Category: Engaging the Culture

“So we worship in a fortress. But the metaphor should never run away with us. This does not mean we should walk around in here like we were an armed garrison—open carry in worship would make a liturgical statement, one that we don’t want to make. That statement would be that we consider all the others here to be potential enemies, not brothers and sisters. We are in the sanctuary, not in an Old West saloon. Concealed carry is different, and no more a problem that having a church building with a sprinkler system installed in case of fire. We would not be dubious about open carry at church because we were afraid of guns—far from it. The problem is liturgical, not practical. This is a secure fortress, and so we never want to install our anxieties into the liturgy. Here we are foreshadowing the time when we hang the trumpet in the hall, and study war no more (Is. 2:2-6).”

Let the Stones Cry Out, pp. 57-58

“We pray through Christ, we have fellowship in Christ, and we proclaim Christ. What do we use as we do all these things? We use, among other things, ink, newsprint, microphones, email, toner, power point, algorithms, video clips, all of which are made out of molecules. They are things. This means that, because of the way we are created, we cannot love others without media because love, like sound, doesn’t travel in a vacuum.”

Ploductivity, p. 44

“When we build this sanctuary, we are not trying to create a little meditative chamber, like the kind of prayer room you might find in an airport. This is a building that should speak defiance. There is a certain peacefulness to it, certainly, but in a world full of turmoil, to speak peace is to speak defiance. This is because we are speaking peace on God’s terms, which means that rebels in arms must lay down their weapons.”

Let the Stones Cry Out, p. 54

“But if you are alive, vibrant, and forgiven, you now live in a world where you can project that in amazing ways. The gospel is not some tiresome thing that door-to-door salesmen try to talk you into . . . (Acts 3:19). We are actually talking about a cool breeze that blows off the ocean of God’s infinite pleasure and delight. We are talking about times of refreshing, and if we are not talking about times of refreshing, then we are not talking about the gospel as presented in Scripture.”

Ploductivity, p. 42

“Let us say that the elders decide that they were going to paint the steeple orange, and all the rest of the congregation supported them in this embarrassment. You and your family were the only members who had not lost your minds. The arguments for doing this were beyond lame—William of Orange; good, hearty Protestant color; and so on. What you think about this travesty is honored by God. How you think about it may or may not be honored by God, depending on how much orange paint we buy, and whether or not it is fluorescent. Remember that being right about the orange won’t matter if the steeple of your heart’s sanctuary is painted black, with lightning bolts down the sides.”

Let the Stones Cry Out, pp. 49, 52

“Contrary to the theory of evolution, we are not over-developed animals who moved away from the ‘natural’ and down into the ‘artificial.’ For man, the artificial is natural. We want nothing to do with Rousseau’s noble savage.”

Ploductivity, p. 41

“We are told other things about the Second Person of the Trinity elsewhere in Scripture—He is the icon of God, He is the wisdom of God, He is the Son of God, He is the light from God, and so on. But there is a peculiar primacy given to the Word. This is that which defines all else.”

Let the Stones Cry Out, p. 47