Worship Weblog
Interdisciplinary Application
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Stringfellow on ‘the vocation of the baptized person’
William Stringfellow, quoted in this Baccalaureate sermon at Louisville Presbyterian Seminary:
The vocation of the baptized person is a simple thing: it is to live from day to day, whatever the day brings, in this extraordinary unity, in this reconciliation with all persons and all things, in this knowledge that death has no more power, in this truth of the Resurrection. It does not really matter what [you as] a Christian [do] from day to day. What matters is that in whatever [you do, you do it] in honor of the triumph of Christ over death and, therefore, in honor of [your] own life, given to [you] by God and restored to [you] in Christ, in honor of the life into which all persons and all things are called. The only thing that really matters is to live in Christ instead of death.
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WCC on Creative Commons licensing for churches: ‘Love to Share’
From the World Council of Churches:
* Churches are struggling with the complexity of copyright laws and the restrictions they face when they want to use liturgical resources in a worship setting or publish non-profit worship material.
* It is difficult to find resources that can be freely shared through the Internet.
* It is hard to know how to use worship material from other countries in an equitable and just way.
* It is not easy to know where to go to find advice or to avoid being trapped by intellectual property (IP) laws.Churches, individuals, and Christian and ecumenical organizations are facing challenges when dealing with these issues. Their struggle is intensified because of the larger context of globalization, where the rules of the market dominate and a culture of commodification is everywhere. While it is important to understand the logic of the market and the laws and regulations that apply to intellectual property, there are other issues that need to be taken into consideration.
This document aims to give some direction and guidelines in this task of searching for alternatives to the current situation. It is an effort to raise questions and clarify some possible solutions and alternatives.
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Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Christian History on its relaunched website
Christian History on its relaunched website:
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Alban Weekly on the Transition into Ministry initiative
Alban Weekly on Lilly Endowment’s Transition into Ministry initiative:
A promising set of new experiments has the potential to make a collective impact on the way people enter pastoral ministry in the twenty-first century. The Transition into Ministry initiative (TiM)—an effort funded by Lilly Endowment Inc. and participated in by more than 800 beginning pastors to date—has drawn hundreds of new seminary graduates, a variety of denominational and judicatory leaders, congregations from at least 11 Protestant denominations, several seminaries, and thousands of congregation members into a shared effort to change the experience of pastors at the thresholds of their ministries.
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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.
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B&C on ‘Sundays in America’
Review of ‘Sundays in America’ at Books&Culture’s website:
I’m trying to think of something that’s as strange as church. As frankly odd. As consistently peculiar. My own church, for instance. I love it. But I wonder how it might appear to a Martian. Or, to John the Baptist, say. Or, for that matter, to Suzanne Strempek Shea, author of Sundays in America: A Yearlong Road Trip in Search of Christian Faith. Shea, a writer who made it her business to visit fifty-two churches in a year, and to write a chapter about each one. It’s a lot of churches. It’s a lot of chapters.
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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.
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Friday, June 20, 2008
Christmas in July? (Advent in August?)
Today is the longest day of the year, and so, naturally, my thoughts turn to ... Advent. Maybe because this means we’re halfway to the next longest night of the year, which for one church makes for a powerfully resonant Advent service. But on this day of bright sunshine, let me ask worship planners: Christmas in July? Advent in August?
Why not? Although many preachers get to November and wonder how in the world they’re going to tell the same story all over again the following month, I (and I’m just a biblical studies student, not a preacher or
worship planner, so I don’t know what I’m talking about when it comes to planning) find that one month isn’t enough for me to explore all the rich themes and layers of that great mystery, the Incarnation. So if you’re curious, or just looking for something to fill those summer months, I’d be intrigued by a summer series on the Incarnation.
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A picture of connections in the biblical narrative
From the Everyday Liturgy blog:
Seems some people keen on visualizing the narrative intersections of the Bible have linked all the different cross-refrences, metaphors, images, and stories together in a biblical mosaic of color.The alternating grey and white at the bottom are the different books of the Bible, and the colored arcs connecting them are all the different narrative strands.
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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.
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Christian History on Spirituals
From Christian History (as featured in a recent newsletter)
Militant abolitionist Thomas W. Higginson was the commander of the First South Carolina Volunteers, the first Union regiment made up of freed slaves. In his camps, his soldiers would break out into song, which Higginson wrote down and published in the Atlantic Monthly.
“These quaint religious songs were to the men more than a source of relaxation, they were a stimulus to courage and a tie to heaven,” he wrote.
“By these they could sing themselves, as had their fathers before them, out of the contemplation of their own low estate, into the sublime scenery of the Apocalypse. I remember that this minor-keyed pathos used to seem to me almost too sad to dwell upon, while slavery seemed destined to last for generations; but now that their patience has had its perfect work, history cannot afford to lose this portion of its record.”
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Friday, May 23, 2008
Blog posts from Philosophy and Liturgy
Blog posts from the Philosophy and Liturgy conference:
Related Post
Initial report from John Wilson of Books&Culture
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Thursday, May 22, 2008
Philosophy and Liturgy - Update 11
Update from the Philosophy and Liturgy conference:
A panel just concluded the conference with reflections and suggestions for future progress in the area of philosophy and liturgy.
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Philosophy and Liturgy - Update 10
Update from the Philosophy and Liturgy conference:
Terence Cuneo just spoke on icons in the Orthodox tradition as “vehicles of divine speech.”
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Philosophy and Liturgy - Update 8
Update from the Philosophy and Liturgy conference:
John Witvliet began the day with philosophical and theological reflections on a 4th-century eucharistic text, before Ludger Viefhues-Bailey spoke on “Displacing Bodies: Ritualization and Resistance.”
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