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Cousin Camp Beach Party 2008 Begins Now!!!
Don't count on my usual fare here for the next two weeks. Could be something even better though. We'll see. posted by John David Walt | at 7/28/2008 12:38:00 AM | 1 comments
Thursday, July 24, 2008
N.T. Wright offers a worship design challenge
Celebrated scholar and theologian, N.T. Wright, visited our seminary for a series of lectures last fall. The lectures were on politics, theology and popular culture another on Scripture and popular culture and the final one a stunning one hour teaching on the Acts of the Apostles. All three were amazing.
During that visit I had the opportunity to spend some time talking with him. In a conversation about worship we began discussing the proliferation of modern worship songs. While he affirmed a good deal about so many songs being written and sung, he lamented the downside of the short shelf life of the average song coming out today. He also talked about the prominence and priority we give to songs written in the last 10 years in most of our worship gatherings, noting especially our prejudice to favor the most recently written and most popular songs in our worship sets. Then he made this stunning challenge:
Note he's not saying a song from Bill Gaither, Keith Green, Michael W. Smith, Twila Paris, Martin Smith, and Chris Tomlin. (that covers the waterfront of the last 50 years. According to Bishop Wright, we would have to choose one song from that list--- technically two given that Tomlin would mostly come from the 21st century. After that we would have to go back to the 18th century and then the 17th century and then the. . . you get my point.
By far, most of the worship services I have participated in over the last decade tend toward choosing songs from a quite narrow slice of history (i.e. 1990 to present day with an occasional remix of a 19th century hymn).
So is Wright wrong on this? What's he driving at with this challenge? Upsides? Downsides?
posted by John David Walt | at 7/24/2008 07:15:00 AM
| 26 comments
"We have 20 centuries of songs in the life of the Church, many of which have stood the test of time. In my judgement, we should sing no more than one song per century of the church's history in any given worship service."
Note he's not saying a song from Bill Gaither, Keith Green, Michael W. Smith, Twila Paris, Martin Smith, and Chris Tomlin. (that covers the waterfront of the last 50 years. According to Bishop Wright, we would have to choose one song from that list--- technically two given that Tomlin would mostly come from the 21st century. After that we would have to go back to the 18th century and then the 17th century and then the. . . you get my point.
By far, most of the worship services I have participated in over the last decade tend toward choosing songs from a quite narrow slice of history (i.e. 1990 to present day with an occasional remix of a 19th century hymn).
So is Wright wrong on this? What's he driving at with this challenge? Upsides? Downsides?
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
3 Questions to Evaluate Worship
One of the best practices we can introduce to the process of worship design is that of evaluating our worship services. A key way of doing this is through asking a series of consistent questions.
Robert Webber offers these three questions as an example:
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?
What questions do you ask in evaluating worship? posted by John David Walt | at 7/23/2008 08:01:00 AM | 3 comments
Monday, July 21, 2008
6 Questions for Theme Driven Worship Anytime I am asked to preach somewhere, the planners want to know what I am going to talk about or what is my theme so they can plan the worship around that topic or theme. It's why I most often tell them to sing songs that paint a large picture of Father-Son and Holy Spirit. But in point of fact, this theme question is the instinctive question asked by all of my worship designers almost every time-- what is the preacher talking about or what is the theme. Though we wouldn't say it this way, what we are ostensibly trying to do is make the songs serve the sermon. Aren't we?
A few questions to ponder:
1. Why should the theme of the sermon matter to the larger worship service?
2. Should the songs serve the theme of the sermon?
3. Do we impose our own agendas on worship when we do this (no matter how relevant our agendas are)?
3. Why do we want to plan an entire worship service around the sermon or the sermon series?
4. If sermons and sermon series are driven by the felt needs of the people, or some catchy cultural theme as they so often are, doesn't this pose a major danger-- that our worship will be driven by the culture and centered around people?
5. What would be an alternative approach? posted by John David Walt | at 7/21/2008 08:33:00 PM | 8 comments
Switching the Scriptural paradigm in Worship
Extract: to remove or take out, esp. by effort or force.
Immerse: to dip or submerge in a liquid.
EXTRACTION
Consider Veggie Tales. Sometimes the episodes are titled with captions like Who is my neighbor? Or King George and the Ducky. Other episodes pick up story lines such as Josh and the Big Wall and the Toy that Saved Christmas. Either way, the aim seems to be the development of a theme from which a relevant principle is extracted and urged for application in the child’s life. (Perhaps the child will write this principle in the inside cover of their Bible negating their need to read the story any more.) While the writers strive for faithfulness to the biblical text, a lot gets lost in the translation. For instance, the story of Shadrach, Mesach and Abednigo becomes Rack, Shack and Benny. They work in a chocolate factory mercilessly operated by Mr. Nezzar (presumably playing the part of Nebudchanezzar). Instead of the three being required to worship a large idol, it’s a gargantuan chocolate bunny. Each episode ends with the narrators, Larry the Cucumber and Bob the Tomato visiting Qwerty, the computer, who tells all the children what the story really means for them. Qwerty sings,
On the whole, the goal is to bring the bible truth ala story into the imaginative world of a child.
Consider Veggie Tales. Sometimes the episodes are titled with captions like Who is my neighbor? Or King George and the Ducky. Other episodes pick up story lines such as Josh and the Big Wall and the Toy that Saved Christmas. Either way, the aim seems to be the development of a theme from which a relevant principle is extracted and urged for application in the child’s life. (Perhaps the child will write this principle in the inside cover of their Bible negating their need to read the story any more.) While the writers strive for faithfulness to the biblical text, a lot gets lost in the translation. For instance, the story of Shadrach, Mesach and Abednigo becomes Rack, Shack and Benny. They work in a chocolate factory mercilessly operated by Mr. Nezzar (presumably playing the part of Nebudchanezzar). Instead of the three being required to worship a large idol, it’s a gargantuan chocolate bunny. Each episode ends with the narrators, Larry the Cucumber and Bob the Tomato visiting Qwerty, the computer, who tells all the children what the story really means for them. Qwerty sings,
“Let’s see how what we have learned applies to our lives today. God has a lot to say in his book. . . . ."
On the whole, the goal is to bring the bible truth ala story into the imaginative world of a child.
IMMERSION:
But why not bring the child into the imaginative world of the bible? Herein lies the agenda of the Hanna Barbera series. Each episode begins on location at an archaeological dig site in modern day Israel. The narrator then rehearses this story:
From here, each episode finds the three junior archaeologists journeying alongside the characters of a particular Bible story. Transported into the world of the bible story, the kids observe the story unfold while inquiring and interacting with its characters. The animated, ancient story comes alive with the glory of God. As the story is sown like seed into the memory of children, their little minds and hearts go to work, germinating imaginative possibilities , both ordinary and supernatural, of the creative love and power of God. (The Hanna Barbara series has its weaknesses, though according to some commentators, though it is beyond the relevance of this use of the series.)
But why not bring the child into the imaginative world of the bible? Herein lies the agenda of the Hanna Barbera series. Each episode begins on location at an archaeological dig site in modern day Israel. The narrator then rehearses this story:
While surveying the site of some ancient ruins two young archaeologists, Derek and Margo, and their nomad friend Mokey find themselves trapped and falling in a whirling pool of sinking sand. When the dust settles they stare up in awe at a vast chamber filled with giant relics and artifacts from another civilization; and there at the far end of the cavern a door with a strange inscription: All who enter these portals pass through time.
From here, each episode finds the three junior archaeologists journeying alongside the characters of a particular Bible story. Transported into the world of the bible story, the kids observe the story unfold while inquiring and interacting with its characters. The animated, ancient story comes alive with the glory of God. As the story is sown like seed into the memory of children, their little minds and hearts go to work, germinating imaginative possibilities , both ordinary and supernatural, of the creative love and power of God. (The Hanna Barbara series has its weaknesses, though according to some commentators, though it is beyond the relevance of this use of the series.)
QUESTION: So how is it that worship design has traded in story immersion for theme extraction? And how do we get back?
Labels: practicing the story, story, worship
posted by John David Walt | at 7/21/2008 06:07:00 AM | 4 comments
Monday, July 14, 2008
Worship Quote of the Week
The underlying conviction of Christian worship is that we are all in a state of dislocation. We are dislocated from God, from self, from neighbor, and from nature. But God has entered into our history in Jesus Christ to bring relocation.Robert Webber
That's Sam (2) trying to get his putt-putt ball back on our short Lake Junaluska, NC family get-away. ;-) posted by John David Walt | at 7/14/2008 10:18:00 PM | 2 comments
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Tim Hughes invites conversation on definition of worship
Tim Hughes has begun a good conversation on his blog concerning the definition of worship. I encourage you all to read the thread of comments and give it some thought. I've added my two cents and await the comment to be authorized. The conversation is good as far as it goes, but in my judgment it just doesn't go far enough.
What is missing in the conversation?
posted by John David Walt | at 7/09/2008 09:54:00 PM
| 0 comments
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
14 Stations of . . . . . 1. For starters, check out this iPhone meets Moleskine short youtube clip.
3. A short essay on the new concept of "Structured Procrastination." Struggling with completing that dissertation? Check out this NPR interview on the same subject.
4. Listen to this absolutely fantastic short message from Dr. David Thompson (Asbury Theological Seminary biblical studies professor) on poetry and poets in the Bible.
5. A new (free) web service I am experimenting with.
6. A new technique for folding a T-Shirt in 2 seconds. It's easier you-tubed than done.
8. "Man Eats Underwear to Beat Breathalyzer." I'm not even joking.
10. Interesting NY Times article on habits and brain function. How change happens.
11. New blogger, Sarah Thomas Baldwin recounts an amazing excerpt from a 1989 Time Magazine interview with Mother Teresa.
13. My David (7) unveils his Resurrection Haiku Poetry Collection on his blog.
14. Check out the latest Japanese Port-a-Potty Pranks. Seriously.
Monday, July 07, 2008
On the Meaning of Liturgy....
Some years back I spoke at a youth retreat in Texas. As the students were gathering for the Saturday morning worship session the band (Group from Canada called "Down Here") did a most unusual thing. As the band members tuned their instruments and prepared to play, the leader issued a biblical call to worship. Just as everyone was ready to sing their hearts out to God he asked them to leave the building picking up cleaning supplies at the door and go and assist the camp staff in cleaning up the camp. “Meet back here in half an hour,” were his last words. It struck me at the time as a really good notion of liturgy. Worship ceased to be just another enjoyable experience of emotive, passionate singing to God and became “the work of the people.”
Liturgy, that is to say worship, is work. A fascinating connection exists in the Hebrew language between the words worship and work. They are the same word. One of the Hebrew definitions for worship is abad. It means literally to till or work the soil, providing interesting connections to humanity’s original commission in the Garden of Eden. The primary New Testament word is leitouriga, meaning the work or service of the people. Other definitions get at the idea of bowing low or prostrate before a person of royal importance.
Liturgy designs to gather a dislocated collection of individuals into a corporately embodied unity in the presence of God to work. Worship is the most important work in all the world. What does this work look like? In worship we rehearse the gospel, declaring the glories of God while gathering up the whole creation as an offering and making intercession for the nations. In worship we confess our sins, both personal and corporate, drink from the cup of forgiveness and feast on the bread of life. Our worship work does not prepare for service in God’s Kingdom, it declares and demonstrates the Kingdom itself. Our worship, which is to say our work, resides in inhabiting the Story of God to the glory of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit in a servant ministry of reconciliation to the whole World.
So why does "liturgy" get such a bad wrap? or is it rap?
Labels: worship
posted by John David Walt | at 7/07/2008 04:58:00 PM | 6 comments
Friday, July 04, 2008
4th of July means FIREWORKS
Labels: hi mom
posted by John David Walt | at 7/04/2008 10:59:00 PM | 4 comments
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Worship and World-Making
I will always remember our family vacation to Disney World when I was a child. Entering the park literally immerses one into a magical kingdom, a completely new and totalizing reality. Old has gone, albeit temporarily. New has come. I remember most everything about the trip.On one of the hotter afternoons I remember our family escaping into an air conditioned theatre for some respite. I had never been in a theatre like this. It was completely round and there were no seats. Curtains covered all the walls. The lights dimmed, the curtains raised and screens illumined all the way around us. I can’t recall the images that were on the screen that day, but I can’t forget the way it impacted me. To look in any direction was to see a different horizon of the film. It was like we had been dropped in the center of the world of the movie and every inch of the circumference was a different angle on the story. I was in a movie that was depicting the world as it really was in the seamlessness of its horizons. Regular movies now seemed flat in comparison.
In retrospect, the 360 degree theatre was a microcosm of the larger experience we were having as a family at Disney World. Everywhere we turned was another imaginative facet of this world.
In a sense, this is what going to church (gathering for worship) should be like. (not Disney World-- but entry into the World of God's Story) This is how worship narrates us into the Christian story. The best worship practices orient us to the center (i.e. Father, Son, Holy Spirit) in such ways that bring the circumference of the Story into panoramic vision. (Think about how stained glass storytelling works)
Why is Story-Centric worship so important? Consider this word from Robert Jensen in his essay entitled, "How the World Lost its Story."
Why is Story-Centric worship so important? Consider this word from Robert Jensen in his essay entitled, "How the World Lost its Story."
"Throughout modernity, the church has presumed that its mission was directed to persons who already understood themselves as inhabitants of a narratable world. . . . . In effect, the church could say to her hearers: 'You know that story that you think you must be living out in the real world? We are here to tell you about its turning point and outcome.'Do you connect with this idea? How does worship do this? (i.e. shape an inhabitable, narratable world). If worship is not doing this, then what is it doing?
But this is precisely what the postmodern church cannot presume. What then? The obvious answer is that if the church does not find her hearers antecedently inhabiting a narratable world, then the church must herself be that world."
Labels: quotes, story, worship
posted by John David Walt | at 7/02/2008 09:00:00 PM | 3 comments
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
worship quote of the week
“Do not suppose that this is the kind of drama one can view from a grandstand seat. We are not to be spectators of something that happened once upon a time. The Bible is not a book of ancient history. It is more like the commedia dell’arte, a dramatic form which flourished in sixteenth-century Italy. In this kind of drama, the players were asked to improvise, to put themselves into the story. To be sure, it was not a free improvisation, for there were some given elements: there was the director, there was a company of actors, and there was a story plot which was given to them in broad outline. With these given elements they were told to improvise—that is, to fill in the gaps on their own.
We too, are “called upon to improvise—that is, to put ourselves into the story and to fill in the gaps with our own experience. We must be ready to get onto the biblical stage and participate personally—along with the ‘company,’ the community of faith—in the dramatic movement of the plot, act by act.
Bernhard W. Anderson, The Unfolding Drama of the Bible, (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1988. pp.16-17.)
When the Story is immersively remembered and reenacted in the sanctuary, imaginative improvisation readily unfolds in the streets. In this way worship makes a constant connection, bridging between memory and mission.
So what implications does this have for worship design and leadership?
Labels: quotes, story, worship
posted by John David Walt | at 7/01/2008 08:59:00 PM | 4 comments
Today...