Bringing our broken pieces

“Half-hearted praise is no praise at all.” That’s what the worship leader said. He was trying to get us to sing louder, I think, or more enthusiastically. He wanted us to be whole-hearted, all in. “Come on, church.”

I’ve stood where he stands. I may even have offered that call. But I can’t anymore.

It may be a true statement, when talking to an individual, with an awareness of a pattern of half-hearted commitment. The young man who approached Jesus wanting to know how to inherit eterna...