Check out Ransom Ministries, who publish the thoughtful magazine Critique. This month’s issue covers everything from Pan’s Labyrinth to music Austin favorite Spoon.

Below is an excerpt from my journal, written while we were on vacation in San Francisco:

This trip is an active reflection of our desire for Owen and Ellie to know who loves them most and whom they should love most. Owen and Ellie (our children), as wonderful and delightful as they are, can not take the place of our marriage and, most importantly, God.

I’m sitting in a cushioned chair, feet propped up on a small wooden table, knees bent, legs leaning slightly to the left. Each time I lift my head my eyes meet San Francisco Bay. I look out our 27th story balcony upon the vast Pacific, dotted with sailboats and surrounded by low-level clouds that look like they will be ready to shower in a few hours. To the right is a small peninsula and to the left is Alcatraz island and Golden Gate bridge in the foggy distance. Straight ahead are the rows and rows of multi-colored condos stacked almost on top of one another. They rise to a point, where Coit Tower stands, straight up, rising above the condos and the surrounding trees to announce its presence. The sounds of the city below call me to business but the Bay beyond to consider God’s blessedness.

O Lord, grant that both Owen and Ellie would have moments and vacations like this, away from the business of life and into the blessedness of living. May they see and savor you in creation as well as in the urban…

Last night our core team had a worshipful time of community, discussion, and praise over the the core value of Christ-centered worship for our church plant Austin City Life. A number of observations about worship were made: authentic, more than music, quieting, psalms, conversation with God, subjective, personal, objective, communal, Godward, Christ-centered, Spirit-empowered.

We have brought those observations together in this rough description:

All men are worshippers, people who centre their lives on something—family, career, environment, entertainment, politics, citizenship, morality, sexual orientation, power, and so on. You might say, “I don’t worship anything.” But the reality is that there are things that exercise control and influence over our emotions and decisions. Whether we pick one or several things to focus our time, money, and creativity on, those things become what we worship. They dictate the everyday decisions of our lives. They control how much money/time/energy we spend, where and how and for what reasons we spend it. The question, then, is not “Am I a worshipper?” but “What do I worship?”

God call us to personal soul-satisfying worship, not devotion to impersonal stuff. He calls us to satisfy our infinite desire for joy and community by delighting in God-centered worship. As God Jesus calls us to worship God by the Spirit (Jn 4:23). As the way the truth and the life, worship is Jesus-centered. Just as all truth is trinitarian truth, all worship is trinitarian worship which ultimately coheres in Jesus Christ (Jn 1:15; 14:6). As the way (pattern), the truth (reliable purpose) and the life (power) for worshipful living, Jesus demands our delight and praise.

As a result, there is no way to know the triune God apart from Jesus Christ. All things are created, sustained, redeemed and renewed in, through, and for Christ. God in Christ is the beginning, middle and end of the grand Story called life. The biggest lie we have believed is that life is a story about ourselves. Our lives and others lives are part of a much bigger story, the story of God’s glory.

Therefore, he is the object of our worship—in song, sermons, community, culture and work. By gathering together regularly to worship Christ in community, we seek to exalt Him for his glory, grace, and goodness, reminding one another of the centrality of Jesus Christ in all things. All things are in, through, and for Jesus Christ.

Relevant Magazine’s forthcoming issue has a cover story devoted to Ben Harper. Here are some quotes from the interview that lasted until 3am after a recent show:

“I love the concept that nature walks us at one with God,” he says. “When I stand in front of the General Sherman tree and the sequoias in California, I feel in touch with a greater power. There’s no question that there is a higher power. I just don’t want it to be exclusive to me.”

“I wasn’t raised in the Church, but I’ve always had a church deep in my heart,” Harper says.