outside is better

Big Candy Bar Church: A meditation on Halloween

I grew up in a neighborhood full of rent houses. They were all flash built in several years. It was the perfect place to raise children. Almost every house had a kid my age. Consequently, these circumstances meant it was a horrible place to trick or treat. Between a bunch of broke young families not having the money to really do it up AND having their own children to cart around...we had to go offsite.

Everyone remembers doing this. You head over to the rich part of town on October 31st. These are the houses that have all sorts of surprises.Guys in costume jumping out and scaring you, automatic ghosts falling out of the tree and Big Candy Bars. You know, not this fun size nonsense...but full size Gas Station candy bars.  Those houses are remembered. They might even be marked on a map by some grubby hands covered in nougat and caramel.

How do our churches fit into this scheme? Are we known for starlight mints, the mini Reece's cups or a big Butterfinger? This isn't about how much $$$ we give away...but the gospel message we deliver. Do we talk about an abundant life with God or bemoan the loss of a previous Christian culture? Are we pushing forward to better express the life of the sacrificing Son of God?

As Christians, the call to the Kingdom of God should be ever present in our vision. The writers of the Gospel show us this message is a reality we can hardly comprehend. We need to express this fullness in every way, shape and form. In each community this looks different. What works for me will be different from you.

But we need to load the deck. Fill up the proverbial bucket with the good stuff. Don't hold back. People remember who gave them the best.

New Music: The Opiate Mass

Last week I stumbled upon this really interesting musical project. The Opiate Mass is comprised of several worship leaders/pastors/artists and musicians in Washington State. I have to say that I really love their music and attitudes towards how worship can be contextualized to younger generations who might not respond to Chris Tomlin or David Crowder. The embedded artistry really amazes me and has served as the soundtrack for several times of personal prayer already. I just hope Catalyst doesn't find them.....

 

Ryan Adams, Worship and the power of participation

Fans of singer Ryan Adams are familar with the stories of canceled shows, pitched fits and other forms of toddlerly surrounding Adams not being satisfied with the vibe of his concerts. I love Ryan Adams, but have never had the chance to see him live. Gwendolyn Elliott did see him last week and wrote a scathing review of the concert and attenders in the Seattle Weekly.

Part of the mystique of Ryan Adams is his temperament, drug abuse and overall odd behavior. Elliott mentions how Adams has trained his fans to forget they are at a rock concert and instead sit around on pins and needles. The author describes the night like this;

"...And since when does being five minutes late to a show and talking quietly mean you're out of line--is this a rock show or catechism class?...We had to leave shortly after that. We were too determined to have a good time and wound up having a wild night--you know, the kind of night you only hear about in a Ryan Adams song."

The article isn't critical of Adams but it points out how the evening simply didn't live up to the hype because of the attitude of the fans. Her closing comment regarding how she ended up spending her evening really speaks to the idea of expected participation. The event simply didn't communicate the scenario...and it was up to her to actualize it later on that night.

Many times worship does the same thing. For the sake of formality or production we forget worship at its definition is an event involving multiple people. Yes-there are leaders (the preachers, readers, musicians, dramatists, artists...etc), but worship depends on the response and actions of the people. The beauty of a good rock show is how you are able to share the event with those around you, singing the words, responding to the band, buying merch and generally taking in the environment.

When worship leaves us feeling like nothing happened, was it really Christian worship? Have we sometimes forgotten how to respond?

When designing worship we need to create a culture that values participation over presentation! This happens when people feel what was sung, spoken and preached about actually happened. It takes the person to a new place and causes them to leave with a new life...every time. Worship exists as experience. The whole idea necessitates the work of the people.

Worship at its root is a shared event. As leaders, we need to communicate our place of leadership.

3 things churches can learn from Netflix

Over the last few months, controversy has surrounded movie provider Netflix. Netflix allows members to rent movies via traditional mail as well as provides streaming content. In many American households Netflix gets its own line item in the budget. I have had their service off and on for almost 10 years.

Starting this summer, the company drastically started lost membership by increasing subscription fees. Then earlier this fall, the company announced it was starting an additional company to handle its mail order DVD service, and Netflix would only concentrate on streaming content.  Multiple problems arose and Netflix took a pretty heavy loss, with half the stock value dropping last month.

Yesterday they announced they are not moving to the two company structure and are going back to the previous model, as well as not changing pricing structures again. While some agree that this change back was needed, others see it as an attempt to cover their bottom line and hopefully regain capital and their momentum as a market leader. Serious street cred has been lost.

The situation can really speak into how churches make shifts in their various services/offerings and programs.

1. Major shifts cannot be made behind closed doors with a select group.
While we can't expect a company to announce, "Hey we will be raising prices...what do you think is fair?", a certain level of transparency is expected today.  Certainly the folks at Netflix thought this was all a good idea and would provide a better experience. But ultimately, they assumed a value that simply wasn't true.

In churches we often make some pretty major decisions with just a couple of people. A few years back at Willow Creek's leadership summit, Bill Hybels surprised the crowds by openly admitting his previous idea of leadership was flawed. Where in the past he felt folks needed him to come up with these dramatic plans and then implement them, in fact the church themselves wanted to be part of visioning process.

Current younger generations feel a level of ownership inside their churches and calling them to leadership means making them involved in the process of leadership...not just shoring it up. Innovation implementation should go through the hands of the people. After all, it is their community we are trying to impact.

Don't drop major shifts in peoples laps.

2. Cultural patterns inform shifts.
Netflix was attempting to read a hole in the market. Their new split program allowed them to rent video games as well as movies. While this move did provide a new service, it did so at the expense of many other things. Namely, for folks who wanted to both get content by mail as well as by stream, two accounts would need maintenance. For an increasingly mobile world it doesn't work. This one positivc change didn't override the other negative changes

Any sort of shifts we feel are important for church must take cultural patterns seriously. Things have changed!

Years ago, the only movie rental option was your local Blockbuster. No matter if the movie was in, if it was in good shape or quality of customer service, almost everyone had a Blockbuster card. You couldn't get around it. You dealt with the negatives because you wanted to rent Ernest Goes to Camp.

 Now there are options. You can stream through several places, you can rent through Redbox, you can drop by a brick and motor or you can use Netflix by mail. We aren't that loyal either. Whatever is the quickest way to get a movie usually is the option we take.

Church is the same way. We need to take in account for contextual shifts. This might mean worship at a time beyond Sunday morning, small groups meeting in non-traditional locations or exploratory looks at worship music. The local context shapes how the local church worships.

Remember that people LOVED Netflix before these issues. Loyalty is a increasingly relative concept in our times. When church begins to no longer make sense, it will show and people don't have emotional attachements as strong as in the past.

When investigating a shift remember culture matters.

3. Shifts always lead to better culture.
In the past, single provider business could make these sort of monumental decisions. That is why we have monopoly laws. Netflix could have assumed people would just roll with these changes because they needed the product that much. Netflix, as a company embraced by new media and business, acted very much with an old and outdated model. They neglected to bring what consumers now value the most; a better culture.

In church, we have to consistently be thinking about how our shifts lead to a better expression of the gospel of Jesus and the proclamation of the in-breaking Kingdom of God. If our shifts do not provide a better expression of this, we aren't being faithful to our mission.

By drawing into "butt cover mode" these new recovery shifts by Netflix also failed to provide better culture. A bad taste was left in the mouth of the customer.

When having these discussions in a church context we have to remember the fine line between prophetic voice and worship consumption. We aren't selling a product, but we are in the business of gospel transformation. We have a different set of rules we play by. Sometimes what we do doesn't make fiscal sense...but it makes kingdom sense.

Shifts in our churches must always lead to a better vision of Jesus.

 

 

Sermon: I against the World

This week at St. Paul's New Song service we started a new series called "A new look at old school." The Old Testament really gives us a good picture of what proper worship looks like, what the contents of it are and what the response of the people of God should be. I am taking some arcs of scripture that can be several chapters long and using the key stories as our beginning points. This week our passage what 1 kings 16-18, and Elijah's relationship with Ahab and the showdown with the prophets of Baal.

I had some great conversations (on twitter no less!!!) with friends when I was preparing this sermon, so they might recognize their contributions. One of the elements that really jumped out to me was Elijah's invitation to worship in 18:30. Thanks for listening.

Chad Brooks 1 Kings 16-18

Book Review: Why Johnny Can't Sing Hymns

Months ago a friend (Matt O'Reilly) asked me if I had read T. David Gordon's book Why Johnny Can't Sing Hymns.. I bought it and threw it on the shelf intending to read it this summer. I did and I am glad that I read it. It has a really interesting thesis and I think it really asks some good questions about worship.

Gordan writes from the perspective of a media ecologist, and looks at the cultural anthropology behind how music motivates us in worship and the theological concerns that this brings up. He also writes from the lens of a Pastor, and much of his questioning comes from a practical sense of worship leadership.

The overlying theme of the book, as understood from the title, is why people today have a hard time singing traditional Christian hymns. They seem "foreign and inaccessible." (pg 11). It isn't a question of enjoyment, but the actual physical ability to sing these songs.

My undergraduate work was in sociology. One of my favorite topics of conversation revolves around the relationship between worship and culture. The first couple chapters of this book really got my guns loaded...

But after the basic introduction and explanations, I was seriously disappointed in rest of the content. When I first started grad school, a teacher carefully pointed out the necessary idea of presuppositions in academic work. The danger of presuppositions happens when one allows them to become foundational theological items and the writer assumes every reader holds the same convictions and background. In my own academic work, especially in Revelation, I quickly state what I bring into the conversation.

Gordon allows his presuppositions to drive the entire book. His thoughts regarding the use of contemporary expressions of worship borders on derogatory. He spends significant time discounting the greater sense of what is considered popular culture, not just regarding music, but many different aspects. I get the feeling that T. David Gordon is a bit of a curmudgeon.

The failure here isn't that I feel personally insulted, but I am amazed at how Gordon almost insists that proper Christian worship across the entire sphere of geography and time conform to a very narrow view of Western Protestant hymns (in non fancy language-white baptist/presbyterian songs). Worship is a unifying event, breaking the human forms and barriers of time and place.There also is an underlying theme that contemporary worship is "low-brow" or doesn't hold the cultural weight of traditional hymns.

How I might worship might not be theologically appropriate for an African-American 60 years ago or for a Swede living 30 years in the future. Worship looks different across the globe. Worship is a contextual activity. The values of our own time give meaning to how we glorify God. The ecology of music interacts with our senses in time. Gordon argues the idea that anything contemporary isn't really worth his time (pg 113), but I wonder how are we able to be a church situated in the midst of a world if we are not able to engage in it? 

There is more that I can mention, but I really don't feel the need. I have read other reviews that describe the book as sloppy theology and I agree. What is sad, is Gordon had a great idea...one that could have been really good and helpful for those leading worship. Ultimately, he promised to show why people technically had a hard time singing hymns but broke from his thesis and instead attempted very weakly to theologically explain why we should worship traditionally. Yes-we should be thinking theologically about the role of contextual expressions of music in worship, but not with this tone.

I would recommend reading the book as a springboard into thinking about the role of culture and worship (in some places IT IS GREAT), but don't expect the rest of the content to be of much worth.

 

3 things we want in Worship...or what Iron Maiden can teach us

Part of our new cable package in Monroe is a great channel that plays all live music. Music was a GIGANTIC part of my formative years, but we will come back to that at a later date. I really enjoy catching about 30min or so of this channel at night. You never know who is going to be on. Between concerts tonight, I caught this clip of Iron Maiden performing their classic "Run to the Hills" in Colombia.

At the least you can say I was transfixed. It wasn't the fact that they pulled it off perfect (Bruce Dickinson still has pipes), but the crowd amazed me. Oddly, we can learn about worship from this video.

3 Characteristics are found.

1. Worship should be filled with awe.
I imagine any headbanger worth his Advil would be pretty excited to see Iron Maiden. You can pretty much trace most of heavy metal to these guys and a few others. You are in the presence of someone truly great. If you are into sports, imagine what it is like when you happen to be in the same stadium with your hero.

Worship should be an event filled with awe. It is a meeting of the one true God. Inside it, the things of heaven are lifted up and the church is caught in a dramatic interchange with their Father, the creator and redeemer of this world. Someone big is in the room.

2. Worship should be filled with anticipation.
The beginning of this video is amazing. The crowd  chomps at its bits. The military is going through some serious checkpoints because they know what these people are capable of! The anticipation can cause an otherworldly experience, breaking any sense of ration or what might be safely appropriate.

In worship, the church rehearses the eternal actions of heaven. We anticipate what is promised. When the church acts like the church, it's capable of anything...things that might be considered dangerous to those who want to maintain a comfortable status quo away from the power of the Holy Spirit.

3. Worship should be a shared activity.
The best part of this video is when the band gets to the first chorus. Songs like this are best sung with huge crowds, and you can tell these folks are enjoying participating. They now have a sense of a shared activity...they are part of something together, in participation that makes their anticipation worthwhile. They are part of the event that seems infinitely powerful to them at the moment.

Worship is not an isolated event. It transforms a group of people on a journey with Jesus into a powerful mass. No matter what idea of "lifestyle of worship" might make sense to us now, the people of God gathered together are a powerful bunch! Shared voice declares light defeating darkness and a Messiah who defeats death. It tells salvations story in the narration of those experiencing it.

hmm...run to the hills as an alternative translation of Psalm 121?

 

Eating the Book

Yesterday in my sermon I challenged folks to become "imagining storytellers in the great Drama of Scripture." Nice words....they sound pretty nice changed together like that. But I am straight serious. To be Christians in the 21st century, participating in God's mission for the world, we have to understand the Bible as something that actually effects our life.

In the past, we understood its effects as knowledge and moral priority. We read the Bible to find more knowledge about God and to learn the do's and don'ts of the Christian life. These still apply, but perhaps not in the same order or priority. We need to get past a mechanistic understand of the Bible. Instead of it being something we hang on a tool belt, it instead becomes part of our mind and body. With this mindset, the idea of knowledge and behavior come into play, but understood because we are in a relationship with God instead of religious obligation.

Scripture belongs to the life we live now. We learn to talk about ourselves in terms of the actions of Christ, the deliverance from Egypt in the Old Testament and the hymns of hope in Revelation. The people of God have a story. It has been the same story since Abraham was called. The creator of the universe wants to draw all of the world into a redeemed relationship. He Himself came down, and Jesus took care of everything. While Jesus now sits at the right hand of the Father, the Holy Spirit now speaks the words of God to us.

The practical side of storytelling means that we need to read scripture. We read it slow, fast, with deep intentions and at a glance. In all points of time the word of God is with us. It means we might have times where we read huge stretches or it might be the verses we memorized as a child. Through reading, we take it in as part of our lives and are then able to tell it to others...as something we own.

In several places in scripture, God challenges a prophet to eat a scroll. As Christians, we ingest scripture, letting it become part of our body. We do this as individuals and we do this as corporate bodes. Scripture becomes as natural as an organ, influncing our life in ways that we don't even realize.

Re-Contemporary: The Worship Circle

The last two posts in this series focused on some pretty mainstream examples of contemporary music. But these aren't the only ones and as Julie led on her comment, different groups of people can really express themselves in worship using non-mainstream ideas that were never intended on being absorbed by the masses.

100 Portraits and Waterdeep gathered to make a simple record to hopefully encourage expressions of worship among youth and college students. If you remember contemporary worship in the late 90's...there really doesn't need to be any more information. For the folks tired of the rehashed Jesus Movement songs, Enter The Worship Circle was something completely new. The first Passion record rolled out around the same time...but it was glitzy and seemed dated. Those songs might have been new, but they didn't appeal to a generation that cut its teeth on MTV Unplugged.

This record took college campuses by storm and enabled a different style of worship that allowed folks to enage in smaller groups without the need for large amounts of production. These songs were simple, filled with scripture and easy to remember. You didn't need too many of vocalists, but if you had them they could fit in.

Now, several of these songs (most notably You Are So Good To Me) have become part of the contemporary hymnal. Your Mom knows these songs.......

Waterdeep and 100 Portraits quietly slipped off into the distance. For fans, their records still sell and the artists tour, but like a few other great worship songwriters obscurity is the reality. But I don't think they have a problem with that......

Worship needs to change people. It needs to put scripture in their heads. But it also needs to make sense inside the cultural space of the times. I remember listening to Live from the 268 Generation, and it didn't make that much sense. But I remember hearing "When the Cold Wind Blows" and having an intense spiritual experience that made sense. This music made sense for those that didn't make sense in the church.

In some ways, Enter the Worship Circle (circle 1), provided the best response of worship music to the post-grunge era. These were the youth and young adults that had been listening to Fiona Apple, Alanis Morissette, Alice in Chains, and a host of other artists that were experimenting with an acoustic sound. Dave Matthews, Phish and other jam bands also promoted a similar aesthetic. Folks that were new to church didn't neccesarily jive with what was considered to be appropriate for contemporary worship.

How is our current worship affected by the cultural trends of those who are coming to Christ? Are we expecting people to be transformed into the new social space of "christian consumption" or are we designing and creating worship that speaks out of their cultural experience?

 

Contemporary Influences part 2: Livin' On A Prayer

Atmospheric Intro
Lightly Instrumented First Verse
BIG Sing Along Chorus
Second (and 3rd) verses get more anthmatic each time.
Key Change to Make Final Chorus Even Bigger

++

You could call this a template for the modern worship song. Pull out a live version of "How Great Is Our God" or "Mighty To Save" and you will easily find it. But the worship writers in Brentwood, Tennessee didn't figure this out first. It wasn't planned out at a design meeting for the Passion conferences. Louie Giglio and Chris Tomlin didn't dream it up during the early stages of One Day.

My friends....this template comes from New Jersey and was perfected (and somewhat invented) by Jon Bon Jovi. That's right, 1980's hair metal drives modern worship. I first thought about this a few years ago and brought it up to a few people. We couldn't find an earlier of example to describe what now is considered normal in worship songwriting.

If you couple this template with another HUGE 1980's influence, you can easily describe most worship that you find at big conferences and many churches. Here is my equation.

Bon Jovi (Livin On A Prayer) + U2 (Where the streets have no name)= Your Grace is Enough.

 

Culture drives how worship is delivered. Our bodies are tuned to accept and acknowledge certain types of music as appropriate to draw a response. "Pop" worship works just like pop music. It provides a vehicle that is accessible to a large amount of people. While I don't prefer this type of worship, I can worship through it. As much as I claimed to despise Bon Jovi in the early 90's (I was more of a Soundgarden guy), you will catch me rolling down the window to a few songs. It appeals to the senses.

The context of pop worship allows for it to be consumed by a cumulative mass of people. We can get into a discussion of if this is actually good, but we have to acknowledge the cultural appeal. You can theoretically enjoy Worship Music as a genre if you are not a Christian. Aesthetics matters in worship design, because the musical vehicle needs to make sense for who the worship is designed for. Consumption strategy is both a blessing and a curse.

These songs provide a place for human involvement. U2 nailed the songs that peoples spirits want to sing. It isn't an overindulgent rock star singing about women or substances, but a body of people acting out hope together. These songs were meant to get people singing.

When worship is designed for small specific groups of people or is used as an identifier by a specific culture of Christians we might see different forms of expression. The next few posts in this series will look at some more outsider perspectives.