Worship Weblog
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Wesley on Christian birth and growth
On this day in 1760, John Wesley wrote in a letter:
Every one, though born of God in an instant, yet undoubtedly grows by slow degrees.
Interdisciplinary Application • Reading • Worshipers • (0) Comments • Permalink
Friday, June 22, 2007
Birthday of the Elizabethan Prayer Book (BCP)
Today is the 448th anniversary of the publication of Queen Elizabeth I’s Prayer Book, a.k.a. the 3rd edition of the Book of Common Prayer.
“This Book was a conservative revision of the 1552 edition, with the effect of making it somewhat less ‘Protestant,” says the introduction at the Anglican Resource Collection. An excerpt from the order for morning and evening prayer, with Scripture citations, in the original spelling:
AT what tyme soever a synner doth repent him of his sin from the bottome of hys harte; I wil put al his wickednes out of my remembraunce sayeth the Lord.
Ezek. xviii.I do know mine awne wickednes, and my syne is alwaies against me.
Psalm li.Turne thy face awaye from our sinnes (O lorde) and blotte out all our offences.
Psalm li.A sorowful spirite is a sacrifice to God: despise not (O Lorde) humble and contrite hartes.
Psalm li.Rende your hartes, and not your garmentes, and turne to the Lorde your God, because he is gentle and mercyful, he is pacient and of muche mercie, and such a one that is sory for your afflictions.
Joel ii.To the, O Lorde God belongeth mercies and forgevenes: for we have gone away from the, and have not harkened to thy voice, whereby we myght walcke in thy lawes, whiche thou hast appoincted for us.
Interdisciplinary Application • Reading • (0) Comments • Permalink
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Grants Colloquium ‘07 Reports
Here is an index of weblog posts from this week’s Grants Colloquium:
-Update 4
-Update 3
-Update 2
-Update 1
Learn more about the Worship Renewal Grants Program.
Grants Colloquium ‘07 Update 4
Update from Grants Colloquium:
In our closing session this morning, we reflected on our time together through a series of questions, one of which was, “How will this gathering change the way we pray, and what did we hear that will become a part of our prayer life?” Here are some of the things recipients said:
- “I will pray for the congregations who said, ‘God is choosing us to be multicultural’ It’s hard enough to become multicultural when you’ve chosen it for yourself; I imagine it would be harder if you hadn’t chosen it!”
- “A line from worship yesterday: that God will continue comforting, challenging, inspiring, disturbing our congregations.”
- “What was said about shifting Vertical Habits from spoken to listening will change the focus of my prayer.”
- “I heard yesterday that failure is a gift from God. I won’t pray for failure, but I do pray for God’s leading in our project, and not just for success.”
- “I’ll pray for the people I met from Blacksburg, Virginia, and their congregation and community.”
- “The prayer this morning about ‘loving our tradition more than being open to God’s pioneering Spirit.’”
Our earnest prayers and deepest gratitude go with all of our grant recipients as they return home to their worshiping communities today and tomorrow.
Events • Grants • Interdisciplinary Application • Leadership • Worshipping Communities • (0) Comments • Permalink
Grants Colloquium ‘07 Update 3
Update from Grants Colloquium:
In worship this morning, we heard these words from Isaiah 42, and responded:
I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness,
I have taken you by the hand and kept you;
I have given you as a covenant to the people,
a light to the nations,
to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
from the prison those who sit in darkness.
I am the Lord, that is my name;
my glory I give to no other,
nor my praise to idols.You are the Lord. To you be all power, honor, and glory.
Events • Grants • Preaching • Reading • (0) Comments • Permalink
Grants Colloquium ‘07 Update 2
Update from Grants Colloquium:
Here are just three of the posters I was struck by at the poster session yesterday, and I was blessed to meet their project directors and get a taste of their vision for worship renewal. (While the project directors return home today, you can now have your own poster session at your computer by looking at the list of summaries of 2006 projects and clicking on the church or organization’s name to view their poster.)
Events • Grants • Interdisciplinary Application • Leadership • Worshipers • Worshipping Communities • (0) Comments • Permalink
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Grants Colloquium ‘07 Update 1
Update from Grants Colloquium:
In worship this morning, we heard these words of assurance from Titus 2:
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly, while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. He it is who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds.
Looking ahead, this afternoon’s poster session will be a time of learning from each other about worship renewal in a variety of local contexts.
Events • Grants • Worshipping Communities • (0) Comments • Permalink
Monday, June 18, 2007
Chapel Hill News Coverage of Grant Recipient
Grant helps church design baptismal font
Orange United Methodist Church, 1220 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., will begin a collaborative design process for planning a baptismal font for a planned new sanctuary.
A ... Worship Renewal Grant from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship in Grand Rapids, Mich., will fund the project, along with artistic and educational engagement on the significance of baptism. The year-long project puts the community’s spiritual needs as a priority in its expansion.
The Rev. Andy Keck, the worship leader at Orange United, and a committee of lay leaders from ministries at the church will lead the project locally.
“We are delighted and thankful to receive such a great opportunity to serve our community through the renewal and education of this sacred practice,” Keck said.
Grants • News • Worshipping Communities • (0) Comments • Permalink
Alban Weekly on ‘Hospitality to the Stranger’
Hospitality to the Stranger
by Thomas G. Long
In his thoughtful book The Company of Strangers, Quaker educator Parker Palmer launches a critique of what he calls our culture’s “ideology of intimacy”—a nest of attitudes that together posit that the main purpose of human life is the development of autonomous, individual personalities and that this development takes place only within the context of warm, intimate, interior-directed relationships. In Welcoming the Stranger: A Public Theology of Worship and Evangelism, theologian Patrick Keifert builds on Palmer’s critique and calls upon the church in its thinking about worship to replace the theologically insufficient category of “intimacy” with the biblical category of “hospitality to the stranger.” He states, “Hospitality to the stranger implies wisdom, love, and justice—rather than intimacy, warmth, and familiarity—in our dealings with others in public.”
Interdisciplinary Application • Leadership • Worshipers • Worshipping Communities • (0) Comments • Permalink
Arts and Worship events
Upcoming events, as listed in Image journal’s newsletter:
Transforming Culture: A Vision for the Church and the Arts
This symposium brings together pastors, church leaders and artists to discuss the Church’s relation to the arts and to artists. If you are interested in exploring the ways in which we can encourage a more theologically informed, biblically grounded, liturgically sensitive, artistically alive and missionally shrewd vision for the Church and the arts, then we welcome you to join us for a stimulating and refreshing two-day conversation April 1-3, 2008. Speakers include Eugene Peterson, Jeremy Begbie, Barbara Nicolosi, Andy Crouch, David Taylor, and John Witvliet.
Substantial discount for pre-Jurassic early bird registration, but it shan’t last long—just like the dinosaurs. For registration and additional information, visit our website.
The Art of Worship
Welcoming guest artists Margaret Becker and Janice Elsheimer, the Art of Worship Conference (themed: “In the way? Or in the Way? Get in the Way. Keep moving") invites artists, thinkers, and other creative people to a two-day conference founded to claim and explore the place of art in worship, to connect with the Creator and each other, and to promote the essential inspiration that comes from genuine community. The conference will take place Friday and Saturday, July 13 and 14, 2007, at First Friends Church, 5455 Market Avenue North, Canton, Ohio 44714. To register or more information, click here.
Events • Interdisciplinary Application • Liturgical Arts • (0) Comments • Permalink
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Uganda Trip ‘07 Update 8
Photos by Chris Heckert
Eighth report from Uganda by Greg Scheer:
• Report 8
(2:02, 2.4 MB)
Uganda Trip ‘07 Update 7
Photo by Chris Heckert
Seventh report from Uganda by Greg Scheer:
• Report 7 (2:22, 2.9 MB)
Names of God in the Old Testament from Ancient Hebrew Research Center
Related Resource
For a comprehensive list of biblical names for God, see p. 178-179 of The Worship Sourcebook, also reprinted as p. 15-17 of Prayers of the People
Interdisciplinary Application • Language • Publications • (0) Comments • Permalink
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Uganda Trip ‘07 Update 6
Photo by Chris Heckert
Sixth report from Uganda by Greg Scheer:
• Report 6 (2:26, 2.8 MB)
Uganda Trip ‘07 Update 5
Photo by Chris Heckert
Fifth report from Uganda by Greg Scheer:
• Report 5 (3:18, 3.8 MB)