Tag Archives: ritual

Liturgy & The Letter-G Word

Posted on April 13, 2013 by Steve Simms

Liturgy can present the letter-G word: God. However knowing God personally is much more than a word or a ritual. It requires direct encounter followed by daily surrender to and obedience to His will. Liturgy began as spiritual life, as … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, bowing, chanting, God, habit, knowing God personally, memory, relationship with God, religious academics, religious ceremonies, religious information, religious innovation, religious talks, religious tradition, revelation, revival, Scriptures, singing, the g-word | Tagged having a form of godliness, knowing God, liturgy, Paul of Tarsus, religion, rites, ritual | Leave a comment

Why Is Christmas The Most Celebrated Day Of The Year?

Posted on December 4, 2011 by Steve Simms

Why all the fuss and effort to celebrate the Christmas season? You know. The most celebrated day of the year is about the arrival of Jesus Christ on planet Earth. Isn’t it amazing all the time, effort, and money that … Continue reading →

Posted in Americans, awe, Berry Street, Berry Street Worship Center, Christianity, Christmas, Christmas carols, Christmas Eve, East Nashville, freedom, Jesus, Jesus Christ, kingdom of God, life, lifestyles, meaning, miracles, mysticism, Nashville, non-material reality, Oh my God, popular culture, praise and worship, Reason For The Season, religion, revelation, Savior, spiritual, spiritual disciplines, spiritual formation, spiritual growth, spiritual skills, spiritual warfare, The Salvation Army, Why be a Christian? | Tagged 10:45, 225 Berry St., 37207, alive, all the fuss, all the time, amazing, around the world, Berry Street, birth, calls us back, celebrate, Christmas celebrations, Christmas season, come, confined, eager, effort, empowered, Enhance, experience, faithfully serve, freedom, gives, history, hope, human life, hundreds of millions, in our time, individuals, inner passion, inner witness, inside the human heart, inspires, Jesus, Jesus Christ, know, live a life of love, loves us, meaningless existence, mere, money, morality, most celebrated day, moves, Nashville, of the year, people, personally encountered, planet Earth, presence, present reality, random, rebellious, religion, respond, return, ritual, runaway, self-destructive behaviors, self-sacrifice, set free, shows, spent, steps out, stirs, Sundays, testifies, the arrival, the depths of our being, the living Christ, The Salvation Army, there is a God, there is more to life, TN, to believe, tradition, transformation, truths, try to deny, Why, working, Worship Center, you know | 6 Comments

Jesus (And The Thoughts He Brings To My Mind)

Posted on September 19, 2011 by Steve Simms

I wrote down “Jesus.” Now I am going to write what comes from my heart. I love Jesus. He is more real to me than the air I breathe. He sustains me, strengthens me, comforts me, challenges me, inspires me, … Continue reading →

Posted in Christian history, Christianity, church history, college, college students, Easter, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Jesus Movement, Jesus Take The Wheel, meaning, mysticism, Oh my God, peace, praise and worship, prayer, religion, salvation, soul, spiritual, Uncategorized | Tagged 20 centuries, abandon, above every name under heaven, again, air I breathe, Alpha and Omega, authority, awesome, bringing hope, captivated, church-service, clothed, college freshman, comes from, completely, conviction, dances, dear, devoured, did, down, encountered Jesus, endurance, ever since the day, everlasting Father, first, first Christians, flows, generation, glorious, God with us, Gospel accounts, have your way, heart, heart cries, high and lifted up, historical, hungered, I want more, Immanuel, in my heart, in our time, itself, Jesus, joy, jumps off the pages, knowledge, life, lion of the tribe of Judah, liturgy, living, long, love, manifest, men and women, midst, mighty God, mighty miracles, more, more of Jesus, more stuff, move, name, open our eyes, passion, peace, person, poured over, power, presence, present, read, real, refreshing, religious figure, revelation, ritual, same, splendor, sweet, talks, thank you, the word, theology, theory, through being, to see, turn us around, washing, word, worked, write, wrote | Leave a comment

My God! I Want To See That Again! “Reborn To Be Wild”

Posted on September 10, 2011 by Steve Simms

When I went to my favorite Borders book store for their going out of business sale, God, as He often does, led me to a book that stirred my heart (Reborn To Be Wild). I left the tracks of my … Continue reading →

Posted in church history, college, college students, crying, fire, God, Holy Spirit, house church, Jesus Christ, Jesus Movement, mysticism, Nashville, new birth, Oh my God, organic church, popular culture, religion, salvation, simple church, spiritual, tears, What is church? | Tagged 10:34, 37207, across, again, alive, amazing, assembling, Berry Street, book, borders, can't, chapter, Christ, closest, come, Dear Lord, die, directly, Ed Underwood, encounters, favorite, fire, first, follow Jesus, following, form, fresh, gatherings, generation, generations, God, God's glory, going out of business, group, heart, hearts, human, hungry, Jesus Movement, last night, lead, leader, leadership, leave, led, living, Lord, love, meeting Jesus, meetings, midst, mightily, mind, move, My God, Nashville, need, now, O God, obey, one more time, passionately, power, powerful, program, programs, pursue, reblazing, Reborn To Be Wild, rekindle, religion, results, ritual, rolled, sale, see, sell the farm, spontaneous, stir up the gift, stirring, structured, Sundays, take, tears, The Salvation Army, time, tracts of my tears, tragedy, Wake us up, weep, when, wife, within you, witness, write | 1 Comment

What The Church Can Learn From The Oprah Show

Posted on September 5, 2011 by Steve Simms

The Oprah Show was not just entertainment. It connected with people, encouraged them, challenged them, and made a difference in their lives. Perhaps the 21st Century church could learn a few things from Oprah. * Allow spontaneity. The Oprah Show was … Continue reading →

Posted in apologists, Berry Street Worship Center, biography, change, Christianity, crying, house church, life, lifestyles, meaning, morality, morals, multi-racial, Nashville, Oh my God, Oprah, Oprah Show, organic church, popular culture, race, racism, religion, self-help, simple church, spiritual, tears, The Salvation Army, Uncategorized, What is church? | Tagged 21st Century, 225 Berry Street, 37207, all races, allow, allowed, audience members, being human, Berry Street, caring, challenged, changed, check out, church, city, clap, congregation, connected, cried, declare, degrading, denies, different, draw viewers, dull, embraced, emotion, emotionless, encouraged, encouraging, entertainment, entire, exciting, expecting, express, fall for anything, features, felt, find a way, flow, focus, followed, freedom, fresh, gatherings, get out of the box, goal Christianity, God's image, greatness, grieved, guests, gushed, hand, harm, heart, hour, human emotion, humanity, ideals, ideas, If you're happy, important part, involved, irrelevant, it is time, Jesus, Jesus Christ, laugh, laughed, learn from, life-changing, like, lived, lives, look the part, made a difference, meetings, mike, mold, most, multi-racial, mutual, name of, Nashville, needs, nod, notify your face, on and on, online, Oprah, Oprah Show, participatory church, passive, passively by, people, places, popular, presentation, programmed, quite, race, raise, read, real-life, rejoiced, religious, respond, rest, reviews, rididly, ritual, sadness, same-ole, segregated, sensationalism, show, showed, sitting, society, someone has said, spectators, spectrum, spontaneity, stand for something, stay awake, struggling, Sundays, take the high road, talk TV, taught, The Salvation Army, things, to happen, trash, unexpected, unfortunately, uplifting, whole, Worship Center | 12 Comments

The Alternative Lifestyle

Posted on August 19, 2011 by Steve Simms

A true alternative lifestyle does not just change the object of one’s lust from one gender to another; it overcomes the power, control, and addiction of lust. We hear much about alternative lifestyles nowadays. Yet the greatest alternative lifestyle is … Continue reading →

Posted in alternative lifestyle, Berry Street Worship Center, Christianity, freedom, God, Jesus Christ, kingdom of God, lifestyles, mysticism, Nashville, Oh my God, organic church, popular culture, prayer walking, revelation, salvation, simple church, The Salvation Army, Uncategorized, What is church? | Tagged about, accomplished, addiction, against, along, alternative, alternative lifestyles, attendance, based, Berry Street, breakfast, casually, challenge, challenging, change, chapters 5-7, chicken, children, Christ-style, church, coast, com, comfort, commitment, community, compulsions, contribution, control, cost, count the cost, cravings, daily, dare, deliberately, deny, depths, desires, destructive, direct, doctrine, doing, excitement, experience, extremely, flow, following, fully, gender, giving, greatest, group, growth, guaranteed, ham and egg, hear, Him, in spite, inner peace, intimacy, Jesus, Jesus Christ, joy, life, lifestyle seldom, lifetime, live, love, lust, manifesto, Matthew, meaning, meet, meetings, mentioned, much, Nashville, needy, never, nowadays, obeying, object, ongoing, out, over, overcomes, people, perhaps, persecuted, pig, power, process, provides, purpose, raise money, real world, religious, replied, requires, rewarding, ritual, rivers of living water, said, seek, seeking, self-denial, self-focus, self-fulfillment, self-sacrifice, society, soul, speaks out, strength, Sundays, support group, taught, teachings, The Salvation Army, The Sermon On the Mount, theology, through, together, tolerant, total commitment, tough, type, understanding, very, visit, walking, Worship Center | 5 Comments

Life Rocks When Religion Becomes Real (Or, Night At The Theological Museum)

Posted on July 27, 2011 by Steve Simms

In the 2006 movie, Night at the Museum, a night watchman at New York City’s American Museum of Natural History is shocked when the exhibits in the museum come to life. His once boring job suddenly becomes exciting and challenging. It is amazing the … Continue reading →

Posted in Christian history, Christianity, church history, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, kingdom of God, life, lifestyles, meaning, mysticism, new birth, Night at the Museum, Oh my God, organic church, popular culture, prayer, Quotations, Quotes, religion, resurrection, revelation, simple church, The Salvation Army, What is church?, William Booth | Tagged 2006 movie, accepting, accumulation, addictions, adherents, alive, amazing, America's, American Museum of Natural History, announced, argued, arguments, as the waters cover the sea, authority, awe, believe, Bible, blandly, blind faith, boring job, bright and morning star, brothers, bursts forth, by droves, celebration, challenging, church, churches, cofounder of, come to life, connects, cravings, crazy, crucifixion, data, demonstrated, demonstrating, don't rock the boat, driven, exciting, exhibits, experience, feel, fill the earth, flamed, foundations, from God, glory of the LORD, God's, having strouble, head, His, Holy Spirit, hope, ignores the heart, in my seat, incarnation, information, Jesus Christ, joyous, jumped off the pages, know so, knowledge, Letters, life, lifeless formes, living, Lord, losing, love letters, majestic, makes, man, mastered, mind, miracles, most of all, museum, need no, New Testament, New York City's, night, Night at the Museum, night watchman, oh, passionately, people, persuade, physical healing, power, presence, proof, proven, pulsating, quotation, rational, rationalized, real, reassure, relationships, religion, resurrection, ritual, said, salvation, secular society, seduction, see, send, sensational, set free, sexy, shaking, shocked, spiritual, spontaneous, spplendor, staying awake, Sunday school, surging, taught, teeming, the Apostles, the difference, the Good News, The Salvation Army, theological, theology, tired, trembling, true, vividly, William Booth, with life, work, writers, written to, yawn | 3 Comments

The Most Important Letter Ever Written

Posted on April 3, 2011 by Steve Simms

Most people have probably never heard of what I consider to be the most important letter ever written in the history of the world. This letter was written around 50-60 AD and sent from Jerusalem to Antioch in Syria. Why … Continue reading →

Posted in apologists, God, history, Jesus Christ, lifestyles, organic church, religion | Tagged 60 AD, abstain from food sacrificed to idols, Antioch, bold, book of Acts, case, chapter 15, Christians, commitment, communicate, cowards, death, decision, deny, every written, experience, followers, for His cause, freed, from blood, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals, Gentiles, history of the world, Holy Spirit, Jerusalem, Jesus, Jewish dietary, Jews, living, New Testament, nomination, non-Jews, not to burden you, obey, offended, opened it up, original disciples, passionate, Paul of Tarsus, Pentecost, religious laws, requirements, resurrection, ritual, soldiers, Syria, The worlds most important letter, to all, willing to die | 5 Comments

What Skin Color Is Your Church?

Posted on February 13, 2011 by Steve Simms

Here is a question for you: What skin color is your church? Should churches that represent Heaven and all of its glorious human diversity (people from “every kindred and every tribe”) be able to be identified by the prominent skin … Continue reading →

Posted in apologists, black history, history, lifestyles, organic church, religion | Tagged American, assemble, believers, brown, Christian, church Heaven, churches, diversity, glory, Gospel, government sponsored, kingdom of God, Korean, love, power, Racial segregation, real, red, ritual, shades, skin color, supernatural, tear down, tribe, USA black, walls, white, yellow | 13 Comments

Tag Archives: ritual

Liturgy & The Letter-G Word

Why Is Christmas The Most Celebrated Day Of The Year?

Jesus (And The Thoughts He Brings To My Mind)

What The Church Can Learn From The Oprah Show

Life Rocks When Religion Becomes Real (Or, Night At The Theological Museum)

The Most Important Letter Ever Written

What Skin Color Is Your Church?

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