Let go of thy parachute
Posted On Friday, 19 October 2007 at at 8:28:00 pm by LisaHello blog shadowers (which is most of you) , friends and people who drop by
The Parachute 08 line up has been announced. Many people have commented on the lack of quality of the line up and I tend to agree visit here or here however as I grow in my Christian walk my problem lies at a much deeper issue than just the music. Here are my problems.
1) Israel Houghton is one of the headline artists. Now while I am not going to doubt that he has sold millions of albums and he has won some fantastic awards even in the mainstream my problem lies with the theology in the lyrics he is singing. As we have discussed at this blog before (well, some of us) Israel Houghton is the one who bought us Cover the earth, and also I am a friend of God. Houghton is on the worship team of Joel Osteen at Lakewood Church, Texas. While I am not one to say this makes one guilty of Osteens 'theology' *cough*, by association, I would think that if Houghton is serving in this way (as worship member) at Lakewood church it would mean he sees his theology as being able to line up with the church's.
2) Another one of our main headliners is a band called Jonzetta (yes that’s right they are a headliner). Now I will openly admit right here in front of you the blogging public that I am in no way perfect and sin all the time. I also come from the school that says all sin is equal. However I do find this following piece of footage from Jonzetta strange to say the least (the point in question is about 40 seconds in )
my point being are parachute looking for culturally relevant people? Is this what spacifix and so on were preparing us for? Is culturally relevant really the angle we want to take? Or am I just being a little too precious and should Christians start swearing more (because Jesus probably would have) ?
3) The music line up itself is debatable however if you want to discuss that go over here
don't really care about swearing (see my blog - i believe it's useful in context as a form of expression and no different from the way some pastors sternly preach messages abou how evil Satan is), but these guys look like real dicks
I'd never really knew who Joel Osteen was, but shortly after reading this post I happened upon this post from Bob Hyatt posting a video from Mark Driscoll/Mars Hill Church recent sermon commenting/critiquing Joel's preaching - good stuff (I also see other people commenting on this sermon outtake as well).
I have to say - putting aside Joel's preaching, I just don't trust a guy that smiles that much, or has such a dorky accent :)
Great post
Studying for exams, high high stress, no brain space for an intellectual comment.
But I've gotta ask you Lisa - do you still think it's a security guard that's doing all the killing? Must be a highly skilled guard with good needle work.
I now have no idea, and dont care, but new they'd start picking on a woman as the killer. Poor old Brenda had to be a target.
Parachutes a mixed bag, it plays a role, but its not the end point! I didn't go to parachute last year as I had big issues with a certain speaker and her personal jet. I want to go to this years parachute weirdly becuase one of my favourite bands are going to be there - my reasons seem to be me focused - on my preferences and feelings, are these the heart of God or just what I'm comfortable with?
I have no problem with guys who swear.. I have more issues with prosperity doctrine and turning worship into a happy joy joy time where there is no meaning in the words we sing and we don't live after the heart of God, a God of Justice and mercy, a God who deserves to be called lord. Worship aint about us its about God. Its not about us getting nice little feelings and feeling all happy joy joy - its about living a life that honours God - whole of life - not just one church service, not just one event - all of life.
I disliked parachute a couple of years ago when it seemed that the promoters were trying to sell albums and singles (constant repetition of songs in the worship!) I don't know its all too confusing to me. I will follow God try to deal with the crap in my life, try to show people to the Author and perfector of everything, and try not to be a know it all git about things.
Sorry Lisa, wierd post I know, but there is so much there that I thought I had to say something.