Worship Weblog
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Blacksburg Worship Service set for Nov. 4
We’ve been journeying with grant recipients in Blacksburg, Virginia, and are delighted to see their journey culminate (but not end) in an ecumenical worship service on Nov. 4, with Tony Campolo preaching. More info at www.blacksburgworships.com:
Celebrating, Healing, Serving
Gather with Christians from around Blacksburg on the campus of Virginia Tech for a community All Saint𠏋 Sunday worship service. The Reverend Dr. Tony Campolo, internationally known speaker and author, will be the guest preacher for the event. The theme of this ecumenical event is Celebrating, Healing, Serving and it will include adult and children𠏋 choirs from participating churches. All the churches of the Blacksburg community, as well as the campus ministries and students of Virginia Tech, are being invited to be involved with this family-friendly worship event. This service is partially funded through a grant from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship of Grand Rapids, Michigan, with funds provided by Lilly Endowment, Inc.
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New chapter posted at ‘Story and Worship’ blog
A new chapter at Jeff Barker’s Story and Worship blog is now posted (or get oriented by starting with the introduction).
Interdisciplinary Application • Liturgical Arts • Reading • (0) Comments • Permalink
JSOT on translating ‘yahweh’ with ‘kyrios’
From the Journal for the Study of the Old Testament:
The Reading and Translation of the Divine Name in the Masoretic Tradition and the Greek Pentateuch
Martin R飉el, Faculty of Theology, University of Rostock, Rostock, Germany
Journal for the Study of the Old Testament
Vol. 31, No. 4, 411-428 (2007)
The representation of the divine name in the Masoretic tradition and in the early translations of the Septuagint is the subject of ongoing discussion. It can be demonstrated that even the oldest Masoretic vocalization as preserved, among others, in [one source] must refer to adonai (the Lord) rather than shema (the Name). By means of exegetical observations in the Greek version of the Torah, it becomes clear that already the translators of the Septuagint have chosen ‘Lord’ (kyrios) as an appropriate representation of [YHWH]; the replacement by the Hebrew [YHWH] in some Greek manuscripts is not original. Moreover, it becomes clear that the translators of the Septuagint were influenced by theological considerations when choosing an equivalent for the divine name.
Interdisciplinary Application • Language • (0) Comments • Permalink
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Fulton Street Revival anniversary conference - Update 2
Report from Peter Armstrong. Peter is worship director at Bellevue CRC and a student at Fuller Seminary NW in Seattle. He is currently studying at Calvin Theological Seminary and interning at the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship. Read his previous report.
“One man’s obedience to prayer...began a revival...that transformed a nation.” This quote about Jeremiah Lamphier brings us back to the 150th Anniversary of the Fulton Street Revival conference, held September 21-23 at the Hilton in Midtown Manhattan. It is certainly the only worship conference I have attended in which the President of Iran would be in the same room 24 hours later (he spoke at the Hilton on Monday). And yet this very fact illustrates the importance of New York City as a global city that could be a huge influence for the Gospel around the world. The importance of NYC was also illustrated by Saturday’s morning speaker, Jack Hayford, who told us that he flew out from Los Angeles to deliver a thirty minute talk; talking to Christian leaders about revival in New York City was worth that sacrifice in his mind.
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Resources for Worship and Spiritual Formation
These resources were recommended and reviewed by Pat Zandstra of Calvin Theological Seminary.
Walk On: The Year of Faith Formation Resource Book
For churches looking for help in shaping the spiritual lives of their congregations, Faith Alive Christian Resources has come out with a free resource book filled with ideas on how to effectively go about doing that. Topics include: a faith formation survey, faith formation in worship, best practices of faith formation, celebrating faith milestones in worship (including baptism, third grade Bible presentation, recognition of education transitions, acknowledging the departure of members etc.), telling your faith story, and a list of helpful resource books. For more information on how to order this free resource, see www.walkon.org.
The Seed of God is a bilingual series of child-sized, spiral bound books for children ages 3-7 to help prepare them for baptismal life. Each of the five, 24-page books has a theme: The Seed/La Semilla tells of the power of God in the child𠏋 life. The Good Shepherd/El Buen Pastor relates the parables about Christ𠏋 loving care of his sheep. Jesus is Risen!/Jesus Ha Resucitado! speaks of Christ𠏋 resurrection. Your Baptism/Tu Bautismo explains to children and parents the significance of entry into Christian Community. Living in the Light/ Viviendo en La Luz calls children to walk in the light of their baptism. These make excellent gifts to children from the church or from parents/grandparents at baptism, Christmas, or Easter. This set of books is written by Genelda Woggan, illustrated by Alicia Jewell, translated by Maria Ludlow, and made available by the Center for Children and Theology for $25 per set, $6 per individual book. To learn more, go to: www.cctheo.org or you can write to Genelda Woggan at: hawandgkw [at] charter.net.
Related Resources
Worship and Spiritual Formation
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Worship of God, not worship of worship
Quoted at Chip Stam’s Worship Quote of the Week:
We worship our Creator-God “precisely because he is worthy, delightfully so.” What ought to make worship delightful to us is not, in the first instance, its novelty or its aesthetic beauty, but its object: God himself is delightfully wonderful, and we learn to delight in him.
In an age increasingly suspicious of (linear) thought, there is much more respect for the “feeling” of things--whether a film or a church service. It is disturbingly easy to plot surveys of people, especially young people, drifting from a church of excellent preaching and teaching to one with excellent music because, it is alleged, there is “better worship” there. But we need to think carefully about this matter. Let us restrict ourselves for the moment to corporate worship. Although there are things that can be done to enhance corporate worship, there is a profound sense in which excellent worship cannot be attained merely by pursuing excellent worship. In the same way that, according to Jesus, you cannot find yourself until you lose yourself, so also you cannot find excellent corporate worship until you stop trying to find excellent corporate worship and pursue God himself. Despite the protestations, one sometimes wonders if we are beginning to worship WORSHIP rather than worship GOD. As a brother put it to me, it’s a bit like those who begin by admiring the sunset and soon begin to admire themselves admiring the sunset.
- D. A. Carson, from Worship By the Book (Zondervan, 2002)
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Monday, September 24, 2007
Report from conference on the 150th Anniversary of the Fulton Street Revival in New York City
Report from Peter Armstrong. Peter is worship director at Bellevue CRC and a student at Fuller Seminary NW in Seattle. He is currently studying at Calvin Theological Seminary and interning at the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship. He filed this report Friday.
This evening I had the great pleasure of attending the opening session of the 150th Anniversary of the Fulton Street Revival, held at the Hilton in Midtown. The Fulton Street Revival was started on September 23, 1857 by Jeremiah Lamphier. In response to Manhattan’s great spiritual and social need, Lamphier organized a noontime prayer meeting. After a poor first meeting (6 people came, 20 minutes late) the Spirit blew across Manhattan. In the months to follow, between 80,000 and 100,000 people (out of a population of 800,000) committed their lives to Jesus Christ. 80,000 were baptized and joined churches because of what became known as the Third Great Awakening. This movement spawned tremendous missions in the major cities of the United States—Chicago, Philadelphia and Brooklyn (yes, it was a separate city at that point) and around the world. The conference has been organized by many denominations and parachurch organizations in order to study revival and pray for revival in New York City.
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The Gospel According to Bach
From the new issue of Christian History & Biography:
For the Glory of God Alone
Fueled by his Lutheran faith, J. S. Bach devoted his life to creating music for refreshment, proclamation, and praise.
By Calvin R. StapertJohann Sebastian Bach was arguably the greatest composer in the history of Western music and a man whose staunch Lutheran faith informed his life, his career, and his view of music. He believed that music was a “refreshment of spirit,” as some of the title pages of his works stated. He believed that music was a powerful tool for the proclamation of the gospel, as his cantatas, Passions, organ chorales, and other compositions clearly show. And ultimately, he believed that music brought glory to God, as the initials SDG (Soli Deo Gloria, “To God alone be glory") at the end of most of his scores bear witness.
Related Publication
My Only Comfort: Death, Deliverance, and Discipleship in the Music of Bach
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Acerno, Italy, 1943
A soldier in a damaged church in Acerno, Italy, in 1943, from Ken Burn’s 15-hour PBS documentary about World War II.
(From the NY Times’ review of Ken Burns’ new documenary.)
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Thursday, September 13, 2007
Alban Weekly on ‘Ministering to the Missing Generation’
When a young person walks into a church, it𠏋 a significant moment, because no one expects her to go and nothing pressures her to attend; instead, she enters the church looking for something. She searches for connection in her displacement: connection with God through spiritual practices, connection with her neighbors through an intergenerational community, and connection with the world through social justice outreach.
The church has been making these vital connections for thousands of years, and we can easily respond to the young, weary travelers in our midst, letting them know that they can find a spiritual home within our worshiping communities and that we will provide a supportive space for them so that they can form their tribe.
Our churches can weave a source of connection.
Related Articles
Recovering the Lost Logic of the Church for Young Adults from Comment
Where Did Our Young Adults Go? from the Banner
Review of ‘After the Baby Boomers’ from the Christian Century
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Planning Ahead: December 2007
Here’s an overview of the calendar for planning worship for December 2007. For our complete planning guide, see Planning Ahead: Worship in December.
Overview of December 2007
The Sundays during this month are 2,9,16,23,30. Christmas Day, the 25th, falls on a Tuesday. New Year’s Eve, the 31st, falls on a Monday. Some churches also choose to observe the longest night of the year, which falls this year on Saturday, December 22.
Printable Calendars
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Lectionary Readings
Find the readings from the Revised Common Lectionary for these Sundays from the Vanderbilt Lectionary Project
Find resources for these readings from the Revised Common Lectionary from TextWeek.com
Planning Ahead: December
More Planning Ahead
Planning Ahead: November 2007
Here’s an overview of the calendar for planning worship for November 2007. For our complete planning guide, see Planning Ahead: Worship in November.
Overview of November 2007
The Sundays during this month are 4,11,18,25. Thanksgiving Day is the 22nd.
The major holiday on the Christian calendar this month is Christ the King Sunday. In addition, many churches choose to commemorate All Saints Day and Thanksgiving Day in their worship. Some churches also observe or mention Remembrance/Veterans Day.
Printable Calendars
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Lectionary Readings
Find the readings from the Revised Common Lectionary for these Sundays from the Vanderbilt Lectionary Project
Find resources for these readings from the Revised Common Lectionary from TextWeek.com
Planning Ahead: November
More Planning Ahead
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Report on worship at City Hope Ministries
The following report about worship at City Hope Ministries, a Worship Renewal Grant recipient in 2006, was published in the “FYI” newsletter of Christian Reformed Home Missions. It was written by Jim Steenbergen, CRHM’s development officer. It is printed here by permission of the author.
I love the LORD, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live. (Psalm 116:1-2)It has been a long time since I have been to a church where people laughed, smiled, hugged, danced, held hands, spoke to one another, prayed upon each other, and just plum had a good time all in one service. But this was just another Sunday at City Hope Ministries, a newer ministry that is partly funded by Christian Reformed Home Missions.
Except this wasn㦙 just another Sunday. It was a Sunday where I witnessed three people give their lives over to Jesus and accept Him as their Savior. It was a Sunday where a woman, seeing me there alone, came over and sat with me and asked me if I knew Jesus. Only afterwards did I find out that she was on the very fringe of our society, just fighting to make it everyday. And she cared about me and wanted to know if she could help me in my walk!
Grants • Worshipping Communities • (0) Comments • Permalink