We don't need to be Christian to be a good person, but...

I am leaning toward we need to be connected to a community in order to be understand who we are as an individual.

Conversions are followed with songs

Recently it was shared in a small group I am a part of, that every time a religious experience becomes real for someone a hymnity follows. 

We see this in the different songs in the Bible. From Mary after the annunciation, to Miriam after the destruction of Pharaoh to the songs of David to the early hymns of the church. 

It was shared to me that this is why there are so many people who get defensive about the type of music in a worship setting. It is not just about style or if drums are okay or a pipe organ is too lame. People are protective of the music that follows their religious experiences.

Many of us have these religious experiences when we are kids or youth and so the music of our youth really is the music we really hold on to for the rest of our life as "real music". It is why I still love the Beastie Boys, Moby, Fat Boy Slim, and Weezer. It is also why I do not understand rap music at all. I was being shaped in my life in my late teens and as a result I hold on to the music that was around at that time.  

So when you find yourself in a worship setting thinking, "This music sucks" or "I don't like that instrument in worship" remember that the music is a reflection of the religious experiences of the community and to understand the music is more than style - it is also connected to a life changing experience/s.

Savior and Lordship and why it matters

It is often the case among mainline protestants to talk about Jesus as either our Lord or our Savior. It is my experience that the phrase "Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior" is generally reserved for the more conservative types, But let us be clear here, Jesus is both Lord and Savior for the Christian - and both are important.

When I say Jesus is my Savior what I mean is that it is Jesus who saves me from my destructive self. Jesus is the one who teaches me how to have life and how to have life abundantly. 

When I say Jesus is my Lord what I mean is that there are other lords that I can choose to be the authority in my life. For some it is a particular political thought, for others it might be a social status. But if Jesus is Lord then that means that the other lords in the world are not my Lord. 

If we proclaim Jesus as Lord and Savior then several things begin to happen. We might begin to see that the values of the American Dream conflict with the values of the Kingdom of God. We are saved from the destructive path of the American Dream (Jesus is Savior) and where there is conflicting values, we are faithful to the Kingdom of God not the American Dream (Jesus is Lord). 

For instance, the American Dream values the individual and undervalues the work of the community/group/tribe/family the individual comes from. There are many situations that no matter how hard someone works alone, they just will not get very far. If you are a prisoner released from jail then you will have a very hard time moving up in the world without a very large and strong support network - regardless of how hard you work!

Jesus is Lord and Savior because not only does Jesus help us discover the resurrection but Jesus also has say over our current moments. We fail to be a faithful church when we think of Jesus as primary Lord or primarily savior.