Since my upcoming thoughts are rooted entirely in my theology of worship, I should start by providing some background on what I believe is going on in worship. Trying to keep it brief, when we gather as a community, we gather so God can act graciously and we can respond.

So, God acts by showing up, we respond. God acts by announcing forgiveness, we respond. God acts by speaking to us in his Word, we respond. God acts by giving us the body and blood, we respond. God acts by blessing us in the benediction (and hopefully we respond in our lives when we leave the church building).

Now, as I've planned various alternative worship of services with this general understanding of worship, I've always leaned towards having a single narrative that was aimed at telling this story of God's action and our response ... although, most of the time, that also demands a pre-story to point out why God has to act. So, when I plan, the music, the Scripture readings, the preaching, and everything else all weave together into a single story, so, when I saw this approach, I freaked a bit, because there is no way for the music to faithfully point into our out of the preaching portion of the worship narrative because they've been divided and the story is now broken up.

However, then I began to think about the traditional Lutheran liturgical setting where this pattern of acting and responding happens repeatedly, or, in the case of this unconventional idea, it could happen twice, once in preaching and once in music. What do you think, given my theology of worship, could that be a functional approach to something like this?

Last week I ran across this article, an interview with Tim Keller, in Christianity Today. This week in my blog I decided to look at the questions he was asked, pull a quote from his answers, and share some thoughts.

Q: You reject marketing apologetics like, "Christianity is better than the alternatives, so choose Christianity." Why?

A: Marketing is about felt needs. You find the need and then you say Christianity will meet that need. You have to adapt to people's questions. And if people are asking a question, you want to show how Jesus is the answer.

What strikes me as odd about this, is that Keller really is working with a, "Christianity is better than the alternatives" apologetic here, it's just being done from a position of service rather than one of authority.

After all, what he's arguing is coming alongside somebody who is feeling the effects of the law in their life, and offering them a Gospel solution to that felt-law experience. However, in addressing that need with the Gospel, he's also saying, "What you're doing, the alternatives, don't meet that need like the Gospel does." In other words, there's the other stuff, and then there's the Gospel.

Last week I ran across this article, an interview with Tim Keller, in Christianity Today. This week in my blog I decided to look at the questions he was asked, pull a quote from his answers, and share some thoughts.

Q: Are the doubts that believers face the same as the doubts that unbelievers face?

A: I do think a lot of Christians — because they don't understand the grace narrative — get out into the world and find it very tough to navigate. I think it's because they don't understand the gospel, not because they can't answer all the theological questions.

This comment really summarizes two of my posts last week on the first and second levels of religions, and how at a certain level, all religions are the same (which is what most Americans see according to the recent Pew study), but, at a second level, Christianity is radically different. That second level is the gospel and if people don't get they Gospel, then the uniqueness of Christianity is lost and, honestly, we're no different than anyone else.

Of course, the real challenge with this is that the Gospel is completely contrary to our sinful human nature, because our natural desire is to contribute something to the faith equation, be it good works, choosing God, or whatever else. In the end, because we add these pieces on to what God does, we end up with an understanding of the Gospel that is lacking and, as a result, we regularly find ourselves in places of doubt.

For the Christian then, the key to overcoming doubt and finding ourselves capable of navigating the world, is to come to understand the fullness of the Gospel. For me, the book that really helped in this struggle was Martin Luther's, "Bondage of the Will" (you can read it for free here).

So, how much Gospel is in your understanding of the Gospel?

About a month and a half ago Anita and I had a Ford Escape for about a week and a half. It was the rental we were provided after our car was totaled. While it wasn't bad, I never felt comfortable in it. There were too many bits and pieces bulging out that I'd continuously slam my elbows into. I also had issues with the drivers seat. While I could adjust the height, if I put it at a setting that was comfortable, I couldn't see what was going on around me very well, but if I set it so I could see clearly, I just felt uncomfortable. Of course, that car was comparable to our Toyota RAV4 which I didn't like either, so I wasn't too quick to make a judgment on the quality of American cars.

Then, this past weekend I had a Chevy Aveo while I was out in California. The sub-compact, which is Chevy's version of the Honda Fit that we recently bought, was loud, uncomfortable, handled poorly, and generally felt like it was going to just fall apart at any given moment. In addition, there was virtually no trunk space and I was a bit surprised when I was actually able to fit Robbie's car seat behind me while I was driving. In short, while being "similar", the Aveo is completely different from the Fit. The Fit's a great car, the Aveo might as well have a Yugo tag on it.

What surprises me thought, is that there are many people out there who would still buy the Aveo over the Fit simply because the Aveo is an American brand. In other words, people are willing to put up with a low-quality product, simply because of the brand.

This got me thinking about Christian stuff. Be it websites, movies, music, books, or art, people who are dedicated to the Christian brand are willing to shell out equal amounts of money for an inferior product.

But what happens when you're not dedicated to the brand? In my case, I can't understand why anybody would buy an Aveo. And in the case of the non-believer, they can only assume that Jesus isn't worth our best, which, in turn, gives them ample reason to wonder why they should consider what the Gospel of Jesus has to say about their lives.

As everyone who reads this blog knows by now, Anita and Robbie were in an accident a couple weeks ago and our car was totaled. Over the past couple weeks our insurance agent has had all kinds of issues with the other guy and his insurance company. Yesterday, we found out why. He hadn't been paying his premiums and, ten days before he hit us, his insurance was revoked. So now we have an uninsured driver case on our hands.

Thankfully, our insurance covers things like this so, with the exception of our deductible, everything else will be paid for (we've already received the money for both our new car seat and the old car, and all of our medical expenses have been billed straight to the insurance company with no copay).

During this time, Anita and I have been wrestling with how to best handle the situation. We've addressed the issue some over on the fshbwl, both in this article and on this podcast, but this whole uninsured motorist gig puts a new wrinkle in the situation.

So, what are we going to do? We're going to let our government, which, like all government, God established, in part, to punish the wicked (Romans 13), take care of things ... and we'll help them out in the process.

I just happen to know our district police commander, so, last night I sent her an email, explained the situation, and asked what we could to do to add to the existing charges, after all, the guy didn't have insurance and yet presented invalid insurance at the scene of the accident. This morning I received a message from her and she's going to follow up on it with the DA.

I'm not a vengeful person, and there's no gain for us in this course of action, but I do believe that God has given us government for a reason. When we break the laws, we deserve the full punishment we receive (which is why we pay all of our parking tickets, took a trip to court a couple years ago, and was shocked when this happened).

Hopefully a swift kick in the rear from Uncle Sam will prompt the other driver to, if nothing else, be a better member of society who works to serve his neighbors (although it would be great if, somehow in all this, there would be a great Law smackdown that would prepare the way for the Gospel).