outside is better

What is your contemporary?

The underlying purpose in the development of contemporary worship was a desire to express devotion to God in ways that resonated with contemporary cultural markers in a unique context.  One of the most influential places for this development was in Southern California, and John Wimber's Vineyard congregation can serve as a primary source.  Wimber had been a professional musician and worked, wrote and arranged for the Righteous Brothers.  When listening to his congregations original music, and looking at their worship practices, it is easy to see how their laid back beach culture highly influenced how they "did" church.

When asking the question "What is your contemporary?", we can get dangerously close to the idea that individuals should design their own worship to fit each particular need.   One of the characteristics of contemporary worship that has issues with the communal economy of God as Father, Son and Spirit is the practice of encouraging people to "do whatever you need to get in a state of worship". This makes worship a pragmatic event, that fits the needs of the individual.

Instead, when we ask this question, it should be "What are the elements of our particular culture than can greater inform how we can interact with God in a corporate state?".  That makes the question longer and harder, but it makes us think about the environment that we are in and we minister to?  Is it appropriate to have an older worship band with multiple vocalists when the congregation and community around it is young and dis-engaged?  Is it good to have a younger male worship leader with rock star clothes leading in a community of with a high grouping of lower income single mothers? This question causes us to grow, to find holes in our communities theological headspace, as well as look at how our worship does or doesn't make sense to non-Christians in our midst.

This doesn't mean that we pragmatically design worship either (making changes for the sake of a certain goal), but that we are careful to see what and who our culture is.  Worship is the event in which the church works out what she believes, and she believes what she worships.  It matters deeply, and to plan worship by filling in holes we miss seeing where our congregations need to grow theologically and the type of God we proclaim in our worship.  These questions aren't about just music, but the way that we present the story and world of God to people, and how we as Christians interact within it.

So, with all that said, What is your contemporary?

Warning: Confessional content inside

This semester has been a whirlwind of busy.  My days don't stop and it is driving me up the wall, but as JD always asks us, my peace number is always higher than my chaos as the week goes on.

I have had a bit of an identity crisis this last year.  Like many who come to seminary, I started enjoying the academic life and had delusions of grandeur of me staying in school longer and getting a degree that would allow me to have extra letters in front of my name and teach at schools that grant said extra letters.

Two problems
1.  I love people to much.
2.  I have the attention span of a kid who finally understands Christmas means that you get a bunch of loot that could include any combination of things that have bright lights, things that make alot of noise and an undetermined amount of chocolate. 
This means I can't study for long periods of time.

This doesn't mean the last year of intensive study on the history and theology of Christian worship has been wasted, but instead it led to my realization that God gave me musical gifts and a passion for his people for a reason.  This is why I have gradually been leading worship again.

Putting all these factors together means that I have been thinking about the local church more and more these last few months.  Meredith and I had the conversation about dream churches a few nights ago at dinner, and I tried to sit back and let her talk.  I realized that many of her thoughts were the thoughts of a frustrated generation that is tired of many things that try to be the churchm but don't ever pull it off. 

It is possible for us to do good things under the guise of Christianity without ever hitting a kingdom ethic.  Jeremiah and I talked about this today over a great lunch (thanks for hooking me up).  Many folks issue with the church can be summed up by recognizing an un-orthodox attempt at Christian worship.  This is why I try to deal with some of the tough questions from time to time.

To realize that radical nature of the kingdom of God, which was explained really well by Steve DeNeff at Asbury a few weeks ago (talk 2 is here listen to both...I dare you) is a hard stretch for those that are satisfied with the average, corporate American Church.  By placing worship outside of the realm of self-actualization and back inside the church rehearsing it's story we start to learn that it isn't about us at all.

So all this is to say that I am excited with where I am at.  I feel for the first time in years that I am able to take each step and say "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner" and not focus on my past, but instead focus on a life that is built inside of a reconfiguration that places me within the redeemed company of the ages. 

The task I have now in my head is trying to work this out in the context of worship.  I have had some great conversations regarding writing worship music with people in the last few weeks and I am really excited about the little project I have in my head right now (Chris, if you read this our conversation today meant ALOT).

I know this is rambling, but I really wanted to put it all out in the open.  May the peace of Christ be with you.

The Genre of Worship?

Music styles seem to be the churches favorite battlegrounds.  Today I spent around 30 minutes on Youtube watching various churches worship bands lead worship.  I am not surprised that they sound the same for the most part.  The elements seem to be this.

1.  Decent Singer, a crooner perhaps.
2.  Lead guitar player capable of pulling of various U2 licks
3.  Coldplay style drums

Now I know that some people really dig this style of music, my wife is one of them.  The worst thing that we can do is to be some sort of elitist hipster and turn away from worship just because of music styles.  WE CAN'T TURN AWAY FROM WORSHIPING, no matter how uncool it may seem.

With the last post (here) regarding the death of CCM magazines hard copy, it seems that there are issues regarding the genre of Christian music.  I think that in regard to worship, it is a deeper issue.  Even when I have gone to church at a "cool" location (such as Ecclesia in Houston), the music is fairly standard to what you see at most contemporary churches.

Some people's answers would be to encourage Christian artists that play in different styles to just come up with some worship songs and sing them in front of people.  But I think the act of worship leading is Holier than that.  Sure, it would be sweet to Jeff Tweedy come and sing "In Christ Alone" (I even posted about it here), but I don't think it would cut it.  Our worship leaders don't need to be aspiring Jesus rock stars either.  Last week at the local coffee shop, I saw a worship leader play a set of his tunes dressed like one of the Jonas Brothers.

Getting out of the genre of worship also means leaders being content to have a deep connection to a local congregation, not looking upon it as a jump start to a career.  The unique artistic role of the worship leader is usually neglected, because the worship leader is the only artist in residence at most churches.

So where is this going?  I am not sure, but I say lets start with the idea that worship is a holy act that requires Holy leader.  My worship Jedi master, JD lists the roles of a worship leader as 4 primary tasks

1. Theologian
2. Priest
3. Pastor
4. Prophet

More explanations in the next few days, but I think this places us at a good starting point. 
What do you think?

Answering the tough Questions: Trinity part 2

I decided that we need to maybe take another post or two on the Trinity. 

Catholic theologian Karl Rahner asked if we suppose the doctrine of the Trinity turned out to be false, in what way would if affect our Christian life and devotion?  How would this change Christian practice?  Rahner, realized that the tragic answer is, not that much.  I have used the phrase “Functional Unitarian” before, and it would apply again here.  The Trinity functions inside of Christian life as much as “hydrogen to water” (Check out Robin Parry’s Worshiping Trinity.  Most of my inspiration for this post came from there), meaning that hydrogen is a necessary element inside of water.

In a comment on my previous post, my good friend Amberly describes what I think is many peoples idea of the Trinity.  Christians in America are simply not taught the Trinity.  It is something that is rough to understand, and therefore is not integrated into our normal practice.  It is not a complex matter of thought that is unrelated to the average Christian, but instead it is the basic definition of who God is and it is through the unique nature of the Trinity that we find redemption and interact with God.  Trinity is tied up in the definition of worship that I like the most.

Worship is the gift of the Holy Spirit bringing us into the intimate relationship between the Father and Son.

This brings us back to Rahner’s problem and why I don’t like the definitions of worship that I see floated around the most, giving the action to something that Man does and directs at God.  Christians are not simple monotheists, but instead Trinitarians.  When we forget the Trinity, we forget who we as a people are and how we were taken back into the loving fold of God.  The original politics of the church was not associated with the state, but instead “the art of achieving the common good through participation in the divine life of God(Barry Harvey; Can these Bones Live?).”  The Trinity, and the communal relationship that it exemplifies, is essential to us as Christians.

The way in which we think about God is highly influenced by how we worship.  If we worship Trinity, we think Trinity-but if we worship ourselves (our own actions directed towards God), we leave out the Trinity and we make ourselves idols. Our school of habits is directly affected by our Public (and corporate) act of Worship!  The worship that we involve ourselves in sets the boundaries of who God is.  When we quit the mystical sort of Worship that sets the church inside of the continual story of God, we forget to think of the deep supernatural life that we have inside of God.  Theology and Worship are inextricably tied to each other in a symbiotic relationship that necessitates both disciplines being equally fed and interacted with.

So we must hold the Trinity high in our worship, or we aren’t worshiping.  When we cease to worship the Trinity, we become just a bunch of people doing the same thing at the same time in the same place, but we aren’t worshiping.

Next: The Corporate nature of Triune Worship.
For the rest of this series click here.

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Bibliography
Barry Harvey; Can these bones live?
Robin Parry;Worshipping Trinity

Answering the tough questions:Part 1

The Starting place of Worship

I have decided it is time to start answering the tough questions that many people have regarding worship.  It is a hot-button issue now, and a place where the church desperately needs focus.

I want to start with what I think should be the beginning point for any and all theological discussions, especially those involving worship.

The root of our answers lie in the thought of serving the Holy Triune God.  Emphasis on Triune.  The Holy Trinity is mirrored in the Holy Church, our holy communal expression of God on earth.  It is hard to have a proper view of worship unless you have a high view of the church.  This is where the Protestant churches involvement with the project of modernity has failed.  For those of you that grew up in the mainline tradition, the problems might not be so obvious, but if you have come from a “free-church” or evangelical perspective the issue may be up front.

In “Ancient-Future Worship” Robert Webber outlines the several forms of 20th century Christian worship.  Most evangelical churches follow an outline of worship heavily influenced by Revivalism.  This format looks like:

Singing to warm the heart and soften the soul
Preaching to proclaim the Good News of salvation in Christ
Invitation to receive Jesus as the personal Lord and Savior of your life

While the task of soul-saving (in whatever manner you choose to accomplish it) is highly admirable, by using this format Sunday after Sunday, the evangelical tradition actually loses it’s focus on the Triune God, and turns itself into a functional Unitarianism (more on this to come).  This is done by neglecting to recognize, teach, and worship God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and instead generalizing their actions into what we call “God”.  Through fear of Catholicism, many evangelical churches refuse to involve the classic creeds of faith, yet still hold to the beliefs that they so carefully define.

The influence of Revivalism actually puts us in constant focus on sin.  Slowly, the Christian church has lost its story and doesn’t understand the fullness of life that is offered to us through our relationship with God (as Father, Son and Holy Spirit).  By starting with the Triune Gods saving actions all-throughout the history of the world we don’t focus on sin, but instead focus on life.  This in turn changes the tone of our worship from constant references to sin to a celebration of constant life, that is everlasting because of our restoration to the Father, by the saving actions of the Son and we are forever powered by the Holy Spirit.

Next Time-understanding OUR worship as a communal activity.