Category Archives: Contemporary Worship

Visit to a Missionary Baptist Church – They Got the Spirit Part Down

Posted on February 18, 2019 by Rev. Paul R. Harris

I believe this is from Luther on Worship or it may be from In the Name of Jesus. Jesus says worship must be in Spirit and in Truth. The latter tells us that true worship must be according to the … Continue reading →

Trivializing the Miraculous Mission

Posted on January 29, 2019 by Rev. Paul R. Harris

Below for you listening pleasure or discomfiture are the VBS songs the Missouri Synod’s publishing house is offering for it’s 2019 program: Miraculous Mission – Jesus Saves the World. CPH’s website devoted to this says: “A Concordia Publishing House (CPH) we … Continue reading →

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Message by Humanism; Music by Disney – Visit to a PCUSA

Posted on November 7, 2018 by Rev. Paul R. Harris

I know the acronym for Presbyterian Church USA is not PUKE but that’s how I have always thought and heard it. A visit to St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Austin, Texas confirmed that this wasn’t a mondegreen on my part.

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The Sharpest Knife in the Drawer – Visit to a Non-Denominational Church

Posted on October 8, 2018 by Rev. Paul R. Harris

If you’re a pastor who thinks what the world needs is another non-denominational church or your winning personality, give-up. Send them to Shoreline, Austin, Texas. They have a better sound system than any Dolby movie theater, as comfortable seating as … Continue reading →

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Look to the Rock from which You were Hewn – Visit to a Baptist Church

Posted on April 16, 2018 by Rev. Paul R. Harris

“Look to the rock from which you were hewn,” is a call from Isaiah 51:1. Israel was to look to Abraham and Sara from which the Promised Seed came and therefore their righteousness did. In popular parlance it means to … Continue reading →

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Neither a Doctor’s or an Actor’s Look at Calvary Does it Justice

Posted on March 26, 2018 by Rev. Paul R. Harris

I’ve read the 1963 work A Doctor Looks at Calvary; you’ve probably watched Mel Gibson’s 2004 movie The Passion and while a medical doctor in my congregation says that the book is accurate and those who have watched the movie … Continue reading →

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Playing First Century in Red Pantaloons

Posted on December 11, 2017 by Rev. Paul R. Harris

Krister Stendahl, a Swedish Lutheran theologian, gave a lecture at an Episcopalian seminary in 1982. It was on Romans. I was in attendance. I remember thinking either this man is too smart for me to understand or so stupid he … Continue reading →

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Mothers Don’t Let Your Babies Grow up to be Presbyterians

Posted on May 4, 2017 by Rev. Paul R. Harris

So sang Willie and Waylon about cowboys, buy you can be a Confessional Lutheran and be a cowboy. The same can’t be said of being a Presbyterian. Never the twain shall meet. The thing conservative Presbyterians are closest to meeting … Continue reading →

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A Laughing Matter that isn’t Funny

Posted on January 24, 2017 by Rev. Paul R. Harris

I have a thirty-year-old cartoon in my files from Christianity Today. It depicts an absolutely frazzled man on the edge of a bed, phone plastered to his ear, with a freaked-out expression. The caption is: “My wife just left me, … Continue reading →

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Levels

Posted on December 12, 2016 by Rev. Paul R. Harris

There is a “Seinfeld” episode in which Kramer is obsessed with levels particularly having them in his apartment. It was the usual send-up. Perhaps, though, we should pay more attention to levels.