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Worship Quote of the Week
Consider this word below from the late Bob Webber. Think particularly about the implications it has for worship and mission.
God’s vision for the world is remembered and anticipated in worship. Worship is all about how God, [who] with his own two hands—the incarnate Word and the Holy Spirit—has rescued the
world. . . . The centerpiece of his saving action is the incarnation, death, and resurrection, where sin and death have been defeated and where the deliverance of creatures and creation, which will be consummated at the end of history, will begin. In the meantime, worship is the witness to this vision.
Robert E. Webber, Ancient-Future Worship: Proclaiming and Enacting God’s Narrative. (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2008), 66.
I'm curious as to what you make of this notion of the Son and the Spirit being the two hands of the Father.
Labels: quotes, trinity, worship
posted by John David Walt | at 10/27/2008 07:21:00 AM | 6 comments
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Shabbat Shalom photo of the week
look closely. check out that "hot nosh" caption. i see a t-shirt in the make. hat tip to omar.
Ok-- so Rob has gotten us started. Who can top him? Captions anyone?????
Here's mine: "Hot Nosh. . . . . The Chik-Fil-A of Vending Machines!" posted by John David Walt | at 10/23/2008 07:42:00 PM | 7 comments
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
KingdomTide and the Confluence of Worship and Mission
I keep trying to get this tractor in gear. It's time for a new stream of conversation on FARMStrong. I am going to begin a series of posts on the relationship between worship and mission. It's an issue we've pondered here before. Given we are a bit past the midterm of the season of worship we call KingdomTide, it would be a good moment to reflect on what I consider the very essence of this worshipping movement: the relationship between worship and mission.
For instance, consider John Piper's popular saying: "Mission exists because worship does not," or something to that effect. This clearly inspired Matt Redman's song a few years back called Mission's Flame, some of the key lyrics of which go as follows:
Let worship be the fuel for mission's flame. . . . . Let worship be the heart of mission's aim.
Though I like the song very much, something about it does not resonate in my thinking. I even wrote Matt a bit of a critique of these lyrics a few years back.
So for starters, I welcome some commentary from your own perspective. How do you describe this relationship between worship and mission? Is it a chicken and egg thing? Does one lead to the other? Is it a cyclical reality or something else? I promise not to publicly critique your comment and for the purposes of this post ask you all not to critique each other. That time will come later. I'm simply trying to help us get a sense of the varying perspectives out there, to get the lay of the land so to speak.
This should be fun.
Labels: world
posted by John David Walt | at 10/22/2008 06:02:00 AM | 19 comments
Monday, October 13, 2008
Sing! Sing! Sing!
What is it about singing? Why is singing so important, so significant in worship? After all, at the very heart of the Scriptures is the tiny book entitled, "The Song of Songs."
Alyssa left a comment in the prior post with this quote that has raised these questions for me in a fresh way.
"We sing in worship to engage and express our affections. There is no other reason to sing.
If we aren’t dealing with our affections in worship, we might as well just read the lines of the songs dryly together in paragraph form without any music. We worship with music because God has created music with a certain nature where it tends to move our affections deeply."
- Jonathan Edwards
It made me think if a couple of Chris Tomlin songs from his last two records--- i.e. "How can I keep from singing," and "Sing. Sing. Sing." These are songs about singing itself. Think also about, "How great is our God. Sing with me." It's not enough to say it is it? We must sing it. Song happens when words take flight, when poetry combusts, when lyrics dance.
Here's a question though: Can we over-rely on "singing" in worship? Can music play too central a role in worship? Is the Spirit of God mediated through music? Or is the Spirit primarily mediated through Word & Sacrament? What is the role of music and song in worship? How many times have you referred or heard someone refer to the musical portion of the service being the "worship," seemingly relegating the rest of the service to another category altogether. What's with that? Any comments? posted by John David Walt | at 10/13/2008 08:40:00 PM | 13 comments
Thursday, October 09, 2008
The many faces of Worship I'm not even kidding. take 2:50. you must get to 1:58 to really see the stuff.
The Renewed Mind Is The Key...to bad dancing
i'm not mocking-- I promise!! ;-) just loving the breadth of the kingdom!!! posted by John David Walt | at 10/09/2008 08:47:00 AM | 8 comments
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
A Quote and a Query Worship should do God’s narrative and point to the future when creation, delivered from sin, will be restored to God’s original design. In this world there is always a witness to the restoration of the world, and you should be able to find it in the worship of the church.
Robert E. Webber, Ancient-Future Worship: Proclaiming and Enacting God’s Narrative. (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2008), 60.
Now think of the last worship gathering you participated in. Did this happen? How? posted by John David Walt | at 10/08/2008 09:52:00 AM | 2 comments
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
The Many Faces of Worship. . . . . d I definitely had some Napoleon Dynamite happy hands club flash backs during this one. ;-) posted by John David Walt | at 10/01/2008 09:15:00 PM | 4 comments
Today...