Friday, February 27, 2009 The Many Faces of Worship (Streets Edition) While in Orlando, I got connected to this outfit called "Rosa Loves." They make T-Shirts, 60% of whose profits go to help individual people in desperate situations. The story of the individual is actually printed on the underside of the t-shirt, to be worn directly over the heart. I learned about it through a friend wearing the T-shirt featured in the picture. In asking about his t-shirt, I learned about the story of Hussein, a little boy in Iraq who needs a heart surgery that will cost $4,000. They can't afford any of it.
Some may say this is the commodification of compassion. I'm not so sure. It strikes me as a fresh way of storytelling that spreads like a contagion, inviting participation in the plotline of love. It's a face of worship isn't it. "As you did it to the least of these my brothers and sisters, you did it to me."
Check out the website. It's worth looking around. And maybe order a t-shirt. Just don't wear it on the same day I wear mine. ;-)
Wednesday, February 25, 2009 My Beloved. Traveling Music for the 40 days
This is a little, simple song I wrote a couple of years ago on my front porch. As the spring opened up I found myself immersed in the Song of Songs. The real song at the heart of the Song of Songs comes down to 5 Hebrew words. They translate like this: My beloved mine. I his. The last time I heard these lyrics sung was in the 80's standard, "His Banner over Me." It occurred to me that we weren't really singing the simplicity of these lyrics very much any more. And we completely burned out that 80's tune. This is the song at the heart of the Song of all Songs and we weren't really singing anymore.
One spring morning on the front porch swing I sang out these words as prayer and this simple melody flowed out. (The great Willie Nelson was right when he said, "The air is filled with melodies. We need only reach up and pull one out.") As I sang the 5 words, my mind ran to Psalm 40 and I began singing each of those first several lines as verses to this new-old song. At the end I added a doxology, "Praise the Father. Praise the Son. Praise the Spirit, three in One. Praise the Father. Praise the Son. My beloved mine I his.
As I journeyed through those 40 days of Lent to the Cross, I imagined Jesus singing this song to his Father on that lonely road. "My beloved mine; I his." This song captured the "joy set before him." As my life slowly and progressively becomes "crucified with Christ," and I can more honestly and humbly whisper, "and I no longer live but Christ lives in me," this is my song. Someone out there in YouTube world put this song to a series of texts. Listen and Watch and Pray.
A few years back on a visit to Austin, Texas, to see Chris Tomlin, I shared this song. He liked it immediately and the song began its long road to a record. Chris worked with some of the verses and invented a powerful bridge. He invested a lot in the song, pulling together a choir and making a great recording. The song was slated to be on the Hello Love album right up to the last minute when it was pulled in favor of another one. It wound up finding a spot on the iTunes version as a "bonus" track, free for those who purchase the entire iTunes record.
Perhaps that's fitting. The Song of all Songs must be free and yet a bit hidden. Off the beaten path, it must be searched out and found. I know it took me years and years to find it. The singer most always discovers this song like a treasure buried in a field. The lyrics stand the test of time while the melody moves with the age. "My beloved mine; I his." This song rings out the very heartbeat of the cosmos; the anthem of creation, and the essence of redemption.
I offer it here as a song for the 40 days ahead; traveling music as we head to the Cross and onward to Easter.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009 The Common Text Project: Join us in the journey of the 40 days. Please consider joining us in the journey of reading Scripture together over the next 100 days. Our spring reading project begins tomorrow. You may read online here. I'll be blogging these texts from time to time, particularly as it relates to how the ancient calendar of the Church helps to narrate us into the Story of Jesus.
Sunday, February 22, 2009 Our Worship as God's Response to Himself
A week or so ago I made a claim some may have balked at. I even wondered myself if I had committed heresy. Here's basically what I said:
Worship, in my understanding, is God's response to Himself through his Son by his Spirit in and with his people. Isn't this what it means that we are created for the praise of his glory? For us to worship is to be swept up in a participatory fashion into the Trinitarian movement of Love. Our participation is a gift not from us but to us and through us. We don't bring the gift. We bring ourselves as an offering-- bodies coming together as a living sacrifice. God brings the rest. Listen to our friend, the late Bob Weber, on this point:
Worship is not that which I do, but that which is done in me. That is, worship, which reveals Christ, forms me by making me aware that Jesus is my spirituality and that worship is to form my spiritual life into the pattern of living into the death and resurrection of Jesus. Robert E. Webber, Ancient-Future Worship: Proclaiming and Enacting God’s Narrative. (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2008), 93.
If Christ is "in me" and "in you" does it not make sense that he adores the Father through us-- that our worship is not so much about "our response" but his supernatural Love moving in and through us?
A friend shared this metaphor with me the other day that captures it. We've all seen children put their feet on their parents shoes and hold on while the parent walks around. In worship, it is as though we are putting our feet on the feet of Jesus while he dances with the Father and the Spirit.
Saturday, February 21, 2009 The Many Faces of Worship: (Streets Edition)
This one's worth your 5:11. Here's a picture of what worship looks like in the streets. It fits the Revelation-Response pattern for sure. And there's a lot more here than meets the eye. It's pretty stunning. This is the famed magician "Penn" of "Penn & Teller." Take a look:
