The fruit of William Cowper’s affliction is a call to free ourselves from trite and chipper worship. If the Christian life has become the path of ease and fun in the modern West, then corporate worship is the place of increasing entertainment. The problem is not a battle between contemporary worship music and hymns; the problem is that there aren’t enough martyrs during the week [emphasis mine]. If no soldiers are perishing, what you want on Sunday is Bob Hope and some pretty girls, not the army chaplain and surgeon.
Cowper was sick. But in his sickness he saw things that we so desperately need to see. He saw hell. And sometimes he saw heaven. He knew terror. And sometimes he knew ecstasy. When I stand to welcome the people to worship on Sunday morning, I know that there are William Cowpers in the congregation. There are spouses who can barely talk. There are sullen teenagers living double lives at home and school. There are widows who still feel the amputation of a fifty-year partner. There are single people who have not been hugged for twenty years. There are men in the prime of their lives with cancer. There are moms who have carried two tiny caskets. There are soldiers of the cross who have risked all for Jesus and bear the scars. There are tired and discouraged and lonely strugglers. Shall we come to them with a joke?
… What they need from me is not more bouncy, frisky smiles and stories. What they need is a kind of joyful earnestness [emphasis mine] that makes the broken heart feel hopeful and helps the ones who are drunk with trifles sober up for greater joys.
If you are a pastor or a teacher of God's Word in any capacity, I pray that you will help those you teach "sober up for greater joys"!
Into the Fray
By: Alan Eason|Published: February 8, 2012 6:57 PM
We are very excited about all the great commenting that goes on The BreakPoint blog. It is growing and more people are getting engaged. Only one hitch -- it is pretty much "among Christians."
I'd like to invite you (even those have not commented here yet) to go out to the front lines with us -- to the Colson Center YouTube channel. Click below to find out why.
Eric Metaxas, who for two years was a member of the BreakPoint writing staff, was the guest speaker at this year's National Prayer Breakfast, held a few days ago at the Hilton in D.C. See him pictured here, making President Obama laugh. But after the jokes, Eric gently spoke truth to power regarding abortion, just as Mother Teresa did some years ago when she spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast.
In another case, a 15-year-old Wisconsin student was threatened and verbally abused by school superintendent of Shawano High School for writing an op-ed in opposion to gay adoption. Ironically, the article was a school assignment.
Five or six years ago Focus on the Family released “The Truth Project” DVD series, and I went through it as a discussion leader of a small group. I haven’t looked at it since, so when a friend of mine said a group was going to go through it and invited me, I agreed. I thought it would be good to refresh what I learned from the DVDs and maybe learn some new things I missed the last time.
What a sad statement about the growing culture of death in the Netherlands: Advocates for euthanasia and assisted suicide are celebrating a decade of their legality by hosting a weeklong film festival called the "Week of Euthanasia."
Sadly, after getting their foot in the proverbial door, the advocates continually redefine the criteria for which people "request," voluntarily or involuntarily, suicide. READ FULL ARTICLE »
