I feel as if I - in a matter of two weeks - have gone from one extreme to the other. Celebrating two weeks ago in an Orthodox Church - a church that celebrates the Sabbath using a liturgy that is hundreds of years old.
Compare this with last Sunday's "visit" to Life Church. Well, it wasn't really a visit because LifeChurch.tv is an online church with live services broadcast online several times a week. I didn't expect much, but as I wasn't going to church anyway - I thought it would give me a Sunday-morning-something.
The music was typical, contemporary Christian music replete with guitar, drums and other instruments but devoid of hymn and organ. Again, this is an issue of taste. But then, I'm watching a church service online so I can't exactly expect a traditional experience.
The sermon was fine - a message on not pushing the boundaries of sexual sin. The minister delivered a good mixture of scripture, humor and practical information. In the end, what is the message of peace?
First, we all experience God in different ways. Worship for one is not worship for another; we all come with our own backgrounds and idiosyncrasies. No form is wrong because it is right for someone, even if that someone is not you. Don't judge.
Second, my home church isn't so bad. Although I love the tradition, the Orthodox service pushed these bounds a little too far for my own comfort zone. LifeChurch is too modern - again, for my own tastes. As I've said so many times, I need and thrive on different experiences. But testing the extremes of worship make the plain vanilla seem, well, acceptable.
Oh, and LifeChurch is also the entity that puts forward the YouVersion Bible website and iPhone app on which I am reading the Bible in 2010.
