the water is cool

I visited a church today called Ecclesia, in Hollywood. The church I'd visited a couple of weeks ago as well as a conversation with a buddy of mine who attended there left me a bit discouraged as to the state of the body out in los angeles. Culturally, los angeles is disconnected. Ask anyone who lives here and they'll tell you. I was told about it before I got out here, I felt it when I got here, and I've had it confirmed by believers and non-believers I've gotten to know out here. It's beautiful, diverse, and laid back, but it also breeds loneliness, bitterness, and despair. Most people living out here have left their homes, families, and friends to come out here to the most competitive industry in the world to try to be one of the few to "make it." Loneliness is a natural byproduct of that kind of a life. There can't be much unity if everyone is competing ruthlessly for too few jobs. People aren't people; they're contacts. They're rungs in the ladder. And sadly, this attitude has leaked into the church, from what I've seen and heard.

We were created for fellowship, with God and with others, and weren't constructed to survive without it. I was greatly encouraged by Ecclesia because I saw genuine love, humility, and a passion to reform Hollywood from the inside. Not that everyone there was somehow involved in the arts, but they were all part of the Hollywood culture just by living here. I didn't see wishy washy BS that normally follows the artistic crowd, the rejection of scripture in an effort to be "open minded," or "super star worship" at Ecclesia. The music was done with excellence AND humility, which is HARD. If you're involved in excellent worship, it's easy to get caught up in the excellence and not the Master Artist who, in His grace, has given you the gifts and the capacity for excellence. It's the whole "praise God, we ROCK!" mentality. It's so easy for me to justify pride in the name of excellence, and it was so humbling to see real humility played out in an excellent worship service. How wonderful it is to have a God who cares intimately enough to shatter your personal illusions of excellence and pride and to knock you off your feet to your knees again and again.

Another thing I'm having to adjust to is the lack of hymns and traditional style out here in worship. I've grown so comfortable with the Redeemer style that it's been a huge adjustment. In that case, it's only a matter of me getting out of my comfort zone and learning to appreciate different styles of worship that are no less excellent than the Redeemer/RUF style.

Starbucks is like a breath of cool air. Literally. My cousin's AC-less apartment is like the fiery furnace this afternoon in hazy LA. It's like I work during the week and then spend all weekend at Starbucks, just to get out of the heat.

So everyone who reads this blog(both of you) needs to email me and let me know what's going on in Athens, or wherever you are this summer. Or get a blog and email me the URL.

I mean it.