photo by Shelagh Murphy via pexels too . He desperately wanted to be in that place . To experience what God was doing there and then .
Sadly , over time , Pete drifted away from Church and seemed to have lost his faith . I don ’ t know for certain ( and I sure can ’ t judge his heart ) but I am concerned that Pete had been chasing experiences of God rather than chasing God Himself . When Pete didn ’ t get the experiences , he felt like God had deserted him . Please join me in praying for Pete .
ANECDOTE 2 : Jay ( Again , not my friend ’ s real name )
My friend Jay was raised in the church . Jay was a great singer , musically gifted , young , goodlooking and a natural on stage . Pretty quickly he had some pastors and other Christian leaders and event organizers latch onto him . They told him he was “ anointed ”. That when he “ lead worship ” the presence of God fell . Jay was thrilled . Soon he was being used as the “ worship leader ” at all the big outreach and youth events in the state . It lasted a year or two .
Many years have passed since then . Jay has left the church . He tells me he no longer believes in God . Looking back , he would say that he just knew how to act and the right things to say - on and off the platform - to do the gig well . He thought it was all real at the time , but now ( in his mind at least ) he knows it wasn ’ t .
ANECDOTE 3 : “ Hallelujah ”
Not so long ago I was invited to be the guest preacher for a largish Pentecostal-flavored church . I ’ d been asked to speak about the importance and value of music - a topic near and dear to my heart .
As I prepared my sermon , I felt a strong sense that I should close the service with the wellknown secular song “ Hallelujah ”. You know the one ? It starts , “ Well I heard there was a secret chord that David played and it pleased the Lord .” Amazing song . One of my favorites . Originally by Leonard Cohen but covered by the likes of John Cale , Jeff Buckley , Rufus Wainwright , K . D . Lange , Justin Timberlake , Pentatonix and countless others . It ’ s not often
sung in church services but it ’ s hugely popular outside the church . I knew it could potentially be controversial , so I called the hosting pastor to get the ‘ all-clear ’ first .
“ Hallelujah ” seemed to fit the main theme of my sermon so perfectly : As we sing our own Hallelujahs to God , it ’ s better to do so while being honest with ourselves and with God about our brokenness and failings rather than pretending that we ’ ve got it all together . I chose my verses carefully from Cohen ’ s many . Some would not be appropriate . My final verse was a verse that most artists don ’ t use :
I did my best - It wasn ’ t much I couldn ’ t feel so I tried to touch I ’ ve told the truth I didn ’ t come to fool ya
But even though it all went wrong I ’ ll stand before the Lord of song With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah
I sang the song and then asked the congregation to stand and we passionately sang the “ Hallelujahs ” of the final choruses
January 2024 Subscribe for Free ... 31