The Worship Quote of the Week for (05/31/2005):

Relevant to Culture? Is Christian worship relevant to modern culture? God’s Word calls his church to live in an awkward tension between two worlds. Our language must be in the vernacular of today’s culture—wherever the Lord has placed us—but our message is that of another world, the Kingdom of God. Today’s WORSHIP QUOTE reminds me that “my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.” RELEVANT TO CULTURE? A friend of mine, a young pastor who recently started a church, talks to me from time to time about the new face of church in America—about the postmodern church. He says the new church will be different from the old one, that we will be relevant to culture and the human struggle. I don’t think any church has ever been relevant to culture, to the human struggle, unless it believed in Jesus and the power of His gospel. If the supposed new church believes in trendy music and cool Web pages, then it is not relevant to culture either. It is just another tool of Satan to get people to be passionate about nothing. —Donald Miller, from BLUE LIKE JAZZ: NONRELIGIOUS THOUGHTS ON CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY, Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2003, p. 111. ISBN 0-7852-6370-5 [Friends, don’t place your faith in a cool Web site, a compelling musical style, or even in a comfortable liturgical form. Trust Christ! “All other ground is sinking sand.”] Have a great week, Chip Stam Director, Institute for Christian Worship School of Church Music and Worship The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Louisville, Kentucky www.carlstam.org www.sbts.edu/icw =========================== WORSHIP QUOTE OF THE WEEK: To subscribe, unsubscribe, or view a complete index of worship quotes, please visit http://www.wqotw.org ===========================