so church today - very cool stuff. let me try to draw a picture for you. sitting in the auditorium of a really old church with this really really large painting of Christ and his disciples in the background. In front of that is a really small pulpit that our pastor doesn't ever even use. but scattered throughout this relatively large room are about 40 or so people from all over the world. literally. All over the world. Africa, America, Asia, Europe. Everywhere. The band starts up singing a Czech praise song that i am struggling to sing right. But being moved to tears because I am starting to see this huge picture. that God understands every language. Kind of amazing to think about. so the next song is in English, but the guy leading worship this week doesnt speak English. So a lady singing with him just translates. in my ears i hear several languages being sang at the same time along with the same song. all at the same freaking time. how cool is this? so prayer is taking place this whole time too. going in and out from prayer to praise. and we end up praying for half the service.. then the thing that astounded me the most. the preacher said that we should not be focusing on him. he said that the way we were intended to worship is not to sit there and listen and get spoon fed like a bunch of little babies. that isnt the point of coming to church. the point is to come together as a corporate body of believers and to learn from each other. not the preacher. he said that he wants to spend less time talking and more time doing. he said his goal was to learn from everyone else and to help everyone to grow in their relationships with christ and fellow believers. and for anyone to share whatever they needed to share. he essentially just is giving up his pulpit to the congregation. how many preachers do you know who are willing to do this? to tell about problems and pains, joy and happiness. see - he understands that he is not the rabbi. jesus is. we are not supposed to follow him and be like our preachers or pastors. jesus should be all we focus on. sometimes we focus way too much on the wrong thing and try and emulate the wrong people. why is this? the bible clearly tells us that no man is greater than another. the Jew is no better than the Gentile. do we really understand this? maybe we need to try to understand it. and maybe there should be class in seminary that teaches people in ministy that a church isnt a company therefore there is no CEO. things are changing and they can continue to do so. we just need people to see where jesus wanted to church to be and what he intended for it to be. just look in Acts. you can find it. by the way - i think i saw tonight a little glimpse of how heaven might be...