outside is better

Scott Erickson and the Crucifixion according to Radiohead

Scott Erickson is the artist in residence at Ecclesia in Houston. I have a very short list of churches I am wild about...and Ecclesia is one of them. My wife and I have worshipped there once and it was truly awesome.

Scott is a wonderful artist and teaches so much about the need for a visual culture in worship. Last Easter he put together this performance piece based of the classic stations of the Cross, with video clips and live painting. The soundtrack to the whole evening was taken from rock band Radiohead.

You can read Scott's thoughts here. You can also watch a live video of the whole event. It is worth your 45 or so minutes.

 

Book Review: The Story of God, the Story of Us

One of the tasks of the pastor is taking the Bible, an ancient document, and interpreting it to an audience that is drastically different from those who first received it.  The job of navigating the text across thousands of years is hard, and in a postmodern society, it has an even different set of rules.

Sean Gladding is a British export to the United States, and in his book The Story of God, the Story of Us: Getting Lost and Found in the Bible, he tackles the Scriptures in a way that is both oddly familiar and foreign.  For a book that is quickly moving from Genesis to Revelation, it is absent of dogma, systematics and propositions. Sean narrate us through the whole text by utilizing a dramatic oral re-telling of scripture.  Written by a skillful storyteller, the book comes off as honest and heartfelt, and never gets into the realm of being "corny".

Sean paints the story of scripture in three large movements.  Each each movement situates itself in a contextual environment that allows the reader to understand the original message and situation of scripture. Here are the three environments/storytellers;

1. The Jewish community in Babylon during the exile.
This section covers the entire Old Testament and is told from the perspective of the elder recounting the Story on the Sabbath.  A few other participants make it interesting, namely a younger musician and a brother/sister combo. 

2. An Early Christian house church.
This 1st century ekklesia gathers and through an apologetic conversation the New Testament is woven into a continual dialogue.  The key figures are the woman who hosts the group and a businessman who has just moved to the area.  He is interested in faith and it is the context of his questions that the discussion of almost all the New Testament is framed.

3. Another ekklesia years later. 
We find out that the businessman from the previous section now hosts a church.  Two young women come into the gathering because the executions earlier in the day of a Christian.  They have found their way to the church because of the character of the Christians who are being executed.  The businessman then proceeds to read from the Revelation of John to both answer these women's questions and to encourage this church in resisting the world.

My Thoughts
All three of these movements show the tension that takes place when people are confronted with the idea of Salvation and Gods movement in our world.  Throughout the book the people of God are involved in an active hearing, either voicing their displeasure or pushing towards a better understanding.  These are people who are wrestling with the idea that The Story (as Gladding refers to it) is what truly shapes their lives, and not the world they currently dwell in. The Story is not for a passive people.

Sean wrote this book to be used in the life of a community, and wrote in process with his wife Rebecca and the various places that they taught The Story.  One of the other remarkable things about the book is that it offers plenty of study notes, scripture readings and an annotated bibliography at the back.  As much as it reads at a conversational level, those who question the fictional narrative have scholastic references at the back to chase.  I think this is a good example for other writers that want to communicate in this medium. 

Sean has also made a video series available at The Work of the People. You can see a trailer here and I will be reviewing the entire series next week.

As pastors and Christian leaders enter the apostolic realm of dechurched America, tools like this will be needed.  The Facebook page for the book has some examples of how The Story of God, the Story of Us and its ideas have been used by faith communities already.

Where Sean and his book come into key importance is in conversations about the scriptures and their proper use.  For those who are trying to function in the different arenas from a traditional church, a 21st century hermeneutic is needed.  This book is a great primer to just that. I highly recommend this book.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/2

The Questions we ask ourselves in Worship

Robert Webber is the Jedi Master of the worship renewal movement of the last two decades.  I first ran into his writing when I was 15 years old with Worship is a Verb: Celebrating God's Mighty Deeds of Salvation.  The last book of his that I read was Ancient-Future Worship: Proclaiming and Enacting God's Narrative.

Its kinda funny when I put two and two together, and figured out the first person who ever made me really think about worship was really responsible for making me start taking it seriously again five years ago. I was cruising through some old notes today when I found this. Three questions Webber said we should ask about our worship....

1) How does this worship speak to God’s glory in heaven and God’s saving actions on earth?

2) How does this worship help people identify their dislocation?

3) How does this worship lead people into a relocation with God?

Would you add any questions to this list?

The Worship Seminary

A couple of years ago, my buddy Omar shot these videos with me and JD Walt.  There are a bunch on here, but they are great little snippets of worship theology.  JD has a great and unique view on worship-especially regarding those whom are in the pews.  JD and I work on resources that aren't about key changes and cut-capos, but more about the story of a Triune God engaging the entire world.  You could say that it is worship for the masses.  Here is the first little intro video, and you can get to the rest of them via youtube.

A little quote....quick thoughts on Worship and Artistry

I have been on vacation for the last week and a half. I had grand goals of sculpting posts for the next month, but instead it turned into a mini prayer and scripture retreat. I don't think I am going to complain about that.....

This evening when Meredith and I got home, I was flipping through a magazine and found this quote in an ad for a guitar company.

He who works with his hands is a laborer.
He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman.
He who works with his hands, his head and his heart is an artist.

St. Francis of Assisi

I am not sure if we can correctly attribute that to St. Francis, but it struck a chord in a conversation that is very easy to get me into...the artistry of worship design, more specifically the artistry of those who are writing the worship...whether it be prayers, responses, music, sermon or the overall flow.  This is a subject that we need to be talking about (and should come back to.)  Beauty is a characteristic of worship that reflects the beauty of God, not our own creativity.

Just some thoughts before bed.  Glad to be back.

A Theology of Song: Singing like Johnny Cash

This post is part of a cross post at my other blog World Without End, regarding the eschatology of Johnny Cash.  Since one of my main focus here is worship, we will be looking at some of the background that helps better explain part of my post at World Without End. Read it there, and I hope this style of posting works out well.

Today we will be looking at the influence on revivalism upon Christian singing and the worship service. Tomorrow, we will look at the specific eschatological views of this time period.  This seems like a history lesson, but for those interested in contemporary worship issues...it is this background that formed the way our churches look at Christian singing and how we are "supposed" to worship.

One of Johnny Cash’s last records was “My Mothers Hymn Book”.  In this record, we find that most of the track listing is proclaiming a very unique and widespread view of heaven, the end of time and an apocalyptic vision.  Coupled with his other songs, we find a very robust and thoughtful vision of how Cash thought about the end of time and the place of the believer.  The biggest influence on Cash was the revival spirit of American Christian singing.

These are all simple hymns, but what they really show us is the development of evangelical singing in the late 1900’s and early 20th century.  This is the affect of circuit riding preachers, tent meetings and an explosion of church growth.  In the 40 or so years that can be described as the 2nd Great Awakening, we find a distinct shift in church worship practice.  The high church Presbyterians and Episcopalians kept much of their high church liturgical developments.  In the lower church, such as Baptists and various strains of Methodism, the revival spirit began controlling the hearts of the believer and changing many of the ways that people worshiped.  Unlike the hymns of the church, the gospel song that developed in the campmeetings and revivals served as a personal evangelical statement.  These services were not seen as worship, but outreach tools, and the singing was an intentional evangelical moment.

These were individual songs-distinct and not practiced within community.  Since they were attempting to elicit an individual response, a communal theology was not important. Also-since these meetings were extremely inner-denominational, complex theological issues (such as predestination, and eternal security) were not often present lyrically.  These songs were written to proclaim an individuals saving experience with God, the life that it gives them now, and the hope towards a future.

It is during this time that popular American faith became a sung theology.  It was a religion en masse. It wasn't a new development, but a modified belief system that had wide appeal.  It offered answers to tough questions, and the spirit of invitation pervaded the entire religious system.  The individual decision made was no longer thought of the entrance into a corporate body, but the beginning of a privatized religion practiced in public. As the 2nd Great Awakening transitioned into formal church, the revival meetings turned into Sunday meetings and many of the thoughts transitioned over.  The best way to look at the theological developments in this 50 year period is to look at the songs that were sung, and they show a distinct development of worship as well as general theology.

The songs in My Mothers Hymnbook are all very individual.  When not, it is about a relationship between a few people that will hopefully be existing in heaven.  Tomorrow, I want to look specifically at the relationship with revival worship, Johnny Cash, and Eschatology.

James K. A. Smith Lecture: Desiring the Kingdom

James Smith is one of my favorite writers, and possibly my favorite Calvinist.  Smith has written plenty of books, but last years Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation (Cultural Liturgies) was my favorite book that showed up this Christmas.  Last year at the Calvin Worship Symposium I was able to listen to him speak in the classroom and meet him.  There is quite the circle at Asbury that are now fans of him due to this book.  My friend Jake Belder posted this video of Smith speaking this year.  If you have the time, watch this, it will change many things.

James K.A. Smith - Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation from Calvin College on Vimeo.

Book Review: Pilgrimage of a Soul by Phileena Heuertz

In the current expressions of progressive American Christianity two themes have surfaced as primary influences.  One being Social Justice, and has found wide acceptance to pretty much everyone except Glenn Beck.  The other, while popular, isn’t mentioned enough but is sometimes tied with justice issues.  Rethinking contemplative Christianity, with its various monastic strains, has crept into the language of many younger Christians.  True, Dallas Willard and Richard Foster have been writing about this for years...and the mainline hasn’t forgotten about the idea either, but the average quasi-baptist probably didn’t hear about centering prayer in vacation bible school.

What Phileena Heuertz does in Pilgrimage of a Soul: Contemplative Spirituality for the Active Life is write a story about how these two passions in her life contrasted at times and ultimately came together to enrich each other.  Phileena serves as the International Executive Director in charge of Community Accompaniment with Word Made Flesh.  Some of you might recognize her name due to my recent review of her husband Chris’s book a few weeks back.  The interesting part of reading books written by spouses in succession is understanding how both of them are two separate beings with different skills, passions and function.  This goes alongside one of the the key themes in “Pilgrimage of a Soul”.

This book is about a journey.  It doesn’t serve as a handbook for contemplative faith, but instead tells the story of a sabbatical that Phileena took several years back and how it affected her forever.  During this time, Phileena and her husband took a month long pilgrimage trek to El Camino de Santiago.  They also spent an extended stay at Duke University directly afterwards.  During this time Phileena went through what St. John of the Cross called the “Dark Night of the Soul”.  The story of pilgrimage and sabbatical takes us through a deep personal journey.

Several key themes are woven throughout the book.

1.  Issues of Women and their place in the Church.  This isn’t just a conversation about women in ministry, but how the feminine is dealt with inside Christianity.  Understanding how women are able to into their own potential inside a world that unknowingly (and sometimes knowingly) forces strict boundaries around womanhood.  Our author takes us through her own process of finding “voice, perspective and influences-at the risk of upsetting the status quo and being criticized and rejected” (pg 42).  Pilgrimage served as an awakening.

Having been created in the image of God, the feminine nature of God reproduced in me was stirring.  What it means to be fully me, fully woman, wanted to be born and celebrated--making no apologies for my gender, but instead embracing my nature and offering it as a gift to my community and to the world  But this yearning of life was just a seed.  It would require a gestation and incubation period. Darkness was necessary. (pg 93)

2.  This book is also about the soul.  How do we relate to God in such a busy life?  How are we able to withdraw from a foreign world and regal in the holy?  Christianity is a formation journey, as well as a transforming us.  This whole issue of surrender is part of our process with God.  Throughout her pilgrimage the author talks about losing control and being fine with it.

   

3.  Traversing the active life of justice with the still life of contemplation.  I hinted at this earlier.  How do these two intersect?  One of the valuable lessons in the book is seeing how someone else had to learn to “shut down”.  As the female body passes through a cycles, the author starts to understand that think about the rhythmic nature of life.  Our human restlessness shows our state of withdrawal from God.  It is only until we rest in God alone that this will cease.

Pilgrimage of a Soul is a personal book.  It is a book about one person interacting with the Creator of the universe.  While the praxis side of contemplative spirituality is in the book, if you are expecting a paint by numbers by a famous “justice’er”, it’s not going to happen.  In the end, Phileena shows us that this is a long and arduous process.  It is worth it, but it takes a willingness to rethink just about everything and allow Christ into the very inner workings of the heart and mind. 

This book would be a great read to anyone who is simply “to busy” in ministry to settle down. Formation isn't something that stops when people enter a ministerial vocation, but instead becomes one of the key parts of the vocation.  Service and Retreat are connected.  This book comes out Friday, and I recommend it to anyone that wishes they could retreat more often.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/2

What did your service say..?

One of the meme's that travels the web on Sundays is the popular #sundaysetlists.  It is for worship leaders to post their sets (problem 1) that they led that Sunday.  I say "problem 1" because of the assumption that worship=singing.  Sure, we will then say "I like to think of my life as Worship", and smile.  But we still use this vocabulary in our planning, leading and evaluation.  But I have participated in Sunday Setlists, and I think it is a great tool for the song leader to see what others are doing and find some great community.  I like Sunday Setlists.

Today the wife and I were driving home from Nashville, where she was rained out of the Marathon.  I was listening to Dr. Jeremy Begbie speak about N.T. Wright.  In his lecture, he quoted Lesslie Newbigin's popular ideas that "the local congregation is the hermeneutic of the gospel".  The actions of the local church best show what the gospel is, and also the worst.  The way the congregation acts in mission and worship shows exactly what they believe.

So lets think to the services we designed, led, preached and attended today.

Who did the action?

Was Jesus Christ alive, risen and at the right hand of the Father...or was He still on the cross?

How was the Holy Spirit active and named in our midst? 

Did we leave with a better identity of the Trinity?

To sum it up, if all we had was our worship service, would we have an accurate example of a Biblical Christ?  Where would we be sufficient or deficient? 

This is why conversation about worship matters.  Our analysis of the service is more than song selection and transitions, did the lights work well or did we see the congregation impacted by the service. In our worship we proclaim salvations story. So how did we embody the gospel today? 

Friendship at the Margins

I would have a hard time calling this a book review; since I am slightly biased with this little volume.  Friendship at the Margins: Discovering Mutuality in Service and Mission is written by one of my favorite professors at Asbury Seminary; Dr. Christine Pohl.  Chris Heuertz is a friend of the school and I enjoyed spending time with him last year during a visit. 

I think you should read this book.

I have already exposed my excitement, so you know this isn’t one of my “usual” reviews.  I purchased the book because I wanted to support my friends.  It is part of a series from Duke Divinity entitled “Resources for Reconciliation”. 

What this book is about is stories of friendship, with deep theological overtones woven throughout.  Written by a practitioner who is a scholar in the ancient sense (Chris) and an Academic scholar who has spent an extended amount of time inside the church practicing (Christine).  This unique blend makes for a very easy, but engaging read. 

Friendship is the center of the conversation throughout the book, especially friendship with people of different cultural and economic standing.  Using this platform, various issues of justice concerns are thought about, from the lense of how Western Cultures taxing of the poor actually affects our friends in other parts of the world.  This takes a radically different look at “friendship evangelism”, which some have said is simply taking advantage of friends.  The train that keeps the book running are the stories of people whom the authors are friends with.

Chris runs Word Made Flesh, an organization devoted to “serving Jesus among the poorest of the poor”.  One of its core values is people spending long amounts of time in marginalized areas, to build up friendships with those around them.  Through this, they are able to care, live with and minister to people in many different ways.  The authors share a view about exploiting causes through documentary means; something they dub “hunger pornography”.  At the root level, these people matter because they are friends.

What this book takes is the Patristic view that everyone should be cared for because everyone is a child of God, made in the image of a divine creator.  God has shared friendship with us, through the gift of Jesus Christ.  We have been befriended.  That is the gift that we then share with others, the same way it has been shared to us.  As we journey closer to Christ, our life with others is impacted and drastically changed.

Our Holiness then is an eruption of God’s goodness and beauty in the world.  When we embody a unified commitment to personal righteousness and efforts at justice, we help to expand the possibilities of transformation and healing.(pg 126)

Part of the careful thought of this book deals with how "hip" ideas of justice have come.  The final chapter, A Spirituality Fit for the Margins, deals with the need for a deep relationship with God, a healthy network of relationship for communal life, and the desire to bring the marginalized into a stable system of Christian community.  This stability isn’t there to graduate the person to a functioning member of society, but to provide a place of safety for healing and care to occur.  Justice isn't cool, but necessary!

I couldn’t call this a book review, because of my relationship with the authors I knew this would be a great book.  I simply can’t be objective about it.  For those who are interested in issues of justice, but have concerns about it and orthodoxy, this is a great book.  Since the phrase “social justice” has been in the media so much lately, writings such as these show how justice is deeply and inherently connected to the Christian faith. 

I think you should read this book.