretty good idea of what happens to some of our folks between 8:50 and 9:00 on a typical Sunday morning.

    This past Sunday was not typical, however. It was Easter. Naturally, we planned some special music and programming for the celebration of our Lord’s resurrection. The allotted time for praise and worship would be abbreviated, however, to allow for everything on the schedule. Aware of the extra time constraints, I had stressed the need to our team for starting on time, “with or without the congregation!” (Our nine o’clock folks can be a little slow to find their seats).  Our normally tight schedule was actually running pretty smoothly. Everything and everyone was prepared by service time, and all systems were “go.”   Until, that is, someone noticed that our bass player was missing.  Well, it just went all Keystone Cops from there.

    “Where’s Jacob?” “He’s getting coffee.”  “Wow, it’s nine o’clock - I’ll go find him!”  And before I can engage my brain quickly enough to say, “Don’t leave! We’ll start without him,” off dashes the keyboard player.  While Jonathan is off to parts unknown looking for Jacob, in walks Jacob. Only he’s not really walking. Walking would look like a sprint compared to the stroll he’s doing.  But at least he is back and getting ready to play. It’s now five minutes after nine, and no keyboard player. I look beyond the open doors of the rear of the sanctuary to see Jonathan quickly circle the foyer and head out again, not realizing that Jacob has returned.  Seven after nine and counting. I’m now having visions of Second Service people impatiently waiting as First Service runs late and my pastor gives me the evil eye (he wouldn’t, by the way). Slight panic. Visitors are looking at me funny. At least I think they are - I may still be having visions. I apologize to our visitors for the housekeeping and try humorously explaining the disappearing musicians phenomenon that sometimes afflicts us.  At last, I see Jonathan sprinting across the foyer and back into the sanctuary. He bounds up the platform steps to his station and we begin the opening song.

    I wasn’t about to start our Resurrection Day celebration service without a keyboard player. That would be like eating a ham sandwich without the ham. Besides, the guy wears a lot of hats on Sunday mornings, so he deserves some slack. As a general rule, I don’t like starting any worship service without the entire team being in place. But if I have to, I’ll start without a disappearing bass player in a New York minute. You can count on it!


Lynn DeShazo

   

"Son of God" the Movie - My Review

    Yesterday I watched the newly released and much-touted movie, “Son of God.” I watched it along with a crowd of folks from my church; we booked almost an entire theater for the Sunday afternoon matinee. The last time we did that was for Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ,” which came out about ten years ago. That film, of course, raised the bar considerably for faith-themed movies.  I was glad to see this newest addition to gospel genre films, but it was certainly nothing like the caliber of Gibson’s work. It seemed to me much more like a “made for TV” movie escaped to the big screen. Some of the early footage was, in fact, taken right out of the “The Bible” miniseries which was specifically produced for television. That said, I enjoyed the film for the most part, and I am truly appreciative of the effort taken by Roma Downey and Mark Burnett to tell yet again what is truly the greatest story every told.

    If you’re looking for a movie that portrays every action of Jesus exactly as the Scriptures describe it, you’ll be disappointed (the only movie that does that successfully is the “Jesus” film, released in 1979 and still the all-time best evangelism tool ever produced).  Bible purists will no doubt be troubled by some of the depictions. Familiar events are featured but perhaps not in the way you’d expect to see them presented, and some of them are combined in odd ways. For example, when Jesus declares to his disciples that not one stone of the temple in Jerusalem would be left upon another, he does it in a playful way with a small child. “Jesus loves the little children” meets “Jesus the prophet.” I honestly found that a little disturbing, given the gravity of what Jesus was referring to, but I guess I fall in the “purist” category. When Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, the film shows him actually entering the tomb, definitely not how the Gospels record the event. Amazingly, Jesus is the only one not gagging from the stench. But Lazarus is raised, which is the point, and what we all love about the story.  In the crucifixion scene, Jesus’ garment is torn from him by the Roman soldiers.  The Gospels specifically tell us that whereas his outer garments where divided among four soldiers, the Lord’s seamless inner garment was not torn.  Overall, scenes from the ministry of Jesus were not stretched beyond credibility, however.  One of my favorite scenes was the calling of Matthew the tax collector to become Jesus’ disciple. I can’t say that it actually happened that way, but I can envision it happening that way; it sure seemed in keeping with the character of the biblical Jesus.  The near-stoning of the woman caught in adultery was also very compelling. I won’t spoil those scenes for you, in case you want to see the movie for yourself.

    To me, “Son of God” is sort of like what a child’s story Bible is to the King James Version. You can rely on it for the basic account, but not all the actual details or even the words of Jesus as the Bible records them are provided. Creative liberties were definitely taken by the film’s directors. But then they never intended for this movie to be a strictly by-the-book portrayal of the Gospel accounts, seeking instead to capture the spirit of Jesus’ life and ministry as they put his story to film.  I’d say they accomplished their intentions. Honestly, I have yet to see a major studio movie on the life of Christ that was ever done to my complete satisfaction.

    I genuinely liked several aspects about “Son of God.”  For starters, someone finally cast an actor in the role of Jesus who looks like they could have grown up near the Mediterranean Sea instead of the Thames. The character of Jesus practically leaked compassion. The other principal roles seemed well cast, to me, and the actors’ performances were strong and believable. One of the better things accomplished in this film was the backdrop of the political tension of the times created by the Roman occupation of Israel and Jerusalem. I therefore understood Caiaphas, though I still despised him. I also thought the portrayal of Jesus’ arrest, beating, and crucifixion was sensitively done. The difficult scenes were realistic without trying to compete with “The Passion of the Christ,” which went way over the top in its depiction of Jesus’ suffering (I swear, I never in my life wanted a movie character to hurry up and die so badly as I did while watching “The Passion!”).  I never enjoy this part of any film on the life of Christ, but I thought “Son of God” handled it well. I was moved afresh when the suffering and death of Jesus were recalled to me through this film. I also found the framing of the film’s beginning and end through the aging Apostle John both unexpected and refreshing.

    “Son of God” is not the best film on the life of Jesus I’ve ever seen, but the good news still shines through, a testimony to the power of the Cross. The story of Jesus is still the greatest story ever told and manages to overcome the short-comings of this new film presentation.


Lynn DeShazo



   
   

   

Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up On Aspartame

     Every now and then I’ll see a testimonial on the dangers of aspartame that has been re-posted on Facebook, usually with an impassioned plea to “please share this!”  An unsuspecting consumer of aspartame-laced food products begins to develop terrible symptoms of illnesses ranging from splitting headaches to MS-like neurological symptoms. No doctor seems to be able to help them in any significant way. The poor soul is bewildered, distressed, and absolutely at a loss to explain their health crisis until, finally, they stumble on some information about aspartame poisoning. “Eureka!” they cry. Understandably, they immediately cut out all aspartame from their diet and, wonder of wonders, miraculously begin to recover.  End of story?  No. They then begin a crusade to get all their friends and loved ones off the cursed stuff by posting aspartame poisoning stories on Facebook and other social media. Their friends, naturally, are all deeply appreciative. Or greatly annoyed.

    I avoid aspartame for the most part, along with other artificial sweeteners. I’ve had the occasional swig of a diet drink if it was handy, but very little of the stuff has crossed my lips over the past twenty or so years. I’ve never been convinced that aspartame is perfectly safe for human consumption, but maybe you are.  Perhaps you’re thinking, “Look, the FDA approved aspartame years ago. Just leave me and my diet cola alone, ok?”

     Honest to God, I wish I could, but this subject intrigues me.  Is aspartame really a poison or not? Is everybody susceptible to aspartame toxicity, or just certain people?  Is there anyone out there who can settle this issue for us with any certainty?  Good news, people! Yes, there is.

    Due to my keen interest in the subject, I recently purchased a copy of an audio lecture by Dr. Russell Blaylock, MD entitled, “The Truth About Aspartame.”

Click here to go to Dr. Blaylock's web site

I listened carefully and tell you now with great conviction that the best ten bucks you will spend all year is for a copy of Dr. Blaylock’s carefully researched presentation.  As Dr. Blaylock states it, you will learn about “the deceit, the lies, and the flagrant abandonment of you and your family’s safety.”  Among the many facts about aspartame you will discover are:

• the history of aspartame as developed by the G. D. Searle company.
• how poorly Searle’s lab experiments and testing for aspartame were conceived and carried out; Searle lab technicians were themselves poorly trained and supervised.
• that the FDA approved aspartame for use in dry foods in 1974, but then quickly withdrew their approval because of the high incidence of tumor formation found in their very extensive investigation of the G.D. Searle studies.
• that the FDA, under the direction of a new commissioner, later inexplicably approved aspartame for consumer use (in 1981 for dry foods, 1983 for beverages) based on the same flawed testing and over the objections of the neuroscientists and pathologists who sat on the public board of inquiry. Their chief objection was the high number of brain tumors found in animals exposed to aspartame.
• that FDA commissioner Authur Hull Hayes, left the FDA two months after he initiated aspartame approval to become the senior medical advisor to G. D. Searle’s public relations firm.
• that all three components of aspartame - the amino acids phenylalanine and aspartic acid, and methanol, a toxic alcohol - are toxic to the brain, especially the developing brain of a fetus, infant, or a young child. 
• that aspartame in high enough doses can cause seizures in adults and exacerbate the symptoms of MS. 
• how the methanol component of aspartame metabolizes in the body as formaldehyde (the chemical used to embalm corpses), a powerful toxin which then accumulates in the body because it is difficult to remove from cells.
• how formaldehyde damages human DNA, leading to cancer and other degenerative brain diseases, especially in females.
• that methanol (aka wood alcohol), which is highly toxic to humans, tends to accumulate in fat tissue; the brain is 60% fat.
• that phenylalanine, though naturally occurring, becomes a dangerous brain toxin at high levels.
• that a pregnant woman should NEVER ingest aspartame. Her inability to normally metabolize phenylalanine puts her unborn child at risk for mental retardation, seizures, and behavioral problems due to the interference with proper brain development. If she is also a carrier of the PKU gene, ingesting aspartame puts her baby at enormous risk for these problems as well as life-long immune system deficiencies related to aspartame toxicity in a developing thymus gland.
• how one in fifty people in the U.S. carry the gene for phenylketonuria, whether they show signs of the disorder or not. Ingesting aspartame will cause their blood phenylalanine levels to rise at least twice as high as a normal person’s and often many times more.  These 20 million PKU gene carriers are therefore highly susceptible to the effects of aspartame toxicity and even death, because they lack the critical enzyme needed to metabolize phenylalanine.
• that by 1987 the food industry was adding 8,000 tons of aspartame to food products.
• that the segment of our population most at risk for aspartame toxicity is the part that consumes the most of it:  women, young children, babies and the unborn, through the mother’s consumption.
• how to de-toxify your body from aspartame after you stop consuming it. Dr. Blaylock provides specific recommendations.

    The above-listed points should be enough to convince anyone that aspartame is indeed a deadly poison and should be avoided at all costs. But if you are still not persuaded, then please do yourself and your family a huge favor and spend the ten bucks for a copy of Dr. Blaylock’s lecture. He elaborates quite a bit more on the science of it all.  I urge you to educate yourself and the people you love on the dangers of this widely used food additive.   
 
 Order Dr. Blaylock's lecture here.
Click on the Audio & Video tab; cd or mp3 download via iTunes.


Article © 2014 by Lynn DeShazo. Please copy and share as often as you like!

Repairing Santa

    Anyone who knows me well can tell you that I am a notorious non-decorator at Christmas time. Almost all the neighbors around me put up respectable house decorations each year. I, however, usually contribute nothing to the outdoor Christmas-themed decor; it’s just not my thing. I keep promising myself to at least find a decent holiday wreath for the front door, but the Christmases come and go and still no wreathe. Until this year, that is. 

    I found a couple of small Santa Claus wreathes at a clearance sale last year, along with the usual gift-wrapping supplies I pick up. So when I found the wreathes again last week, I realized, “HEY! I can put one of these on the front door!” My neighbors will finally believe that I’m not a total Scrooge when it comes to celebrating the Christmas holidays.”  My reputation was saved!

    Last night, however, I opened my front door to a disturbing sight. Lying at the threshold were two tiny arms and an assortment of tiny pine cones. Even that ball of fluff thingy from the end of Santa’s cap was lying among the carnage. “Oh, no!” I gasped. “A wild critter has attacked my Santa Claus wreathe!”  I thought about that scenario for a minute, and realized that a marauding raccoon or a squirrel was probably not the reason my wreathe-Santa was now armless. I have a glass storm door in place, so the wreathe had plenty of protection from wildlife. Not from the sun, however.  The exposure of my house assures plenty of afternoon sun bearing down on the front door. Even in December, the door handle can heat up hot enough to force you to turn it gingerly. Apparently, it can also melt the glue holding on fabric Santa arms and decorative pine cones to a wreathe.

    I left the armless Santa wreathe on the door overnight, but brought him in this morning for repairs; he graced my door for two whole days.  Both Santa and my Scrooge reputation are in desperate need of a glue gun!

Dear Sally - Where Do I Start...! (5 of 7)

 I have been corresponding with a Florida inmate who happens be a Mormon. I starting posting excerpts from my letters with "Dear Sally (Pt. 1)" and it has turned into a temporary obsession of sorts. If you need a bit of an education on Mormon belief, you might find these posts helpful.


Dear Sally:  
     I kept your remarks on the Mormonism article to follow up on. If we both were on the same page about what is the final authority - the Bible or the Book or Mormon - it would be easier to have a conversation. But we aren’t. I simply cannot accept that the BofM is more reliable than the Bible.  If the BofM it has any ring of truth to it, it is only because of what has been directly borrowed from the Bible. 

     There is no virtue in criticizing someone’s belief just for the sake of an argument. If you were raised in a Mormon family, it is only natural that you would have been brought up to believe in the teachings of Joseph Smith.  They are, to Mormons at least, “true doctrine.” I also see that a doctrinal debate between two persons of opposing viewpoints is usually pretty futile. That’s because although our “lingo” is very similar (Mormons even call themselves the Church of Jesus Christ of LDS), Christian and Mormon doctrines don’t agree AT ALL on who God is and consequently who Jesus Christ is, for that matter. I do acknowledge, however, that there are many Mormons who sincerely love Jesus Christ. It is tragic to me how badly Joseph Smith has muddied the waters for his followers who truly want to serve the Lord.


     I am doing some reading on LDS.org and Mormon.org and the more I read the more incredulous I become. Joseph Smith claims to have restored the true faith. Yet even a limited examination of his teaching when compared to the Bible reveals not a restored faith, but an entirely new belief system based on a heavy amount of proof-texting from the Bible and his own very fertile imagination.  

    His “plan of salvation” begins with a belief in a pre-mortal existence, that “Heavenly Father” (referred to by me as Mormon-God) had spirit-children with a god-mother, and that everyone’s life began in heaven with God. Mormon-God, that is. Then Mormon-God thinks to himself, “Hmmm...these spirit-kids of mine are not making any spiritual progress up here at all in heaven with me. What they need is some experience. I know! I’ll give ‘em all bodies, starting with Adam and Eve, and I’ll even erase the memories of their pre-mortal lives.  By the time they get through living an earthly life, they’ll have had enough experience with sin, suffering, heartache, and death to really improve a lot!” The following actually appears at Mormon.org:

“If they hadn’t eaten the forbidden fruit, they would have lived like that forever and never had children. Mankind never would have been born or the world populated.”

Apparently, Eve’s good looks and God’s instruction to Adam and Eve to “be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:27-28) wasn’t nearly enough. Succumbing to temptation and sin was also a requirement, according to Joseph Smith.  Mormon.org goes on about Adam and Eve:
 
  
“They became mortal—just as we are—subject to sin, disease, all types of suffering, and ultimately death. But it wasn’t all bad because they could now feel great joy. ‘Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.’ (2 Nephi 2:25)”

Wow. What a plan - Adam and Eve fell so I could have joy! Zippity doo DAH! There is so much wrong here, I don't know where to start.

To be continued...

Oh, Them Golden Plates!

I've been corresponding with a prison inmate who happens to be a Mormon. So I've spent time investigating some of the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Some of my findings turn into blog posts, and here's the latest one.

    Anyone considering the claims of Mormonism needs to take a careful look at the account of the gold plates that were supposedly translated into the Book of Mormon. This book is the founding document on which the entire religion rests. Mormons believe the BofM and their other principle books of doctrine to be more reliable than the Bible.

    Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, purported to have a number of visions in his youth that ultimately led to the formation of his new religion. One of them concerned the discovery of gold plates on the Hill Cumorah (near Palmyra, NY) that when translated contained the Book of Mormon. Here is his account, in part, of that vision:
 
“While I was thus in the act of calling upon God, I discovered a light appearing in my room, which continued to increase until the room was lighter than noonday, when immediately a Personage appeared at my bedside, standing in the air, for his feet did not touch the floor."

"He had on a loose robe of most exquisite whiteness..."
 
"He called me by name and said unto me that he was a messenger of God to me, and that his name was Moroni; that God had a work for me to do..."

 "He said there was a book deposited, written upon gold plates giving an account of the former inhabitants of this continent...”

    According to Smith, he was not permitted to dig up the gold plates immediately. He claimed to have received other messages over the next three years from this same “personage,” including instructions about the treasure he would find buried, and also about the woman he would marry.  Smith, who was from western New York, dated Emma Hale of Pennsylvania against her father’s wishes.   After returning to New York in the fall of 1826, he again visited the Hill Cumorah (known locally now as Mormon Hill) and was told he could go ahead and dig up the gold plates, as long as he “brot with him the right person.” That turned out to be Emma Hale, of course. So back to Pennsylvania he went, where he proposed to Emma. They promptly eloped without the consent of her parents. Smith would have been 21 years old at the time of that “revelation.”

    Back in New York, the Smiths proceeded to dig up the plates one night in the early autumn of 1827. One night, as in “the better to fool you, my dear,” in my opinion. Amazingly, Joseph also dug up a special pair of eye glasses by which he was able to read the inscriptions on the plates. He called these eye glasses the Urim and Thummim, which should not be confused with the biblical Urim and Thummim. (See Exodus 28:30) 

    Biographers report that a great deal of the Smith’s early marriage revolved around getting the plates translated. Even with the special glasses and then later a small divining stone, the work of translation was a tedious affair. Smith was a poor writer, so Emma often sat for hours writing the messages Joseph dictated to her “with his face buried in his hat, which had the stone in it.”  Who performs serious translation work with their face covered by a hat, for Pete’s sake? I think he buried his face in it to to hide how hard he was laughing to himself over the con job he was pulling off!  Fawn Brodie writes, “Perhaps in the beginning Joseph never intended his stories of the golden plates to be taken so seriously, but once the masquerade had begun, there was no point at which he could call a halt. Since his own family believed him (with the possible exception of his cynical younger brother William), why should not the whole world?” (Brodie, No Man Knows My History, 40).

    Although Emma was with her husband the night he dug up the gold plates (or whatever he previously buried in secret) Emma would relate that she never actually laid eyes on them. Even after they were brought back to their home she “never felt at liberty to look at them.” Really? What normal woman is not going to at least take a peak at a mysterious set of gold plates stored in her home? That just doesn’t seem likely, to me. Not only that, these plates were treated rather casually by Joseph Smith in light of their supernatural origin. According to Emma, “they lay in a box under our bed for months” and sometimes were kept on a living room table “wrapped in a small linen table cloth,” which she had to move each time she dusted the table. Try and imagine Moses’ wife moving the Ten Commandments around so she can straighten up the tent, and you see the absurdity here!

    Joseph even lent his only copy of the initial translation to a friend and benefactor, Martin Harris, who proceeded to lose it. So poor ol’ Joseph had to start his translation all over again, only this time the angel Moroni explained “he was not to re-translate the same material but use a second account to avoid being trapped by inconsistencies.”  Right. This is clearly how Joseph Smith covered his backside about coming up with a different version of his translation, since he probably couldn’t remember what he fabricated the first time around.

    Predictably, Joseph Smith’s closest associates (Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris, aka the Three Witnesses) began to press him for the privilege of actually seeing the fabulous gold plates for themselves.  What’s a false prophet to do? Smith actually needed confirming witnesses to corroborate his story, so he conveniently received a new revelation for them:

 “You shall testify that you have seen them, even as my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., has seen them, for it is by my power that he has seen them, and it is because he had faith.”

Needless to say, Smith never showed them any plates.  The testimony of the Three Witnesses became that while they were “in the woods,” the usual location for early Mormon visions, the plates were shown to them “by the power of God and not of man.” Also that “an angel of God came down from heaven, and he brought and laid before our eyes, that we beheld and saw the plates, and the engravings thereon.”   (This is rather like the spiel given to adventurers who travel to Ethiopia in hopes of seeing the Ark of the Covenant. They pay their money only to be told by its custodians, “if you’re suppose to see it,  you’ll see it.”)  I can imagine what probably went through the minds of these three men. They were all told by their prophet buddy that God was about to privilege them with a supernatural vision of the plates and they were expected to testify to it. Who among them was ever going to admit to the others, “I don’t see a dang thing!” A certain fairy tale comes to mind. Altogether now:  “The Emperor has no clothes!”

     So whatever became of these famous gold plates? Surely something so important to “the restored Gospel” would be safely secured as proof to Joseph Smith’s critics. Not surprisingly, they are nowhere to be found. The official Mormon position is that some time after the Three Witnesses claimed to have also seen them, Joseph Smith returned the plates to the custody of the angel Baloney... uh, Moroni. 

     The ruse is pretty obvious. Joseph Smith's gold plates only existed in his very fertile imagination. 






Source: Another Gospel, © 1989 Ruth A. Tucker, Academie Books (Zondervan).

The Post-Iron Bowl Worship Service

     Leading worship was a tough assignment for me last Sunday. In addition to the early service which I normally lead, I also had the main service. Our pastor and staff worship leader left town for the holidays and only “the remnant” remained to carry on. Leading the second service is, for me, a lot like being a substitute teacher - it has it challenges. This week had more challenges than usual, however.  Not only was it the Sunday after Thanksgiving Day - that American holiday typically given to eating way too much of everything in sight - it was also the day after the state’s much anticipated annual Iron Bowl. The Iron Bowl, in case you don’t know, is the name given to one of the best and longest rivalries in college football between the University of Alabama and my alma mater, Auburn University.

    Unless you’re living in another galaxy, you’ve probably heard by now about the Auburn Tigers’ astonishing 34-28 victory over the Alabama Crimson Tide in what was truly one of most amazing finishes to a football game every witnessed.  I estimate that the last play of that nail-biter has been re-broadcast on some type of media about a gazillion times since Saturday night.  Auburn’s Chris Davis returned Alabama’s missed field goal attempt for 109 yards to win the game in literally the last second. 

Watch here: Auburn's Chris Davis returns 109 yards for the win

Thus the 2013 Iron Bowl has been duly chronicled in Auburn football history as one of the greatest moments ever for Auburn fans everywhere. War Eagle! But it also goes down as one of the toughest losses ever for Alabama fans, and in a state that practically worships at the altar of college football, what happens on a Saturday in late November can put a real damper on Sunday’s worship service.

    “Awww, Christians don’t let footballs games affect their praise, do they?” The heck they don’t! And the more emotional investment we put in the game’s outcome, the more difference it seems to make.  I observed this phenomena first-hand some years ago as a worship leader for a campus ministry based at the University of Michigan. On the Sundays following a win for the Wolverines, the praise arose easily and enthusiastically. Our congregation, which consisted mostly of college students and young professionals, needed little exhortation to “make a joyful noise.”  The Sunday after a loss, however, was another story.  Our folks had worn themselves out whooping and hollering for the maize and blue, and the “agony of defeat” had exhausted their energy. They just didn’t have much “oomph” left the next day for their sacrifice of praise.

    I don’t fault anyone for this tendency, by the way. We Christian sports lovers are, after all, just as human as any other fans.  We all tend to crash and burn emotionally in the aftermath of a defeat or loss of any kind, and especially if we’re immature spiritually and/or emotionally.  As we grow in Christ, we learn how to separate our emotional ups and downs from our service of worship more readily.  As a worship leader I’ve had to learn to recognize where people are as a congregation, emotionally speaking. Hopefully I have the wisdom these days to help people stir themselves spiritually but not to “pump the praise” beyond authenticity.  You simply can’t take people where they don’t want to go. So sometimes you exhort and and other times you abort, because if it ain’t flowing, it just ain’t flowing!

    So what happened in our local house of worship last Sunday?  Mostly we worshiped genuinely, I think, though there did seem to be that “too much food and football” cloud hovering about. I’m sure it helped that I didn’t wear orange and blue, nor open the service with “Well, praise the Lord and War Eagle! In fact, I didn’t say a word about Auburn’s win, because you never know who is going to take offense at even good-natured kidding over an Iron Bowl loss in these here parts!
   
     It’s probably a good thing our pastor is from Ohio.