In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1) John’s statement sounds metaphorical—“God is like a Word because Creation began with a divine pronouncement.” But in a more nuanced, more accurate interpretation, the Word is not an announcement about creation: It is the very act…

Last week we explored how music can be designed—architected—either to lift—or to deceive—the spirit of its audience. We saw (or rather, we heard) how the same notes can open the heart toward grace or inflate the ego toward itself, depending on the motivations of the composer, the performer, and the listener. This, then, led me…

Last week, we saw how music can either humble the soul or inflate it—how the same sound that reveals grace can just as easily counterfeit it.  Across history, people have tried to protect themselves from that danger by shaping the music itself: deciding what should be sung, and how it should be sung. The result was what we might…

Last week we listened to sound as the oldest language of reverence.We saw — or rather, heard — how the resonance of a single vibration can bridge the human and the divine, turning sound into worship. But might not something that can move us so deeply move us in the wrong direction, and mislead us?…

This post contains Part 1 of a series called “Amazing Grace: The Sounds of Worship,” and an Introduction to the Series. Sound is the oldest language of reverence. Long before we had doctrine, scripture, or theology, human beings used vibration to reach toward the unknown. This series explores that ancient connection between sound and the…

We have been discussing love, and today I want us to talk about how love is essential in forming true community. Love and community are existentially important for us as humans. Without them, none of us could survive or flourish. So I want us to look at how community actually forms and how love shapes…