What the God

Howdy friends,

As you may have noticed, we haven't updated with an article around here in quite some time.  Too long, really.  And, after this post, we're not going to be updating this blog anymore.  It will fade into oblivion just like the thousands of other blogs that have started ambitiously and come to a whole lot of nothing.  I wanted to explain why.

I didn't start this thing for the right reasons.

That's a hard thing for me to admit.  But in hindsight, after asking myself why it was so hard to discipline myself to write, the answer I keep coming to is that I'm not actually passionate about this blog.  I wanted to be passionate about it...but only because I saw the blog as a means to an end.  And the end I had in mind was fame and influence in the world of Christian bloggers.  I wanted to be the next Jon Acuff or Matthew Paul Turner.  I speak only for myself on that matter, but as the initiator of this thing and the only "current" writer remaining, my coming to terms with that means there's no one left to keep the blog running for better reasons.

I'm not actually a very funny writer

I do think myself a funny person, but satire writing doesn't come easy for me.  Whether you felt the humor in my blogs was forced or not, it was for me.  And that meant that writing wasn't actually enjoyable.  Throw on top of that my aforementioned motivation behind writing and it just became a duty.

Those things said, I'm sorry.  My intent wasn't to drag anybody along and form a sort of online relationship only to have it come to nothing.  I sincerely thank those who took an interest in what was written here and, perhaps, even came closer to God as a result.

Goodbye What the God.  It was a nice little run.

Lessons Learned:

1. Be honest with yourself.  You actually cannot fool yourself for very long.
2. Don't do anything because you want to be famous or influential.  Do it for some other (better) reason.
3. When you fail, admit it.

Written by Jesse Medina

I don't know why, but it has become a trend to hate sermons.  Actually I do know why.  It is because we're too cool for sermons.  We're too smart.  We don't like the fact that just one guy gets to get up on stage every Sunday and share his thoughts.

What makes him special?  The New Testament talks about the priesthood of all believers.  Who does this guy think he is?

Part of the problem is blogs, message boards, and instant feedback in general.  Why should Mr. Pastor Guy get up and give a monologue every week and expect the rest of us to listen.  We're postmodern, darn it.  We deserve a say, too.  We have something to add!  Communication these days is about dialogue (by the way, don't forget to comment!).

Everyone is an expert in God.  At least, we act like it.  I know I do (mostly because I am).

But I confess that we have the wrong view of what a sermon is supposed to be.  Sure, some pastors treat it like a platform for them to get up and talk about their thoughts and share stories about how awesome they are (I once heard a pastor "confess" to the congregation all the ways he was awesome at showing God's love to others).  But I don't think that's what it was supposed to be.

Sermons, by definition, are the proclamation of the Word of God.  A preacher who does his job well discerns the meaning of the text through careful study and helps the congregation to understand its meaning and application to their own lives.  In that sense, he is a servant to the congregation.

And the sermon isn't just about passing on information, but of the continual hearing of God speaking to his people.  Like most rituals (quick comment here: that it is a ritual does not render it lifeless) it continually reminds us of our need for, and love of, God.

So maybe we don't like sermons because...

• ...we don't like being proclaimed to.
• ...we are full of ourselves.
• ...we think we are more mature than we actually are.
• ...we don't like being reminded of our sinfulness.
• ...we think we know it all already.
• ...we would rather be entertained than preached to.
• ...we're not the ones preaching.

Written by Jesse Medina

Check out this video of a couple of guys who claim to be "drunk" with God's glory. We thought this would be a fitting post considering our recent article titled, "Can You Get Drunk/High Off Jesus?"