Echoes From Zion

I once heard a comedian say that cranberries had made their way into everything: cran-apple, cran-grape, cran-Sprite, cranberries in cereals, in desserts, and so on. It was one of those observational jokes that makes you go, "Oh, yeah! You're right!" Well, I have observed a trend in my local Christian bookstore, on my local Christian radio, and all over the internet. The word "worship" has snuck in everywhere. Now, I don't mean worship as in devotion or sacrifice - I'm talking about worship music. For the last few years worship music has been all the rage. Christian bands who are known more for their poppy, fun, kind of lyrics, or bands that are known for their hard-rock sound, suddenly came out with "worship albums." I mean, we kind of have to scratch our heads and say, "Isn't it ALL suppose to be worship?" But, I understand what they mean - they are cutting through the artistry in order to simply praise His name. Or are they? ...

Buzz Words. They are everywhere. You cannot escape them. And they are always changing. In today's world of social media, we see buzz words come and go so quickly, that many of us don't even know what the latest cool catch phrase is (For those of you who are still using words like, 'groovy, ' 'daddy-o,' or 'swell,' ya' might as well skip to the end of this post, because you'll REALLY be lost for a while.). Remember when phrases like OMG, LOL, and ROTFL were simply used for texting and not for everyday vernacular?  Remember when the word "Extreme" was posted on everything from sports activities to bible devotionals? And who could forget a number of years ago, when the buzz word that saturated the landscape like oil in a soggy tater tot was, "Synergy"? Commercials, politicians, pastors, CEO's - everyone who was someone - was using this word to explain business, life, or whatever endeavor in which they were apart.Yes...