Prayer Is The Disciplined Refusal

Pity Is One Of The Noblest Emotions Available To Human Beings; Self-pity Is Possibly The Most Ignoble . . . . [it] Is An Incapacity, A Crippling Emotional Disease That Severely Distorts Our Perception Of Reality . . . A Narcotic That Leaves Its Addicts Wasted And Derelict.

Classically, There Are Three Ways In Which Humans Try To Find Transcendence--religious Meaning--apart From God As Revealed Through The Cross Of Jesus: Through The Ecstasy Of Alcohol And Drugs, Through The Ecstasy Of Recreational Sex, Through The Ecstasy Of Crowds. Church Leaders Frequently Warn Against The Drugs And The Sex, But At Least, In America, Almost Never Against The Crowds.

Jesus Almost Never Talked In Terms Of Explaining. He Was Always Using Enigmatic Stories And Difficult Metaphors. He Was Always Pulling People Into Some Kind Of Participation.

Worship Is An Act That Develops Feelings For God, Not A Feeling For God That Is Expressed In An Act Of Worship.

Feelings Are Great Liars. If Christians Worshipped Only When They Felt Like It, There Would Be Precious Little Worship. We Think That If We Don’t Feel Something There Can Be No Authenticity In Doing It. But The Wisdom Of God Says Something Different: That We Can Act Ourselves Into A New Way Of Feeling Much Quicker Than We Can Feel Ourselves Into A New Way Of Acting. Worship Is An Act That Develops Feelings For God, Not A Feeling For God That Is Expressed In An Act Of Worship.