Worship Weblog
Monday, August 29, 2005
Purpose-Driven, Practice-Driven
Religion News Service reports (below) on the launch of www.40Lives.com, a website for mainline churches who want to study “The Purpose-Driven Life” in their congregations.
For churches seeking a series of in-depth resources on integrating church life and daily life, we highly recommend, Dorothy Bass’ Practicing Our Faith initiative at www.practicingourfaith.org, which wisely and faithfully integrates Scripture, tradition, meaning, and practice. The related series of POF books are ideal for Bible study—readable, provocative, and discussable in small groups. Also see our Vital Worship feature story on Bass and the practice of Sabbath rest.
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‘Dinner With An Imperfect Community’?
In response to Mark Noll’s opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal about the limits of the personal-relationship-with-Christ motif in the book Dinner With A Perfect Stranger and evangelicalism as a whole (Noll writes, “A Christian message stressing the possibility of an enduring—and often less demanding—personal relationship with the loving Creator of the universe sounds very appealing. But does such an adaptation retain enough of historic Christianity’s other dimension? Or does dinner with a perfect stranger fit a little too conveniently into our lives?”), Christianity Today’s weblog writes:
Noll’s article is indicative of what seems to be a growing concern among evangelicals (at least evangelical academics and theologians) that the movement has not spent enough energy and effort understanding and describing a theology of the church (ecclesiology).
Does the Christian life look like dinner with a perfect stranger? Well, Jesus told us that it looks like a wedding feast with an apparent stranger. David Gregory may not be far off after all—it just may be that he didn’t place enough chairs around the table.
Indeed, dinner and “chairs around the table” is a delicious metaphor for communal fellowship with God and other believers, and a very promising starting point for articulating a theology of the church!
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WOWAW 11: The Order of Service as a Pattern for Participation (Or, The Upside of Predictability)
This week’s Words Of Wisdom About Worship:
Scripture does not mandate a specific order of worship. And having a certain order of worship does not ensure that worship will be authentic, biblical, honest, and alive.
That said, a thoughtful pattern or order of worship is one of the most important things a congregation can have to ensure that the norms of worship are faithfully practiced. A well-thought-out order of worship ensures a balanced diet of worship actions. A regular order of worship protects the congregation from overly zealous or overly creative worship leaders who might impose too much of their own agendas on a worship service. A predictable order of worship gives the congregation something to hang on to, something to expect—especially those people, including children, for whom consistency is an important prerequisite for participation.
Most important, a well-conceived order of worship ensures that the main purposes of worship are carried out. In other words, a thoughtful pattern for worship keeps worship as worship. It protects worship from degenerating into a performance, into entertainment, or into an educational lecture.
-Prologue to The Worship Sourcebook (Faith Alive Christian Resources, Baker Books, Calvin Institute of Christian Worship)
Earlier: WOWAW 10
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Monday, August 22, 2005
Brother Roger, Founder of Taize Community, Murdered at Age 90
A belated news item:
The 90-year-old founder of the French-based Taize Christian ecumenical community has been stabbed to death at a prayer service.
More from the BBC and Christianity Today.
We mourn with the Taize community the shocking loss of their leader, and give gratitude for his legacy of faithful worship renewal.
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Thursday, August 18, 2005
“Renaissance” Worship
The Renaissance was a time of new beginnings, of moving past the norms and looking to new ideas (to be stiflingly literal it was a time of “rebirth,” from the Italian Rinascenza). Developments in science and art were made side-by-side. Unfortunately, in the present age, particularly in the realm of worship, science and art have all but disappeared. Art has been making strides in worship as of late, slowly regain some footing that was lost during the Reformation and the rampage of the iconoclast (kudos to our Catholic and Orthodox friends who maintained their art until the rest of us realized it was okay). But science is still lost, separated from worship due to the Enlightenment. Is it now appropriate to start including a bit more science in our worship?
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Wednesday, August 17, 2005
‘Christ Plays’ 85-103
Our Peterson discussion at staff meeting focused on the use and importance of words. Near the beginning of the meeting one staff member asked if the rest of us noticed a growing emphasis on the importance of words and the use of words as art. Another person said that the Sunday morning service used to be a special event where the people would sit and listen to the sermon. People now, however, are under an “avalanche of words.”
Since we are constantly being bombarded with hearing words and speaking words, one wonders if words have lost some of their power. It is possible we need to have more “Sabbath” in speech. Maybe this comes through repetition, such as praying the same liturgy every week. Maybe this comes from concentrating on what the same words mean in a constantly changing context. (The example one person suggested was telling someone “I love you” can have richer and richer meaning as context and experiences together grow and change.) Maybe the “Sabbath” in speech comes from choosing words artfully as Peterson does so that our words mean what we say and so that we recognize the power of what we’re saying. (Peterson’s example: “Saying “I believe,” for instance, marks the difference between life and death.”)
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Using the Revised Common Lectionary in Contemporary Worship
During the past couple of months, I have had the pleasure of assisting in the planning and leading of a time of worship for the Knollcrest East apartments on Calvin College’s campus. The residents are Calvin students who have summer jobs either at Calvin or in the Grand Rapids area. There is a small group of people who faithfully come together every Sunday at 7:00 o’clock to praise God the best that we can and enjoy each others fellowship and the occasional brownie. But how does the Revised Common Lectionary fit in with a group of college students looking for more contemporary worship?
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Thursday, August 11, 2005
Why We Have Denominations
In his course on the history of Reformed worship last month, John Witvliet quoted the line that Protestantism “started with a schism and made it a habit.” I remembered that when this was linked in the CT Library newsletter this week, from the archives of Christianity Today:
[T]he first clear philosophy of denominations was ... articulated by the Independents (Congregationalists), who represented the minority voice at the Westminster Assembly (1642-49). In contrast to the majority who held to Presbyterian principles and expressed these convictions in the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Independents followed congregational principles. Keenly aware of the dangers of “dividing the godly Protestant party,” these “Dissenting Brethren of Westminster” looked for some way to express Christian unity even in disagreement.
The result was a denominational theory of the church that was based on the following principles:
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Augustine: Simply Seeking Understanding
From John Cavadini’s chapter “Simplifying Augustine” in the Eerdmans compilation Educating People of Faith: Exploring the History of Jewish and Christian Communities:
[I]t is my intention to compare De Trinitate with Semones ad populum. De Trinitate is arguably one of the most difficult or “esoteric” works Augustine ever wrote. He himself remarked that he expected it to be understood only by ‘few’... On the other hand, the nearly 550 Sermones ad populum verfiable as Augustinian are some of the most accessible or exoteric [see footnote on p.66] works we have from Augustine ...
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Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Church Has Sprung
The current issue of Christianity Today has a full-page ad for Sprung Instant Structures (www.sprung.com), a provider of temporary aluminum domes for businesses, churches, and military bases. The CT ad has a testimonial from Saddleback Church that says, “The Sprung Structures at Saddleback Church continue to be valuable tools towards the growth of the church. We put great value on flexibility in our facilities and Sprung Structures provide the kind of flexibility a growing church needs.”
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Monday, August 08, 2005
REC Update 13
Report from last month’s quadrennial assembly of the Reformed Ecumenical Council (more updates…)
This morning (Monday) we concluded our Bible study lessons. In the study we reflected together about our time together over the past two weeks. One common theme that each of us shared was our appreciation for hearing the perspectives and experiences of each member in the group related to the Bible passage for the day. Our group was made of delegates from Zambia, Nigeria, the Netherlands, Botswana, S. Africa, Australia, the US, Phillipines, Sri Lanka, and India, and we all had a unique contribution, helping us to see the passage in a large, global context. For example, on Friday we meditated on John 14:1-14. Our conversation focused on vv 2-3, “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” One member of our group from South Central Africa emphasized the word “place” in these verses. “My people,” he said, “find assurance in knowing that we will have place, especially since many are not able to have a place of their own today.” Another member from the Phillipines added, “We find relationships important. I am assured to know that Jesus is the one who is providing the place. We can trust him.” In the West, many of us have a place of our own already. One of our members from the Netherlands was very interested in knowing what kind of place it would be that Jesus is preparing.
Reading the Bible together has given us a deeper appreciation for each other and has convinced us that we need each other in order to read the Bible. Praise God for his Spirit that makes us all one and speaks through us to give us guidance and shows us the will of God.
- Paul Ryan
Thursday, August 04, 2005
Horses of a Different Color
Recently at my language weblog: the proper translation of the colors of the horses in Zech. 1 and Rev. 6; the messianic grammar of 2 Chronicles 36; and what Paul meant by zelotes.
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Tuesday, August 02, 2005
Theology of Reformed Worship 5
Report from The Theology of Worship in the Reformed Tradition, a summer course taught by Dr. John Witvliet of Calvin Theological Seminary and the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship:
Current RCA Liturgy
•After the traditional votum, the service begins with a salutation—a little benediction. This is a unique practice.
•Another unique practice is the prayer for blessing following the sermon.
•This liturgy contains several examples of transition words.
•The meaning of the sacrament focuses on remembrance (past), communion (present), and hope (future).
Current PCUSA Liturgy
•This represents 30 years of liturgical thought and follows the “four fold shape of worship” (Gathering, Word, Eucharist, and Sending).
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Monday, August 01, 2005
WOWAW 10: Triune Worship: relational rather than institutional
This week’s Words Of Wisdom About Worship:
Worship is not just rendered to the Triune God but in the Triune God. This point means that Trinitarian worship must take into account the horizontal relationships amongst believers, as much as the vertical relationships between the congregation and God. ... Worship shapes individual and community character. In specific terms, it must be relational rather than institutional. ...
Through the events that take place in the public worship of God—such as the singing of God’s praise; the reading and expounding of his Word; the prayers of intercession and adoration; the administration of the Lord’s Supper; and all other legitimate activities of public worship—the glorifying of God’s name is at stake. His name is glorifed most fully when the relationships within the congregation are congruent with those of the Triune God we worship.
-Noel Due, Created for Worship
• Listen to a reading of this quote
by Nathan Bierma
Earlier: WOWAW 9
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