outside is better

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?

 

Livin' On A Prayer: How Bon Jovi Shaped Contemporary Worship

 

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.

Contemporary Influences: Spirit Filled Hardcore

In the late 90's and early 2000's an interesting movement was going across the deep south. While Christian music had taken a very unique and youthful turn (Audio Adrenaline, Newsboys, the first couple Switchfoot records), the underground Christian Metal scene had a surprising amount of energy and legitimacy among even secular bands.

Surrounding "the scene" was a distinct spiritual vibe focused on the unconditional love of God, the power of the Holy Spirit, and the indwelling presence of Christ in the life of the participants. Loosely labeled, "Spirit Filled Hardcore" had a powerful following. With the Cornerstone Festival as its center, these bands were able to concentrate both a following and a ministry among the disaffected that really didn't fit in the mainstream church youth ministry.

This particular genre of worship (that is what it was/is considered) was extremely charismatic in nature and very intentional on stage. For many of the fans, the concert was an emotional and well as highly experiential time. Below is one youtube clip of the band Strongarm. This clip really shows what these "services" were like. The next clip is another band covering Rich Mullins "Awesome God".

These weren't slick productions and really different from current christian metal acts. The key words in this movement were deliberate and intentional. A facebook group really hits the nail on the head.

Instead of singing solely about earthly struggles or watered down songs about "faith" or "God" that Christian bands in the scene tend to have favor in writing about, Spirit-Filled Hardcore illustrates the simple truth of God's heart for us, His grace, and His desires He has for us to succeed in through Him.

What this sub-culture shows is the attentiveness to worship inside of a very distinct group. This doesn't appeal to everyone. Hopefully any student of Christian Worship can look at this and respect it. I think it is a good example for us to understand that any worship that seriously transforms people can be expressed in the cultural trappings of the movement.

The blatantness of this genre can be found in the bands names and how the songs integrate the darker side of hardcore music into more macabre expression of Christianity. Death to sin, the world and avenues other than Christ are a few pieces of this topic. Certain Eastern Orthodox churches really learned to play well off the movement and started a zine called Death to the World.

Spirit-Filled Hardcore still has a following. Younger bands now are bringing back the label, and older folk (like me) still cling to some of its initial models and attempt to bring the spirit of it into their now current worship circles.

 

Stand Together lyrics-

though we are separate we are one in the same i am with you always because you are in my name i will see you through it we will stand together if you turn away i will be with you time and time remain upright i will see you through as you begin to stray i will not leave you through and through it all the same we will renew

Contemporary influences Part 1: Southern California

Last week I started reflecting on the origins of what we consider to be contemporary worship in hopes of really defining what "contemporary" means. I wanted to take a couple of posts to look at a couple of major movements/influences in contemporary worship.

It is impossible to look at contemporary worship (that is explicitly congregational) without mentioning John Wimber and the Anaheim vineyard congregation. I have described this before (see The Vineyard Model), so I want rehash it out. I searched pretty far for some examples of this congregation, but wasn't able to find a great example from their first few years. What I did find was a video highlighting worship at several conferences a few years in the future.

 

What is interesting in the video (in the earlier segments) is the absence of screens or lyric sheets. I have had some great conversations with Dr. Lester Ruth about this congregation and the lack of lyrics can be considered a key component. Where many complain about the repetition in contemporary music, these simple songs allowed for a great engagement. If you want to listen to another track that does fit our time period in question, I blogged about the first Vineyard recording here. All of these songs fit inside this boundary.

To see how this style of worship still appears, lets check out the infamous Saddleback Church.

This fast fowards us 30 years into the future, our own current time. While the songs might be more complicated and require a screen to view the lyrics, the music still sits well within the Southern California beach culture. This was a noted quality with Wimber and the sequencing on Rick Muchow fits the paradigm.

Southern California has provided a musical (and theological) outline to both the early contemporary movement as well as how large churches "do" worship in congregational settings. These influential churches branded and marketed their worship to churches all across the world and led the way in the contemporary movement. It would be safe to say that without their songwriting, instrumentation and innovation as far as order of worship we might not have the contemporary church now. The success of these congregations engaging with God in this manner mainstreamed contemporary worship and gave permission to existing traditional congregations to begin new services.

I imagine this music might not appeal to everyone. But I don't want to start ripping apart some examples that have existed for decades. Lets just note this as we continue to think about how we can best continue to define contemporary worship.

Re-Contemporary

Last summer I did a post series on the idea of contemporary worship. I will place the links at the bottom of this post. I want to come back and revist the idea a little bit, and perhaps ask some new questions.

In the last 30 years in Western Christianity we have seen the rise, arguments and acceptance of what is broadly defined as contemporary Christian worship. There are several ways we can label this idea, and I doubt that it is possible to really pinpoint a definition that can serve as a representative sample. Contemporary worship has always used influential models (found through large churches, worship leaders or conferences) and then the local congregation has adapted the style to their needs and abilities.

In the next couple of posts I will highlight what I believe to be the two largest stylistic influences. I am naming these because I think in the next few years we are going to enter into a time when younger people will start identifying with either "classic contemporary" vs. "modern contemporary". Past those two broad genre's we will find people that are even pushing past into some really progressive territory.

I am doing this in order for us to think about the quality of appeal in contemporary worship, or what means we use to actually define contemporary in the local congregation.

With that I will leave you to think about this question;
When is contemporary no longer contemporary?

++Related Posts++
What is Contemporary?
What is your Contemporary?
Three Streams of Contemporary

 

Worship as a Preview of Heaven

Descent: A Free Emag on Worship

Levite Camp has been working on Descent for the last few months. It has been great serving as the assistant editor of the first issue and it went live yesterday. There are a few book reviews, poetry, and a several articles (I wrote one them). Additional content by Drew Causey, Ryan Kocak, JD Walt, Marcus Greene and others round out a great first issue. You can follow this link to download it FOR FREE.

Worship and the Language of Home

A few weeks back I drove back to Louisiana for some meetings and to spend some time writing. It is about a 12 hour drive and I drove it in one day, as I usually prefer. About 15 miles into Louisiana, I get of the interstate and drive for two hours down a two lane highway in soybean and cotton country. Darkness had just fallen and I had the windows down taking in the full affect of the smell of rural north Louisiana. For years I lived on the road, and moments like these are my favorite. I get to think and process more than anywhere else.

This trip really signaled the end of this season at seminary and the beginning of re-entering vocational ministry. It was a great time of prayer and thanksgiving.

With my ipod on shuffle, this Tom Petty song hit the rotation. I was struck at the multiple metaphors I found:

Tom Petty: Southern Accent
There's a southern accent, where I come from
The young'uns call it country
The yankees call it dumb
I got my own way of talkin'
But everything is done, with a southern accent
Where I come from

Now that drunk tank in Atlanta's
Just a motel room to me
Think I might go work Orlando
If them orange groves don't freeze
I got my own way of workin'
But everything is run, with a southern accent
Where I come from

For just a minute there I was dreaming
For just a minute it was all so real
For just a minute she was standing there, with me

There's a dream I keep having
Where my mama comes to me
And kneels down over by the window
And says a prayer for me
I got my own way of prayin'
But everyone's begun
With a southern accent
Where I come from

I got my own way of livin'
But everything gets done
With a southern accent
Where I come from

This song is about those separated from home and the task of integrating into a place as a foreign resident. Home never leaves our heart. My thoughts quickly moved from sentimentality to how this describes the Christian in worship. In the world, we have a patterned lifestyle that doesn't make sense. We have particular ways of saying and doing things contrasting to the accent of the world.

For worship leaders and designers this makes us ask some questions. Are we leading services where people are just interacting with this world? Do we lift up our actions or God and His actions? How do we celebrate how God keeps his promises, in this life and the next?

Worship becomes the place were we feel at home. It's like making a favorite family dish when separated by hundreds of miles. In worship, we configure the space of an eternal dwelling with God in the midst of a world in need of redemption. Every piece of our lives serve as an example of the place we call home; the place we are headed back towards. In worship we are at home. We are with our people and with our Father. We simplify the complex relationship that happens in the here and now.

While outside of worship, we should have an accent that gives us away

 

Getting a souvenir from worship

I love souvenir cups. I have tons of them. It isn't odd to see me carrying a favorite one with me most days. Besides being handy, it helps me remember some of my favorite places to eat. I have a friend that keeps an Arthur Bryant's cup at her desk and we always end up having a great conversation about BBQ (and bbq joints have the best cups anyway...).

We all love taking something away from events that matter to us. Don't you remember "bat dat" at the ballpark when you were a kid? We want to bring things home. It can be as simple as a good meal with friends or an expensive keepsake from a treasured vacation.

 Sometimes want to take things away from worship.  The service might have been particularly special. We might have had a spiritual breakthrough or made an important decision regarding faith. We need to bring it home all packaged up.

For some reason or another we want to remember the service. There is nothing the matter at all with that idea. But what we need to be careful about is when we begin to chase emotions or attach significant spiritual action to a specific leader, preacher or song. In my time leading worship with college students we heard this alot; "Please play X song, I can't really get into worship until I hear it".

The responsibilty some of us have as worship leaders makes us recognize this, and correct it when we see it start to happen. It should serve as an indicator that our folk need more directed leading.

In our Western result driven system, we can't handle worship just happening. We need to see something quantifiable, so we can have a good reason for participating. We need to take home a souvenir cup.......

But worship is about the long tail, building up a life of holiness that happens when we come to God empty handed and are given something so much greater than we can imagine. We need frequent customer cards, not a drinking device that is cheap enough to just throw away.