Category: theological rant

I’ll be honest, I’m all about people raising their hands in worship.  And I really wish I could.  When I worship God alone, I do raise my hands.  And if it’s really, really dark, or I’m on the back row, or some glorious combination of the three.

I am the guy that closes his eyes and gets one hand up, but always stealthy-like, most of the time over my heart.  Almost never out to the side of my body.

Again, I really wish I could.  Why can’t I be the guy that raises my hands and dances around? Here’s an approximate play-by-play of what goes on in my head:

“Oh Lord, I love you, you are awesome” (hand begins to raise) “See that, lady in the row behind me?  I am so holy.  I am like the coolest 20-something you’ve ever seen.  Hey, guy beside her, check out how I raise my hand right on the profound part of the chorus!  Speaking of profound—someday I am going to write a book on how to be the perfect campus minister, or at least a book on a subject that is so profound that people will think I am the perfect minister, or husband.  Speaking of husband, I need to remember to pick up the loaf of bread I left out at lunch before Jacq sees it… what song are we singing now?

I mean, I know when I really think about it that the folks around me are most likely not thinking about me and how holy and awesome I am.  But regardless of that truth, the fact remains that every time I raise my hands, I am immediately not worshipping.  My fickle, self-consumed heart tries to pimp God’s glory.

One of the most encouraging things for me in corporate worship is to see others raising their hands.  I mentally raise my hands with them, every time.

I can’t wait for heaven.  I’ll get to worship God with all of my heart.  With no mixed motives.  Come quickly, Lord Jesus.

… you might not want to say it online.

I’ve noticed a trend on various social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook.  I’ll call it “hide-behind-the-keyboardism.”

It seems students (and others, including myself) are willing to say some things online that they would never say in person, or in certain contexts.  If it’s too crude to say to your mother, you might not want to post it as a status update on facebook, or as a Tweet on Twitter.

In reality, and for all intents and purposes, you can’t delete something from the internet.  As soon as it’s out, it is out.  Sure, you can remove the tweet from Twitter, but it’s already been cached and saved somewhere.

The reason I call it hiding behind the keyboard is that it is awfully easy to say something snarky and sarcastic about the guy on stage when you are a safe distance from him.  And you come off sounding like a real tough guy. “I like that Ben Meredith… he’s not afraid to tell it like it is…”  …when in reality I would be petrified to say what I posted in my status if I were standing face-to-face with the guy.  I like a reputation as a straight shooter, without the pesky side effects of shooting straight.

So let’s all agree to not say things on facebook, in our blogs, or on twitter that we wouldn’t say to that sweet old lady at church, or to someone’s face.  Don’t use the internet as a crutch.  That way, as an added benefit, you don’t have to sit through the painful awkwardness of a job interview where they read aloud and have you justify the 15 tweets you had 5 years ago describing in detail your trips to the bathroom.