8 Comments

1. i dont get the 2008 one.

2. I guess the point I was trying to make is that we are the most relevant and the most contemporary when we live in the present and believe God can and does use us to make a difference in people’s lives. This is the ultimate purpose of God’s call on our lives, not the other stuff that can lead us astray. Does this make sense?

3. so wouldn’t that be the cutting edge of every year? we use those tools to be able to communicate better.

4. but yeah, it does make sense, i was just confused as to why it was on the current year and not the others.

5. As long as your focus is to make disciple for Jesus you will always be cutting edge. If you focus is on maintaining some kind of technology or music, it will always be somewhere else. I was just trying to suggest that we should always focus on what’s important and not technology or music styles.

6. If I understand your premise correctly, kettle, I would like to see my church on the cutting edge of the times immediately following the death of Christ –Acts 2:42-47 — and all of the worshipping, the reading of the Word, and the fellowship and community that occurred from the selling of possessions and the breaking of bread. Unfortunately, I believe many in my church miss the point about what is important. The screen in the sanctuary and those who encourage the use of it during church services are to be condemned rather than the messages — the Good News — presented on it lauded. The offering of numerous and diverisfied opportunities for worship on Good Friday in the minds of a few in my church deserved to be condemned because only “one and something new” should have been presented. Praise music dare not be used in a traditional service, for it needs to “know its place.” How is it, kettle, that so many congregants sit in church services all over in the presence of the Most Holy and dare to tell Him what THEY want HIM to do? Why is it that these congregants see as most important the extraneous rather than the core of what Christ’s true church is to represent — the learning, sharing, and living of the Word and the remembrance that Christ came to serve not to be served, thus we are commanded to do no less? The world is a cruel place. Consequently, in this day and age, one expects to find pettyness, gossip, complaining, backbiting, and unforgiveness in it, especially in the workplace. The church, however, because it is GOD’S HOUSE should be a bastion of kindness, acceptance, forgiveness, and true Christian love. Unfortunately, many churches are not. Perhaps, we need to redefine the term “cutting edge.” Perhaps, our definition of “cutting edge” should not include the most up-to-date computers or the most up-to-date projectors or the most up-to-date music but a “cutting edge” of kindness, the “cutting edge” of tolerance and forgiveness, the “cutting edge of valuing the uniqueness of others, the “cutting edge” of service to others, and the “cutting edge” of the Great Commission — “Love your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself.” Now, that’s the “cutting edge” I would ascribe to and one that I pray my church will aspire to.

7. I believe that one can easily see the frantic attempt that both modern day people and churches are making to ensure that they too are on the “cutting edge” of “church world”. There are two prominent dangers that I see in “trying to keep up”: getting lost in all of the effort (not seeing the forest for the trees) and overemphasizing one aspect of faith or worship, while ignoring other equally important facets.

   There are an enormous number of people out there who pour emphasis on one aspect of Christianity or another as a way of being on the “cutting edge” of what Christianity is all about. They focus on one thing, take it to the extreme, get really good at that one aspect, and somehow consider themselves to be at the very center of what being a follower of Christ is all about. Some churches, like Vinyard Churches, are very service-oriented and emphasize serving others in the community above all else. Others emphasize a verse or two in the Bible, and center their entire faith and practice on a single or obscure reference. For instance, “And these signs shall follow them that believe…In my name they shall…take up serpents…”–Mark 16:17-18…in the case of those who handle snakes. Some people, like those of the Holiness Movement, Pentacostals, and Charismatics, have traveled a long way down the road of emphasizing the power, the presence, and the manifestations of the Spirit, and are consumed with the person of the Holy Spirit above the other two manifestations of the triune God. Some people focus on the strict adherence to a variety of rules and doctrines, some Biblical, others man-made,with a heavy emphasis on the dire consequences of disobedience. Still others cling to “the way things used to be” or “the way things have always been”, almost elevating these ideals to the status of being something to worship, like worshiping the process or the details as opposed to the one who should be the object of the worship, regardless of whatever form the worship takes. Others, like “worship centers”, emphasize praise and worship over every other aspect of the faith. Some people and denominations worship intellect and the academia of the faith, foregoing the emotional, the service-oriented, and active aspects of the faith.

   My point is that there is value and correctness in balance. Christ is our ultimate example of what it means to be on the “cutting edge”, and a study of His life reveals balance, not an overemphasis of any one aspect of following after God. Prayer, the Holy Spirit, worship, healing, obedience, service, fasting, study of the scriptures–all are important and modern and progressive–in addition to love, compassion, forgiveness, stewardship, generosity, faith, mercy, hope, self-control, etc. Following the radical, balanced, and extraordinary example of Christ is what “cutting edge” is to me. My eyes are fixed on Him, every aspect of His life and who He is. It doesn’t get any more “cutting edge” than that!

   The other danger is getting so caught up in trying to be “cutting edge” and in an image and a concept and a reputation and a tradition, that we lose track of the big picture. Sometimes, churches and people get so wrapped up in organs and guitars and lights and projectors and crosses and robes and 12 noon and oxfords and ties and hymns and King James Version and dresses–not pants and makeup and hair length and tongues and jammin’ praise and worship and a whole list of other things that they forget that it’s not about them. Sometimes, we get so caught up with trying to fit into some image or some profile or trying to be “that kind of church” that we forget that we were created to worship Him, for His good pleasure, that God loves us and gave His Son for us, that we are grateful, and that out of that gratefulness and thankfulness we live our lives in service to Him by showing love and compassion and forgiveness to others, and that our highest aspiration in this life should be to get as close to Him and His perfect will as possible. We can’t get so caught up in being “cutting edge” that we lose Jesus.

   I can’t help but return to the original blog and review the “cutting edge” list: stained glass, pipe organ, computer, powerpoint, video…and reflect that all of these help facilitate or provide the forum for worship and for centering on God and His will for our lives. But it is in the worship and the centering and the living that we find the “cutting edge”…not in all the things and activities that facilitate the worship, centering, and living.

8. I couldn’t agree with you more. To be “cutting edge” means to be following Christ and not methodology becauses methods change and go in and out of style. To be really cutting edge is to know Christ regardless of the style of worship or the tempo of the music.

   Thank you for your thoughts.

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