Worship Weblog
Friday, November 09, 2007
liturgical spelling “corrections”
A little levity for a Friday afternoon: After reading this article on spell-check changes gone awry, I decided to try running this list of liturgical terms (from the Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod) through spell-check in Microsoft Word and see what alternatives it suggested.
The results had me imagining a pastor deciding one week not to give the Aaronic Benediction from Numbers 6, but instead to give an aerobic benediction. And I don’t recommend that anyone drop the Athanasian Creed in favor of a Euthanasia Creed. Here are some other spellcheck suggestions--many of them imaginative misconstruals of Latin phrases. So remember to keep those spellcheckers in check!
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Ministry and Liturgy magazine Visual Art Awards announced
Press release from Stephen Wilson Stained Glass:
Stephen Wilson Stained Glass is pleased to announce that Ministry and Liturgy magazine has recognized recognized Stephen Wilson with two awards in its 2007 Visual Art Awards—Art Glass competition.
A wall of windows designed for Holy Ghost Catholic Church in Hammond, Louisiana received the BENE Best of Show award. These windows interpret the theme “Seven Days of Creation”.
“The Father’s Eye,” a rose window designed for St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in The Woodlands, Texas, received an additional BENE award.
Ministry and Liturgy’s annual Art Glass competition is juried by a panel of multidisciplinary consultants in sacred art and architecture. Entries are judged on liturgical relevance, originality, concept and craftsmanship.
Book Blogging: Recalling the Hope of Glory - Part 3
Reflections on Part 3 of Recalling the Hope of Glory by Allen Ross: (also see previous post)
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Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Book Blogging: Recalling the Hope of Glory - Part 2
Reflections on Part 2 of Recalling the Hope of Glory by Allen Ross. I deeply appreciated this section because of my interest in Gregory Beale’s book The Temple and the Church’s Mission, which I reflect on and tie to my own book here. Some notes from my reading and our discussion: (also see previous post)
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Sardis Baptist blog
Sardis Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, a 2007 grant recipient, posts various worship resources and reflections at their blog, including a slideshow of worship art by children in their church.
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APCE Advocate on Creative Worship
Creative worship is the theme for the Winter 2007 issue of the APCE Advocate--a quarterly journal that offers a forum for current concerns related to church education, listings of continuing education opportunities, and opportunity for exchange of ideas and resources by the Association of Presbyterian Church Educators. Several CICW staff members and associates have articles in the current issue: Joyce Borger on intergenerational worship; Debra Rienstra on crafting prayers and other words for worship; John Witvliet on enhancing and disciplining creativity in worship; and Anne Zaki on multicultural worship. The journal is available to members (but related resources can be found on our website)
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Monday, November 05, 2007
Roanoke Times coverage of Blacksburg Ecumenical Service
Yesterday, four churches in Blacksburg, Virginia, funded in part by our Worship Renewal Grants program, hosted an ecumenical worship service on the campus of Virginia Tech.
The Roanoke Times ran this report and online slideshow from the service (as well as a preview article on Saturday).
We’ll be posting more reports, reflections and pictures from the students and staff from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, Calvin College, and Calvin Theological Seminary who traveled to Blacksburg to attend the service.
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Friday, November 02, 2007
Report From Grants Tour ‘07 - Visits in Washington State and British Columbia
Before Betty Grit traveled east to visit grant recipients (more about this here), she traveled west, to Washington State and British Columbia. Here is her report from that trip:
New Hope Community Services Society
Celebrating All Nations Church
Vancouver, British Columbia
Pastor James Lee welcomed us on a Sunday afternoon to the ministry center in East Vancouver (above). Several young people joined us to tell about their worship renewal project. They had worshiped as a congregation on Saturday and many of these young people had led through music, Scripture reading and sound technology. The grant project is intended to help them learn more about worship and develop skills for worship leadership. As we conversed, several of the young men were creating small works of art using their skills as graffiti artists. One piece announced “Cross culture – Church Boiz”. They gave these pieces of art as gifts to us to help us remember their ministry.
Additional pictures from Vancouver here and here
The previous Thursday evening these same young people had traveled to Lynden, Washington with Pastor Lee to learn about worship with staff and students from four Christian High Schools. Hosted by Ben DeRegt and students from Lynden Christian High School, this workshop was intended to train and encourage student worship leaders. On Thursday evening we engaged in interactive learning sessions. On Friday morning, Paul Ryan led sessions on “Worship Secrets Revealed” and “Worship Planning.” 
We also learned about Vertical Habits and how they can help us grow in our relationship to God and to each other. We were grateful for the warm hospitality extended to all of us at Lynden Christian High School. After meeting the East Vancouver team in Lynden, it was good to see them again and learn more about worship renewal in the congregation and the ways they are reaching out to their community through service.
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Thursday, November 01, 2007
Report From Grants Tour ‘07
Betty Grit has just returned from a driving tour of various current and former recipients of Worship Renewal Grants in Ontario and the northeastern United States. Here is her report on her travels. (More information)
Redeemer University College
Ancaster, Ontario
Syd Hielema, chaplain of the college, enthusiastically reported the many ways college faculty, students and staff are engaging in the grant project based on “the kingdom is like yeast” (from Matthew 13) model of ministry. Retreats, a luncheon and worship education desserts have provided opportunities for discussion of worship and prayer. Book reading groups are being formed that will offer fellowship and learning about worship. Syd is grateful for the strong student leadership at Redeemer and for the interest of faculty and staff to make worship a central focus of all campus life. He is interested in further exploring ways to connect worship with the curriculum. He observes that it would be helpful to meet with other chaplains at Christian colleges to encourage and learn from one another.
What is Worship?
We’ve collected some partial answers, but here are some other voices on the question, What is worship?
Worship is ...
• "God-centered; A divine-human conversation; Personal; Formed by the presence of Christ in both word and sacrament ..."
- Reformed Church in America
• "the celebration of being in covenant fellowship with the sovereign and holy triune God, by means of ..."
- Allen Ross
• "the adopting of an attitude, the saying of words, the singing of songs, the carrying out of actions that recognize or describe the worth or honor of God and Jesus Christ."
- Dean McIntyre
• "the act of ascribing ultimate value to something in such a way that it engages the entire being: mind, will, and emotions."
-Tim Keller
• "… going on all the time in heaven, and when we worship we are joining that which is already happening ..."
- John Wimber
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