My only plans for today were to go bowling and to paint a room. Instead, I did laundry and watched movies … all day.

When life gives you water, make lemonade.
[with free lemon slices and sugar packets]

In China, many of the delicious dishes you could order in restaurants were fat-based. And I’m talking just fat … not pork or beef or anything like that, but straight up cooked fat and veggies. It was actually pretty delicious, but it took a little while to get used to.

One time when I went to the doctor for some skin problems (mostly from the polluted and damp air), he actually prescribed it … I had to eat about a fist-worth of lard every day for two weeks. Mmm … scrumptious!

Funny, sure. But it does raise some big questions, I think. We’re told, over and over, that eating fat is bad for you … but almost every dish in Hunan (where I lived) was soaked in oil and fat, and the people were, by and large (pun intended), incredibly skinny!

So where do we get our strong ideas about diet and nutrition, and how accurate are they? Are we just taking the word of the food industry, which some say is the second-largest industry in America (behind pharmaceuticals)? It has thousands of lobbyists and unbelievable marketing budgets … should we be connecting those dots a little more?

One of the biggest flaws in today’s American church, in my opinion, is its inability to distinguish between biblical and cultural issues, to know the origins of the topics and ideas that it discusses and defends.

It routinely uses scripture alone to argue hot-topic cultural ideas, including most “family values”. It routinely blames our media and politicians for problems that Jesus clearly warned are part of human nature. And in the confusion that follows, it routinely hurts and alienates the very people that the church is supposed to be there to help.

Care to illustrate my point?

“Can you imagine him being in charge of discipline at the middle school? He’ll be like, ‘You stole food from the cafeteria? Ok, you’re wearing a dress to school tomorrow.’”

– Ellen a former student/camper, talking to her friend at church

Glenway Wescott was right when he wrote this … love opens eyes!

“If you want to be free to serve Jesus, there’s no question — stay single. Marriage takes a lot of time. But if you want to become more like Jesus, I can’t imagine any better thing to do than to get married. Being married forces you to face some character issues you’d never have to face otherwise.”

– Gary Thomas, Sacred Marriage

When I sing hymns like the one I posted yesterday, my heart comes alive. It tells a tale, a glorious account of death and renewal, betrayal and redemption, and mystery and revelation. It takes me on a journey, illuminating a path that has been traveled many times before and opening my eyes to a story that can deeply impact me.

When I sing modern choruses, however, I have a very different experience. Just check out this one, which often shares the same title, “Amazing Love”:

You Are My King
by Billy James Foote

I’m forgiven because You were forsaken.
I’m accepted, You were condemned.
I’m alive and well, Your spirit is within me,
because You died and rose again.

Amazing love, how can it be
that You, my King, would die for me?
Amazing love, I know it’s true.
It’s my joy to honor You.
In all I do, I honor You.

You are my King.

I mean … it’s good, don’t get me wrong … but it’s also quite flat. The words speak Truth, but it’s impossible to tell where it’s coming from or where it’s going. The song conveys emotions but fails to connect them with a context. And the repetition that is required to sing these choruses often numbs me, turning off my mind and putting me into cruise control.

What’s missing, I think, is narrative. This communication tool, perhaps the most powerful and effective in our toolbox, is too often forgotten and ignored. We’ve lost the ability to tell a tale as we worship … and in the process, I think, we’ve crippled our own ability to intertwine our story with His.

So … how do we get the narrative back?

And Can It Be
by Charles Wesley, 1708-1788

And can it be that I should gain
an interest in the Savior’s blood?
Died He for me who caused His pain …
for me who Him to death pursued!
Amazing love! How can it be
that Thou, my God, should die for me?

‘Tis mystery all: the Immortal dies!
Who can explore his strange design?
In vain the firstborn seraph tries
to sound the depths of love divine.
‘Tis mercy all! Let earth adore,
let angel minds inquire no more.

He left His Father’s throne above …
so free, so infinite His grace!
Emptied Himself of all but love,
and bled for Adam’s helpless race.
‘Tis mercy all, immense and free …
for O my God, it found out me!

Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
fast bound in sin and nature’s night.
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray,
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light!
My chains fell off, my heart was free …
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

No condemnation now I dread.
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine.
Alive in Him, my living Head,
and clothed in righteousness divine.
Bold I approach the eternal throne,
and claim the crown through Christ my own!