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Worship seed thought: Doxological Excellence v. Performative Perfectionism
In worship, as in life, we often mistake the counterfeit for the real thing. (In worship we call that idolatry.) For instance, we often confuse excellence with perfection. Perfection breeds perfectionism which commonly leads to procrastination. The deep fear of not getting it perfect stymies initiative. The problem? Perfection (and it's ism) breeds the idolatry of performance. What we want is doxological excellence. Excellence requires nurturing a context of Creative Love. Performative perfection keeps the focus on the performer. Doxological excellence forgets self and focuses on the (O)ther.
Perfection is error free. Excellence almost requires failure. Our target: not error-free but effort-full. Doxological excellence comes from holy risk taking. Holy risk taking can only happen in an "environment of grace" and through "relationships of trust."
Can you think of any examples where you've seen this idea at work?
Labels: Best Practices
posted by John David Walt | at 8/31/2009 06:54:00 AM | 3 comments
Monday, July 13, 2009
Take me out to the ballpark (i.e. worship service)
In a gentler age, a trip to the baseball park yielded an excellent place for conversation and reflection. It seemed like silence punctuated each pitch. Yes there was the occasional organ "Charge!" and the signature antics of the local announcer, and of course the cheering of fans at a base hit, but for the most part, watching baseball was an experience in quiet observation and intimate conversation. Have you been to the ballpark lately? Between every pitch a loud base-thumping version of something like, "Who let the dogs out! Woof! Woof! Woof!" blares out of the speakers. There must be a hundred buttons in the press box, each signaling a different noise effect. There's simply no silence any more. It changes the nature of the ballpark not to mention the game itself.
I suspect the same might be said of worship. Back in the day, the simple liturgical structures, lent themselves to more quiet spaces. With the advent of the worship band, things began to change. Between music and speech, there's simply no empty spaces any more. In fact, silent spaces are often viewed by pastors as awkward transitions where people don't know what to do and feel uncomfortable.
Here's a best practice for worship design and leadership: Be Quiet. Create intentional space for silence and lead people into that space. Teach worshippers the essential dynamic of "Stilling and quieting the soul." (see Psalm 131 Some scholars believe the word "Selah" appearing throughout the Psalms calls for a silent reflective pause in the Psalm. There's plenty of biblical precedent. Be Quiet. Find a way to weave this into worship regularly. Someone I think does this well is Matt Maher. What if you tried tithing the time-- 10% of the time be quiet. In an hour that's only 6 minutes and yet that seems like an eternity to us doesn't it.
So what happens when we are silent in worship?
Labels: Best Practices
posted by John David Walt | at 7/13/2009 08:50:00 PM | 7 comments
Saturday, March 07, 2009
ON EARTH as it is in heaven: Practical Tip of the Week We don't much print bulletins anymore in our worship at the seminary but we do pay close attention to the order or framework of the service. Good design requires careful stewardship of the movement and flow of the worship and how the various elements work together to focus intention and sharpen attention.
There is an ancient pattern or order to worship moving us through four large movements.
Here's how we frame it:
The Spirit gathers us.
The Word addresses us.
The Father welcomes our response. (or welcomes us to his Table)
The Son sends us out with commission.
Note who gets the verbs here. As you plan worship, think about it from this perspective. What kind of things does the Spirit do to gather us? How does God want to address us through the Word? What kind of response might the Father welcome in light of the Word? What would it look like in our service for the Son to commission us and send us out?
It might lead to a quite different plan than if we ask these questions: How do we want to begin the worship? What is the theme of the pastor's sermon? What do we want people to do or to walk away with or apply to their lives? How do we end the service and transition to the next thing?
We'll unpack these questions in more detail in coming posts. In the meantime, I welcome your thoughts.
Labels: Best Practices
posted by John David Walt | at 3/07/2009 03:01:00 AM | 6 comments
Today...