Worship Weblog
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Monday, October 20, 2008
New URL
For new posts please see our new blog location:
www.calvin.edu/worship/blog
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Talking Web 2.0 at Lilly Consultation
Earlier this week we helped host an annual consultation of religion websites funded by the Lilly Endowment. The topic was Web 2.0, and we were all atwitter about Twitter.
Friday, September 26, 2008
‘Wine Before Breakfast’ at the University of Toronto
Considering that college students are notorious for sleeping in after late nights studying (and socializing), who would actually turn up for a eucharist service at 7:22 on Tuesday mornings?
Simple: University of Toronto students who are serious about their faith and want to pray, worship, grow, and struggle with Jesus.
“Wine Before Breakfast,” which takes place each Tuesday in the chapel of Wycliffe College, currently attracts about 45 students every week. According to Dr. Brian Walsh, who leads the Home Missions-funded campus ministry at the University of Toronto, the 8-year-old event is an “innovative and creative” eucharist service filled with music, food, and prayer.
News • Worshipping Communities • (0) Comments • Permalink
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Prayer on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks
Among the recommended resources and reflections for today:
- ”How Do We Pray?” by John Witvliet on Sept. 12, 2001
- ”Truth-Telling Comfort” by Walter Brueggemann on Sept. 12, 2001
Leadership • News • Reading • Worshipers • (0) Comments • Permalink
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Grant recipient featured in VMC newsletter
Read this article(pdf) about one of our grant recipients, The Table, in Harrisonburg, Virginia, from the newsletter of the Virginia Mennonite Conference.
Grants • News • Worshipping Communities • (0) Comments • Permalink
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
‘Seeing the Savior’ exhibit at John Knox Presbyterian in Seattle
John Knox Presbyterian Church is hosting a new exhibit through Christians in the Visual Arts, Seeing the Savior, through the end of July. From the Annunciation to his Second Coming, 34 insightful and colorful interpretations of the birth, ministry, Passion, ascension, and return of the Lord are masterfully portrayed by 13 artists from a variety of artistic and ethnic backgrounds.
Interdisciplinary Application • Liturgical Arts • News • (1) Comments • Permalink
Monday, June 30, 2008
60 Minutes on the persecution of Christians in Iraq
An abandoned Christian church in the Baghdad neighborhood of Dora.
60 Minutes re-aired this story last night on Christian congregations in Iraq. It was a reminder of the harsh persecution that has fallen on Christians in Iraq, most of whom have either fled or been killed by Islamic radicals. And it was a cause for gratitude and awe to see what God is doing in the face of death through Canon Andrew White, a courageous priest ministering in Baghdad (learn more about his foundation, his books, and his work). He and his wounded flock need the fervent prayers of Christians around the world.
Interdisciplinary Application • Leadership • News • World • Worshipping Communities • (2) Comments • Permalink
Friday, June 20, 2008
Oldest Christian Church found in Jordan?
We often say that worship wasn’t invented yesterday; we inherit centuries of Christian practice. No matter what this cave actually is, this news release is a reminder that our liturgical heritage has deep roots.
Excavators in Rihab, northern Jordan, say they have uncovered a cave underneath a third-century church that they believe was used by the very first Christians between the years 33, about when Jesus was crucified, and 70 A.D., when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans. The cave contains a circular structure that may have been an apse, and the floor of the later church above contains a mosaic that refers to the “70 beloved by God and the divine”—a reference, the excavators say, to the first followers of Jesus, who went to that area of Jordan to flee persecution.
Interdisciplinary Application • News • Reading • Worshipping Communities • (0) Comments • Permalink
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Christina Saj’s ‘Six Days of Creation’ at New Brunswick Theological Seminary
From christinasaj.com (as featured in Image Update):
New Brunswick Theological Seminary is pleased to present “SIX DAYS OF CREATION” an exhibition of paintings by Christina Saj. This exhibition is located in situ at the Seminary Chapel on their New Jersey campus adjacent to the Rutgers University. The works, inspired by Genesis, are six 52” X 100” panels depicting the six days of creation. The series was conceived specifically for installation in the chapel, a modern, 50’s vintage, circular worship space, spartan in it’s décor, with seating that is moveable and conforms to the needs of the community using it. Outside seminary worship, the space is utilized on Sundays by nonresident congregations. The show is augmented by the inclusion of a number of Saj’s other works inspired by icons, such as Transfiguration, a five foot rendering of a silver cross which dominates the Lobby outside the chapel.
“Six Days of Creation” illuminates the Seminary Chapel. Saj is the current artist in residence at the New Brunswick Theological Seminary. The appointment of artists in residence enriches the community. Saj, a practicing artist with an established record who will present programs and/or workshops throughout the year for the purpose of helping students think about, experience, and experiment with an artistic practice in the context of ministry and especially to the worship life of the church. Saj is also teaching a workshop about sacred space this semester. Her exhibition will run thru the end of May.
Interdisciplinary Application • Liturgical Arts • News • (0) Comments • Permalink
B&C on Charismatic Christianity in South America
Years of skilful interviewing by David Smilde of the men in two churches in dangerous parts of Caracas, Venezuela, conducted during the period just before Chavez, confirm what investigations have shown from Kingston, Jamaica, to Accra, Ghana, and points east. Evangelical, charismatic, and in particular Pentecostal Christianity offers visions and revisions of lives changed for good, spiritually, morally and (so far as may be, given the changes and chances of life) materially. Of course, some fall by the way, because things don’t to work out as hoped, or else they are pulled back into old ways by boon companions. Most encounter experiences which try them “as gold in the fire,” and getting right with God may turn out easier than getting right with a wife or partner. All the same, there is enough evidence of some betterment affecting all the interlinked dimensions of life to vindicate Providence in the eyes of believers rather than the influence of fortuna and fate. Even when sorely tried, Pentecostals turn to ancient, indeed biblical, ways of searching out the ways of God: for example, that he is teaching his children through adversity, that his ways are not as their ways, that their way of life has somehow been displeasing in his sight, and that the goods of this world corrupt our treasure in heaven.
Interdisciplinary Application • News • Reading • World • Worshipping Communities • (0) Comments • Permalink
Corwin Smidt on political cues during worship
A belated link: CSR’s blog links to a draft of a working paper co-authored by Corwin Smidt of Calvin College as part of a research initiative supported by the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship.
Interdisciplinary Application • Leadership • News • Preaching • Reading • Worshipping Communities • (0) Comments • Permalink
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Prayers for Blacksburg - one year later
Today we remember and pray for people in Blacksburg, Virginia, on this first anniversary of the tragic shootings at Virginia Tech University. We got to know several worship leaders in Blacksburg through a Worship Renewal Grant; their collaboration and spirit of gratitude have been a real witness. Anne Campbell of Blacksburg Presbyterian Church sent us this picture shortly after the shootings last year, showing some of the outpouring of support for the VT community.
News • Worshipping Communities • (0) Comments • Permalink
Monday, March 24, 2008
Easter Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
Christian worshippers attend Easter Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, traditionally believed to be the site of the crucifixion and burial of Jesus, in Jerusalem, Israel, Sunday, March 23, 2008. (AP Photo/Ahikam Seri,Pool)
News • Worshipers • Worshipping Communities • (0) Comments • Permalink
Monday, March 10, 2008
CICW director quoted in the Washington Post
“I definitely sense a hunger for acknowledgment of life’s mysteries and of the mystery and beauty of God,” said John Witvliet, director of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship in Grand Rapids, Mich., which recently hosted a “worship renewal” conference for 1,500 people. “There’s a hunger for deeper engagement—‘Don’t just sell me a product at church, but really put me in touch with the mystery and beauty of God.’ “
Thursday, February 14, 2008
N.T. Wright on Heaven: ‘Surprised By Hope’
I devoted my first book and much of my thinking and teaching so far to rediscovering a more biblical view of heaven and the afterlife, so I’m thrilled to see a star theologian devote a new book to the topic: N.T. Wright’s Surprised by Hope Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church.
Time magazine’s website did an interview with Wright last week about the book, under the headline “Christians Wrong About Heaven, Says Bishop.” I think Wright is right about Christians being wrong:
Never at any point do the Gospels or Paul say Jesus has been raised, therefore we are we are all going to heaven. They all say, Jesus is raised, therefore the new creation has begun, and we have a job to do.
Wright has been making his case in scattered essays and sermons for several years now--and of course his magnum opus is a huge book on the resurrection--but he’s never pulled together his eschatology into one book like this before. I hope the church takes it seriously and embraces a more biblical hope.