So, first, I was looking through places I had bookmarked in my paper bible and I noticed Psalm 100.
"Psalm 100 1-5, ESV
1 A Psalm for giving thanks. Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!
2 Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!
3 Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!
5 For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations."
Now, I look at this and say, 'Hey look! God likes it when we sing our hearts out and dance like fools!' Something seems to me to be contradicting some of the things I've heard about certain denominations of the church. No, I am not bashing those who think a certain about of dignity and pose must be maintained in the church and that such acts would shame said church, I'm just saying that God likes it when we sing and dance. Now, I'm embarrassed to dance in front of other people, and I won't sing unless there's enough noise to cover it up, but I'll sing in church and I'll dance like a fool in my room... while singing my little heart out.
Yesterday I finished reading the play 'Our Town.' It wasn't as bad as I had been lead to believe, but it was one of those things you read and after you get over the 'what did I just read?' factor, it starts to make you go, 'man, that got me good.' People are always caught up in something or another and don't relish the life that they have. In the questions following my reading of the play, I was asked "what is the value beyond price of the little things in life?" It is something you cannot put in words, or at least, something I cannot express in words. I won't tell you to read the play, just the last act. It's a fairly easy read, but it hits you hard after you finish. My rambling here won't really make much sense until you read Act 3 of Thornton Wilder's 'Our Town.'
One word. School. I don't think I need to elaborate much beyond that. Math is sucky, English is having me read 'To Kill a Mockingbird' next unit and that's sucky cause it makes it hard for me to do several lessons and catch up to where I need to be so I can finish somewhere in the general vicinity of on time. ON a happier note, Bible and History are looking to be finished early... so I have more time and mental energy to burn on English and Math. Ergh. Oh well, that's what I get for being a procrastinator. And over the summer I'm looking to get a job that I can hold all through the end of high school as that I can start saving for college and life on my own. Which means a car, a better phone(preferably with GPS), an apartment, tuition, food, gas, and whatever else I need. Real life sucks.
Of course God likes it when we sing and dance! My church kind of does a moderation of it - you are free to dance if you want to but it's not required or anything. I love churches like yours and Cross Connection! Everyone is so free and open with their worship! I do wish all churches could be like that, but alas, some prefer to stand stock still and sing robotically. Ah, tomato, tomahto, at least we're all worshipping God in some form!
ReplyDeleteHaha I just read the summary of Our Town AND THANKS A LOT FOR DEPRESSING ME!!!!! It is a good concept, though, and one we don't hear enough. A bunch of characters are dead at the end and then there's another funeral for this lady who died in childbirth. She refuses to join the dead because she wants to relive her 12th birthday, although she eventually finds it too painful. Through this, she realizes that no one ever truly values their life before it's gone. Then her husband weeps at her grave while she just stares. Okay, I might as well go drink Drano now. It is a good concept, though. We don't realize our life until it's too late. At the very least, we think nothing will ever change about it so we take it for granted. I think the reason you had been led to believe that it was bad was because IT'S SO FREAKIN' DEPRESSING! Makes you want to go crawl in a hole and rock back and forth, muttering insane nonsense. HAHAHA well that's how I felt, anyway :) Thanks for directing me to it, though, it definitely leaves an impact!
Oooo, what kind of job are you thinking? Like at a fast food place? Yes, that would be ideal to be able to hold it until the end of high school. Every penny counts! Are you thinking you're going to stay around here? Didn't you say you wanted to go to college in Alabama? Or was it Georgia? Ah well, don't mind me. Just rambling as usual :)