By the way, I've still been reading and writing!

I realize my blog hasn't said much about my class work of late. I've finished the reading/book review/interaction papers for our Leadership class that's coming up in a couple of weeks. I'm not going to review those books in the blog. If you're looking for some good books on leadership, though, feel free to email and ask for my favorites.

For Dr. Kalas' preaching class we were each assigned novels to read. We had to write papers about how a preacher might use them from the pulpit. I thought I was in heaven for this assignment. I chose a book that I read about 11 years ago. It had a profound impact on me then and I wanted to see what it would do the second time around. I was amazed at what I had forgotten.

The Diary of a Country Priest is a fantastic book if you are patient with it. It would make a terribly boring movie (I've heard that there is a movie. I can't imagine watching it). As a book, though, it's insightful and touching. One of my classmates read this book as well. He didn't like it all. His response helped me realize how aware we have to be of our differences. He and I had polar opposite experiences with this book. I've noticed, in my time away from Grandview, how much a difference our "hard-wiring" makes when it comes to things like music, spirituality, and how we do church. It's good to be reminded.

I have a better appreciation for the polarization we at Grandview experience around the issue of worship styles. The bottom line is, what's boring for some is touching for others. What's exciting and uplifting for some is just noise for others. That's okay. This only becomes a problem if we assume that somehow the "others" are pagans and "we" are holy.

Search the scriptures all you want. You won't find 100% support for quiet worship or for loud worship. Be still and know God is God . . . enter His courts with loud shouts and praise. Get over yourself. Worship isn't about what you want anyway.