Worship Weblog
Thursday, May 19, 2005
Conference: Christians in the Visual Arts
Announcement via Gideon Strauss (see his version for links):
If any of my readers are in Los Angeles in June, allow me to recommend to you with great enthusiasm the 25th anniversary conference of Christians in the Visual Arts. CIVA has worked steadily to become a solid institution of support to Christian artists, in numerous ways helping them overcome the sense that they are less than welcome in the arts world because of their faith, and less than welcome in the church because of their vocation. I am keen on the development of arts organizations like CIVA, TRANSFORM, Brewing Culture, or the International Arts Movement, because cultural engagement in any sphere of life - the arts, business, politics, raising a family - is not a lone ranger activity, but something that needs to be done in concert with others who share one’s vocation, and hopefully one’s view of the world.
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Wednesday, May 18, 2005
‘Christ Plays’ pp. 1-9
At staff meeting yesterday we began our study of Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places by Eugene Peterson, in preparation for his presentation at Symposium ‘06.
John Witvliet began by drawing attention to Peterson’s opening comment on page 1 about his theme of “spiritual theology”: “It is a protest against theology depersonalized into information about God; it is a protest against theology functionalized into a program of strategic planning for God.”
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Forum Spring ‘05: Worship Space
The new issue (PDF) of the Calvin Seminary Forum is out, and available to read online. The theme of the issue is worship space, and CICW’s John Witvliet and Emily Brink contribute articles. Neal Plantinga introduces the issue:
We can worship God in all sorts of spaces, but the spaces do matter. In our own case at CTS, the atmosphere in chapel has come to life. Scripture tells us that the builders of the temple had the Holy Spirit in their hands. I believe that the Holy Spirit can get into heavy equipment too, and into the men and women who operate it. The same goes for donors, architects, and good colleagues on the Chapel Renovation Committee. The result for us is a gift of grace-a worship space now alive with light and color, and with a kind of noble simplicity that fits inside the school we love.
The issue also includes a brief report from the March conference A House of Prayer for All Nations: Building a Multicultural Congregation.
Our feature on the new seminary chapel was posted earlier this year.
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‘Worship gets us beyond our fatal attraction with self’
A meditation from this month’s Today devotional booklet, written by Dr. Robert Heerspink, pastor of Faith Community Christian Reformed Church in Wyoming, Michigan:
GIVING GOD HIS DUE
“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power . . . .” Revelation 4:11
There’s a tendency among worshipers of every religion to take on the character of their god. Ancient worshipers of heartless Molech become heartless as they cast their children into sacrificial fires. Baal worshipers became sexually promiscuous as they begged their god to make the earth fertile.
As disciples who want to become more like Christ, we make worship a regular spiritual discipline. Worship changes us—and not merely because we hear messages that teach us about the gospel. The very act of worship changes us. Worship transforms us down deep.
Book on Liturgy and Life in the Early Church
Beach reading, from the current issue of the Journal of Theological Studies:
Prayer and Spirituality in the Early Church, volume 3: Liturgy and Life.
Edited by BRONWEN NEIL, GEOFFREY D. DUNN, and LAWRENCE CROSS. Pp. xþ412. 13 plates. Strathfield, NSW: St Pauls Publications in association with the Centre for Early Christian Studies, 2003. ISBN 0 9577483 6 8. Paper AUS$38.50/$45.LIKE its two predecessors (see JTS, NS 51 [2000], pp. 428–9),
this volume is a substantial and worthwhile set of conference
proceedings. Twenty-four papers are neatly arranged in eight
sections on Jewish influences, homilies, eucharist, baptism,
shaping the liturgy, Augustine, Eastern theology, and
spirituality, and there is an introductory essay on Scripture
and spirituality by Charles Kannengiesser. The first section
focuses on the New Testament and the last catch-all section
contains the longest contribution, on prayer in the Jewish
mystical tradition (Elliot K. Ginsburg), and an essay on
Sufism and Hesychasm (John R. Dupuche), but with these
exceptions all of the essays concern patristic or liturgical
themes. ... Gabriele Winkler supplies a useful
summary of her argument for the Targumic origins of the
eucharistic sanctus—a subject which will no doubt continue to
excite discussion. Six of the essays in total are devoted to
Augustine.
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Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Calvin and Anxiety
Many of us here at CICW study or teach at Calvin College or Calvin Theological Seminary, and many of us have considerable anxiety right now over all our end-of-semester deadlines, so what better time for this article reprinted at Banner of Truth entitled John Calvin and Anxiety:
Calvin’s last word on the subject therefore reverts to God’s original remedy for sin. “We are continually tormented until God delivers us from misery and anguish by the remedy of His own love towards us.” By knowing this love shed abroad in our hearts “we obtain the benefit of a peaceful calmness beyond the reach of fear.”
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Theology of Star Wars
All week, Christianity Today‘s online film site is excerpting Roy Anker’s elegant essays on spirituality and Star Wars from his new book on theological themes in film. Anker writes:
With Star Wars a big surprise comes not only in the fact that it has a message but in the nature of that message. At its core lie central Christian themes and images, especially of promises of spiritual reality and hope. While not necessarily a Christian film, its story argues for the possibility of faith, redemption, reconciliation, and community. In this lies its real power and appeal, quite apart from its special effects and futuristic shoot-outs.
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Praying as a Family
Another new book of interest: Gregory and Suzanne Wolfe’s Bless This House: Prayers for Families and Children, reviewed in brief by First Things:
“The central thesis of this book is that parents need to do more than simply give their kids prayers to say. Rather, parents themselves should learn to pray by praying with and for their children.” The husband and wife who wrote this little book are fine literary artists and the parents of four children. The bulk of the book is a rich collection of prayers from many sources on which families can draw for different seasons, occasions, celebrations, and crises. This book should become a treasured possession in many households.
Also see Ron Rienstra’s related article in RW 76
Christianity in the Middle East
The website of Christian History & Biography features a review of the book Who Are the Christians in the Middle East?. An excerpt of the review:
Many of these Christians claim roots that go back many generations—centuries, actually—and if you don’t keep the master map in your mind’s eye, expect that you’ll lose your way. Separating out the Eastern Orthodox from the Catholics from the Protestants (the most recent arrivals) is one thing. But what distinguishes the Armenian Orthodox from the Armenian Catholic Church of Cilicia? Are the Copts Orthodox, Catholic, or something altogether different? Who are the Greek Melkites, and how does the Assyrian Church of the East come into the story? ... Who Are the Christians in the Middle East? takes on all these and more. The task is enormous in scope—kudos goes to Betty Jane and J. Martin Bailey for even attempting it, and in only 200 pages. Yet the Baileys, who spent several years living in Jerusalem and traveling throughout the region, are well positioned to write this.
Also from Christian H&B:
Saints and Heretics: Guide to Constantine, Athanasius, and others
Meet Dante Alighieri
Timeline of Council of Nicaea and other fourth-century church history
The Real Crusades (more)
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Thursday, May 12, 2005
Sundays in the Country
The cover story of the May issue of Touchstone magazine is a poignant reflection by Joel Tom Tate on pastoring a small rural congregation in Vermont:
There had crept into me a notion like a virus, the toxic idea that little local churches are unworthy of good leadership, that good leadership and top-notch resources would be wasted on them. I had become an anti-shepherd, all too glad to forsake the hundredth sheep for the company of the ninety-nine who knew well enough to stay in a comfortable fold where the weekly bulletin reads like a book and you’re encouraged to bring your coffee and Danish to your seat between the first guitar chords and the point when the drums kick in. ...
And yet it’s not as though my little church doesn’t deserve the benefit of a pastor with the insight and skills, the knowledge and preparation, that one acquires in seminary. What happens here is very, very important, and I almost would that God had called someone more qualified to the work here.
Related from CICW: Where Twenty or Thirty are Gathered: Rural Worship
Also in Touchstone: What to Do When Scott Peterson Sits In Your Pew
Reformed Worship 76: Intergenerational Worship
The June 2005 issue of Reformed Worship magazine (#76) is out this week. The theme of the issue is intergenerational worship. Articles available online include Ron Rienstra’s Table Graces and Steve Koster on using video projectors in worship.
Meanwhile, Carl Daw’s article from RW 75 is now in season: Singing Our Way from Ascension to Pentecost. The article introduces these three hymns, and the online version includes audio clips:
Christ, Enthroned in Heavenly Splendor
What Praise Emerged from Waiting Lips
Wind Who Makes All Winds That Blow
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Preaching Forgiveness, Acknowledging Lament
Reports from each session of last month’s Preaching Forgiveness Conference are now posted.
One memorable quote from LeRon Shults that I omitted from my report but wanted to salvage here, especially since it touched on a recurring theme of the conference, regarded the validity and importance of lament (emphasis added):
Biblical lament is raw authenticity with God about what life feels like. It is not just whining.
And since both Shults and colleague Steven Sandage discussed the importance of facial communication in forgiveness, I wanted to highlight this passage from Frederick Buechner, brought to my attention by Betsy Steele Halstead:
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17 Questions For Worship Renewal
The newly released revision of the Worship Renewal Grants application brochure includes 17 questions for proposed projects that address not only the basic details of a proposal but also the theological background behind it.
Official applications for Worship Renewal Grants must follow the posted guidelines, but we post the application questions here for non-applicants, in the hope that they may stimulate reflection on the meaning of worship and the dynamics of worshiping communities.
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Worship Renewal Grants ‘05
CICW is pleased to announce 54 recipients of Worship Renewal Grants for 2005, made possible by the renewed support of Lilly Endowment, Inc.
A new press release from Calvin College outlines this year’s Worship Renewal Grants Program and the renewal of Lilly support. We are deeply grateful for this continued support and for the opportunity to strengthen and sustain worship renewal in these 54 congregations and organizations.
Praying PsH 286
As liturgist for morning worship at Eastern Avenue CRC this past Sunday, CICW’s Emily Brink introduced “Lord of Creation, to You Be All Praise” by noting the coordination of the last words of each verse’s first line (“I give you my will ... mind ... heart ... all”).
As I looked at the score, I thought that the five opening lines of the five verses, taken together, would make a splendid prayer, which I’m going to try to incorporate as my morning prayer:
Lord of creation, to you be all praise!
Lord of all power, I give you my will
Lord of all wisdom, I give you my mind
Lord of all bounty, I give you my heart
Lord of all being, I give you my all